Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jeffrey Ovid Clyne was born on January 29, 1937 in London, England and taught himself double bass from the age of 17. He played in the 3rd Hussars military band during his national service from 1955 to 1957, and on demobilisation found himself at the cutting edge of the British modern-jazz and bebop movement.
Clyne worked with Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott in their group the Jazz Couriers for a year from 1958, and was part of the group of musicians who opened Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in November 1959. He was a regular member of Hayes’ groups from 1961. He accompanied Blossom Dearie, Stan Tracey on his Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood album, Ian Carr, and Gordon Beck on Experiments With Pops, with John McLaughlin.
Jeff would go on to perform with Dudley Moore, Zoot Sims, Norma Winstone, John Burch and Marion Montgomery. He was a member of Nucleus, Isotope, Gilgamesh, Giles Farnaby’s Dream Band and Turning Point during the 1970s. He often worked with drummer Trevor Tomkins.
Bass guitar and double bassist Jeff Clyne died on November 16, 2009 from a heart attack at the age of 72.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Richard Anthony Meldonian was born January 27, 1930 in Providence, Rhode Island. He first began playing the clarinet when he was eight years old and by eleven was proficient on the tenor saxophone. In 1944 he led his first band that he formed.
1949 saw Dick working as a professional musician in the bands of Freddie Slack, and into the Fifties with Charlie Barnet and as an alto saxophonist with Stan Kenton alongside Bud Shank and Art Pepper. He also played with Shorty Rogers, Nat Pierce, Elliot Lawrence and Bill Russo.
Moving to New York City in the mid 1950s, Meldonian worked as a studio and session musician, among other things. with Phil Sunkel, Sam Most and Erroll Garner. In 1957 he was a member of Paul Quinichette’s band with Gene Roland and John Carisi. In 1960 he joined the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band.
He became better known as the leader of his own quartet, The Jersey Swingers , in the late 1970s and through the big band that he led with drummer Sonny Igoe in the early 1980s. During this time, Dick also recorded with the big band and smaller formations under his own name for the Progressive, Circle and Statiras labels. In 1992 he was still working with Harry DiVito and Marty Grosz.
Soprano and tenor saxophonist Dick Meldonian died on January 25, 2017.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sophia Domancich was born January 25, 1957 in Paris, France and began learning piano at the age of six. She attended the Conservatoire de Paris from 1968 to 1975 where she won first prize for piano and chamber music. She began her career as an accompanist in vocal and dance lessons, with the Paris Opera and the Théâtre de Caen.
In 1979 she met Steve Lacy, Bernard Lubat and Jean-Louis Chautemps who introduced her to the world of jazz and improvisation. By 1982 she formed a duet with Laurent Cugny and joined the big band Lumiére. She later participated in Quoi D’Neuf Docteur? with Steve Grossman, Glenn Ferris and Jack Walrath.
The following year during a brief collaboration with the group Anaïd, she met several English musicians from the Canterbury scene, drummer Pip Pyle, saxophonist Elton Dean and bassist Hugh Hopper, forming the group L’Equip Out in late 1984. The group included for a time a fifth member, Didier Malherbe on the flute and the tenor saxophone. In 1990, L’Equip Out recorded a second album, Up!, with bassist Paul Rogers.
With the latter and drummers Bruno Tocanne and Tony Levin, she formed the Sophia Domancich Trio with which she toured for eight years and recorded five studio albums. Also with Rogers, she created a 1995 quartet with the original composition, this time with two trumpeters, Patrick Fabert and Jean-François Canape.
Through the 1990s and into the new century, Domancich continued collaborating and recording with John Greaves and Vincent Courtois’ Trouble with Happiness, and with Simon Goubert. She was a pianist under Didier Levallet in the Orchester National de Jazz. In 2000 she formed the Quintet Pentacle, in 2006 the Trio DAG (Domancich, Avenel, Goubert) creating three albums as a trio and an album “free 4 DAG” with saxophonist Dave Liebman. Sophia ventured into electronic music, formed three more groups to continue to express herself through her music.
She became the first woman to receive the Prix Django Reinhardt from the Jazz Academy as French Musician of the Year. By 2007 found herself included in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture collaborative book, 100 Jazz Titles, that included her 2002 Pentacle Quintet release.
She has recorded 10 albums as a leader, 7 as a co-leader and 20 as a member of other groups. Pianist and jazz composer Sophia Domancich continues to compose, explore, perform and reinvent herslf.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Antoine Hervé was born on January 20, 1959 in Paris, France. He studied composition at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. Between 1987 and 1989 he was director of the French National Jazz Orchestra.
Next to musicals, soundtracks for movies and dance shows Hervé has composed a concert for trumpet and a piece for drums and orkest. During 1997 he and Markus Stockhausen founded a quintet.
Emerging as a gifted representative of his generation of improvisers, his delve into fusion music, European classical music, contemporary and modern jazz led him and 12 other musicians to form the group Bob 13. He would go on to create a trio with bassist Michel Benita and drummer Peter Gritz.
His influences have been Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Oscar Peterson and McCoy Tyner, as well as Chopin, Debussy and Bartok.
Pianist Antoine Hervé continues to explore the realm of jazz through his compositions and performance.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Charles Jackson Jr. was born on January 18, 1957 and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Hailing from a musical family, he grew up surrounded by instrumentalists and vocalists. Before reaching high school, he was the drummer in his brother’s band, Ripple, that recorded and played gigs in the area. When it was time to go on the road his mother was adamant that he must finish high school.
Graduating in 1977 he landed a job in Atlanta, Georgia as the drummer for The Counts. Jimmy played with them for a few years until they disbanded, then transitioned to the Mose Davis Trio. Though much younger than his bandmates, he played well beyond his years.
Getting his big break came with meeting jazz organist Jimmy Smith, who had a show in Atlanta and Davis loaned him his Hammond organ for the performance. After moving the instrument, Jackson asked if he could sit in on the sound check. Blowing Smith away with his playing during the sound check landed him a job with the organist. He would tour the world with the band.
While residing in Atlanta, Jimmy played with the Paul Mitchell Trio at Dante’s Down the Hatch, as well as freelancing around town. Leaving Atlanta in 2006 for New York City and then on to the Washington, D.C. area a year or so later. His heart always considered Atlanta as his second home
Drummer and vocalist Jimmy Jackson, who was affectionately known by most as Junebug, died on January 28, 2012 of complications associated with congestive heart failure at the age of 55.
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