Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jayna Nelson was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on March 16, 1958. She began to study piano as soon as she could reach the keyboard. At age 9 she began to study the flute as well and by age 17 had won both the Baldwin Junior Keyboard award and the l Music Teachers’ National Association Competition.
Graduated from the University of Toronto in Flute Performance, for the next two years, she served on the faculty at University of Toronto teaching chamber music. There she also premiered a work by Mario Davidovsky, and was principal flutist with the Union College Orchestra, the Wesleyan College Orchestra, Opera Omaha Orchestra and Symphony Canada. In 1983 she attended the Banff Centre Jazz program headed by Dave Holland and studied and performed with Anthony Braxton, Don Thompson, Dave Liebman and John Abercrombie.
A move to New York City in 1989 saw her continuing to work in the classical and jazz genres as a performer, producer, composer, arranger and educator. She designed and implemented integrated arts curriculum for New York area schools and summer camps. She has lectured and given seminars, maintained a private teaching studio for over 20 years and has been a flute technician and consultant for Anthony Braxton, Dave Liebman, Joe Giardullo, Jeanne Baxtresser, Joannie Maddon, Carlos Malta, Hermeto Pascoal, and James Moody.
Nelson has recorded and performed with a host of musicians including Karl Berger, Hilliard Green, Howard Johnson, Silvana Malta, Francois Moutin, Hermeto Pascoal, Sirius String Quartet, Petula Clark, Ingrid Jensen, Marty Morrell, Dave Valentine, and numerous others.
Flutist Jayna Nelson continues to perform, tour, compose, record and educate.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dana Hall was born on March 13, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York where he spent the first few years of his life, then relocated with his family to his mother’s hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There he was exposed to jazz and soul music at an early age through the family’s record collection. The family interest in creative music, and their open door policy toward Philly jazz musicians of the era sparked his curiosity, passion and ultimately career in music.
At the age of 12, Dana’s family moved from Philadelphia to Voorhees Township, New Jersey and began studying drums under renowned drum instructor Vincent “Jim” Hurley at Voorhees Middle School. Following study was with award-winning educator and bassoonist Dennis MacMullin at Eastern Regional High School where he also began playing the oboe and throughout college.
He attended Iowa State University with a double major in aerospace engineering and percussion. At ISU, Hall cultivated his interest in music, studying marimba, vibes, timpani, hand percussion, and drum set. After completing his education in aerospace engineering at Iowa State University, he received his Bachelor of Music degree from William Paterson College and a master’s degree in Composition and Arranging from DePaul University. He is presently a distinguished Special Trustees Fellow pursuing his Doctorate in Ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago.
As a jazz drummer, he is primarily influenced by the work of Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach, and Roy Haynes, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Ralph Peterson, Jr., and Kenny Washington, among many others. The list of artists that Hall has performed, toured, and/or recorded with is too long to mention here but it reflects the diverse, varied approaches of his music-making in the fields of jazz and popular music.
He’s both a member of the Terell Stafford Quintet and the Music Director of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble. He has been a member of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and the Des Moines and the Cedar Rapids Symphonies.
As an educator he has been on the faculty of several colleges and universities including DePaul, Jazz at Lincoln Center Band Director’s Academy, Essentially Ellington faculties. Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazzand the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s Artists Residency Program.
Drummer, percussionist, composer, bandleader, and ethnomusicologist Dana Hall has released one album as a leader and continues to teach, perform, and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Laurie Antonioli was born on March 9, 1958 in Marin County. California. At the age of sixteen she began playing guitar and performing primarily her own original music as well as that of the singer-songwriters of the era. In 1975 she won the American Songwriters Contest for high school students, studied jazz at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon and Cal State Long Beach. She took private lessons from Mark Murphy and Joe Henderson.
After graduation, Laurie continued composing and performing. In 1980 she toured Europe for eight months with New Orleans saxophonist Pony Poindexter. When he suffered a stroke, a record date in Paris with pianist Kenny Drew was canceled and they were unable to finish out their tour. Laurie brought Pony back to California where she lived and led her own bands based out of San Francisco.
1985 saw Antonioli signing with Catero Records and her first album was the live two-track Soul Eyes, with the title song given to her by composer Mal Waldron. She was accompanied by pianist George Cables. After a hiatus from music, she settled in Vienna, Austria from 2002 to 2006 and began recording again.
Her Nabel Records album Foreign Affair was a Balkan jazz hybrid recorded in Slovenia with musicians from Serbia, Albania, Germany, and the U.S. It was well received in Europe. Her next album The Duo Session enlisted Richie Beirach where she wrote lyrics to his compositions. Laurie also wrote lyrics to some Miles Davis tunes and free improvisation pieces. This recording was also well-received but like Foreign Affair was known primarily to European audiences.
As an educator she held the position of Professor of the Vocal Department at KUG University’s Jazz Institute in Graz, Austria from 2002 to 2006 while living and performing in Europe. Antonioli was offered a position at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, California as the school’s vocal program director and created an eight-semester vocal performance curriculum. Singer and record producer Laurie Antonioli, who between 1985 and 2018 she has recorded seven albums, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ron Kobayashi was born February 8, 1962 in Southern California. He has worked with Kenny Burrell, Tom Scott, Margaret Whiting, Peter Frampton, the Modernaires, Peter White, Mel Tormé, and Tim Weisberg.
He has led the Ron Kobayashi Trio since its formation in 1994. They have recorded Live at Steamers for DVD and four compact discs and received global airplay. In 1996 the trio was voted Best Jazz Group in Orange County by Orange County Weekly readers. In 2012, the trio was nominated for Best Jazz at the Orange County Music Awards.
He served as music director of the Hollywood Diversity Awards for five years. Pianist Ron Kobayashi is a faculty member at The Orange County School of the Arts and Biola University and continues to perform.
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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