Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Deniz was born Francisco Antonio Deniz on July 31, 1912 in Cardiff, Wales. His father, an African born in Cape Verde, was a seaman, and his mother was of English and African-American descent. They were amateur musicians, father playing violin and mother playing piano. From the age of 15 he joined his father on sea voyages. In 1931 his father was taken ill and the lad was forced to leave him in hospital in Odessa, Ukraine where he died. Between voyages he played music, inspired by jazz guitarists Teddy Bunn and Eddie Lang.
He married pianist Clara Wason in 1936 and they moved to London, England and found work as musicians in Soho. In 1937 they played for a time in the orchestra of Ken “Snakehips” Johnson. Deniz later played at Adelaide Hall’s Florida Club in Mayfair, where he played with pianist Fela Sowande.
Joining the Merchant Navy in 1940, he played music in between voyages with contemporaries Eric Winstone and Edmundo Ros, and formed his own band, the Spirits of Rhythm. In 1944 he was wounded when his ship was torpedoed on approaching Anzio.
Stanley Black, leader of the BBC Dance Orchestra employed him regularly and introduced him to others in the music business. Deniz joined Harry Parry’s Radio Rhythm Club Sextet, which had a regular radio series. In 1953 with his brothers, he formed the Hermanos Deniz Cuban Rhythm Band, which gave regular broadcasts in the 1950s regularly through to the 1970s.
Deniz composed music with his brother Laurence for the 1959 film Our Man in Havana. He accompanied Hoagy Carmichael on a tour of Britain. In his later years he played with the Hermanos Deniz band at the Talk of the Town. This continued for many years until his retirement in 1980, when they lived in Málaga Spain during the summer, until Clara contracted Parkinson’s disease in the 1990s. At this point Deniz became her caregiver until her death.
Guitarist Frank Deniz transitioned on July 17, 2005 at his home in Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire, England.
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SUPERBLUE: KURT ELLING AND CHARLIE HUNTER
GRAMMY® Award-winner Kurt Elling is without question today’s preeminent male jazz vocalist, renowned worldwide for his unparalleled virtuosity and flair for trailblazing artistic exploration. From his stunning reinvention of timeless standards to his own captivating original songcraft, the Chicago-based musician has fused his dazzling talents across a panoply of musical approaches, emblazoning each with signature imagination, insight, and emotional intelligence.
Where many male jazz vocalists at this stage in a much vaunted career have tended to stick to the tried and true, Elling seems to be growing more ambitious and experimental with the passing of time, a tendency evidenced by his stunning new LP, SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree. The followup to 2021’s remarkable SuperBlue, the album once again sees Elling joining forces with producer/guitarist Charlie Hunter and multi-instrumentalist duo drummer Corey Fonville and bassist-keyboardist DJ Harrison for a kaleidoscopic collection of new songs, surprising covers, and dynamic reinventions.
Showtimes ~ 8:00pm | 10:00pm
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RONI BEN~HUR TRIO
Israeli jazz guitarist who immigrated to the United States in 1985. His parents were Tunisian-Jewish from Tunisia.
Roni Bohobza grew up in Dimona, Israel. He is the youngest of seven children and one of two born after the family emigrated from Tunisia in 1955. His surname was legally changed to Ben-Hur via ritual at age 10.
When he was eleven, he started playing guitar. He learned about jazz from a high school’s friend’s record collection. In Israel he performed in clubs and at weddings and bar mitzvahs until he had enough money to move to the U.S. He arrived in New York City in 1985, spending time at Barry Harris’s Jazz Cultural Theater. He took lessons from Harris, then became a member of his band.[3]
Ben-Hur’s experience as an educator dates back to 1981 in Israel. In the U.S. he started jazz music programs at Professional Performing Arts School, the Coalition School for Social Change, and at the Lucy Moses School. At the request of Bette Midler, he started a jazz program for New York City high schools. Ben-Hur began a jazz camp in Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, France, with Santi Debriano. With Nilson Matta, he began a jazz and Brazilian music camp in Bar Harbor, Maine, both intended for adult jazz amateurs. He is the founding director of the jazz program at the Lucy Moses School at Kaufman Center in Manhattan where he teaches.
Roni Ben~Hur ~ guitar | Jason Tiemann ~ drums | Harvie S ~ bass
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nat Janoff was born on July 13, 1970 in New Jersey and began his musical education on the piano before switching to bass. After hearing Eddie Van Halen he settled on the guitar. Growing up in the 80’s his musical interests were all things rock and metal and soon earned a reputation for being one of the best shred guitarist in the area. However, seeking a platform to improvise longer than a standard rock riff led him to jazz and hearing the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Birds of Fire for the first time.
He pursued jazz earning his Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from William Paterson University in 1996 and set to work forging his own musical path.
Recording his debut album, Looking Through, he enlisted the talents of electric bassist, Matthew Garrison and drummer Gene Lake, that showcased him as a player and a composer. Two more albums as a leader followed, a live acoustic date and a studio session, then contributing to the ESC tribute album Mahavishnu Redefined II.
In addition to playing with his own groups, Janoff has performed with Joe, David “Pic” Conley, Norman Simmons and drummer Victor Jones’ group Culturversy, Debelah Morgan, and Roland Clark.
Guitarist, composer and educator Nat Janoff teaches guitar privately, has been a guest instructor at the annual William Paterson University summer jazz camp, and continues to perform and record.
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DAVE STRYKER QUARTET
When Dave Stryker was ten years old, he was inspired by the Beatles to start playing guitar. His interest was rock and roll until he heard the albums My Favorite Things by John Coltrane and Beyond the Blue Horizon by George Benson. By seventeen, he was a jazz guitarist in Omaha. In 1978 he moved to Los Angeles where he took lessons from another Omaha native, Billy Rogers, and met organist Jack McDuff. After moving to New York City, he toured with McDuff in 1984–5, then spent ten years with saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.
Stryker formed a band with Steve Slagle and a trio with Jared Gold and Tony Reedus (later McClenty Hunter and Billy Hart). He worked with the late Kevin Mahogany as sideman, composer, and arranger, appeared with him at Carnegie Hall, and toured with him in Europe and Japan. He has also worked with Eliane Elias, Javon Jackson, and Andy LaVerne.
He teaches jazz guitar at Indiana University and Montclair State University and at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop, the Litchfield Jazz Camp, and the Veneto/New School Workshop in Italy.
In 2018 Stryker began teaching jazz guitar online through the ArtistWorks music education website.
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