Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Terry Plumeri was born John Terryl Plumeri on November 28, 1944 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and grew up in Tampa, Florida. He began studying music when he was 10 and while attending Chamberlain High School, he was introduced to the double bass by band director Robert Price. He went on to attend the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, studying with Robert Brennand, then the principal bassist in the New York Philharmonic. Later, he studied composition and conducting with Antal Doráti.

During his military service, Terry was a member of the Air Force Band. After his discharge he played with among others John Abercrombie, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, Woody Herman, Quincy Jones, Yusef Lateef, Les McCann, Wayne Shorter, Frank Sinatra, Ralph Towner, and Joe Williams.

He performed, toured, and recorded with Roberta Flack from 1969 to 1974, playing electric and acoustic bass. He appears on the albums Chapter Two, Quiet Fire, Killing Me Softly, and wrote the song Conversation Love on the latter album.

Moving to Los Angeles, California to work in the film industry, Terry wrote the music for over 50 feature films, and his score for the film  One False Move was nominated for Best Score by the IFC Independent Spirit Awards. In later years, he was guest conductor for the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and was a frequent guest lecturer, teacher, music producer, and photographer.

Double bassist, classical and film score composer, orchestra conductor, lecturer, teacher, and producer, and composer Terry Plumeri was murdered by burglars during a home invasion on March 31, 2016 in Dunnellon, Florida. He was 71.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Wilber Morris (November 27, 1937 in Los Angeles, California and followed in the footsteps of his older brother Butch into the music industry and jazz. He began playing frums as a child but switched to the double bass during his tour of duty in the Air Force from 1954 to 1962.

He played around San Francisco, California with Pharoah Sanders and Sonny Simmons but after his discharge he returned home and played with Arthur Blythe and Horace Tapscott. 1969 saw Wilber back in San Francisco for a short period but it wasn’t until he moved aross the country for New York City in 1978 that his career took off. His association with Billy Bang from 1979 to ‘83 rendered five albums and multiple touring dates. He then became a mainstay in David Murray’s octet well into the 1990s which produced seven albums.

He put together a trio of players under the name Wilber Force in 1981 and recorded his debut album as a leader, Collective Improvisations, and would go on to record six more as a leader or co-leader. His final recording came in 2019 titled Monks, which is a collective interpretation of Thelonious Monk compositions.

Morris founded the One World Ensemble in 1995, and participated in John Fischer’s one-off reunion of INTERface and performed well into the new millennium.

Wilber performed with Pharoah Sanders, Steve Habib, Sonny Simmons, Alan Silva, Joe McPhee, Horace Tapscott, Butch Morris, Arthur Blythe, Charles Gayle, William Parker, Charles Tyler, Dennis Charles, Roy Campbell, Avram Fefer, Alfred 23 Harth, Borah Bergman and Rashied Ali.

As a sideman recorded thirty-one albums with Marshall Allen, Billy Bang, Thomas Borgmann, Rob Brown, Bobby Few, Avram Fefer, Charles Gayle, Steve Habib, Frank Lowe, Makanda Ken McIntyre, David Murray, Kevin Norton. Positive Knowledge, Alan Silva and Steve Swell.

Double bass player and bandleader Wilber Morris died on August 8, 2002 in Livingston, New Jersey from a previos bout with cancer that returned.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ali Haurand was born Alfred Josef Antonius Haurand on November 15, 1943 in Viersen, Germany. After an apprenticeship as a confectioner and a business manager, he studied from 1966 to 1973 at the Folkwang School and the Rhineland Music Academy. He initially played with his own trio and from 1967 in the trio and quintet of pianist George Maycock. In 1968 he also toured with Philly Joe Jones, Jacques Pelzer, René Thomas and Jan Huydts.

