Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Claude Luter ws born on July 23, 1923 in Paris, France the son of a professional pianist and studied the instrument with his father before moving to the clarinet in his teens. Seduced by jazz, he abandoned his training as a naval architect, although he retained an interest in sailing and later qualified as a private pilot. He went on to take clarinet lessons from a pit orchestra player, and pursued his passion for jazz by following the Claude Abadie band around Paris’s Latin Quarter clubs in the late 1930s, sometimes acting as a helpmate to the band’s frail trumpeter, the writer Boris Vian, with whom he made his debut on record in 1944.

Encountering trumpeters Pierre Merlin and Claude Rabanit, who became key members of his first band in 1946. Already recording as Claude Luter et Ses Orientais for the French Swing label, Luter and company moved over to the Vieux Colombier, popular with the existentialist crowd. He began a friendship with the trumpeter’s New Orleans-born clarinetist, Barney Bigard, a connection later cemented on record.

Among Luter’s principal influences was soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet. As luck would have it, Bechet made concert appearances in Paris in 1949 and was teamed with Luter’s down-to-earth trad band at the Salle Pleyel. He also sat in with them at the Vieux Colombier, beginning an association that endured after Bechet settled permanently in France.

Luter later visited New Orleans, Louisiana a number of times, recorded there and took part in the centenary celebrations of Bechet’s birth. He also attended the tribute concert for Louis Armstrong’s 70th birthday in Los Angeles, California in 1970. Clarinetist Claude Luter, who doubled on soprano saxophone, passed away on October 6, 2006 in Paris at the age of 83.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Karel Krautgartner was born on July 20, 1922 in Mikulov, Moravia into the family of a postmaster. He began studying clarinet on a private basis with Stanislav Krtička, and performed a demanding part of the Concertino by Leoš Janáček at the composer’s request at the festival of contemporary music in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1926. Acquiring the necessary skills of clarinet playing, and a fanatic passion for clarinet construction and components – reeds, mouthpieces, and barrels, which he later used his knowledge of wind instruments as a lecturer at German universities in Cologne and Düsseldorf.

In 1930 he began playing piano and by 1935 after moving to Brno, Czech Republic he became interested mainly in jazz radio broadcasts. 1936 saw Karel founding the student orchestra Quick band. In 1942, he signed his first professional contract as a saxophonist in the Gustav Brom orchestra in the hotel Passage in Brno. A year later he created Dixie Club and started to arrange in the Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller styles. From 1945 – 1955, the core of the Dixie Club moved to Prague and became a part of the Karel Vlach Orchestra.

He achieved a privileged position as the leader of the saxophone section and started to contribute with his own compositions. In 1956,along with Karel Velebný he put together the Karel Krautgartner Quintet, performed with the All Star Band, and with Studio 5. During the Sixties he became the head of the Dance Orchestra of Czechoslovakia Radio, renamed the Karel Krautgartner Orchestra. In 1968 he emigrated to Vienna, Austria and became the chief conductor of the 0RF Bigband. He eventually moved to Cologne, Germany. Clarinetist, saxophonist, arranger, composer, conductor and educator Karel Krautgartner passed away on September 20, 1982.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joe Darensbourg was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 9, 1906 and in his youth moved out to California where he played gigs where he could find them and appeared in several silent films with these bands. In 1950 Joe appeared in Mahogany Magic with Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band. The Sixties saw him playing with Louis Armstrong’s All Stars in The Good Years of Jazz: Louis Armstrong & The All Stars.

In 1958 his Dixie Fliers recording of Yellow Dog Blues hit #43 on the pop charts, and Louis Armstrong’s version of Hello Dolly, which Drensburg played clarinet went to #1 in 1964. By the Sixties he performed on a television special with the All Stars Winter Carnival in Sun Valley, California and a March of Dimes tribute to Louis Armstrong.

He was noted for his work with Buddy Petit, Jelly Roll Morton, Charlie Creath, Fate Marable, Andy Kirk, Johnny Wittwer, Kid Ory, Wingy Manone, Joe Liggins and Louis Armstrong. Clarinetist and saxophonist Joe Darensbourg, who played Dixieland, passed away on May 24, 1985.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz..

Walter Barnes was born on July 8, 1905 in Vicksburg, Mississippi but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He studied under Franz Schoepp and attended the Chicago Musical College and the American Conservatory of Music.

Leading his own bands from the early 1920s, he also played with Detroit Shannon and his Royal Creolians. After Shannon’s retinue became dissatisfied with his leadership, Barnes took control of this group as well. He played mostly in Chicago, though the band did hold a residency at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City as well. His band recorded in 1928-29 for Brunswick Records.

He toured the American South in the 1930s to considerable success, touring there yearly and  by 1938 the ensemble grew to sixteen members. Around this time, Barnes also worked as a columnist for the Chicago Defender newspaper, and used his position to advertise his own tours and promote other entertainers on the same touring trail to Black audiences. Barnes is thus credited as an early originator of what was known as the “Chitlin’ Circuit”; a network of entertainment venues where it was safe and acceptable for Black entertainers to perform.

Barnes was one of the victims of the Rhythm Club Fire in Natchez, Mississippi, on April 23, 1940. When the club caught fire, he had the group continue playing the song “Marie” in order to keep the crowd from stampeding out of the building. All of the band members except for drummer Walter Brown and bassist Arthur Edward were among the 201 victims of the fire.

Clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader Walter Barnes, whose death was repeatedly immortalized in song, passed away on April 23, 1940.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bruce Turner was born on July 5, 1922 in Saltburn, North Yorkshire, England and educated at Dulwich College. He learned to play the clarinet as a schoolboy and began playing alto saxophone while serving in the Royal Air Force in 1943 during World War II. He played with Freddy Randall from 1948~53 and then worked on the Queen Mary in a dance band and in a quartet with Dill Jones and Peter Ind.

In 1950 he briefly studied under Lee Konitz in New York City. His first period with Humphrey Lyttelton ran from 1953 to 1957. After leaving Lyttelton he led his Jump Band from 1957~65, which was featured along with his arrangements in the 1961 film Living Jazz. In 1961, Turner recorded Jumpin’ at the NFT (National Film Theatre) and the album was issued later that year on Doug Dobell’s 77 Records label, coinciding with the film’s release.

In January 1963, the British music magazine New Musical Express reported that the biggest trad jazz event to be staged in Britain had taken place at Alexandra Palace. The event included George Melly, Diz Disley, Acker Bilk, Chris Barber, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer, Monty Sunshine, Bob Wallis, Alex Welsh, Mick Mulligan and Turner.

Returning to Randall’s group from 1964 to 1966, he then played with Don Byas and Acker Bilk till 1970. He went on to work with Wally Fawkes, John Chilton, Stan Greig), Alex Welsh, and Dave Green. He led small ensembles in the 1990s until his death. His autobiography Hot Air, Cool Music, published by Quartet Books, appeared in 1984. He wrote a column on jazz for the Daily Worker. Saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader Bruce Turner passed away on November 28, 1993 in Newport Pagnell.

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