Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Cliff Leeman was born in Portland, Maine on September 10, 1913. At age 13 he played percussion with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and toured as a xylophonist on the vaudeville circuit late in the 1920s. He first made his name in the jazz world during the Thirties and Forties working in the swing bands of Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Johnny Long, and Woody Herman.
After a stint in the Army in 1944, he worked with Don Byas, John Kirby, Raymond Scott, Jimmy Dorsey, and Ben Webster. He briefly left the music industry before joining the Casa Loma Orchestra in 1947, later moving on to the Charlie Barnet Orchestra and closing out the decade in Bob Chester’s big band ensemble.
He played on radio and television in the 1950s, in addition to playing live often with Eddie Condon and Bobby Hackett. His later associations include Pee Wee Erwin, Yank Lawson/Bob Haggart, Ralph Sutton, Billy Butterfield. During the 1960s he performed with Bob Crosby, Wild Bill Davison, Dukes of Dixieland, Peanuts Hucko and Joe Venuti. The Seventies saw Cliff with The Kings of Jazz, Bud Freeman, Don Ewell, the World’s Greatest Jazz Band, and Jimmy McPartland.
He recorded several albums for Fat Cat Jazz in the 1970s. Drummer Cliff Leeman, whose nickname is Mr. Time, passed away on April 26, 1986.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Horst Konrad “Conny” Jackel was born on August 30, 1931 in Offenbach am Main, Germany. Initially working as a steel construction fitter, he attended the conservatory in 1951 and from 1952 played in the clubs of the US Army in France, the Netherlands and Germany.
In 1955 he became a member of the Helmut Brandt Combo, contributing to its success. In 1959 he went on to perform the equally demanding arrangements of the Media Band of Harald Banter in Cologne. 1961 saw Jackel moving to the Erwin Lehn Orchestra in Stuttgart, where he performed with Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Sinatra.
From 1964 to 1969 he was a member of the Hessischer Rundfunk Jazz Ensemble led by Albert Mangelsdorff, then became first trumpet of the orchestra in 1967 under Willy Berking and the HR Big Band under Heinz Schönberger. He would go on to perform with Joki Freund, Rudi Sehring, Attila Zoller, Charly Antolini and the Sugar Foot Stompers among other traditional bands.
Suffering from cancer, he lost his lower jaw to amputation forcing him to give up the trumpet. Occasionally he was active as a drummer with The Bookreaders. After a long illness as a result of an operation, trumpeter and flugelhornist Conny Jackel, whose motto was “No beer – no music!”, passed away on April 28, 2008 in Bad Nauheim, Germany.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William English was born on August 27, 1925 in New York City and studied at the Greenwich House of Music in the Village. His early career hit just as rock & roll was on the rise and he played with rhythm and blues musicians in the 1950s, such as Sonny Thompson and Amos Milburn.
He went on to venture into jazz working with Julian Dash, Bennie Green, and Erskine Hawkins in the mid-1950s before becoming the house drummer at New York’s Apollo Theatre. Later in the decade he worked at Connie’s with his own ensemble, and during the 1960s he freelanced playing with Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Prestige Blues Swingers, Gene Ammons, Quincy Jones Orchestra & Big Band, Sonny Stitt, Philly Joe Jones, Frank Foster Quintet, Etta jones, Joe Newman, Stanley Turrentine, Kenny Burrell, The Ray Bryant Combo and Eddie Jefferson, among others.
He remained active into the 1970s, working with the Eric Dixon Sextet among others. Drummer Bill English passed away on March 4, 2007 in his home city.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Fritz “Freddie” Brocksieper was born on August 24, 1912 in Constantinople, Turkey, the son of a Greek-speaking Jewish woman and a German engineer who was able to get through National-Socialism as an essential swing musician.
Considered a leading figure of early European big-band jazz, by 1930 was working in Nuremberg and Berlin in the 1930s. By World War II he was playing around Germany with different people, the Goldene Sieben (Golden Seven), Benny De Weille, Willy Berking, and the radio orchestra of Lutz Templin, just as in the National-Socialist propaganda band Charlie and His Orchestra.
