Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Denys Justin Wright, known professionally as Denny Wright, was born on May 6, 1924 in Deptford, London, England. He grew up in Brockley with frequent forays to the Old Kent Road and the Elephant and Castle. His first instrument was the piano. His older brother was a semi-professional guitarist and soon he was trying to play his brother’s guitar. He began playing professionally before the Second World War, while at school.
A session musician for many years, he frequently acted as arranger and fixer for recording sessions. As a prolific jazz and orchestra composer Wright led many bands, from small ensembles and night club bands to orchestras. He worked with Latin American and Jamaican bands, Afro-Cubists and the Decca Records house band.
In the Forties Wright played in jazz clubs in the West End of London, doing session work, performed in bands on radio shows, and medically unfit to serve due to a childhood injury, he entertained the troops. In 1945 he started the first bebop club in London.
He went on to form several bands, tour the Soviet Union, and continued his work as a session musician, producing Tribute To The Hot Club as The Cooper-Wright Quintet. Denny gave private lessons and at London comprehensive schools, and he lectured at the Royal College of Music on the life of a session musician.
During his career he worked with Stéphane Grappelli, Lonnie Donegan, Johnny Duncan, Digby Fairweather, Ella Fitzgerald, Ken Snakehips Johnson, Billy Eckstine, Fapy Lafertin, Russ Conway, Biréli Lagrène, Humphrey Lyttelton, Marie Bryant, Nigel Kennedy, and George Shearing.
Guitarist and pianist Denny Wright, who was voted the 1980 BBC Jazz Society Musician of the Year, died on February 8, 1992.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Monica Lewis was born May Lewis in Chicago, Illinois on May 5, 1922, the youngest of three children. Her father was a pianist, composer and musical director for CBS, while her mother was a singer with the Chicago Opera Company. She studied voice with her mother and when she was eleven the family moved to New York City due to The Great Depression.
She began singing on radio after a successful audition with WMCA in New York City, which led to her own program. At age seventeen she started working as a singer for a radio show titled Gloom Dodgers in order to support her family while studying at Hunter College. Shortly afterwards Lewis had a radio show titled Monica Makes Music and went on to co-star on The Chesterfield Supper Club radio show.
Winning a part as a singing cigarette girl in the Broadway show Johnny 2X4, her work on Broadway led to performing at the Stork Club. She dropped out of school, changed her name from May to Monica because she thought it was sexier. In 1943 at an audition in Times Square with hundreds of women participating, she earned the part as a singer.
She started singing on Hotel Astor’s roof with Goodman’s orchestra and established her career through nationally broadcast shows. Lewis went on to record for Signature Records, MGM Records, Decca Records, Capitol Records, and Verve Records.
She went on to sing in commercials, became the voice of Miss Chiquita Banana, and appeared on the Toast of the Town which would become the Ed Sullivan Show. It was created and produced by her brother Marlo Lewis.
By 1950 she was signed to a contract with MGM and movies were added to her trades. Over the next three decades she appeared in romantic comedies and disaster films along with television action, crime and western series. Resuming her singing career in the 1980’s and 1990s, she performed at popular clubs in Los Angeles and New York City.
Vocalist Monica Lewis died ten days after an interview with The New Yorker, on June 12, 2015. The article was posthumously published in the September 7, 2015 edition.
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LATE NIGHT JAZZ JAM | AJF
Tribute To Churchill Grounds
Music Curated by Lil’ John Roberts & Russell Gunn
Hosted By Jamal Ahmad
Cover: $50.00
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ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL
The 48th annual Atlanta Jazz Festival will take place in Piedmont Park, Midtown Atlanta, on Memorial Day Weekend from May 24th ~ 26th. The festival is free and open to the public, offering a celebration of jazz music, culture, and art.
1:00pm ~ Brandon Woody | Trumpet
3:00pm ~ Tyreek McDole | Vocal
5:00pm ~ Charles McPherson | Saxophone
7:00pm ~ Dianne Reeves | Vocal
9:00pm ~ Joe Gransden Big Band | Trumpet
More Posts: adventure,bandleader,festival,genius,jazz,music,preserving,saxophone,travel,trumpet,vocal
ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL
The 48th annual Atlanta Jazz Festival will take place in Piedmont Park, Midtown Atlanta, on Memorial Day Weekend from May 24th ~ 26th. The festival is free and open to the public, offering a celebration of jazz music, culture, and art.
1:00pm ~ Kenny Banks Jr. | Piano
3:00pm ~ Jarrod Lawson | Vocal, Piano
5:00pm ~ Ravi Coltrane | Tenor & Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet
7:00pm ~ Andromeda Turre | Vocal
9:00pm ~ Russell Gunn & Blackhawk | Trumpet
More Posts: adventure,bandleader,genius,instrumental,jazz,music,piano,saxophone,travel,trumpet,vocal