Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Otis Wyble was born on January 25, 1922 in Port Arthur, Texas and in his early years worked for a radio station in Houston. He and guitarist Cameron Hill played Western swing, an outgrowth of jazz, in a band led by Burt “Foreman” Phillips. The sound of two guitars attracted Bob Wills, another fan of Western swing, and he hired both men for his band, the Texas Playboys.
His career interrupted by World War II, he served in the Army from 1942 to 1946, but returned to music after he came home. Jimmy continued to play in Western swing bands, but his interest in jazz surfaced on his 1953 debut album, The Jimmy Wyble Quintet. He would soon work with Barney Kessel and Benny Goodman, and then played with Red Norvo for eight years, including on a tour of Australia accompanying Frank Sinatra.
During the 1960s Wyble took a job as a studio musician in Los Angeles, California working as a guitarist for movies and television, playing on movie soundtracks, including The Wild Bunch, Ocean’s Eleven, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex and Kings Go Forth, and played on TV shows such as The Flip Wilson Show and Kraft Music Hall.
He became an educator after taking classical guitar lessons from Laurindo Almeida, teaching guitar to Larry Koonse, Howard Roberts, Howard Alden and Steve Lukather among others. The 1970s saw Jimmy developing a two-line contrapuntal approach to guitar and composed numerous etudes in this style, publishing Classical/Country, The Art of Two-Line Improvisation, and Concepts for the Classical and Jazz Guitar.
During the 1980s, he left the music business, returning to performance in 2005. Larry Koonse, his former student, issued the album What’s in the Box with compositions by Wyble based on his book of etudes.
Guitarist, composer, and educator Jimmy Wyble continued to perform, record and teach until his death on January 16, 2010.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Igor Grigoriev was born on January 24, 1955 in Moscow, Russia and taught himself to play the guitar as a young child, and later obtained his master’s degree from a music institution in Russia. As a young boy in the late sixties, he was interested in the latest music of the time, rock and started his career, gaining fame by playing and touring around the world.
Becoming a band leader of the trio, Roof, with trumpeter Andrew Solovyov, and percussionist Michael Zhukov they recorded on Melodia Records and Leo Records. His group, Asphalt also gained tremendous popularity despite its short life span.
As he developed musically, Grigoriev became interested in Charlie Parker’s work, but in later years the influence of classical composers became evident in his music. Permanently migrating to the United States in 1989 he continued his career, as a classical and jazz musician, but later he became more and more interested in Avant-garde music.
Better known for his 1990s work, he rapidly assimilated the American avant-garde and forged his own, instantly identifiable style. His music of the 1970s and 1980s saw transition from rock to classical to jazz and to avant-garde music. Igor developed methods of simultaneously improvising bass lines, harmony and melodic lines. In his later years, his playing became less predictable and formulaic.
He has recorded a number of solo albums, as well as recording or performing with Stan Getz, Red Callender, Larry Gales, Milcho Leviev, Ira Schulman, Rod Oakes, and many others. Igor and Rod founded OGOGO in 1996, which is one of the most important organizations to perform improvised music. His central focus was free improvisation, though he occasionally appeared in more conventional jazz and classical contexts, such as big band, various ensembles, and string orchestra.
He composed and arranged for a wide range of music genres, did orchestra work for a Russian circus, and arranged music for theatrical plays. As an educator he taught guitar, music history, jazz history, ensembles, and improvisation at Los Angeles Harbor College and Cerritos College in Los Angeles, California. Guitarist, composer, arranger, band leader and educator Igor Grigoriev passed away on September 25, 2010.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Calvin “Cal” Massey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 11, 1928 and studied trumpet under Freddie Webster. Following his studies, he played in the big bands of Jay McShann, Jimmy Heath, and Billie Holiday.
In the late 1950s Cal headed an ensemble with Jimmy Garrison, McCoy Tyner, and Tootie Heath. Occasionally John Coltrane and Donald Byrd would play with Massey’s group and in the 1950s he gradually receded from active performance and concentrated on composition.
His works were recorded by Coltrane, Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan, Philly Joe Jones, Horace Tapscott and Archie Shepp. Massey played and toured with Shepp from 1969 until 1972 and also performed in The Romas Orchestra with Romulus Franceschini.
Massey’s political standpoint was radical and his work was strongly connected with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and ’70s. The Black Panther Party was an inspiration for The Black Liberation Movement Suite which he created with Franceschini and was performed three times at Black Panther benefit concerts. His ideology resulted in him getting whitelisted from major recording companies and only one album was recorded under his name.
Trumpeter and composer Cal Massey passed away from a heart attack on October 25, 1972 at the age of 44 in New York City, New York.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Vinnie Knight was born on January 5, 1958 in Harlem, New York and later moved to the borough of Brooklyn. At an early age, she sang in church choirs and performed in school plays and her father was a singer and guitarist who traveled the world. She studied dance with La Rocque Dance theater and music at the Juilliard School Of Music and Kings Borough Community College.
Knight recorded the songs of composer Duke Ellington, performed in Nairobi, Kenya, and starred with Oliver Jackson and the Harlem Big Band of New York, touring Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and Turkey. Returning to New York she performed with Clark Terry on the SS Norway cruise line, then played the Rapos Nightclub in Japan.
She has recorded, performed and collaborated with the best jazz musicians. In 1997 Vinnie moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia and began singing at such noted venues as Uncle Louie’s, The Jewish Mother, Bienville Grill, House of Jazz, as well as resorts, museums, concert halls and private events in Hampton Roads.
Her love for music theater had her writing and producing a musical revue called Black Pearls (The Speakeasy) songs from the 1920’s thru the 40’s; followed by the sequel Black Pearls and White Diamonds. In 2002, she performed a tribute to Ruth Brown and Pearl Bailey. Vocalist Vinnie Knight continues to perform, tour and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Noro Morales was born into a family with a long musical tradition in Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico on January 4, 1911. As a child, he studied trombone, saxophone, and drums, finally settling on the piano. In 1935 he moved to New York City in search of a professional career and played with different bands including Alberto Socarras and Augusto Coén.
1937 saw him creating his own orchestra together with his brother Ismael, featured flutist, which competed with the likes of Tito Puente, Machito Grillo, the brothers Tito and Johnny Rodríguez, Davilita, and José Esteves known as Joe Loco. They began to record their first disc for Columbia and Decca Records and in a short time, Noro and their band became a staple on the New York City Latin music scene. The orchestra frequently performed in important clubs such as El Morocco, the Conga, and Copacabana. In 1942 with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra popularizing rumba, Morales got the opportunity to play for the first time, the prestigious dance of Harvest Moon organized by the Daily News newspaper.
At the time of the great mambo and swing bands, Morales was able to consolidate a unique style and original, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he achieved commercial success with several albums produced by the CODA label. His most famous compositions recorded were Rumba Rhapsody, Cute Woman, Nothing Is True, Palm Trees, Ponce, Cursed Jealousy, Rhythmic Serenade, and 110th Street & 5th Avenue.
Suffering from glaucoma, diabetes, and joint problems, in 1960 he decided to return to Puerto Rico, where he put together another band, consisting among others percussionist Ana Carrero and singer Vitín Avilés.
Composer, arranger, and pianist Noro Morales, who was a pioneer in the introduction of the Latin musical element in New York City, passed away on January 14, 1964 in San Juan.
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