Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Luckey Roberts was born Charles Luckyth Roberts on August 7, 1887 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was playing piano and acting professionally with traveling Negro minstrel shows in his childhood. Settling in New York City about 1910 he became one of the leading pianists in Harlem, and started publishing some of his original rags.
Roberts toured France and the UK with James Reese Europe during World War I, then returned to New York where he wrote music for various shows and recorded piano rolls. With James P. Johnson, he developed the stride piano style of playing about 1919.
His reach on the keyboard was unusually large and Luckey could reach a fourteenth, leading to a rumor that he had the webbing between his fingers surgically cut. Those who knew him and saw him play live denounced it as false, he simply had naturally large hands with a wide finger spread.
By the 1920s Roberts teamed up with lyricist Alex C. Rogers, co-wrote three Broadway musicals, Go-Go and Sharlee in 1923, and My Magnolia in 1926, the latter starred Adelaide Hall, a major black revue star.
Hisnoted compositions include Junk Man Rag, Moonlight Cocktail, Pork and Beans, and Railroad Blues. The Glenn Miller Orchestra recorded Moonlight Cocktail, and was the best selling record in the United States for ten weeks in 1942.An astute businessman, he became a millionaire twice through real estate dealings. Pianist and composer Luckey Roberts, who recorded piano solos with Willie “the Lion “ Smith, passed away on February 5, 1968 in New York City.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Lee McFadden was born on August 6, 1928 in Baltimore, Maryland and as a small child tried the piano but later settled on guitar. After his military service, he concentrated on jazz guitar. By the 1950s the guitarist was playing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania clubs. From 1957-58 he was in organist Jimmy Smith’s band and recorded a dozen albums with Smith as part of a trio and sextet. The trio included Donald Bailey on drums.
Staying with organists he next joined Johnny “Hammond” Smith and during the period 1960–63 and one more in 1966, McFadden made eight recordings. Two further sideman appearances on albums came to fruition in the late 1970s.
In November 1967, the Al Grey & Eddie McFadden Quartet played at Count Basie’s Lounge in New York. During the late Seventies he recorded with Sonny Phillips and Don Patterson.
Guitarist Eddie McFadden, who also wrote music for some of his bands, passed away on September 23, 1992 in Philadelphia.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Otto Lington was born on August 5, 1903 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The son of a clown, he showed an early interest in music and got his first professional arrangement as a musician at 14 years old. During the 1920s and 1930s he led his own orchestras and held jobs as a leader of orchestras, such as Kai Ewans in Denmark , Jack Harris in Sweden and Bernard Etté in Germany.
He was one of the pioneers of jazz in Denmark and was nicknamed The White Negro. In 1929, Otto performed the first major jazz concert in Denmark, where, among other things, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue was performed.
For many years during 1951 ~ 1952 and 1958 ~ 1972 Lington led the orchestra at the Tivoli in Copenhagen, but also at many theaters, revue establishments and the like.
Violinist., composer, music publisher and bandleader Otto Lington, was a pioneer of jazz in Denmark, passed away on December 15, 1992 and interred at Søndermark Cemetery in Frederiksberg, Denmark.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roy Crimmins was born in London, England on August 2, 1929. Originally self-taught, he was later mentored by the American bass trombonist with the Philarmonia Orchestra, Ray Premru, and the then Ted Heath principal trombonist, Don Lusher. He turned professional when he joined the Mick Mulligan band in 1952.
Collaborating with Alex Welsh in 1954, the pair started their own band and recorded with American guest stars such as the clarinetist Pee Wee Russell and Wild Bill Davison. For the next decade they performed until Roy moved to Germany in 1965 where he kept a consistent line-up and a regular group. Residing in Switzerland from 1970 until 1977 he formed his own band under the pseudonym Roy King and recorded three albums.
Touring Europe extensively during this era, he had his own television show in Vienna, Austria for five years. The late 1970s saw Crimmins returning to England and working once again with Welsh until he died in 1982. In the mid-1980s he was approached to join his Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington orchestras,interpreting the original Lawrence Brown, Tricky Sam Nanton and Juan Tizol trombone solos. He performed at the Nice and North Sea Jazz Festivals.
As an advisor to the Mayor of Eilat, Israel, his involvement in this venture led to the renowned Red Sea Jazz Festival. Soon after, Roy and his family moved to Tel Aviv, Israel where he established the Israel Jazz Ensemble, and was commissioned by Musica Nova to write a concerto, which premiered in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art to great acclaim. His music is still broadcast regularly.
Trombonist, composer and arranger Roy Crimmins, whose career spanned over fifty years, passed away on August 27, 2014 at the age of 85. He is buried on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kamil Hala was born on August 1, 1914 in Most, Czechoslovakia. During the late Fifties he led his own orchestra. He was a member of the Czechoslovak Radio Dance Orchestra beginning in 1960, starting as a pianist and later as its arranger and conductor. After the orchestra split in 1963 he was the conductor of the Czechoslovak Radio Jazz Orchestra until the 1990s.
Pianist composer, arranger, and conductor Kamil Hala passed away on October 29, 2014 in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
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