Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dick Charlesworth, born Richard Anthony Charlesworth on January 8, 1932 in Sheffield, England. Attending King Edward VII School, at 16, he became a clerk in the Ministry of Labour and was in due course transferred to London. He bought a clarinet and started playing jazz as a hobby in 1952. Entirely self-taught, he became good enough to play clarinet and saxophone in a dance band and performed with jazz bands in south London including Jim Weller’s Jazzmen.
He formed his first group in 1956 and his Dick Charlesworth’s Jazzmen won the South London Jazz Band Championship in 1957. His group was signed by the Melodisc label, and they recorded an EP in December 1957 and produced an album for Doug Dobell’s 77 Records.
Leaving the Civil Service in 1959 he became a professional musician and signed a recording contract with EMI, remarketing the group as Dick Charlesworth’s City Gents. This was the time of light jazz, sporting distinctive attire of pin stripes and bowler hats, with their Latin motto, Dum vivimus vivamus, simply translated as “While we live, let us enjoy life”. They charted one single Billy Boy on the UK Singles Chart in 1961.
When jazz went out of vogue in the Sixties, Dick broke up his band, and from 1964 to 1969 fronted a band on the cruise liners. He then settled in Mojacar, Spain where he ran a music bar. Returning to Britain in 1977, he was active on the London jazz scene until the early 2000s working with, among others, Keith Smith, Rod Mason, Alan Littlejohn, Denny Wright, and appeared on the BBC Radio series, Jazz Score.
In his later years, Charlesworth lived in Thames Ditton, Surrey, and played a residency at various pubs with his band The Dick Charlesworth’s Fraternity Four, and released their final recording in 2004. Clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader Dick Charlesworth passed away following a heart attack on April 15, 2008, at the age of 76.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Budd Johnson was born Albert J. Johnson III on December 14, 1910 in Dallas, Texas. He initially played drums and piano before switching to tenor saxophone. In the 1920s he performed in Texas and parts of the Midwest, working with Jesse Stone among others.
Making his recording debut while working with Louis Armstrong’s band from 1932 to 1933, he is more known for his work, over many years, with Earl Hines. He was an early figure in the bebop era, doing sessions with Coleman Hawkins in 1944. The 1950s saw Budd leading his own group and doing session work for Atlantic Records, being the featured tenor saxophone soloist on Ruth Brown’s hit Teardrops From My Eyes.
In the mid-1960s he began working and recording again with Hines. His association with Hines is his longest lasting and most significant. In 1975 he began working with the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra. In 1993 he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
Throughout his career, he recorded ten albums as a leader and played and recorded thirty~two albums as a sideman with among others, Cannonball Adderley, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner, Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae, Bud Powell, Carrie Smith, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Count Basie, Roy Eldridge, Claude Hopkins, Etta Jones, Jimmy Smith, Randy Weston, Gil Evans, and Billie Holiday.
Tenor and soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Budd Johnson passed away of a heart attack on October 20, 1984 at the age of 73 in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sol Yaged was born on December 8, 1922 in Brooklyn, New York and began playing the clarinet at the age of 12 after hearing Benny Goodman’s broadcasts for Nabisco in 1935. He studied under a New York Philharmonic clarinetist, however turned down a classical career to play jazz in New York City nightclubs.
After three years in the Army during World War II, Yaged played clarinet professionally and continuously for over 70 years, with Phil Napoleon, Coleman Hawkins, Red Allen, and Jack Teagarden among others. In the 1960s, he began working primarily as an ensemble leader in City. In the Nineties he worked in Felix Endico’s swing band, and served as a consultant on Benny Goodman’s musical style for the 1956 film, The Benny Goodman Story.
For two years in the mid-1990s he worked under the musical direction of bandleader Jack Vartan at the Stony Hill Inn in Bergen County, New Jersey. He recorded four albums as a leader and six as a sideman. Clarinetist Sol Yaged, who was strongly influenced by Benny Goodman passed away on May 11, 2019.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marshal Walton Royal Jr. was born into a musical family on December 5, 1912 in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. His first professional gig was with Lawrence Brown’s band at Danceland in Los Angeles, California. In a very short time, he secured a regular gig at the Apex, working for Curtis Mosby in Mosby’s Blue Blowers, a 10-piece band. Following that gig, he began an eight-year stint from 1931–1939 with the Les Hite Orchestra at Sebastian’s Cotton Club in Los Angeles. He spent 1940 to 1942 with Lionel Hampton, until the war interrupted his career.
With his brother Ernie, he served in the U.S. Navy in the 45-piece regimental band that was attached to the Navy’s pre~flight training school for pilots at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California. Two swing bands were organized from the larger regimental band, and they played for smokers and dances at USOs and officers clubs. Royal was the leader of the Bombardiers, one of those bands, which also included not only his brother Ernie, but Jackie Kelson (later known as Jackie Kelso), Buddy Collette, Jerome Richardson, and Vernon Alley.
When he left Basie in 1970, Royal settled permanently in Los Angeles, continuing to play and record, working with Bill Berry’s big band, Frank Capp and Nat Pierce, Earl Hines, and Duke Ellington. Royal recorded as a soloist with Dave Frishberg and Warren Vache. He co-led a band with Snooky Young in the 1970s and 1980s, recording with the band in 1978.
Alto saxophonist and clarinetist Marshal Royal, best known for his twenty years with Count Basie, passed away in Culver City, California, on May 9, 1995, aged 82.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dick Johnson was born Richard Brown Johnson on December 1, 1925 in Brockton, Massachusetts. His primary instrument was clarinet, however, he also played the alto saxophone and flute.
He began his professional career as a musician while serving in the U.S. Navy in 1944-1946 and played with the navy band on the USS Pasadena during World War II. He often credited his stint in the Navy for kicking off his career in jazz. After the war, Johnson toured with the big bands of Charlie Spivak and Buddy Morrow.
Eventually, after several years on the road, he settled in his hometown of Brockton, Mass. It was there in Brockton where he and his close friend, Lou Colombo formed a jazz sextet. The group lasted 10 years, but the friendship and musical kinship lasted for the rest of his life. In addition, Dick formed his septet, Swing Shift, which was a staple on the Boston music scene for many years.
Like Herb Pomeroy, Johnson managed a double career as a performer and an educator, teaching jazz at nearby Berklee School of Music, where he mentored many younger jazz musicians.
Between 1956 and 2006 he recorded ten albums as a leader. He worked with Frank Sinatra, the Swing Shift Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie, and Tony Bennett.
Clarinetist, alto saxophonist, and flutist Dick Johnson, who also played in the free jazz genre, passed away on January 10, 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts after a short illness, aged 84.
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