Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Simon H. Fell was born on January 13, 1959 in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England. He began playing double bass in 1973 and from 1978 to 1981 he read English Literature at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, England. His early group was a free-jazz trio with drummer Paul Hession and saxophonist Alan Wilkinson. They recorded and released their music on his label Bruce’s Fingers.
During this period Fell was significantly connected with The Termite Club in Leeds. He was a member of the free jazz trio Badland, the improvising string and percussion ensemble ZFP with Carlos Zingaro, Marcio Mattos and Mark Sanders, and SFQ, a quartet/quintet with clarinettist Alex Ward and a changing membership. He also performed in many other ensembles, including the London Improvisers Orchestra and Derek Bailey’s Company Week.
Simon wrote a major sequence of four new large-scale compositions titled Compilation. Free improvisation, rock and jazz all form key parts of the musical language. Noise guitarist Stefan Jaworzyn, Evan Parker and John Butcher were essential musicians to the projects, but he often deliberately made use of amateur or student musicians.
Bassist and composer Simon Fell, who is primarily known for his work as a free improviser and the composer of post-serialist compositions, died on June 28, 2020
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SUBA TRIO
Global Rhythms: Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita SUBA Trio
The Atlantic Ocean separates Cuba and Senegal, the respective birthplaces of piano virtuoso Omar Sosa and kora master Seckou Keita, a distance diminished by their shared ancestral connection to Africa.
Recorded during lockdown and released in October 2021, Sosa and Keita’s second album SUBA is a hymn to hope, to a new dawn of compassion and real change in a post-pandemic world, a visceral reiteration of humanity’s perennial prayer for peace and unity. Joining Omar and Seckou in the studio and for live performances is the inimitable Venezuelan artist Gustavo Ovalles.
Tickets: $25.00~$50.00
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ALEXIS COLE TRIO
Award-winning jazz vocalist Alexis Cole may be the most talented singer to ever hold a top-secret military clearance. A dozen albums into her critically acclaimed career, she may also be the best-kept secret in jazz, a status that’s certain to change as more people are discovering her for themselves.
The year 2009 was a big one for Alexis: She released her first albums on both Motéma Music and Venus Records… and went to Basic Training to prepare for her new job as a jazz singer for the US Army.
During her seven years in the Army’s Big Band, Cole had the opportunity to grow as a musician and a person, sharing the stage with ensembles as diverse as the New York Philharmonic and Kool and the Gang. Alexis continued recording throughout her tour of duty, releasing a string of well-received albums, including four titles for Venus, two for Motema, and two on Chesky Records. She proved her versatility on everything from jazz standards to Paul Simon’s lesser known compositions, to Disney love songs to a project on which she teamed up with a fellow serviceman 50 years her senior, the legendary guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.
Though Alexis transformed into an insightful interpreter of jazz during her Army years, understandably, her personal advancements and achievements had to take a back seat to her military responsibilities.
Cover: $30.00~$94.00 | The latter price is dinner & show
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gene Lake was born Oliver Gene Lake, Jr. on January 12, 1966 in St. Louis, Missouri. He began playing drums when he was five years old, and took lessons with Pheeroan akLaff as a high schooler at The High School of Music & Art in New York City. He attended Berklee College of Music, where he worked with Tommy Campbell, and played in local Boston bands in a variety of styles.
Gene played with his father in New York City in 1987 and 1988, then joined Henry Threadgill’s ensemble in 1990. Later in the Nineties, Gene worked with Steve Coleman, Lunar Crush with David Fiuczynski and John Medeski, Marcus Miller, Brandon Ross, David Sanborn, the World Saxophone Quartet, and Joe Zawinul.
He has recorded seven albums as a leader that includes The Oliver Lake Quartet, Dedication, and At This Time and another ten as a sideman. Outside of jazz, Lake also performed and recorded with R&B musicians Maxwell and Me’Shell Ndegeocello.
Drummer Gene Lake, who is the son of saxophonist Oliver Lake, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Johnny Varro was born January 11, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York and began studying piano at the age of ten. During his teenage years, he was introduced to jazz by way of the Commodore Music Shop in New York City. There he met the manager Jack Crystal, father of Billy Crystal, who was running jam sessions on the Lower East Side. At these sessions he met Willie “The Lion” Smith, Big Sid Catlett, Joe Thomas, Hot Lips Page, Joe Sullivan, Pete Brown and others. The experience of sitting in for Joe Sullivan and Willie “The Lion” Smith was invaluable and soon allowed Johnny to become a hired player.
His first professional job was with Bobby Hackett touring the East Coast with his quartet. In 1954 he worked at Nick’s with Phil Napoleon and later with Pee Wee Erwin. In 1957 Eddie Condon asked Johnny to play at his club as intermission pianist, which led to his becoming Eddie’s band pianist.
For the next several years between the Condon tours, Varro worked most of the jazz rooms around New York City before moving to Miami in 1965 to work on the Jackie Gleason Show. He toured with the Dukes of Dixieland, then moved to Los Angeles, California, where he lived, played and toured for the next 14 years. He created the swing group covering the styles of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s called Swing 7.
Pianist Johnny Varro, who has recorded some two dozen albums, made a final move to Tampa Bay, Florida in the early Nineties, where he continues to play jazz festivals, jazz parties and concerts around Europe and the United States.
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