Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Karen Street was born on December 13, 1959 in the United Kingdom (UK) and started playing the accordion at the age of 7. She went on to study at Bath University, RWMCD and in London, England with the late Ivor Beynon, a pioneer of the classical accordion. She studied music at Welsh College of Music and Drama and Guildhall School of Music. She became the British Virtuoso Champion in 1981/2 and competed in the Coupe Mondiale World Championship in Hamburg, Germany and Folkstone, UK.
Karen has created a niche for herself in the UK jazz scene and is a regular member of Mike Westbrook’s groups, works with Tim Garland as well as part of Lammas playing alongside Geoff Keezer, Joe Locke and Avishai Cohen.
As a saxophonist Street was a member of the all girl saxophone quartet The Fairer Sax and is now a member and co-leader of Saxtet with her husband Andy Tweed.
Karen’s composing is specialized by writing music for the saxophone, from solos to large ensembles. Her composition for solo accordion, In The Ballroom With The Rope, took first prize at the London Accordion Festival, Composition Competition in 2001. The same year she released her debut recording, Finally A Beginning.
Besides jazz, Karen has played across genres with the likes of Bryan Ferry, Grace Jones, Andrea Bocelli, Kate Westbrook, BBC Philharmonic, Icebreaker, and the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour band for three seasons.
Accordionist, saxophonist and flutist Karen Street is currently a freelance musician playing across a wide variety of genres.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Juhani Aaltonen was born December 12, 1935 in Kouvola, Finland. He began playing professionally at the end of the Fifties. He played in a sextet led by Heikki Rosendahl during that time, and then studied flute performance at the Sibelius Academy and in the U.S. at the Berklee College of Music.
Moving back to Finland, he settled in Helsinki and began working both as a session musician and with fusion groups. Late in the 1960s he formed a duo with Edward Vesala, played in the group Eero Koivistoinen and with Tasavallan Presidentti. He recorded with Thad Jones and Mel Lewis and with Heikki Sarmanto late in the decade and early 1970s. His debut album as a soloist, Etiquette, was released in 1974.
The following year Juhani became a member of the New Music Orchestra, and worked with the Nordic All Stars, Arild Andersen, and Peter Brötzmann before the end of the decade. The Eighties saw him working with the UFO Big Band, Jan Garbarek, Charlie Mariano, and others. He led a touring quartet from 1990 to 1992.
In 2001 he released a duo recording, Rise, and his trio album Mother Tongue won a Jazz-Emma in Finland. Saxophonist and flautist Juhani Aaltonen continues to perform as well as teach at the annual Nilsiä Music Camp.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George James was born in Boggs, Oklahoma on December 7, 1906. His career didn’t begin until the late 1920s joining the bands of Charlie Creath and Johnny Neal. He moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1928, where he played with Jimmie Noone, Sammy Stewart, Ida Marples, Jabbo Smith, and Bert Hall.
In 1931 through the first quarter of 1932 he toured with Louis Armstrong, and at the end of the tour he remained in New York City. There he joined the Savoy Bearcats and later played with Charlie Turner’s Arcadians. By the middle of the decade Fats Waller assumed leadership of the Arcadians, and James played under him until 1937.
Finishing the decade playing in the Blackbirds Revue, early in the 1940s he worked with James P. Johnson, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, and Lucky Millinder, and led his own bandhttps://notoriousjazz.com/jazz-type/swing/daily-dose-of-jazz-3977↗ in 1943-44. Later in the decade James played with Claude Hopkins and Noble Sissle.
He was active both as a leader and a sideman into the 1970s, playing with Clyde Bernhardt and the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band in that decade. Saxophonist, clarinetist, and flautist George James died on January 30, 1995 in Columbus, Ohio.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gus Bivona was born on November 25, 1915 in New London, Connecticut. He got his musical start under the close eye of his musician parents, his mother was a pianist, and his father was a guitarist. His first instrument was violin, but he switched to a combination of alto saxophone and clarinet at the age of 16.
He began his professional debut in the Spider Johnson Band, followed by performing around New England in Leo Scalzi’s Brunswick Orchestra. 1935 saw Gus begin a lengthy stint with the Jimmy Monaco Orchestra and worked with the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra, He went on to spend several months with Bunny Berigan in 1938. Through the end of the decade he worked with bandleaders Will Hudson and Teddy Powell.
In 1940 he put his name on his first band but work as a sideman in more established bands appeared to be what he was after. He spent a period with Benny Goodman in 1940 through the spring of 1941 alongside Charlie Christian. Prior to joining the Naval Air Force Band, Bivona gigged with Jan Savitt and Les Brown & His Band of Renown. He went on to have a series of gigs with Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby post World War II.
Signing on with MGM In 1947 he performed numerous studio sessions and on freelance recordings into the 1950s. He connected with Steve Allen, the two would occasionally hit the concert trail, including a lengthy club residency at the Roundtable in New York City. Their collaboration rendered Music for Swingers: Gus Bivona Plays the Music of Steve Allen in 1958 followed by many other West Coast jazz recordings. They were in the company of top studio players and arrangers, such as Skip Martin, Henry Mancini and Pete Rugolo.
Clarinetist Gus Bivona, who also palys saxophone and flute, died on January 5, 1996 in Los Angeles, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Justin Wood was born on November 18, 1975 in rural Northern Maine and began playing saxophone in fifth grade growing up. During high school, he co-led a jazz trio with trombonist Philip Yaeger and brother Tyler on piano, and played gigs ranging from local restaurants to agricultural conventions.
After attending Harvard University, Justin moved to New York City in 1999 and worked as a union organizer and explored the city’s music scene. He began performing in the city in 2001, and has performed with diverse musical groups in venues including Birdland, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, NJ Performing Arts Center, the Knitting Factory, and the Garage.
Rather than pursuing a conservatory education, he has learned from and been inspired by his peers. Through private lessons with top creative musicians such as Bill McHenry and Michel Gentile he has developed his own voice.
Currently, alto saxophonist and flautist Justin Wood continues to participate in diverse musical projects. He co-leads Spoke, an eclectic quartet with trombonist Andy Hunter, bassist Dan Loomis, and drummer Danny Fischer.
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