Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Anthony Tillmon Williams was born of African, Portuguese, and Chinese descent on December 12, 1945 in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied with drummer Alan Dawson at an early age, and began playing professionally at the age of 13 with saxophonist Sam Rivers. Saxophonist Jackie McLean hired Williams when he was 16.
At 17 Williams gained attention when he joined Miles Davis in what was later dubbed Davis’s Second Great Quintet. A vital element of the group, his playing helped redefine the role of the jazz rhythm section through the use of polyrhythms and metric modulation.
He recorded his first two albums as leader at nineteen for the Blue Note label, Life Time in 1964) and Spring in 1965.. He also recorded as a sideman for the label including, in 1964, Out to Lunch! with Eric Dolphy and Point of Departure with Andrew Hill.
By 1969, he had formed his trio, the Tony Williams Lifetime, with John McLaughlin on guitar and Larry Young on organ. Lifetime was a pioneering band of the fusion movement. Disbanding the group, in 1975 he put together a band he called The New Tony Williams Lifetime, featuring bassist Tony Newton, pianist Alan Pasqua, and English guitarist Allan Holdsworth, which recorded two albums for Columbia Records..
In mid-1976, Tony reunited with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Wayne Shorter. Freddie Hubbard replaced Miles Davis who was in the midst of a six-year hiatus. The resulting record was later released as V.S.O.P. and the group toured for several years and produced a series of live albums released under the name V.S.O.P. or V.S.O.P.: The Quintet.
1979 saw Williams, McLaughlin and bassist Jaco Pastorius united for a one-time performance at the Havana Jazz Festival. This trio came to be known as the Trio of Doom. In 1985, returning to Blue Note he released six albums through 1993, playing his compositions almost exclusively ubtil he left Blue Note for the final time.
He lived and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area, was one of the pioneers of jazz fusion, and was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1986. On February 20, 1997 he checked into Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California, suffering from stomach pain. Three days later, while recuperating from gallbladder surgery, drummer Tony Williams passed away of a heart attack at 51 on February 23, 1997.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Robert Alexander Scobey Jr. was born on December 9, 1916 in Tucumcari, New Mexico and began his career playing in dance orchestras and nightclubs in the 1930s. By 1938 he was working as second trumpeter for Lu Watters in the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. By 1949, he was leading his own band under the name Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band.
In the Fifties the group continued to play a three-year residency at the Victor & Roxie’s, growing their popularity. Clancy Hayes joined the band to sing, play banjo and contributed his own compositions such as Huggin’ and a Chalkin’. The collaboration recorded over two hundred tracks until he left in 1959 to follow a solo career.
The Frisco Band broadcasted in 1952 and 1953 on Rusty Draper’s television show. In 1953, Louis Armstrong sang with them at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. From 1954-57, blues singer Lizzie Miles recorded and toured with the band.
In 1955, Scobey and his band played dates at San Quentin Prison and at the Rancho Grande in Lafayette, California. Two years later he recorded for Verve Records and RCA Victor, and on the latter Bing with a Beat recorded with Bing Crosby in 1957. From early in 1956, he toured colleges and universities and, in 1958, he recorded many of the student favorites and released the album College Classics.
While touring in 1960, he was reportedly drinking half and half or heavy cream to ease the pain in his stomach. Trumpeter Bob Scobey passed away from cancer on June 12, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His wife Jan posthumously produced a biography titled He Rambled!.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Reynold David Philipsek was born December 8, 1952 in Richmond, Minnesota and at the age nine began playing guitar and by 14 joined the American Federation of Musicians labor union. At sixteen, he wrote and recorded the single Oval Portrait with the band Cure of Ares. At 18, he was exposed, through a radio broadcast, to gypsy jazz through Django Reinhardt.
In 1975, he took a lesson and two workshops from jazz guitarist Joe Pass, studied jazz guitar and The Complete Johnny Smith Approach to Guitar with Mike Elliott.. Post Cure of Ares, he played in bands in the midwest and in 1989, Philipsek became primarily a solo act recording albums in pop, rock, jazz, and gypsy jazz on his label, Rephi Records.
He began to concentrate on gypsy jazz with All the Things You Are and Tales from the North Woods, that includes elements of gypsy jazz, bebop, Latin folk, modal jazz, and Slavic folk music informed by his burgeoning interest in his Czech and Polish heritage. Along with appearing at gypsy jazz festivals, jazz clubs, and concert venues, he composed the score for the children’s short film. St. Cloud Sleep, wrote a book of poetry Journey to the Middle Ages, and released Three Piece Suite/Munsinger Gardens on DVD.
He went on to produce Live at The Times recorded with the Twin Cities Hot Club and the documentary A Life Well Played in 2016. Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and poet Reynold Philipsek continues to explore his music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Born in Boggs, Oklahoma on December 7, 1906, George James began his career late in the 1920s, in the bands of Charlie Creath and Johnny Neal. Moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1928, he played with Jimmie Noone, Sammy Stewart, Ida Marples, Jabbo Smith, and Bert Hall.
In 1931 on into 1932 he toured with Louis Armstrong, then remained in New York City at the end of the tour. He went on to join the Savoy Bearcats and, later, Charlie Turner’s Arcadians. Fats Waller assumed leadership of the Arcadians in the middle of the decade, and James played under him until 1937.
Finishing the Thirties decade playing in the Blackbirds Revue, in the early 1940s George worked with James P. Johnson, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, and Lucky Millinder. He led his own band in 1943-44 and later in the decade he played with Claude Hopkins and Noble Sissle.
He was active both as a leader and a sideman into the 1970s, playing with Clyde Bernhardt and the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band in that decade. Saxophonist, clarinetist, and flautist George James passed away on January 30, 1995 in Columbus, Ohio.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Laurie Haines Reese was born on December 3, 1961 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A sojourn to Miami, Florida she studied at the University of Miami~Coral Gables, earning a Bachelor in Music Performance, then a Master of Music Performance degree from the University of Southern California~Los Angeles, she studied the advanced classical cello repertoire with Eleanor Schoenfeld.
She played both classical & jazz, performing regularly with Ira Sullivan & Strings Attached. She also free-lanced extensively, playing in various symphony orchestras, doing studio work and working with a string quartet & a flute quartet.
Following her graduate work in Los Angeles, she went to Maui to work full-time as a professional musician. While there, she co-founded a trio called Chamber Jazz Maui, along with Jazlynn Woods & Tim O’Hara, that performed a variety of repertoire “from Bach to Beatles.” From there, she spent six months in Seattle, before heading back home to Pennsylvania where she has remained and co-founded The Reese Project with her husband Tom reese..
Adept and equally comfortable in the recording studio and on stage, Laurie has been performing professionally since she was seventeen years old. She has been nominated for a Grammy and recorded with several bands. Cellist Laurie Reese continues her session work..
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