Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Eli Robinson was born on June 23, 1908 in Greenville, Georgia. After working in Cincinnati, Ohio in bands led by Speed Webb, Zack Whyte and also worked with McKinney’s Cotton Pickers. In 1935 he made his first recordings with Blanche Calloway.

1936 saw Eli moving to New York City, where he became a member of the Teddy Hill and Willie Bryant big bands and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. Three years later he played with Roy Eldridge and joined the big band of Lucky Millinder.

Beginning in 1941, he spent several years as a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. He returned to working with Millinder, then joined Buddy Tate in 1954.

Trombonist and arranger Eli Robinson never recorded as a leader, and passed away on December 24, 1972 in New York City.

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Three Wishes

The answer that Billy Strayhorn gave Pannonica when she asked him what his three wishes would be, if given, was:

1. “I would wish that music would become ever more beautiful than it is, and that I would be able to listen to it forever, and write it forever.”

*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter

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Daily Dose Of Jazz

Sid Phillips was born Isador Simon Phillips on June 14, 1907 in London, England into a Jewish family. He learned violin and piano as a child, and played reeds in his teens as a member of his brother’s European band. He got his start in the music business as a publisher and director for Edison Bell.

In 1930, Phillips began writing arrangements for Bert Ambrose, and joined Ambrose’s ensemble in 1933, remaining there until 1937. Towards the end of the decade he was playing in the United States on radio and freelancing in clubs.

During World War II, Sid served in the Royal Air Force, then put together his own quartet in 1946 and wrote several pieces for the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He led a Dixieland jazz band of his own formation from 1949, and his sidemen variously included George Shearing, Colin Bailey, Tommy Whittle, and Kenny Ball.

Phillips’s first recordings under his own name were made in 1928. In 1937 through 1938, a number of his recordings were issued in the United States, through a contract he signed with Irving Mills and issued on Mills’ Variety label, as well as Vocalion, Brunswick and Columbia labels, though most of his recordings were made in England.

Clarinetist, arranger and bandleader Sid Phillips, who continued to record as a leader well into the 1970s, passed away on May 23, 1973 at aged 65 in Chertsey, Surrey, England.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Robert C. Plater was born May 13, 1914 in Newark, New Jersey and began playing alto sax at age 12. He played locally in Newark with Donald Lambert and the Savoy Dictators in the 1930s. From 1940-42 he played with Tiny Bradshaw before spending 1942-45 serving in the U.S. military during World War II. After his discharge he worked briefly with Cootie Williams, then played intermittently with Lionel Hampton between 1946 and 1964, recording eleven albums with the band.

He also arranged with Hampton, as well as doing some freelance work on the side. In 1964 he took Frank Wess’s place in the Count Basie Orchestra, where he recorded thirty-nine albums and played until his death. His only recordings as a leader were four songs for Bullet Records in 1950.

He was the co-composer of Jersey Bounce, a popular dance number in the 1940s, recorded by various musicians including Glenn Miller and Ella Fitzgerald. Alto saxophonist Bobby Plater passed away on November 20, 1982 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Billy Munn was born William on May 12, 1911 in Glasgow, Scotland. He studied at the Athenaeum School of Music before moving to London, England and joining the band of Jack Hylton from 1929 to 1936.

During the Thirties he played on recordings with Spike Hughes and Benny Carter. Following these engagements Billy then played with Sydney Lipton from 1936 to 1940, and concomitantly played with Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins on their tours of England, as well as with Wingy Manone in the United States.

He played with Stephane Grappelli in 1943 and George Chisholm in 1944, then led his own ensemble at the Orchid Room in Mayfair from 1945 to 1948. He co-founded the BBC program Jazz Club in the 1940s with producer Mark White and clarinettist Harry Parry.

From 1948 to 1949, Munn directed the Maurice Winnick Orchestra at Ciro’s club in London, England and subsequently led the house band at the Imperial Hotel in the seaside resort town of Torquay, England for three decades, from 1949 to 1979. He recorded several times with this group. After 1979 he played solo, mostly locally in Torquay.

Pianist and arranger Billy Munn passed away on May 2, 2000 in Ayrshire, Scotland, a few days shy of his 89th birthday.

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