Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Francis Dunlop was born on December 6, 1928 in Buffalo, New York and began playing guitar at age nine and drums at ten. He was playing professionally by age 16 and received some classical education in percussion. He toured with Big Jay McNeely and recorded with Moe Koffman in 1950 before serving in the Army during the Korean War.
After his discharge, Frankie played with Sonny Stitt, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Maynard Ferguson, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, and Thelonious Monk. It is his recordings with the latter two that he is principally remembered. Later in his life, he recorded with Lionel Hampton, Earl Hines, Ray Crawford, and Joe Zawinul.
In 1984, he retired, having recorded on over 100 albums with Wilbur Ware, Randy Weston, Melba Liston, Martin Mull, Dodo Greene, Herman Foster, Bill Barron, Richard Davis, Mose Allison and Leo Wright among many others. Drummer Frankie Dunlop passed away on July 7, 2014.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Denis Charles was born in St. Croix, Virgin Islands on December 4, 1933 and first played bongos at age seven with local ensembles in the Virgin Islands. Moving to New York City in 1945, he gigged frequently around town and in 1954 began working with Cecil Taylor, and the pair collaborated for the next four years. Following his work with Taylor, he played with Steve Lacy, Gil Evans, and Jimmy Giuffre. He befriended Ed Blackwell, and the two influenced each other.
Recording with Sonny Rollins on a calypso-tinged set, Denis then returned to play with Lacy until 1964. He worked with Archie Shepp and Don Cherry in ‘67 and then disappeared from the jazz scene until 1971. In the 1970s and 1980s he played regularly on the New York jazz scene with Frank Lowe, David Murray, Charles Tyler, Billy Bang, and others, and also played funk, rock, and traditional Caribbean music.
Between 1989~1992 drummer Denis Charles released three albums as a leader before passing away of pneumonia in his sleep on March 26, 1998 in New York City in 1998, four days after a five-week European tour with the Borgmann/Morris/Charles (BMC) Trio, with Wilber Morris and Thomas Borgmann. In 2002 Veronique N. Doumbe released a film documentary Denis A. Charles: An Interrupted Conversation about his life.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alvin Leroy Fielder Jr was born November 23, 1935 in Meridian, Mississippi to a mother who played the violin and piano and a father who played the cornet and was a pharmacist by profession. His brother William became a trumpeter. He initially learned the piano as a young child, but stopped and did not regain an interest in music until he was 12 when he heard a Max Roach record. He took drum lessons from Ed Blackwell while studying pharmacology at Xavier University of Louisiana, and then continued his degree at Texas Southern University. He did all this while maintaining his musical development by taking lessons with local drummers and performing at night. He went on to complete his pharmacology studies with a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
In Chicago, Illinois he played with Sun Ra during 1959 and 1960. Encouraged by fellow musicians Muhal Richard Abrams and Beaver Harris, he became more experimental in his playing and went on to be a charter member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). The AACM’s first released recording featured him on Roscoe Mitchell’s Sound. In the mid-to-late 1960s, while working part-time as a pharmacist, Alvin played in his own trio with Fred Anderson and bassist/cellist Lester Lashley.
1969 saw he returned home to Mississippi where he took responsibility for managing the family business, becoming involved in political activism, and continued to pursue his passion for music. In 1971 he met John Reese and helped develop the Black Arts Music Society (BAMS). Fielder was instrumental in bringing many AACM and other musicians to Mississippi. In 1975, he began working with Kidd Jordan in what became the Improvisational Arts band, which featured various musicians over three decades and appeared at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival every year from 1975 to 2008. In 1995, he participated as a founding faculty member in the Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp.
He recorded twenty-seven albums with Ahmed Abdullah, Charles Brackeen, Damon Smith, and Dennis Gonzalez, and continued exploring free jazz in the 1990s with Joel Futterman, Kidd Jordan, and others, and toured with Andrew Lamb. He was awarded the Resounding Vision Award by Nameless Sound in Houston, Texas. Drummer Alvin Fielder passed away of complications from congestive heart failure and pneumonia, in Jackson, Mississippi on January 5, 2019.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The pandemic has given me time to indulge in listening to a variety of music but for this post, Soul Finger is the album I’ve chosen for this week’s edition of The Quarantined Jazz Voyager. The album was recorded by drummer Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers recorded on May 12 & 13, 1965 in New York City and its original release date was in August of the same year on the Limelight label. The sessions were produced by Jack Tracy.
On the 2009 CD edition, Gary Bartz, whose recording debut this was, was left off the credits – he is the alto saxophonist for 5 of the 6 cuts. Lucky Thompson is only on one cut, playing soprano saxophone on Spot Session with the quartet of Blakey, John Hicks, and Victor Sproles.
A sixth cut from the Bartz sessions was used on the later Hold On, I’m Coming album. This recording was trumpeter Lee Morgan’s last recording with Art Blakey after a seven-year association; Freddie Hubbard would return to tour with Blakey’s group again in the 1980s.
Track Listing | 36:42
- Soul Finger (Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan) ~ 3:17
- Buh’s Bossa (Morgan) ~ 5:33
- Spot Session (Lucky Thompson) ~ 7:21
- Freedom Monday (Art Blakey) ~ 6:15
- A Quiet Thing (Fred Ebb, John Kander) ~ 6:56
- The Hub (Hubbard) ~ 7:20
- Art Blakey ~ drums
- Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan ~ trumpet (except on “Spot Session”)
- Gary Bartz – alto saxophone (except on “Spot Session”)
- Lucky Thompson – soprano sax (on “Spot Session”)
- John Hicks – piano
- Victor Sproles – bass
As you listen I hope you enjoy this great addition to the jazz catalog. Continue your vigilance of social distancing, wear your masks, and stay healthy. During this sabbatical from flying and investigating jazz around the globe, this Quarantined Jazz Voyager is looking forward to listening to this lineup of talented musicians and enjoy the listen and know that the world and I will be back.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mark Walker was born on October 16, 1961 in Chicago, Illinois and began playing drums at age ten. He played his first professional club, concert, and recording gigs barely out of high school. After studying with Roy C. Knapp, he gained valuable experience performing a wide range of styles in the Chicago, area and later became a first-call session drummer and percussionist, playing on film scores, jingles, and record dates.
Moving to New York in 1995, he easily entered the jazz culture and performed and recorded extensively with Michel Camilo, Dave Samuels, Andy Narell, WDR Big Band, NDR Big Band, Grace Kelly, Eliane Elias, Lyle Mays, Dave Liebman, Regina Carter, Joao Bosco, Dianne Reeves, Cesar Camargo Mariano, and Rosa Passos, among numerous others. He has been earned several Grammy nominations and in 2008 he was nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition.
Walker has worked on Grammy~winning albums with Oregon, Donato Poveda, Paquito D’Rivera, the Caribbean Jazz Project and has also earned Indy and Jazz awards. He appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, PBS Presents, BET On Jazz, and with Paquito D’Rivera in Fernando Trueba’s Latin jazz documentary Calle 54.
As an educator, Mark is a professor in the Percussion Department at Berklee College of Music where he has taught drummers, percussionists, and ensembles since 2001. He has served on the faculty at New York City’s Drummers Collective and has conducted master classes, clinics, and workshops in South America, North America, and Europe. He has published two books, World Jazz Drumming and Killer Grooves, an instructional drum set book.
Grammy Award-winning drummer, percussionist, author, and educator Mark Walker continues to tour with Oregon and Paquito D’Rivera. He writes for and leads Rhythm of the Américas, a jazz octet incorporating Caribbean and South American rhythms.
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