Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Adrian Tilbrook was born on July 20, 1948 in Hartlepool, Co. Durham, England. The son of a tenor saxophone/clarinet player, he studied drums for two years with Max Abrams. In 1974 he replaced Tony Hicks in the blues-influenced rock trio Back Door and toured extensively in Germany and the UK in the 70s with British blues giant Alexis Korner.

Tilbrook formed Full Circle with trombonist Rick Taylor in 1984 and ventured into jazz. Throughout his freelance career, played with many American musicians, including Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis, Al Grey, James Moody, Jimmy Witherspoon and Al Casey, as well as British artists such as Ian Carr, Allan Holdsworth, Don Weller and Stan Tracey.

A powerful and tasteful technician, he has been influenced by Elvin Jones and Billy Higgins. Drummer Adrian Tilbrook, who has taught percussion for many years and since 1986 has worked with Northern Arts/Yorkshire Arts as Jazz Development Officer based at Jazz Action in Darlington, continues to perform and record.

 

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Nicole Glover was born on July 18, 1991 in Portland, Oregon. Her musical journey began when her father introduced her to improvised music at a young age. She started playing the clarinet at the age of ten, transitioning to tenor saxophone the following year. Her interest and curiosity for music blossomed in high school, becoming involved in a variety of performance groups, both within her school and in the community.

Nicole was chosen to be one of nineteen students from across the nation for the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, who embarked on a national tour that involved performances with Bobby Watson and Julian Lage, and concluded with a performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Wynton Marsalis.

After studying at William Paterson University, in 2011 Nicole returned to Portland where she was invited to record on Esperanza Spaulding’s Grammy-award winning album Radio Music Society. She now performs in multiple groups with multi-instrumentalist George Colligan, as well as her own jazz trio and several other improvisational ensembles, such as, the Alan Jones Storyline Sextet, Thomas Barber’s Spiral Road, and the Kerry Politzer Quintet.

2015 saw Glover releasing her debut album First Record, featuring pianist and trumpeter George Colligan, bassist Jonathan Lakey and drummer Alan Jones. She leads her own trio with bassist Tyrone Allen II and drummer Kayvon Gordon. This was followed with the release of Plays, and HighNote-Savant Records Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

Throughout her musical career, Nicole has performed with Mulgrew Miller, Esperanza Spalding, Kenny Garrett, George Colligan, Geoffrey Keezer, Bennie Maupin, Bobby Watson, Mike Clark, Carl Allen, Kenny Washington, Al Foster, Victor Lewis, Lenny White, Joe Farnsworth, Reggie Workman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ben Wolfe, Bill Stewart, Essiet Essiet, Mel Brown, Julian Lage, Obo Addy, Rob Scheps, Red Holloway, Terell Stafford, Helen Sung, Dana Hall, Scotty Barnhart, and Thara Memory, to name a few.

Glover is a member of Ural Thomas and Pain, Artemis led by Renee Rosnes, Ursa Major led by Christian McBride, and has toured with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Tenor saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and educator Nicole Glover, who is on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and has taught masterclasses and private lessons to students around the world, continues to fit performance in her busy schedule.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joseph Albert Morello was born July 17, 1928 in Springfield, Massachusetts of French and Italian ancestry. Suffering from partial vision from birth, he devoted himself to indoor activities. He began studying the violin when he was six and three years later, he was a featured soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and again three years later.

By fifteen he met the violinist Jascha Heifetz, decided that he would never be able to equal Heifetz’s sound and switched to drumming. He first studied with show drummer Joe Sefcik and then with educator and author George Lawrence Stone. He was so impressed with Morello’s ideas that he incorporated them into his next book. Further study led him to Radio City Music Hall percussionist, Billy Gladstone.

Moving to New York City, he worked with Johnny Smith, Tal Farlow, Stan Kenton, Phil Woods, Sal Salvador, Marian McPartland, Jay McShann, Art Pepper, and Howard McGhee. After a period of playing in McPartland’s trio, Joe declined invitations from Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, favoring a two-month tour with the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1955. This turned into a performing and recording residency that lasted for well over a decade, departing in 1967.

As an educator Morello became an in-demand clinician, teacher and bandleader, whose many of his former students went on to become well known in their chosen genres. He authored several drum books, including Master Studies, published by Modern Drummer Publications, made instructional videos and received many awards, and was inducted into several Halls of Fame.

Drummer Joe Morello, who appeared on over 120 albums, died at his home in Irvington, New Jersey on March 12, 2011 at the age of 82.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Akua Allrich was born on July 11th in Washington, D.C., the child of a musical family with a home that held such a wealth of jazz recordings that she did not buy any albums until her second year in college. One of the first jazz albums she bought was John Coltrane’s Live at the Village Vanguard: The Master Takes.

Educated at Howard University, she obtained her BM in jazz vocals and a master’s degree in social work. She was taught, coached and mentored by talented musicians such as world-renowned singer Kehembe V. Eichelberger, singer/drummer Grady Tate, and pianist Charles Covington.

Her musical roots run deeply into blues, soul and rhythm and blues, with a clear grounding in jazz and pan-African music. She launched her independently produced album A Peace of Mine in 2010, which created a significant buzz with critics and music-lovers alike. She sings in many languages including Portuguese, French, Spanish, English, Xhosa, and Twi.

Vocalist, composer and teacher, Akua Allrich continues to electrify audiences and is likened to such legendary artists as Oscar Brown, Jr., Miriam Makeba and Nina Simone.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Brian Priestley was born on July 10, 1940 in Manchester, England and began studying music at the age of eight. In the 1960s he gained a degree in modern languages from Leeds University, while playing in student bands. In the mid-1960s, he began contributing to the jazz press and was responsible for entries in Jazz on Record: A Critical Guide to the First Fifty Years, 1917–1967.

In 1969 he moved to London, England and began playing piano with bands led by Tony Faulkner and Alan Cohen. Priestley helped transcribe Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige, and Creole Rhapsody for Cohen. He formed his own Special Septet featuring Digby Fairweather and Don Rendell. His compositions include Blooz For Dook, The Whole Thing and Jamming With Jools, based on a live broadcast with Jools Holland.

As a broadcaster he worked on the BBC, London Jazz FM, and for BBC Radio London, and influenced the renewed interest in jazz in the 1980s. Priestley taught jazz piano at Goldsmiths College from 1977 until 1993, and has taught jazz history for various other universities and conservatoires over the years.

Priestley has also written biographies of Charles Mingus, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, as well as the book Jazz on Record: A History. He co-authored The Rough Guide to Jazz, as well as contributing to several other reference books, and has compiled and/or annotated more than a hundred reissue compilations.

Writer, pianist and arranger Brian Priestley has lived in Tralee, Ireland since 2006 where he continues playing the piano and presents a show on Radio Kerry.

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