Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ivan Jullien was born on October 27, 1934 in Vincennes, France. He found work early on arranging for the Barclay label in the 1960s and later released many of his own big-band albums on Riviera, including his own 1971 fusion-infused take of George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess.
Jullien played with Claude Bolling and Jacques Denjean early in his career, and was the bandleader for a year with the Paris Jazz All Stars in 1966. He recorded as a leader and also worked as a sideman for Lester Bowie, Maynard Ferguson, and Ben Webster. In the 1980s, he became an arranger for Studio Brussels’ CIM Big Band.
He was a member of several groups, such as 9 Plus, Alix Combelle Et Son Orchestre, Benny Bennet Et Son Orchestre De Musique Latine-Américaine, Big Jullien And His All Star, Grand Orchestre De L’Olympia, Ivan Jullien Big Band, Le Bobby Clark’s Noise, Ivan Jullien Et Son Orchestre, Jacques Denjean Et Son Orchestre, Joey And The Showmen, Les Baroques, Los Cangaceiros, and Synthesis.
Primarily a behind-the-scenes presence, Jullien arranged, played and/or conducted recordings by Charles Aznavour, Henri Salvador, Elton John, Nicoletta, Baden Powell, Didier Lockwood, and many more.
In his later years, the jazz-oriented trumpeter continued to be active, arranging and performing with his big band. His over-50-year career spanned various genres from jazz to pop, and included numerous scores for film and television.
Trumpeter, arranger, composer, conductor and bandleader Ivan Jullien, known as Big Jullien, died of respiratory failure at 80 years old on January 3, 2015.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Bryan Benoit was born in Bakersfield, California on August 18, 1953. He studied piano at age 13 with Marya Cressy Wright and continued his training with Abraham Fraser, who was the pianist for Arturo Toscanini. He attended Mira Costa High School and went on to focus on theory and composition at El Camino College, studying orchestration and later took film scoring classes at UCLA. He went on to study music conducting and worked with Jeffrey Schindler, Music Director for the UC Santa Barbara symphony orchestra.
He began his career as a musical director and conductor for Lainie Kazan in 1976, before moving on to similar roles with singer/actresses Ann-Margret and Connie Stevens. His GRP Records debut album, Freedom at Midnight in 1987, led his roster of top ten albums he has released. He has recorded tribute albums to pianist Bill Evans, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. Collaborators included the chorus group Take 6, guitarist Marc Antoine and trumpeter Chris Botti.
Benoit has arranged, conducted, and performed music for Russ Freeman and the Rippingtons, Kenny Loggins, Michael Franks, Patti Austin, Dave Koz, Kenny Rankin, Faith Hill, David Lanz, Cece Winans, David Pack, David Sanborn, The Walt Disney Company and Brian McKnight.
Pianist David Benoit, who has three Grammy nominations, has performed three times at the White House, and has a morning program on jazz radio station KKJZ in Long Beach, California, continues to perform and record..
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lennie Hayton was born Leonard George Hayton on February 14, 1908 in New York City into a Jewish family. He developed a penchant for the piano when he was six years old, showing unusual interest in the early classics from the rolls of the family player piano. His parents disliked jazz, so it wasn’t until he was sixteen that he really discovered it. He left high school to become pianist with the Broadway Hotel Orchestra of Cass Hagen, a boyhood friend.
While playing at the Park Central, Hayton was heard by Paul Whiteman and immediately engaged by him in 1928 as second pianist, playing piano and celeste as well as acting as a part-time arranger. Whilst with the orchestra, he played with Frankie Trumbauer, Bix Beiderbecke, Red Nichols, Joe Venuti and became friendly with Bing Crosby, then a member of The Rhythm Boys. However, by 1930 due to the impact of radio on audiences, Whiteman released ten members of the band. Hayton then joined the Charles Previn Orchestra.
Rejoining Crosby he embarked on a cross-country tour, landing in Hollywood. 1932 saw Hayton leading an orchestra for his first recordings of Cabin in the Cotton, Love Me Tonight, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? and Some of These Days all became Bing hits. The following year , Hayton became the musical director for the Chesterfield radio series Music That Satisfies which again featured Crosby and ran for 13 weeks.
His involvement with Crosby continued as musical director for the singer’s 1933 film Going Hollywood at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This led to a major career for Hayton who continued to work with Crosby and became a musical director for MGM and guided it through its prime years as foremost producer of movie musicals. Up until his retirement from the post in 1953, Lennie racked up four Oscar nominations: The Harvey Girls, The Pirate, Singin’ in the Rain and Star! He won the Academy Award for music for On the Town and Hello, Dolly!.
He arranged for Frank Sinatra, composed Apple Blossoms with Joe Venuti, Frankie Trumbauer, and Eddie Lang, and his other compositions included Flying Fingers, The Stage is Set, Mood Hollywood with Jimmy Dorsey, and Midnight Mood. Hayton also co-arranged the Hoagy Carmichael composition Stardust with Artie Shaw for Bluebird Records.
His first marriage to Helen Maude Gifford ended in her death in 1943. Three years later he married Lena Horne whom he met on the MGM lot. Throughout the marriage, Hayton also acted as Horne’s music director. Facing the stresses and pressures of an interracial relationship, they had a tumultuous marriage, first based upon her desire to advance her career and cross the color-line in show business, but she had learned to love him very much.
Pianist, composer, conductor and arranger Lennie Hayton, whose trademark was a captain’s hat worn at a rakish angle, died of a heart attack while separated from Horne, in Palm Springs, California on April 24, 1971.
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LENORA HELM HAMMONDS
New England Symphonic Ensemble
Guest Conductor: Lenora Helm Hammonds ~ Department Chair & Director of Graduate Programs, Jazz, at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina.
She will be conducting commissioned arrangements for jazz choir and jazz chamber orchestra of Hale Smith’s The Valley Wind and John Coltrane’s A Conversation with God (Based on Coltrane’s Dear Lord) | Lyricist: Lenora Zenzalai Helm | Arranger ~ Maurice Myers & Lenora Zenzalai Helm
Hammonds will be joined by Jillian Harrison-Jones, Lorissa Mason, and Anne Lyman, Conductors
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MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA
Maria Schneider’s music has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, imaginative, revelatory, riveting, daring, and beyond categorization.” Blurring the lines between genres, her varied commissioners stretch from Jazz at Lincoln Center to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra to the American Dance Festival, and include collaboration with David Bowie. She is among a small few to receive Grammys in multiple genres, having received the award in jazz and classical, as well as for her work with David Bowie.
Schneider’s many honors also include: 14 Grammy-nominations, 7 Grammy Awards, numerous Jazz Journalists Association awards, DownBeat and Jazztimes Critics and Readers Polls awards, an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, the University of Minnesota, ASCAP’s esteemed Concert Music Award (2014), the nation’s highest honor in jazz, “NEA Jazz Master” (2019), and election into the 2020 American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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