NNENNA FREELON
Jazz singer and composer Nnenna Freelon brings her “Beneath The Skin” CD Release to Catalina Jazz Club, in Hollywood!
“An album that ultimately feels like a novel, a succession of scenes that leave an indelible mark. This is a work of art of the highest caliber, earning its rightful place among our collection of Essential Albums.” – Paris Moves.
Cover: $35.00 +fee | Two drink minimum or dinner
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mark Simon was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 26, 1959 and by age 13 he was listening to Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Roy Eldridge and other jazz legends, and playing along with old Jazz At The Philharmonic records from his father’s massive and eclectic record collection, which ran the gamut from early jazz master Louis Armstrong to avant-garde Cecil Taylor.
His high school jazz band director Don Owens was an important part of his jazz education. Mark soon graduated to jazz sessions, further honing his keyboard skills while beginning to play occasional jazz gigs. From sitting in with the JATP, he enrolled in a youth summer jazz camp at the University of Illinois, where he was exposed to the live side of jazz. Mark would sneak out of the dorm at night to sit in with the faculty on jam sessions,
Simon’s influences were grounded by jazz artists such as pianists Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner, Charles Mingus, Gary Burton and Sonny Rollins. Growing up in jazz, He gained experience playing extensively with Leroy Vinnegar, Hadley Caliman, Bud Shank, Jeff Clayton, Joshua Breakstone, Julie Kelly, Teddy Edwards, Red Holloway and Herb Ellis.
Bassist Mark Simon continues to compose and perform solo piano gigs, accompanying vocalists, playing with jazz groups including his self-named trio, as well as teaching piano.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Bryant Woode was born September 23, 1926 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, for whom he was named, was a music teacher and pianist who had played with Hot Lips Page. He studied piano and bass in Boston, Massachusetss at Boston University and at the Conservatory of Music, as well as at the Philadelphia Academy.
He joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1955 and appeared on many of Ellington’s recordings, including Such Sweet Thunder and Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook, recorded in 1957. Jimmy performed at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival issued on Ellington at Newport. In 1960 he left the Orchestra to live in Europe.
An original member of The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, in 1995 he also toured with Lionel Hampton’s Golden Men of Jazz. 2003 saw Woode forming a trio with drummer Pete York and German jazz musician/comedian Helge Schneider, touring in Germany with his interpretation of jazz classics like Georgia and Summertime. As a consequence of his co-operation with Schneider, he also starred in the 2004 feature film Jazzclub in the role of a struggling jazz bassist.
Woode’s song Just Give Me Time was covered by Carola in 1966, first released on her album Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio, reaching the Finnish charts in 2004.
Bassist Jimmy Woode, who was born on the same day, the same month, the same year as saxophonist John Coltrane, died April 23, 2005, at age 78 at his home in Lindenwold, New Jersey, of complications following a surgery for a stomach aneurysm.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Doug Beavers was born September 22, 1976 in Bellflower, California. He received a BA in music from California State University, East Bay, an MA in composition from the Manhattan School of Music. He is the founder of the music production company and record label, Circle 9.
As a performer Doug has worked with Eddie Palmieri, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Mingus Big Band, Christian McBride, Paul Simon, and others. He also served as an adjunct professor at Los Medanos College and music faculty of Jazz Trombone at California State University, East Bay.
His most recent album recording,Sol, was released in 2020. In 2021, he received a New Jazz Works grant from Chamber Music America. Trombonist, arranger, composer and producer Doug Beavers, a Grammy Award-winning musician, is currently an adjunct faculty member at the College of New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Harry Percy South was born on September 7, 1929 in Fulham, London, England. He came to prominence in the 1950s, playing with Joe Harriott, Dizzy Reece, Tony Crombie, and Tubby Hayes. In 1954, he was in the Tony Crombie Orchestra with Dizzy Reece, Les Condon, Joe Temperley, Sammy Walker, Lennie Dawes, and Ashley Kozak.
Returning from a Calcutta, India tour with the Ashley Kozak Quartet, he spent four years with the Dick Morrissey Quartet, where he both wrote and arranged material for their subsequent four albums. He formed the Harry South Big Band in 1966 with Latin, ballads and straight-forward swingers.
By the mid-1960s, he began working with British rhythm & blues singer and organist Georgie Fame, recording the album Sound Venture. He composed and arranged for Humphrey Lyttelton, Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughan, and Jimmy Witherspoon and was musical director and arranger for Annie Ross.
He branched out into session work, writing themes for television and music libraries. He is credited with the arrangements used for Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Works Vol. 1 (1977). In 1981, he again arranged for Annie Ross and Georgie Fame in a collaboration on what was to be Hoagy Carmichael’s last recording, In Hoagland.
Pianist, composer and arranger Harry South, who was honored with an album released by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, died on March 12, 1990 in Lambeth, London at the age of 60.
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