Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mark Helias was born October 1, 1950 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He started playing the double bass at the age of 20, graduating from Yale University’s School of Music with a Masters degree in 1976 and also studied at Rutgers University.
He has performed with a wide variety of musicians, first and foremost with trombonist Ray Anderson, with whom Helias led the ironic 1980s avant-funk band Slickaphonics. He also led a trio with drummer Gerry Hemingway, formed in the late 1970s, which was later renamed BassDrumBone.
Helias has performed with members of Ornette Coleman’s band, Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, and Ed Blackwell, and with musicians affiliated with the AACM, such as Anthony Braxton and Muhal Richard Abrams.
>Since 1984 Mark Helias has released six recordings under his own name and further six albums leading the archetypal improvising trio Open Loose since 1996. The group comprises Helias on bass, first Ellery Eskelin, then Tony Malaby on tenor saxophone and Tom Rainey on drums.
Double bassist and composer Mark Helias continues to perform and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College, The New School, and SIM (School for Improvised Music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jon Eardley was born on September 30, 1928 in Altoona, Pennsylvania and first started on trumpet at the age of 11. His father played in Paul Whiteman’s orchestra. From 1946 to 1949 he played in an Air Force band in Washington, D.C., then led with his own quartet in D.C. from 1950 to 1953.
Moving to New York City in 1953 and the following year saw him playing with Phil Woods, then with Gerry Mulligan for three years, and with Hal McIntyre (1956). Following this he returned to his hometown and played there until 1963, when he moved to Belgium.
In 1969 he moved to Cologne, Germany, playing there with Harald Banter and Chet Baker. Working through the 1980s, the last years before death he played in the WDR Big Band Cologne, Germany.
He recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Teo Macero, J. R. Monterose, Airto Moreira, Charlie Parker, Manfred Schoof, and Zoot Sims. Trumpeter Jon Eardley, who recorded four albums as a leader and ten albums as a sideman, passed away on April 1, 1991 in Lambermont, near Verviers, Belgium.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Loonis McGlohon was born on September 29, 1921 in Ayden, North Carolina, and graduated from East Carolina University. After a spell in the Air Force during World War II, he played with the Jimmy Dorsey and Jack Teagarden orchestras and became involved with broadcasting in Charlotte, North Carolina, working as music director for radio and television.
An accompanist to many well-known singers that included Judy Garland, Mabel Mercer and Eileen Farrell. He co-hosted the Peabody Award-winning NPR radio series American Popular Song with his friend and collaborator, Alec Wilder. He also composed and wrote lyrics for several songs with Wilder.
For his hometown of Charlotte he wrote the music for The Hornet’s Nest, and in 1980, Frank Sinatra recorded two of his songs with Alec Wilder, South to a Warmer Place and A Long Night on the album She Shot Me Down. He received a commission to write a piece in celebration of North Carolina’s 400th birthday, which resulted in North Carolina Is My Home. a symphonic work. McGlohon was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 1999.
NationsBank Performance Place in Charlotte’s Spirit Square was named Loonis McGlohon Theatre in 1998, and the following year he was inducted into the North CArolina Music Hall of Fame. A 2004 biography, Loonis! Celebrating a Lyrical Life by Jerry Shinn was published posthumously by the East Carolina University Foundation in 2004. Pianist and songwriter Loonis McGlohon passed away at the age of 80 following a long-term battle with lymphoma on January 26, 2002.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Archie “Skip” Hall was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on September 27, 1909 and studied piano under his father. From the age of eight he lived in New York City and in the late 1920s he relocated to Cleveland, Ohio where he led his own band for most of the 1930s.
He worked as an arranger on contract and arranged for Jay McShann from 1940 to 1944 and during World War II played with Don Redman. In 1943 he entered military service and played in a band while stationed in England. Around 1945 Skip worked with Hot Lips Page and then joined the Sy Oliver band, who was his brother-in-law. Following this he worked with Wynonie Harris, Thelma Houston, and Jimmy Rushing before joining Buddy Tate’s group in 1948.
Hall went on to work with Tate for twenty years both as a performer and arranger. He also played in the 1950s and 1960s with Dicky Wells, Emmett Berry, and George James, as well as solo and with his own small groups. Arranger, pianist, and organist Skip Hall, who never recorded as a leader, passed away in November 1980 in Ottawa, Canada.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nelson “Cadillac” Williams was born on September 26, 1917 in Montgomery, Alabama and began playing piano at age 13, however, he settled on the trumpet soon afterwards. It has been speculated that while still a teenager he may have played with blues pianist/singer Cow Cow Davenport.
In the 1930s, he played in the territory bands Trianon Crackerjacks and Brown Skin Models, and acted as musical director for the Dixie Rhythm Girls. Around 1940, he left Alabama for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he played with Tiny Bradshaw’s band before joining the U.S. Army during World War II.
After the war, Billy Eckstine hired Williams, before working with John Kirby and pianist Billy Kyle. In 1949, he began the first of several stints with Duke Ellington, who bestowed upon him the nickname “Cadillac”.
In 1951, he left Ellington’s employ and moving to Paris, France he led his own bands and recorded for French labels. He returned to Ellington in 1956, and played with him again in 1969 on a tour of Europe. Trumpeter Nelson “Cadillac” Williams settled in the Netherlands and passed away in 1973 in Voorburg.
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