Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Morell was born into a family of guitarists on June 2, 1958 in Niagara Falls, New York. His father was his first teacher and together they would play jazz with him leading and his father accompanying him and then they would switch.
As he matured he began composing and controlling the setting. His most recent recording Trading Places is an album that swings with a more contemporary sound. Morell often played with drummer John Guerin and added organist and keyboardist Steve Bohanon to make a trio.
He and Guerin have played on 40 films and countless TV soundtracks or at recording sessions for albums. The guitarist figures he’s played on 40 films, and countless TV soundtracks and recordings.
In 1968 Berkeley, California he played a concert with the Gil Evans Orchestra and the Miles Davis Quintet. For four years beginning in 1970, John was a member of the Shelly Manne outfit. Then, for a period of time Morell gave up playing to focus on building furniture. Though it paid the bills it wasn’t satisfying and he returned to music, operating his own studio and continued to flourish in a side career as a woodworker.
Guitarist, organist and composer John Morell, best known for his work with drummer Shelly Manne’s sextet, continues to perform and record.
More Posts: bandleader,composer,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tony DiGregorio was born June 1, 1958 in Poughkeepsie, New York and started playing guitar at age 10. He later received informal lessons with uncle, Oscar DiGregorio, Louis E. Bruno, Gene Bertoncini, and Mark Diorio. He received his B.A.in music from Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He studied classical guitar with Dennis Cinelli, composition with Schoenberg, harmony/counterpoint, piano and solfeggio with Paul Caputo, and improvisation/composition with Marty Ehrlich.
As a composer Tony created and performed incidental music for experimental theater productions of The Room, The Lady Aoi, and Journey into the Night in New York City and San Francisco, California with bassist Gerard Zanonico and clarinetist Robert Rossette.
From 1985 to 1994 DiGregorio played with the Swing Now Trio with various special guests Charlie Persip, Teddy Charles, Max Kaminsky, Chuck Wayne, Gene Bertoncini, Buddy Tate, Tom Harrell, Eddie Barefield, Mel Lewis, and Bobby Watson just to name a few.
Since 1994 Tony has worked with Laurel Watson, Hill Greene, Ken Filiano, Theo Wilson, Nicki Parrot, John Rasczka, Dave Hopkins Trio, Marco Katz, Tim Hays, and others including a performance of Terry Rielly’s “In C” with The Styrenes in 2003.
Guitarist and composer Tony DiGregorio continues to compose, perform and record.
More Posts: bandleader,composer,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Requisites
A DAY IN THE LIFE | WES MONTGOMERY
One of my favorite jazz albums that I first heard during my freshman year in college was the 1967 album A Day In The Life by Wes Montgomery. It was recorded on June 6 & 26, 1967 at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and released on the A&M/CTI label later that year in September.
The 34:21 minute album is filled with covers of rock and pop songs selected by the guitarist who opens Side One with the title track, A Day In The Life by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, originally released on their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It’s a great opener that builds from a quiet start into a cavalcade of strings by its end. Watch What Happens is from the 1964 musical romantic drama film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music by Michel Legrand.
The Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright #1 tune When a Man Loves a Woman is the third addition to the side and first recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966. California Nights is a song written by Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Liebling and recorded by Lesley Gore in 1967. The final song is Angel and is the only composition contributed by Montgomery.
Side Two is opened by another Lennon/McCartney song, Eleanor Rigby. One premise is that the inspiration for the title is the actress Eleanor Bron who starred in the Beatles movie Help!. Rigby came from the name of a store in Bristol, Rigby & Evens Ltd. Next up is Willow Weep For Me, that once again accounts the inspiration for the song is that Ann Ronnell, while at Radcliffe College, had been struck by the loveliness of the willow trees on campus, and this observation became the subject of an intricate song.
Windy, another No. 1 tune recorded by The Association, and was composed by Ruthann Friedman. Trust In Me was composed by Milton Ager, Jean Shwartz and Ned Wever and was made popular in 1937 by Mildred Bailey. Closing out the session is The Joker, a song by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and is taken from the 1964 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd. It’s a lament of a person, seen by the outside world as a jester and a comedian especially when they fail.
The recording session was produced by Creed Taylor, was arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky, the engineer was Rudy Van Gelder and the principal photography was performed by Pete Turner.
The guitarist did little more than play the melody using his distinctive octaves. A Day in the Life is a collaboration of guitar and strings. For these ears it was a pleasurable listening experience.
More Posts: choice,classic,collectible,collector,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edgar Avenir was born on May 25, 1950 in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. As a child he grew up in the University of the Philippines and lived in Area One of the campus. As a young guitarist, Avenir played with the renowned jazz pianist and composer Bong Peñera, and the Sangkatutak Band, whose members included Cariño, Ivy Violan and Richard Merk. His neighbors included Ed “Sarge” Cariño and John Lesaca, both of whom would later play with Avenir in various bands.
While he sessioned for pop acts like the Apo Hiking Society, his associations with fellow jazz musicians allowed him to explore the more eclectic side of his music. His move to jazz had him rubbing shoulders and exchanging notes with Pinoy jazzmen like Sandra Lim Viray, Jun Viray, Romy Posadas and Roger Herrera.
An excellent musician who could play with anyone, Avenir regularly performed with singer Zenaida Celdran and De la Calzada at La Cuisine Francaise in Makati. Celdran took care of Avenir in the last few months of his life. He was always willing to help fellow artists who wanted to learn more about music.
Still playing until August even though he was ill, guitarist Edgar Avenir, affectionately known as Koyang, died on Saturday, September 17, 2017 of pneumonia arising from lung cancer. He was 61.
More Posts: guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marco Cortesi was born on May 18, 1962 in Locarno, Switzerland. Though learning the guitar early he began taking music seriously at the age of 20. He attended several Italian summer camps with Joe di Jorio, Jim Hall, Mick Goodrick and others. From 1985 to 1991 he enrolled at the Swiss Jazz School (SJS) in Bern, Switzerland where he studied and played with Frank Sikora, Rachel Gould, Woody Shaw, Sal Nistico and others.
After graduation at SJS in 1991, he started a musical and artistic relationship with American and European musicians and started working regularly with Gene Calderazzo in a trio that features special guests such as Franco Ambrosetti, Walt Szymansky, Jon Davis, Mark Abrams, Dario Deidda, Jeff Gardner, Rick Margitza, Giorgio di Tullio, Alberto Bonacasa and many others. He went on to perform in trio to quintet configurations at festivals and in clubs.
In 1997 he’s in London, England for a tour with the Gene Calderazzo Quartet. That same year the Swiss label Altri Suoni released his first CD Triblu. In 1999 he was in New York City he worked, toured and recorded with pianist Jeff Gardner. He went on to tour with tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza, with whom he also recorded with his sophomore project Why Not in 2000. He has collaborated with Franco Ambrosetti, trumpeter Hilaria Kramer, lute player Luca Pianca, and viola player Walter Fähndrich.
Guitarist Marco Cortesi composed all the music and soundtracks played and recorded by his group. He writes music for jingles, radio tunes, and electronic compositions for professional use in the media business.
More Posts: bandleader,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music