Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Morris Ellis “Fruit” White was born January 17, 1911 in Nashville, Tennessee and grew up in Peoria, Illinois. During the 1920s he played with Charlie Creath, Dewey Jackson, and Ethel Waters before joining The Missourians in 1928.
In 1930, Cab Calloway became the leader of the ensemble, with White becoming one of his most important sidemen. He remained with Calloway’s band until 1938. He played with Lionel Hampton in 1941, then left the music industry for good.
Banjoist and guitarist Morris White passed away In November 1986.
The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
As we progress further into this new year with social distancing and self~quarantine from the madness of those who feel the need to live like it’s 2019 some of us have adapted to this new normal. For those of us who no longer consider this pandemic life interrupted, we kick back and relax and listen to music.
This week I chose the second studio album by guitarist Emily Remler titled Take Two. Credited to The Emily Remler Quartet, and she was joined on the recording session by pianist James Williams, bassist Don Thompson, and drummer Terry Clarke. Williams was best known at the time for his four years with The Jazz Messengers, and Thompson and Clarke frequently worked together as part of the Jim Hall Trio.
The hard bop album was produced by Carl E. Jefferson, recorded in June 1982 at Soundmixers, New York City and released on the Concord Jazz label the same month. Leonard Feather called the album a carefully planned and brilliant executed set of performances.
Track List | 42:24
- Cannonball (Cannonball Adderley) ~ 4:48
- In Your Own Sweet Way (Dave Brubeck) ~ 4:52
- For Regulars Only (Dexter Gordon) ~ 6:43
- Search For Peace (McCoy Tyner) ~ 5:17
- Pocket Wes (Emily Remler) ~ 6:45
- Waltz For My Grandfather (Emily Remler) ~ 6:35
- Afro Blue (Mongo Santamaría) ~ 2:24
- Eleuthra (Monty Alexander) ~ 6:20
- Emily Remler – electric guitar
- James Williams – piano
- Don Thompson – bass
- Terry Clarke – drums
I’m in this for the long run and we’re going to get through this pandemic, so when the world opens back up for international travel, I’m hitting the friendly skies to once again jet setting around the globe. In the meantime, stay vigilant, wear masks and remain healthy.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Daniel Moses Barker was born on January 13, 1909 in New Orleans, Louisiana to a family of musicians, the grandson of bandleader Isidore Barbarin and nephew of drummers Paul Barbarin and Louis Barbarin. He took up the clarinet and drums before switching to a ukulele that his aunt got him, and then to banjo. One of Barker’s earliest teachers in New Orleans was fellow banjoist Emanuel Sayles, with whom he would record.
Barker began his career as a musician in his youth with his streetband, the Boozan Kings, and toured Mississippi with Little Brother Montgomery. 1930 saw him moving to New York City where he switched to the guitar. Through the decade he played with Fess Williams, Billy Fowler and the White Brothers, Buddy Harris, Albert Nicholas, Lucky Millinder, and Benny Carter in 1938. During his time in New York, he frequently played with West Indian musicians, who often mistook him for one of them due to his Creole style of playing.
From 1939 to 1946 he frequently recorded with Cab Calloway, and started his own group featuring his wife Blue Lu Barker after leaving Calloway. In 1945 he recorded with pianist Sir Charles Thompson, and saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Charlie Parker. In 1947 he was back with Lucky Millinder and Bunk Johnson. He returned to working with Al Nicholas in 1948 and in 1949 rejoined efforts with his wife in a group.
During the 1950s Danny was primarily a freelance musician, but did work with his uncle Paul Barbarin from 1954 to 1955. In the mid-1950s he went to California to record again with Albert Nicholas; performed at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival with Eubie Blake. In 1963 he was working with Cliff Jackson, and then in 1964 appeared at the World Fair leading his own group. Sometime in the early 1960s he formed a group he called Cinderella. The following year he returned to New Orleans and took up a position as assistant to the curator of the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
In 1970 he founded and led a church-sponsored brass band for young people ~ the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band. The Fairview band launched the careers of a number of professional musicians who went on to perform in brass band and mainstream jazz contexts, including Leroy Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Kirk Joseph, Nicholas Payton, Shannon Powell, Lucien Barbarin, Dr. Michael White and others. In later years the band became known as the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
He played regularly at many New Orleans venues from the late 1960s through the early 1990s, in addition to touring. Beyond overcoming the obstacles of segregation, banjoist Danny Barker, who also sang and played guitar and ukulele, authored two books and was an amateur landscape artist; and who suffered from diabetes throughout most of his adult life, passed away from cancer in New Orleans on March 13, 1994 at age 85.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Billy Mackel was born John William Mackel on December 28, 1912 in Baltimore, Maryland and played banjo early in his career, but like many banjoists of his time he switched to guitar.
He led a band early in the 1940s, then joined Lionel Hampton in 1944 and spent the next thirty years with him. In the 1940s he also recorded with Milt Buckner, Arnett Cobb, Herbie Fields, and others, and worked with Billy Williams in the 1960s.
Guitarist Billy Mackel, who played left~handed and recorded as a leader, passed away on May 5, 1986.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Red Balaban was born Leonard Balaban on December 22, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois. Moving the family to New York, he completed his early education at the Ethical Culture School. After graduating from Milford Academy in Connecticut, he graduated from Brown University.
Moving south to the panhandle, he raised breeding cattle on a farm in Bonifay, Florida and as a musician, he was a sideman, bandleader, and club owner. He played in regional ensembles from the 1950s, Red went on to hold a regular gig from 1966 at the Dixieland jazz club Your Father’s Mustache in New York City.
Balaban worked extensively as a sideman, for musicians such as Wild Bill Davison, Eddie Condon, Gene Krupa, Dick Wellstood, and Kenny Davern. He co-led Eddie Condon’s house band with Ed Polcer from 1975, and noted musicians in this outfit included Vic Dickenson, Warren Vache, and Connie Kay, before the club closed in the mid-1980s.
Tubist and sousaphonist Red Balaban, who also played banjo, stand-up bass, slide trombone, ukulele, and rhythm guitar, passed away after a brief illness seven days past his 84th birthday on December 29, 2013 in Milford, Connecticut.
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