He performed with Ben Webster, Don Byas, John Handy, Bobby Jones and Wilton Gaynair. This was followed by his own groups, Third Eye, the European Jazz Quintet with Leszek Zadlo, Gerd Dudek, Alan Skidmore and Pierre Courbois. Together with Alan Skidmore and Tony Oxley, they formed the trio SOH. Haurand played with his long-time companions, the saxophonist Gerd Dudek and the pianist Rob van den Broeck, in the formation The Trio.

Since 1982, the European Jazz Ensemble, which he formed out of the European Jazz Quintet with varying lineups that included Allan Botschinsky, Stan Sulzmann, Joachim Kühn and Daniel Humair. In the 2000s, he took part in several jazz and poetry projects.

For decades he was a presenter and consultant to the WDR television jazz editorial team, and for twelve years he was artistic director of the Düsseldorf Jazz Rally. From 1987 he was the founder, director and organizer of the Viersen Jazz Festival until 2014. For over 20 years he organized the jazz concerts in the Süchtelner Weberhaus.

Double bassist and bandleader Ali Haurand, who was also a television presenter, music producer and festival manager, died on May 28, 2018.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Mickey Ashman was born on November 12, 1927 in the United Kingdom and began playing the double bass at a young age. His sojourn into the jazz world began in the early 1950s when he collaborated with Chirs Barber in one of his amateur bands. Their early 1951 recording Misty Morning hinted at his exceptional musical talent.

The mid-Fiftiess saw his transition into the professional realm of jazz, joining Humphrey Lyttelton’s band. In 1956, he returned to Chris Barber’s Jazz Band, further solidifying his reputation as a sought-after bassist. Mickey made significant contributions to two influential LP records, Echoes Of Harlem and Volume 2 in the Chris Barber Plays series.

Parting ways with Chris Barber’s band following Lonnie Donegan’s exit in 1956, he joined Lonnie in creating one of the UK’s most popular musical acts in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s, he embraced leadership, forming Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazzmen. Although the group didn’t achieve the same level of fame as some of its contemporaries, they contributed noteworthy recordings like Tin Roof Blues.

His dedication to jazz and versatile talent solidified his place in British jazz history and his legacy continues to inspire musicians. Double bassist Mickey Ashman, also known as Micky, died on August 21, 2015.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Mario Pavone was born on November 11, 1940 in Waterbury, Connecticut and attended B. W. Tinker grammar school, Leavenworth High School, and the University of Connecticut at Storrs, where he graduated with a B.S. in engineering. When his neighbor, guitarist Joe Diorio, recognized him as an unrealized musician Mario was inspired to take up the bass. Primarily self-taught, he was a natural on his instrument. Pavone began playing bass soon after witnessing John Coltrane at the Village Vanguard in 1961.

Pavone’s career took off during the Sixties when he toured Europe and was involved in the jazz loft era, playing in jam sessions nightly in New York City. From the late in the decade into the early Seventies he was a member of Paul Bley’s trio. The New Haven based Creative Musicians Improvising Forum (CMIF) was founded in 1975 by Pavone, Wadada Leo Smith, and Gerry Hemingway was influenced by Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. His venture into composition began here.

In 1979 Mario recorded his debut album as a leader and was a member of Bill Dixon’s trio during the 1980s. He also performed with Barry Altschul, Smith, and Hemingway. In 1980 he began an 18-year musical relationship with saxophonist Thomas Chapin. With drummer Michael Sarin, the group recorded seven albums for Knitting Factory Records, which also released an eight-CD box set of these albums plus a live recording following Chapin’s death in 1998.

He co-led a group with Anthony Braxton in the early 1990s, with Braxton on piano rather than his usual saxophones. His groups have included Matt Wilson, Gerald Cleaver, Peter Madsen, Joshua Redman, Tony Malaby, Dave Douglas, Steven Bernstein, George Schuller, Craig Taborn, and Jimmy Greene.

Bassist Mario Pavone, who has over 40 recordings and several films documenting his compositions and performances, died from carcinoid cancer in Madeira Beach, Florida on May 15, 2021 at the age of 80.

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