Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ralph Morris Penland was born on February 15, 1953 in Cincinnati, Ohio. While in high school he was a percussionist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He attended the New England Conservatory of Music and played in Boston, Massachusetts with Gil Scott-Heron and Webster Lewis.
In New York City in the early 1970s he played with Freddie Hubbard among others. By 1975 he was in Los Angeles, California and led his own group, Penland Polygon; he also worked as a session musician for Chet Baker, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Harris, Harold Land, Charles Lloyd, Ronnie Matthews, and Nancy Wilson.
In the 1980s he worked with George Cables, Dianne Reeves, Buddy Montgomery, Charlie Rouse, Jimmie Rowles, Rick Zunigar, Andy Simpkins, Dave Mackay, Bunky Green, Richard Todd, and John Nagourney. In the 1990s he toured with Frank Sinatra, Herbie Hancock, and Carlos Santana.
Ralph was active as a studio drummer, recording with Bob Cooper, Eddie Daniels, James Leary, Marc Copland, Dieter Ilg, Lou Levy, Carmen Bradford, Janis Siegel, Fred Hersch, Rickey Woodard, Carmen Lundy, Joe Sample, and Miki Coltrane.
Drummer and percussionist Ralph Penland, who over the course of his career recorded on fifty-six albums across a wide genre of music, died from a heart attack on March 13, 2014.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Okay Temiz was born on February 11, 1939 in Istanbul, Turkey and was influenced in his early years by his mother, Naciye, who was classically schooled in music.
Temiz started playing professionally in 1955 while studying at the Ankara Conservatory and at the Tophane Art Institute. After meeting Maffy Falay and Don Cherry, he settled in Sweden. With Cherry and bassist Johnny Dyani he toured US and Europe in 1971.
In 1972, he founded the band Xaba with Dyani and trumpeter Mongezi Feza. His drums are of his own invention, and are constructed using hand-beaten copper, in the style of Turkish debuka’s.
Fusion jazz percussionist and drummer Okay Temiz has recorded seventy-two albums and continues to perform and record.
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JOE FARNSWORTH QUARTET
Joe Farnsworth was one of five sons born to trumpeter and bandleader Roger Farnsworth, one of the brothers played saxophone in Ray Charles’s band. He attended high school in Jakarta International School in Jakarta, Indonesia. He studied at William Paterson College, studying under Harold Mabern and Arthur Taylor and receiving his Bachelor of Music in 1990. During the 1990s he played with Junior Cook, Jon Hendricks, Jon Faddis, George Coleman, Cecil Payne, Annie Ross, and Benny Green.
He has played in the group One for All since 1995 with David Hazeltine and Jim Rotondi, and worked with Benny Golson, Steve Davis, and Eric Alexander in the second half of the 1990s. During that period he also played with Alex Graham, Michael Weiss, the Three Baritone Saxophone Band, and Diana Krall. He has been a member of Pharoah Sanders’ band.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Claude Ranger was born in Montréal, Canada on February 3, 1941 and studied drums briefly with several teachers and arranging with Frank Mella. Beginning his career with Montréal show bands, he was a leading figure among the city’s jazz musicians by the mid-1960s.
A sideman to Lee Gagnon, Pierre Leduc, and Ron Proby among others, Claude led the bands heard on the CBC’s Jazz en Liberté. He was a member of Aquarius Rising with Brian Barley, Michel Donato and Daniel Lessard from 1969 to 1971. Moving to Toronto, Canada he lived there for fifteen years beginning in 1972. It was here that Claude was a member of the Moe Koffman Quintet and accompanied Canadian and U.S. musicians when they came through the city, such as, Lenny Breau, George Coleman, Larry Coryell, Sonny Greenwich, James Moody, Doug Riley, Don Thompson, and Phil Woods.
His own bands appeared at the Music Gallery, Jazz City, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (FIJM) and the Ottawa International Jazz Festival. A Ranger quintet was a finalist in the 1986 FIJM, receiving a special jury citation for his drumming. Relocating to Vancouver, Canada he served as a mainstay of the du Maurier International Jazz Festival, again as an accompanist to Canadian and U.S. musicians and as a leader of his own groups.
West Coast musicians Ron Samworth, Clyde Reed, Bruce Freedman and drummer Dylan vander Schyff also influenced Claude’s career. He was considered a jazz musician and drummer with natural swing, in the bebop-based tradition of Max Roach. Displaying great stamina, he sometimes worked against the grain of jazz in Canada. His ensembles ranged from a trio to the 15 and 19-piece Jade Orchestra that debuted at the 1990 Vancouver festival.
Ranger played a role in Canada similar to the one created by Art Blakey in the US – that of a veteran musician whose bands served as an important platform for the development of younger players. His discography included recordings by Allen, Barley, Breau, Gagnon, Greenwich, Koffman, Riley, Thompson, Jane Bunnett, P.J. Perry, Herb Spanier, Michael Stuart, and U.S. musicians Dave Liebman, and Michael Munoz.
Drummer, composer, arranger, and teacher Claude Ranger continues to pursue his career in music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eugene Seldon Gammage was born January 30, 1931 in Atlanta, Georgia and his original influences as Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, and Elvin Jones. He began his professional career as a drummer in 1952 after serving four years in the Air Force. In 1953 he moved to Los Angeles, California where he found a steady gig with Teddy Charles with Bill Crow on bass. Following this, in 1955 he played with leaders Buddy Collette, Hampton Hawes, and André Previn. In ‘56 he performed with Barney Kessel, Herb Geller and Jack Sheldon
Tenor saxophonist Jack Laird hired him for an engagement at Club El Sereno in East Los Angeles along with pianist Franck Patchen. That November he was in Las Vegas, Nevada with pianist Oscar Peterson. 1957 saw him joining Beverly Kelly and Pat Moran McCoy for a quartet and trio including Scott LaFaro. They recorded and issued two albums in 1958 under the two leaders’ names. From fall 1958 to Spring 1959, he was hired again by Oscar Peterson. The trio, with Ray Brown on bass, recorded a jazz version of My Fair Lady.
Gammage went to St. Louis, Missouri in 1961 and recorded three live dates with Webster Young, Shirley Horn, and Johnny Hartman. By the late Sixties he was residing in New York City and was part of Roswell Rudd’s Primordial group, with Enrico Rava, however, there is no official recording.
The Seventies had him with Gary McFarland and writer, editor David Burnett at Club 55 in New York City, when they were served drinks filled with liquid methadone, provoking a seizure due to overdose. Gary McFarland was pronounced dead in the bar, David Burnett died just a few days later. Fortunately Gene survived after some time in the hospital.
From the mid-seventies to the early eighties, his last known regular gig was with Bobby Short at the Café Carlyle. Never a leader, drummer Gene Gammage has recorded as a sideman on nine albums, been included on seven reissues and been a part of two documentaries covering Gary McFarland and Bobby Short.
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