Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Harold “Geezil” Minerve was born in Havana, Cuba on January 3, 1922, and raised in Florida and began playing music at age 12. He played with drummer Jeff Gibson and vocalist Ida Cox early in his career, then worked as a freelance musician in New Orleans, Louisiana. Following stints with Clarence Love and Ernie Fields, Minerve served in the Army from 1943–46, then returned to play with Fields for a short time.
He worked with Buddy Johnson from 1949~1957, then with Mercer Ellington in 1960, Ray Charles from 1962 to 1964, and then worked as musical director for Arthur Prysock. In 1971 he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra, filling Johnny Hodges’s spot after Hodges’s death. Minerve remained with the Ellington Orchestra until 1974, then returned to play with Mercer Ellington with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Following the success of the Broadway hit Sophisticated Lady when he played with the orchestra on stage and the touring company, Harold left for a brief time, playing with Ruth Brown’s Black and Blue Review in Paris, returning to Ellington in the Eighties. He did further freelance work later in the 1970s.
He would go on to work freelance in and around New York. Alto saxophonist, flutist, and clarinetist Harold Minerve passed away on June 4, 1992.
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Three Wishes
When the Baroness asked Jerome Richardson what three things he would wish for he responded by saying:- “To play this horn.”
- “To be a first-class citizen.”
- “To make money.”
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Three Wishes
Responding to her question of three wishes Eric Dolphy gave Nica only two answers:
- “To continue playing music all my life.”
- “A home and a car in New York. That’s all.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats – Complied and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Requisites
Groove Merchant is a 1967 Verve Records soul jazz album led by tenor saxophonist and flautist Jerome Richardson, who also played soprano, alto and baritone saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto flute and piccolo. Joining him on the date were Grady Tate, Ernest Hayes, Chuck Rainey, Snooky Young, Joe Newman, Warren Smith and Eric Gale.
The cover design was created by Charles Stewart. The album was comprised with ten compositions with two songs, Groove Merchant and Where Is Love were composed by Richardson, the others by such names as Jimmy Webb, Bobbi Gentry, Neil Diamond, Bobby Webb and Otis Redding among others.
The Tracks are listed as follows equally distributed equally on both A and B sides – Groove Merchant, To Sir With Love, Gimmie Little Sign, No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In), Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon, Knock On Wood, Ode To Billie Joe, Sunny, Where Is Love and Up, Up And Away.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Theodore Malcolm Nash was born on October 31, 1922 in the Boston suburb of Somerville, Massachusetts. His goal was to become a classical flutist until he began playing saxophone in his early teens. His professional career began when he went on the road with a succession of dance bands, landing the solo tenor chair with the Les Brown band in 1944 where he rapidly made a name for himself.
His playing was notable for his mastery of the extreme altissimo register of the saxophone. He authored Ted Nash’s Studies in High Harmonics for Tenor and Alto Saxophone published in 1946, that is still in print.
In the late 1940s Ted became part of the thriving Hollywood movie and television recording industry. In 1956 he recorded with Paul Weston’s orchestra the hit album Day by Day, with vocals by his former colleague and close friend, Doris Day.
He was featured on The Music from Peter Gunn soundtrack album performing the bluesy, high-energy alto sax solo on the theme as well as the wistful alto sax solo on the second bridge of Dreamsville. Henry Mancini composed The Brothers Go to Mother’s from Peter Gunn as a feature for Ted and and his trombonist Dick.
From the mid 50s through the end of the Sixties he recorded sixteen albums with Georgie Auld. Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein, Pete Rugolo, Lalo Schifrin. Saxophone, flute and clarinet Ted Nash, who was a first-call session musician in the Hollywood recording studios, passed away on May 12, 2011.
