Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Elvin Ray Jones was born on September 9, 1927 in Pontiac, Michigan. By age two he said he knew he held a fascination for drums watching the drummers in circus marching band parades go by his home. Elvin joined his high school’s black marching band, where he developed his rudimentary foundation. Upon discharge from the Army in 1949 he borrowed thirty-five dollars from his sister to buy his first drum set.

In Detroit, Jones played with Billy Mitchell’s house band at Detroit’s Grand River Street Club before moving to New York in 1955 where he worked as a sideman for Charles Mingus, Teddy Charles, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Wardell Gray and Miles Davis. By 1960 he was working with John Coltrane on his seminal work “A Love Supreme” and the relationship lasted until 1966.

Remaining active after leaving Coltrane, Elvin led several bands in the late sixties and seventies that are considered highly influential groups, notably a trio with saxophonist Joe Farrell and bassist Jimmy Garrison. He recorded extensively for Blue Note under his own name during this period with groups featuring prominent as well as up and coming greats like George Coleman, Lee Morgan, Frank Foster, Steve Grossman, Dave Liebman and Pepper Adams to name a few.

Elvin Jones’ sense of timing, polyrhythms, dynamics, timbre, and legato phrasing brought the drums to the foreground and his free-flowing style was a major influence on many leading rock drummers, including Mitch Mitchell and Ginger Baker. He performed and recorded with his own group, the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, whose line up changed through the years, and recorded with both his brothers Hank and Thad over the course of his career.

He taught regularly, often taking part in clinics, playing in schools and giving free concerts in prisons. His lessons emphasized music history as well as drumming technique. Elvin Jones died of heart failure in Englewood, New Jersey on May 18, 2004.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Karriem Riggins was born on August 25, 1975 in Detroit, Michigan and growing up often played drums with his father Emmanuel’s group. He began producing hip hop in middle school and continued through Southfield High School, studying music while attending. At 17 he joined Betty Carter’s band “Jazz Ahead” soon after graduating.

In 1994 when he was 19, Karriem moved to New York City joining the Ray Brown Trio in 1998. He has also recorded and performed with Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd, Hank Jones, Mulgrew Miller, Diana Krall, Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Cedar Walton, Roy Hargrove and Bobby Hutcherson.

Aside from jazz, Riggins has done production work for hip-hop artists including Erykah Badu, Common, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, The Roots and Dwele among others. He has collaborated with J. Dilla until his death in 2006, finishing the posthumously released album “The Shining”, and with the hip hop multi-instrumentalist Madlib, performing on his 2007 album Yesterday’s Universe. He also produced a portion of the soundtrack for the 2007 film Smokin’ Aces.

His debut album on the Stone Throw label was released in three parts, the first half “Alone” was released digitally and on vinyl on July 31, 2012, the second half “Together” on October 2, with the complete release “Alone Together” later that same year on October 22. Karriem Riggins, jazz drummer, hip hop producer and sometime rapper currently performs, records and tours.

Karriem Riggins: 1975 / Drums

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Don Lamond was born on August 18, 1920 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and attended the Peabody Conservatory in Philadelphia in the early ‘40s. He played with Sonny Durham and Boyd Raeburn at the outset of his career, and then took over Dave Tough’s spot in Woody Herman’s big band “First Herd” in 1945, remaining until the group disbanded at the end of 1946.

By 1947 he briefly freelanced with musicians including Charlie Parker, and then returned to duty under Herman in his Second Herd, where he remained until its 1949 dissolution. In the 1950s and 1960s Don found work as a session musician, recording in a wide variety of styles.

He performed and recorded with such jazz luminaries as Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Johnny Smith, Benny Goodman, Ruby Braff, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Sonny Stitt, Johnny Guarnieri, Jack Teagarden, Quincy Jones, George Russell and Bob Crosby among others.

Lamond recorded as a bandleader in 1962 with a tentet that included Doc Severinsen, played with George Wein’s Newport Festival band in the late ‘60s, and worked with Red Norvo, Maxine Sullivan and Bucky Pizzarelli in the Seventies. He put together his own swing group that recorded in 1977 and 1982, and recorded a quartet album with his wife Terry singing in 1981. Don Lamond, drummer, bandleader and sideman died on December 23, 2003 in Orlando, Florida at age 83.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jack DeJohnette was born August 9, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois and studied drums and piano. He first became known as a member of Charles Lloyd’s band, along with pianist Keith Jarrett. He played with Bill Evans in 1968 on the acclaimed Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival and from 1969 to 1972 played with Miles Davis.

The 70s saw Jack recording for Milestone/Prestige and ECM appearing widely on ECM also as a sideman. Since then he has recorded for MCA, Blue Note and Kindred Rhythm. He led several groups since the early-1970s, including Compost, a jazz-rock group that produced two albums; then went on to lead sessions that produced the albums “Directions”, “New Directions” and “Special Edition”.

He has worked with a host of jazz lions to numerous to list but suffice it say they range from Eddie Gomez to Dave Holland to Arthur Blythe, David Murray and Chico Freeman. He is a dazzling improviser and a clear stylistic successor of Roy Haynes, and two of the greatest drummers of the 1960s, Tony Williams and Elvin Jones.

Since 2003, Jack has been part of Trio Beyond with organist Larry Goldings and guitarist John Scofield that paid tribute to The Tony Williams Lifetime Trio and he also appears as a member of the Bruce Hornsby Trio. He has been nominated for several Grammy Awards and in 2009 DeJohnette received the Grammy for Best New Age Album “Peace Time”. He has been awarded an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for his significant lifetime contributions to the enrichment of jazz and the further growth of the art form.

Jack DeJohnette successfully incorporates elements of free jazz and world music while maintaining the deep grooves of jazz and R&B drummers. His exceptional experience of time and style, combined with astounding improvisational ingenuity, make him one of the most highly regarded and in-demand drummers. He also occasionally appears on piano, on his own recordings and has built a catalogue too immense to cite as he continues to perform, record and tour.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Airto Moreira was born in Itaiopolis, Brazil on August 5, 1941 into a family of folk healers but was raised in Curitiba and Sao Paulo. Showing an extraordinary talent for music at a young age, he became a professional musician at age 13, and his first landmark recording was “Quarteto Novo” with Hermeto Pascoal in 1967. Shortly after, he followed his wife Flora Purim to the U. S., settling in New York City.

Airto began playing regularly with jazz musicians in the city beginning with the bassist Walter Booker and through him began playing with Joe Zawinul, who in turn introduced him to Miles Davis. At this time Miles was mounting the seminal fusion recording Bitches Brew to which Airto became a part of.

After two years with Miles, Airto joined Miles alumni Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter and Miroslav Vitous forming Weather Report and recording their self-titled debut album. He left Weather Report and joined Chick Corea’s new band Return To Forever, drumming on the debut Return To Forever and Light As A Feather, commonly regarded as fusion classics.

Airto has played with many of the greatest names in jazz including Cannonball Adderley, Lee Morgan, George Benson, Donald Byrd, Paul Desmond, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, John McLaughlin, Astrud Gilberto, Keith Jarrett and George Duke just to name a few. He also has played with symphonic orchestras and as a solo percussionist, and during live performances often includes a samba solo, where he emulates the sound of an entire band using just a single pandeiro.

In addition to jazz concerts and recordings, Airto has composed and contributed music scores to both television and film including Apocalypse Now and Last Tango In Paris. The drummer and percussionist has taught at UCLA and the California Brazil Camp and collaborated with his wife Flora and P.M. Dawn on “Non-Fiction Burning” for the Aids benefit album Red Hot + Rio produced by the Red Hot Organization.

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