Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hank Frederic Gregson Wayland was born January 21, 1906 in Fall River, Massachusetts. He learned music from his father who was a musician and played in high school bands. He moved to New York City in 1926, where he played the double bass in theater orchestras and in the studios.
In the 1930s he performed and/or recorded with Benny Goodman, Red Norvo, Artie Shaw, Bunny Berigan, and Larry Clinton. During The Depression, Wayland was forced to send his sons to Florida to live with his wife’s brother while he toured the US and in Europe.
In the early Forties Hank played with Bob Chester, then moved to California the following year where he played with Eddie Miller and Wingy Manone in addition to more work as a studio musician. He appeared in bit parts in low budget Hollywood films, however he did appear without credit in the film Stars and Stripes Forever.
During The Depression, Wayland was forced to send his sons to Florida to live with his wife’s brother while he toured the US and in Europe. He eventually relocated his family to Glendale, California and faded from the scene after the 1950s. He officially retired from his music career in 1968.
Diagnosed with colon cancer in 1978 he underwent a colectomy. Later that year he was suspected of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Double bassist Hank Wayland, who never led a recording session, died peacefully on March 27, 1983 while living in a retirement home.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sandy Block was born on January 16, 1917 in Cleveland, Ohio. Growing up in Cleveland and Brooklyn, New York he played violin as a child. He picked up the bass in high school and worked professionally in big bands from the late 1930s.
Block worked with Van Alexander, Chick Webb, Alvino Rey, and Tommy Dorsey. He recorded with Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. He played with Charlie Parker on the only television appearance Parker ever made.
After the 1950s Sandy worked extensively as a studio musician, including with folk ensembles such as The Greenbriar Boys. He played with Jimmy McPartland and Johnny Costa, but went into semi-retirement after the 1960s.
Bassist Sandy Block, who was also credited as Sid Block, died on October 1, 1985.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dick Lammi was born on January 15, 1909 in Red Lodge, Montana. Early in his career he played violin and banjo, playing as a banjoist in various dance bands and orchestras in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1920s. Settlling in Portland, Oregon in the early Thirties, and played bass in a group there.
After a move to San Francisco, California in 1936 he began playing tuba alongside bass. His best-known work was as a member of Lu Watters’s rehearsal band, which evolved into the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, playing regularly at the Dawn Club.
With World War II interrupting his tenure with the ensemble, after his discharge he rejoined the YBJB and stayed with them until they disbanded in 1950. The Fifties saw Dick working with Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy, Wally Rose, and Clancy Hayes. He recorded little after the early 1960s.
Tubist and bassist Dick Lammi, who was the first tuba player to record during the San Francisco revival, died on November 29, 1969 in San Francisco.
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MIMI JONES & FRIENDS
The Lab Sessions: Jazz & Jazz Party w/ Mimi Jones
For more than two decades she’s been on the scene, bassist/vocalist/producer/label owner and now filmmaker Mimi Jones has reigned supreme, as a side woman to an impressive coterie of musicians and as a leader with three original recording projects on her own Hot Tone Music label.
Born Miriam Sullivan in New York City on March 25, 1972, and was raised in the Bronx. Jones studied Music at the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory, and has also studied with Linda McKnight, Lisle Atkinson, Barry Harris, Milt Hinton, Dr. Billy Taylor, Yusef Lateef. She has toured extensively for over 30 years throughout the seven continents, and has played with such people as Frank Ocean, Kenny Barron, DD Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves, Tia Fuller, Roy Hargrove, Terri Lyne Carrington, Beyonce, Jason Moran, Common, Black Thought and more.
Mimi Jones co-directs a multimedia interdisciplinary production with pianist ArcoIris Sandoval entitled The D.O.M.E. Experience, creating choreography, musical and visual works inspired by social injustices and environmental changes in our world. Voted #1 & #2 rising star by the DownBeat polls for 3 consecutive years, she currently works on a new project called The Black Madonna. The Berklee School of Music professor recently began collaborating with a trio called Nite Bjuti featuring Vocalist Candice Hoyes, and Sound Chemist Val Jeanty. Mimi is a recipient of the Chamber Music America Performance Plus Award 2021.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles Pervis Harris was born in Alexandria, Virginia and raised in Baltimore, Maryland on January 9, 1916. He studied violin before switching to bass in high school. He played professional dates while studying education at what is now Coppin State College. He went on to work at the Royal Theater in Baltimore after graduating.
Joining Lionel Hampton in 1941, he played with him for several years and was one of three bassists in Hampton’s ensemble, one of his bandmates being Charles Mingus. Harris did some recording with Dizzy Gillespie in the 1940s as well. Fatigued from touring he returned to Baltimore in 1949.
Soon after he worked in a band called Three Strikes and a Miss, again at the Royal Theater. While working there Nat King Cole heard him and asked him to join his trio. During his tenure with the vocalist, Charlie performed on some of Cole’s best-known tunes, such as Unforgettable, Route 66, It’s Only A Paper Moon, Sweet Lorraine and Mona Lisa. During the 1956-57 season he performed on Nat’s tv show on NBC.
After leaving the band he returned to Baltimore and remained there, playing, teaching, and working as a furniture salesman. Double bassist Charlie Harris died from cancer on September 9, 2003 at Bon Secours Hospital.
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