Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Barrett Deems was born March 1, 1914 in Springfield, Illinois. He worked in bands led by Jimmy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Red Norvo, and Muggsy Spanier.
He performed the drum solo during a scene on the back of the bus in the 1956 film High Society. The movie’s star, Bing Crosby, introduces the band members, including Deems, who then performs a short drum solo. Louis Armstrong and His All Stars play the song Now You Has Jazz.
He recorded three albums, Barrett Deems Big Band, Deemus and Barrett Deems and his WFL. Drummer Barrett Deems, who married twice, transitioned from pneumonia in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 84 on September 15, 1998.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Steve Grover was born February 26, 1956 in Lewiston, Maine and studied with jazz drummer and teacher Dick Demers. He studied at Berklee School of Music and the University of Maine, and landed a gig with guitarist Lenny Breau, working with him on and off for the next few years, learning the subtleties of small group interplay with a master musician.
In 1979, Grover attended a program at The Creative Music Studio, the music school run by Karl Berger, which had such visiting artists as Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, Lee Konitz, Bob Moses, and other musicians. At CMS, he was exposed to the concepts of artists from the world of jazz, new music, and world music.
The 1980s saw Steve team up with clarinetist Brad Terry, saxophonist Charlie Jennison and bassist John Hunter to form a group called The Friends of Jazz. The group played host to visiting artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Tate, Gray Sargent and others while occasionally reconstituting itself with pianist Chris Neville, trombonist Tim Sessions, bassists John Lockwood and Tom Bucci, guitarist Tony Gaboury, and others.
In 1985, Grover composed his Blackbird Suite, a song cycle setting for the Wallace Stevens poem Thirteen Ways of Looking At a Blackbird. Further explorations of this piece continued into 1994, when Blackbird Suite won the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz/BMI Jazz Composers Competition. For the first time the music involved the vocalist Christine Correa and the pianist Frank Carlberg, who performed the piece at the Kennedy Center in 1994, as part of the Monk Institute’s competition. When a CD of the music was finally released in 1997, the reviews were excellent. Drummer and composer Steve Grover continues to compose, perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jimmy Bertrand was born on February 24, 1900 in Biloxi, Mississippi, and moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1913. He began playing in the State Theatre Orchestra before joining Erskine Tate’s Vendome Orchestra from 1918 to 1928. He became active on the blues and jazz scene of the 1920s in Chicago.
During the 1920 he did a great deal of teaching and his pupils included Wallace Bishop, Lionel Hampton, and Big Sid Catlett. He recorded with Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Erskine Tate, and Blind Blake, amongst many others.
Jimmy went on to play with Don Cooke and Lee Collins. He led own group, Jimmy Bertrand’s Washboard Wizards during that period, and worked often with pianist Jimmy Blythe.
He led his own band during the 1930s and early 40s before retiring and going to work in a meat packing plant. Percussionist and xylophonist Jimmy Bertrand, who was the brother-in-law of Jelly Roll Morton, transitioned in Chicago in August 1960.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Isola was born on February 20, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan and was heavily influenced by Gene Krupa. He played in the U.S. military during World War II and then studied and performed in California with Bobby Sherwood and Earle Spencer.
Moving to New York City he played with Johnny Bothwell and Elliot Lawrence in 1947. Following this, in the Fifties Frank played with Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan, as well as with Mose Allison, Eddie Bert, Bob Brookmeyer, Jimmy Raney, Johnny Williams and Tony Fruscella.
By the late 1950s Isola returned to Detroit and kept working periodically with local bands or in jam sessions but well out of the spotlight. He was active in the Cass Corridor area of Detroit in the 1970s playing jazz standards with pianist Bobby McDonald and others at Cobb’s Corner Bar.
He worked as a drummer briefly at Captain Hornblower’s in Key West, Florida in the late 1980s with pianist Johnny Williams. By the early Nineties, he moved back north and was playing weekly at Tom’s Steamer’s Bar in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. In 1994 and 1995 Isola played at The Windsor Jazz Festival in Ontario, Canada backing Franz Jackson and Marcus Belgrave. The 1994 concert was released on Parkwood Records as Live at Windsor Jazz Festival III with Jackson and Belgrave as co-leaders.
He recorded fourteen albums between 1954 and 1981 with Getz, Mulligan, Mose Allison, Bob Brookmeyer, Dick Garcia, Franz Jackson, Charlie Parker and Bob Szajner. Drummer Frank Isola, who never led a recording session, transitioned on December 12, 2004.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ronald “Ronnie” Zito was born on February 17, 1939) in Utica, New York, into a musical family including his pianist brother Torrie Zito. He began playing drums at the age of 10 and at age 14 took a year and a half of formal lessons.
He has played with Woody Herman, J.R. Monterose, Frank Rosolino, Peggy Lee, Cher, Roberta Flack and Eartha Kitt. Zito was Bobby Darin’s personal drummer for four years.
Ronnie has recorded with David Pomeranz, Barry Manilow, Irene Cara, Frankie Valli, Roberta Flack, Jake Holmes, Cher, and Don McLean.
Drummer Ronnie Zito continues to perform and record.
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