Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Andrew Morgan was born on March 13, 1901 in Pensacola, Florida. He played clarinet with the Imperial Band in the mid-1920s and then joined his brother Isaiah Morgan’s band in 1925. Sam Morgan led this ensemble for its recordings in 1927.
Heading to New Orleans, Louisian he played in the late 1920s and 1930s with Kid Howard, Kid Rena, and Kid Thomas Valentine. In the 1940s he and Isaiah played together again in Biloxi, Mississippi, then moved back to New Orleans to play with Alphonse Picou, Kid Rena again, Herb Morand from 1946 to 1952 and Kid Clayton from 1952.
He played with Percy Humphrey in 1953 and with the Young Tuxedo Brass Band and led the group after 1964. From 1958 he played Sweet Emma Barrett, Kid Howard again, Alvin Alcorn, Onward Brass Band, Eureka Brass Band, and Captain John Handy.
Clarinetist and saxophonist Andrew Morgan, who recorded once as a leader for his 1969 album Down By the Riverside, died in New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 71 on September 19, 1972.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Wasserman was born on March 5, 1923 in Smackover, Arkansas. Growing up he had played the saxophone with many black kids in the neighborhood. After his father died, he moved with his mother to Tyler, Texas and it’s where he fell in love with jazz. His first paid job was in a dance band at age 14.
At the onset of World War II in 1941, Wasserman attended New York’s Juilliard School for a couple of years but he was soon drafted and wasn’t discharged until 1946. He returned to Juilliard to complete his studies and graduated in 1948, and that’s when he started playing with Benny Goodman. In addition to playing with Goodman, he was in big-band live and studio recordings led by Artie Shaw, Manny Albam, Stan Kenton, Louie Bellson and Chico O’Farrell, with whom he co-led a big band in 1953.
By 1955, big band work was beginning to dry up on the East Coast was starting to dry up. On the request of an agent O’Farrell and Wasserman formed a small group to play Latin music in Miami Beach, Florida. Not a good experience but Eddie’s late-1950s quartet recordings with Gene Krupa were great recordings.
Given that the youth-culture explosion in 1966 was changing the face of music, jazz was no longer an ideal way for him to earn a living. So giving up the road and having a degree in education, he became an assistant director of the concert band at Clifton High School in New Jersey. He continued to play club dates and find work in Broadway pit bands.
Saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist Eddie Wasserman died after suffering a heart attack on May 27, 1992. He was 69.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Joseph Kelson Jr. , known professionally as Jackie Kelso, was born in Los Angeles, California on February 27, 1922. He began taking clarinet lessons at age eight, studying with Caughey Roberts. When he was fifteen his Jefferson High School classmate Chico Hamilton urged him to take up the alto saxophone, making his professional debut with Jerome Myart that same year. By the time he graduated from Jefferson, he was playing with Hamilton, Buddy Collette, and Charles Mingus at Central Avenue clubs.
The 1940s saw Jackie playing with Barney Bigard, Marshal Royal, Lucky Thompson, Kid Ory, Benny Carter, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, and Roy Milton. He enlisted in the Navy in 1942 with Marshal and Ernie Royal, and, after training at Camp Robert Smalls, he was stationed with the Royals with St. Mary’s College Pre-Flight School band.
After the war he continued playing and by the 1950s he was performing with Johnny Otis, Billy Vaughan, Nelson Riddle, Bill Berry, Ray Anthony, the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut, Bob Crosby, C.L. Burke, and Duke Ellington. Joining Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps in 1958 he was featured on several recordings from that period such as Ac-centu-ate the Positive.
Working as a studio musician between 1964 and 1984, in addition Kelso recorded with Mercer Ellington and Mink DeVille, toured worldwide with Hampton, Ellington, and Vaughan, and appeared in The Concert for Bangladesh. Semi-retiring from music in 1984, he returned to perform in 1995 with the Count Basie Orchestra, where he became a regular in 1998.
Saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist Jackie Kelso, who reverted to his birth name Kelson. died on April 28, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California, aged 90.
Get a dose of the musicians and vocalists who were members of a global society integral in the making and preservation of jazz for over a hundred and twenty-five years…
Jackie Kelso: 1922~2012 | Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Holmes “Buddy” Tate was born on February 22, 1913 in Sherman, Texas and first played the alto saxophone. He began performing in public as early as 1925 in a band called McCloud’s Night Owls, then later in the decade was playing tenor saxophone around the Southwest with bands led by Terrence Holder, Andy Kirk and Nat Towles.
He joined Count Basie in 1939 replacing Herschel Evans and stayed with him until 1948. After his period with Basie ended, he worked with several other bands before finding success on his own, starting in 1953 in Harlem. Buddy’s group worked at the Celebrity Club from 1953 to 1974. In the late 1970s, he co-led a band with Paul Quinichette and worked with Benny Goodman.
In 1979, Tate’s hometown invited him to play a concert at Austin College’s Sid Richardson Center as part of The Sherman Symphony Pops Series. Mayor Virginia Morriss issued a proclamation declaring October 6th as Buddy Tate Day. Accompanying Tate were Jay McShann, Claude Williams, Buster Smith and Paul Gunther.
In 1980, he was injured by scalding water in a hotel shower, which kept him inactive for four months. The 1990s saw him slow down, but he remained active playing with Lionel Hampton among others.
In 1992, Tate took part in the documentary, Texas Tenor: The Illinois Jacquet Story. In 1996, he recorded with reeds player James Carter on the younger man’s second release for Atlantic Records, Conversin’ with the Elders, along with trumpeters Harry “Sweets” Edison and Lester Bowie, and saxophonists Hamiet Bluiett and Larry Smith.
Living in New York until 2001, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona to be cared for by his daughter. Saxophonist and clarinetist Buddy Tate died in Chandler, Arizona twelve days before his 88th birthday on February 10, 2001.
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LIFE, LOVE & LENNY
A Celebration of the life and music of Lenny White
The iconic Grammy-winning drummer, who is among jazz music’s most prolific and celebrated artists, producers, composers and sidemen — will be fêted at a one-night-only celebration filled with music and memories at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall.
Presented by Tzedakah 4 All, the event will feature performances in multiple combinations – Return to Forever w/ Stanley Clarke, Al DiMeola and orchestra conducted by Maestro Steve Mecurio, Miles Davis Bitches Brew, Red Clay, Echoes of an Era, as well as exploring material from his illustrious five + decade career. Laurence Fishburne will serve as emcee with appearances from fellow artists Buster Williams, Omar Hakim, Patrice Rushen, Al Foster, Mike Clark, Billy Hart, and Billy Drummond.
Tickets: $175.00~$250.00
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