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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MIMI JONES & FRIENDS
The Lab Session: Jam and Jazz Party
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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JAZZ DIALOGUE OPEN JAM
Earlybird Show | 6:30pm ~ 8:30pm
Lex Korten (p) | Dave Adewumi (tp) | Carmen Rothwell (b) | Connor Parks (d)
Jazz Dialogue Open Jam | 9:00pm ~ 12:00am
Asaf Yuria (ts) | Brian Charette (org)| Jimmy Macbride (d)
More Posts: adventure,bass,club,drums,genius,jazz,music,organ,piano,preserving,saxophone,travel,trumpet