Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill McGuffie was born on December 11, 1927 in Carmyle near Glasgow, Scotland. After three years studying the piano he had an accident as a child which caused the loss of his second finger of his right hand, but despite the accident he started playing again and modified his technique. By the time he turned eleven he was awarded the Victoria Medal for his piano proficiency by the Victoria College, Glasgow.
Finding it difficult he decided to stop playing until friends and colleagues suggested playing dance music. Towards the end of World War II when he was 17, he moved to London and began a career in 1946 playing in the Teddy Foster Orchestra at the Lyceum.
Working with other top bands followed until 1952 when he got his big break when the BBC formed their own show band run by Cyril Stapleton. McGuffie was a featured artist with a big public following, which led to a recording contract and he was voted in top place in the Melody Maker readers’ poll from 1953 to 1955. This led to him appearing in the early Esquire jazz poll winners records and recorded with trumpeter Kenny Baker’s Dozen.
He made a limited number of records which were jazz tinged and a big band record. Bigger success came with his light music and his albums with strings. Noted for his great musicianship and his impeccable good taste, his jazz records with the Kenny Baker Dozen and one track from the Melody Maker’s All-Stars are available. He also recorded albums with no jazz content, and worked extensively with bandleader Joe Loss, where he was featured.
He won an Ivor Novello Award in 1960 for his composition Sweet September, a Song Writers’ Guild Badge of Merit, and the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Gold Badge of Merit.
Pianist Bill McGuffie, who went on to be a film composer and conductor, and with the onset of cancer, died on March 22, 1987 at the age of 59.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joseph Francis Lamb was born of Irish parents on December 6, 1887 in Montclair, New Jersey. The youngest of four children, he taught himself to play the piano and admired the early ragtime publications of Scott Joplin. His first known works were Meet Me At The Chutes and Idle Dreams, at the age of 13 in 1900, but they are unpublished and assumed lost.
During his teenage years while living in Toronto, Canada he published several march and waltz compositions for Harry H. Sparks Music Publisher. Most notable were The Lilliputian’s Bazaar, Celestine Waltzes, and Florentine. Most were published after he left Canada
Lamb dropped out of St. Jerome’s College in 1904 to work for a dry goods company. He met Joplin in 1907 while purchasing the latest Joplin and Scott sheet music in the offices of John Stark & Son. It was there that Joplin was impressed with Lamb’s compositions and recommended him to ragtime publisher John Stark. Stark published Lamb’s music for the next decade, starting with Sensation.
Joseph’s twelve rags published by Stark from 1908 to 1919 can be divided into two groups: the “heavy” rags are incorporated with Joplin’s melody–dominated style and Scott’s expansive use of the keyboard registers. The “light” rags with the cakewalk tradition show the narrow-range melodies inspired by Joplin.
He went on to work as an arranger for the J. Fred Helf Music Publishing Company and in 1914 became an accountant for L. F. Dommerich & Company. When popular music interest shifted from ragtime to jazz Lamb stopped publishing his music, playing and composing only as a hobby.
Composer Joseph Lamb, who was the only non-African American of the Big Three composers of classical ragtime, the other two being Scott Joplin and James Scott, died of a heart attack in Brooklyn, New York at age 72 on September 3, 1960.
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ROBERT GLASPER
Robert Glasper is the leader of a new sonic paradigm with a career that bridges musical and artistic genres. To date, he boasts 5 Grammy wins and 11 nominations across 11 categories, an Emmy Award for his song for Ava Duvernay’s critically hailed documentary “13th” with Common and Karriem Riggins, and a Peabody Award for his Composition of “Mr. Soul!”. His work and accolades bridge all aspects of the music business, from live touring to film scoring, composing and producing. The ongoing Black Radio series has since become Glasper’s calling card, upholding a place at the heart of a trailblazing community: from long-time sonic brothers Mos Def and Bilal, to legends including Ledisi, Lupe Fiasco, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu.
In the last two years alone Glasper has seen a staggering diversity of success. He dropped Fuck Yo Feelings; a star-studded mixtape; his first on Loma Vista Records; with features ranging from YBN Cordae to Herbie Hancock to Yebba. The album was nominated for the Grammy for Best Progressive R&B album in the recent 2021 awards. He created an original score for the Emmy Nominated doc The Apollo and the feature film The Photograph starring Issa Rae.
He led a legendary residency at the Blue Note NYC with 56 sold-out shows in 27 days which saw everyone from Dave Chappelle to Tiffany Haddish, Chadwick Boseman, Q-Tip, Anderson.Paak and Angela Davis join him on and off stage. And, alongside long-time collaborator, co-producer, and creative partner Terrace Martin, he formed another dream team supergroup featuring Kamasi Washington and 9th Wonder called Dinner Party, who together wrote and recorded a debut self titled album that was released to rave reviews.
Tickets: $70.10 ~ $84.10
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Terry Plumeri was born John Terryl Plumeri on November 28, 1944 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and grew up in Tampa, Florida. He began studying music when he was 10 and while attending Chamberlain High School, he was introduced to the double bass by band director Robert Price. He went on to attend the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, studying with Robert Brennand, then the principal bassist in the New York Philharmonic. Later, he studied composition and conducting with Antal Doráti.
During his military service, Terry was a member of the Air Force Band. After his discharge he played with among others John Abercrombie, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, Woody Herman, Quincy Jones, Yusef Lateef, Les McCann, Wayne Shorter, Frank Sinatra, Ralph Towner, and Joe Williams.
He performed, toured, and recorded with Roberta Flack from 1969 to 1974, playing electric and acoustic bass. He appears on the albums Chapter Two, Quiet Fire, Killing Me Softly, and wrote the song Conversation Love on the latter album.
Moving to Los Angeles, California to work in the film industry, Terry wrote the music for over 50 feature films, and his score for the film One False Move was nominated for Best Score by the IFC Independent Spirit Awards. In later years, he was guest conductor for the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and was a frequent guest lecturer, teacher, music producer, and photographer.
Double bassist, classical and film score composer, orchestra conductor, lecturer, teacher, and producer, and composer Terry Plumeri was murdered by burglars during a home invasion on March 31, 2016 in Dunnellon, Florida. He was 71.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Francesca Tanksley was born November 21, 1957 in Vincenza, Italy but grew up in Munich, Germany where she studied music from the age of seven. Moving to Boston, Massachusetts at 16, she studied piano and composition at Berklee College Of Music.
Two years later she returned to Munich. In 1980 she moved to New York City where she worked with Melba Liston until 1983, then she joined Billy Harper’s quintet with whom she toured extensively.
She has worked with Clifford Jordan, Cecil Payne, Bill Hardman and Erica Lindsay. She leads her own quintet and co-leads the Erica Lindsay/ Howard Johnson Quintet. As an educator she has been on the faculty of the New School, Berklee College. She has facilitated workshops and masterclasses at University of Southern California at Santa Cruz, Hampton University, Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute, Arizona State University, and Bard College.
Pianist Francesca Tanksley, who is a composer and educator, continues to perform and compose.
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