Daily Dose Of jazz…
Ernest Shepard, Jr. on July 19, 1916 in Beaumont, Texas and played in territory bands in Texas in the 1930s and soon after worked in California in the bands of Phil Moore and Gerald Wilson.
For a short time he played in a quintet with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in 1945. Later that year he recorded as a vocalist with Lem Davis and worked with Eddie Heywood in 1945-1946.
In the Fifties he worked with Slim Gaillard, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, and Johnny Hodges, but played little in the latter half of the decade. In 1962 he became a member of Duke Ellington’s band and accompanied him on tours of Europe through 1964.
He worked with Paul Gonsalves in 1963 and Johnny Hodges in 1964 then moved to Germany in 1964. He took up work as a session musician for studio recordings, radio, and television.
Double-bassist and vocalist Ernest Shepard transitioned on November 23, 1965 in Hamburg, West Germany.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dan Peter Sundland was born in Oslo, Norway on July 15, 1986 and grew up in Børsa, a village outside Trondheim, Norway. He started playing bass at age 14 and studied with bass players Andreas Bergsland and Mattis Kleppen. He was a member of Middle-Norwegian Youth Big Band and went on to become a member of the S. Møller big band.
Attending Sund Folk College from 2005 to 2006 he then attained a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance at NTNU Music Institute in Trondheim in 2010. He went on to get his European Jazz Masters degree (EUJAM) at NTNU Music Institute with exchange to Berlin Jazz Institute in 2012 and Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2013.
Active in the jazz and improvisation scenes in Norway and Berlin, Germany he has set himself apart by his expressive, wide ranging playing techniques, including cello-like bowing and a varied palette of percussive colours. Has been featured with musicians including Jim Black, John Hollenbeck, Axel Dörner, Tobias Delius, Hans Hulbækmo, Hanna Paulsberg, Eirik Hegdal, John Pål Inderberg and Tor Haugerud.
His discography includes compositional work for his own eleven-piece Elevenette, the Berlin based improvising quartet Home Stretch and sideman work and collective groups including Lina Allemano’s Ohrenschmaus, Simon Kanzler’s hardcore opera and singer-songwriter Port Almond.
Electric bassist and composer Dan Peter Sundland, who has led Trondheim Improvisation Orchestra together with Peder Simonsen, continues to compose, perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Anthony John Archer was born July 14, 1938 in Dulwich, London, England and studied cello as a schoolboy before settling on upright bass.
He joined Don Rendell’s group in 1961, then went with Roy Budd and Eddie Thompson before beginning work with Tony Lee. He collaborated with Lee for many years as part of Lee’s trio, particularly at The Bull’s Head and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.
He later played with Brian Lemon, Sandy Brown, Harold McNair, John Dankworth, and in the Best of British Jazz group with Kenny Baker and Don Lusher.
Double-bassist Tony Archer, who continued to work with Lee nearly until Lee’s death in 2004, is still active in the music scene at 85 years old.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ron Rubin was born in Liverpool, London, England on July 8, 1933, to David and Louise Rubin. Music was important to the family and he learned piano from an early age. Becoming interested in jazz in his early teens while attending Liverpool College school, he was suspended for playing jazz on the school piano. Not being put off, he studied law under his uncle but it wasn’t for him and he signed up for the Royal Army Service Corps for a two year stint.
In the army he played piano with the Rhine River Jazz and Germany Rhine bands in Germany where he was stationed. After his service, in 1953 he picked up some gigs around Merseyside, London where he was playing guitar and clarinet at this time. Ron practiced hard on the piano and found solo work at clubs in London’s Soho. Taking up the double bass in 1955 and within a few weeks he was playing gigs with Ralph “Bags” Watmough and Tony Davis’s Gin Mill Four. In 1957 he played opening night at the Cavern Club with the Merseysippi and Watmough bands.
Moving to London in the 60s Ron played with a wide variety of bands on piano and double bass with Glyn Morgan, Dick Williams, Brian Leake, the Fairweather-Brown band, Mike Taylor, Group Sounds Five, the Ronnie Selby Trio, Fat John Cox and Bruce Turner. He accompanied visiting musicians Bill Coleman, Henry “Red” Allen and Ray Nance and with groups like those of Long John Baldry and the Hoochie-Coochie Men, and Manfred Mann.
Through the 1970s Rubin toured with the Lennie Best Quartet, Sandy Brown, Keith Ingham, Alex Welsh, Colin Purbrook, and accompanied Billy Eckstine. He had his own band at the Roundhouse Bar and was with the John Picard Band for three years and recorded regularly. The Eighties saw him touring with Wild Bill Davison and playing with Fatty George, Geoff Simkins, Keith Smith and Oscar Klein, George Howden, Brian Leake and Earl Okin.
By the end of the decade he was playing bass with the Bruce Turner Quartet before joining George Melly and John Chilton’s Feetwarmers. The following decades he played with Campbell Burnap’s band, then joined George Melly and John Chilton again and continued playing and touring. After surviving cancer in 2001 he slowed down to playing occasionally. In his later years Ron spent many happy hours writing his Jottings From A Jazzman’s Journal, a record of his life as a musician.
Pianist, bassist and poet Ron Rubin, who for many years was at the centre of the British jazz scene, transitioned on April 14, 2020 at the age of 86.
MONTY ALEXANDER
Monty Alexander O.J.: “Honoring Harry Belafonte” with Luke Sellick & Jason Brown
From Kingston, Jamaica, his hometown, Grammy nominated pianist Monty Alexander is an American classic, touring the world relentlessly with various projects, delighting a global audience drawn to his vibrant personality and soulful message. A perennial favorite at Jazz festivals and venues worldwide and at the Montreux Jazz Festival where he has appeared 23 times since 1976, his spirited conception is one informed by the timeless verities: endless melody-making, effervescent grooves, sophisticated voicings, a romantic spirit, and a consistent predisposition, as Alexander accurately states, “to build up the heat and kick up a storm.” In the course of any given performance, Alexander applies those aesthetics to a repertoire spanning a broad range of jazz and Jamaican musical expressions—the American songbook and the blues, gospel and bebop, calypso and reggae. Documented on more than 75 recordings and cited as the fifth greatest jazz pianist ever in The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time (Hal Leonard Publishing), the Jamaican government designated Alexander Commander in the Order of Distinction in 2000 and in 2018 The University of The West Indies bestowed him with an honorary doctorate degree (DLitt) in recognition of his accomplishments. For this engagement, Monty, along with bassist Luke Selick and drummer Jason Brown, commemorates his long friendship with Harry Belafonte, Jr. in stories and song.
Showtimes: 7:00pm | 8:30pm | 9:30pm | 10:30pm
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