Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Michael Josef Longo was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on March 19, 1937 to parents who had a musical background. His father played bass, his mother played organ at church, and his music training began at a young age. Around four years old he heard Count Basie and Sugar Chile Mike, and the latter led him to begin researching boogie woogie bass lines. His parents took him for formal lessons at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at four. He moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida soon after and by the age of 12, he won a local talent contest.
He received a scholarship from the Ft. Lauderdale Symphony Orchestra in 1955, a Downbeat Hall of Fame Scholarship in 1959 His career began in his father’s band, then Cannonball Adderley helped him get gigs of his own. Their working relationship pre-dated Adderley’s emergence as a band leader, having approached the white teenager to be the pianist at his black church in a town that was largely segregated. This led to recordings with Cannonball in the mid-1950s but he was too young to go to clubs with him. Longo played at Porky’s which was later portrayed in the movie of the same name. He would go on to receive his Bachelor of Music degree from Western Kentucky University.
He was a fan of Oscar Peterson from a young age and he studied with the pianist from 1961 to 1962. He received a National Endowment for the Arts Grant in 1972. During the 1960s he began to lead the Mike Longo Trio, which would remain active for the next 42 years. He would go on to play with Roy Eldridge, Paul Chambers and Dizzy Gillespie, who first heard him playing with Red Allen at the Metropole. He would become musical director for the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet and later the pianist for the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Band. From 1966 until 1993 his music career would be linked to Gillespie who he was with on the night he died and later delivered a eulogy at his funeral.
Longo also taught a master class to upcoming jazz musicians, and his big band, the New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble, would play and provide upcoming musicians a chance to learn on stage. A big part of his mission was to re-establish the apprenticeship relationship in teaching jazz.
He recorded two dozen albums as a leader, four with Dizzy and one with LeeKonitz. In 2002 he was inducted into Western Kentucky University’s Wall of Fame in 2002.
Pianist, composer, educator and author Mike Longo died in Manhattan from complications of Covid~19, three days after his 83 birthday on March 22, 2020.
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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.