After the war he led various bands in Stuttgart, Munich, and Berlin, Germany and also played in American officers’ clubs. With his bands Freddie made it to the front page of Stars and Stripes. Beginning in 1957 Bavarian radio regularly broadcast live concerts from his studio in Munich.
Brocksieper continued performing into the 1960s and 1970s, and was awarded a Deutscher Schallplattenpreis in 1980. From 1964 he played mainly in trios, and often with American soloists in Europe. His drumming style was influenced by Gene Krupa. He recorded with his own ensembles, both large and small, in the late 1940s. From 1964 he played mainly in trios and with visiting American soloists. Drummer Freddie Brocksieper passed away on January 17, 1990.
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Requisites
The Festival Album ~ The Jazz Crusaders | By Eddie Carter
This morning’s discussion is a 1966 live album by four friends from Houston, Texas who began performing locally in 1956. After moving to Los Angeles in 1961, they became The Jazz Crusaders, one of the best West Coast jazz groups. I became a fan of their music listening to Chuck Lansing of Cleveland’s jazz station, WCUY 92.3 FM. His opening theme was The Young Rabbits, taken from their second LP, Lookin’ Ahead (1962). The Festival Album (World Pacific Jazz ST-20115) contains two performances from The Pacific Jazz Festival and The Newport Jazz Festival. The quartet consists of Wayne Henderson on trombone, Wilton Felder on tenor sax, Joe Sample on piano, and Stix Hooper on drums. Jimmy Bond (tracks: A1, A2) and Herbie Lewis (tracks: B1, B2) on bass, complete the group. My copy used in this report is the 1967 Stereo reissue (Pacific Jazz ST-20115).
Trance Dance by Kenny Cox opens Side One with a collective soulful theme. Wayne goes first with a noteworthy contribution offering a relaxing informality. Wynton follows with an excellent solo of his own, then Joe gives a spirited closing reading ahead of the ensemble’s reprise and ending. A Summer Madness is the collaborative creation of Sample, Henderson, and Felder. Wayne leads the quintet on the mid-tempo melody, then entices the listener with a captivating first statement. Wilton builds a satisfying groove with inspired lines next. Joe unfolds the next reading with a mellow tone effortlessly, and Jimmy makes a brief remark into the finale and crowd’s ovation.
Henderson’s Young Rabbits is off to the races from the intensely hot opening notes of the melody. Felder takes the first solo at breakneck speed with electrically charged excitement. Sample steps up next for a high-octane statement. Stix provides an energetic interpretation leading to the vigorous ending. Sample’s Freedom Sound was the title tune of their debut album (1961). The trio begins this midtempo swinger with a march-like introduction developing into the quintet’s theme. Felder takes the lead with a cheerfully, light-hearted reading. Henderson swings comfortably into the next statement, and Joe wraps the album with a leisurely-paced performance powered by Herbie and Stix’s excellent groundwork.
This was The Jazz Crusaders’ twelfth LP for World Pacific Jazz and Pacific Jazz Records. *They were extremely popular and well known on the West Coast, but their first trip to The Newport Jazz Festival was significant because it introduced them to a whole new group of fans and brought them to the attention of the New York City jazz clubs. I only wish it would have been released as a two-record set with each festival highlighted on one LP. The Festival Album was produced by Richard Bock, and the sound quality of each session is quite good with an exquisite soundstage. For those fans that only know of The Crusaders’ music from the seventies and eighties, The Festival Album shows the group in excellent form live and gives a snapshot of the Hard-Bop sound they created when Jazz was their middle name! ~ *AllMusic Review by Thom Jarek – Source: AllMusic.com
~ Freedom Sound (Pacific Jazz PJ-27/ST-27), Lookin’ Ahead (Pacific Jazz PJ-43/ST-43) – Source: Discogs.com © 2021 by Edward Thomas Carter
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