Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jay Cameron was born in New York City on September 14, 1928. He began as an alto saxophonist but later recorded with bass clarinet, B-flat clarinet, and baritone saxophone. His career began in the early 1940s in Hollywood, California with Isaac M. Carpenter’s band, with whom he played until 1947.

Moving to Europe near the end of the decade he played with Rex Stewart, Bill Coleman, Roy Haynes and Henri Renaud in France and Italy. By the early 1950s Cameron was gigging around Belgium, Germany, and Scandinavia. Returning to Paris, France in 1955 he played steadily with a band that included Bobby Jaspar, Barney Wilen and Jean-Louis Chautemps.

Back in the United States in the mid-Fifties Jay played in the bands of Woody Herman, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson, Freddie Hubbard, Candido Camero, Bill Barron, André Hodeir, Hal McKusick, and Les and Larry Elgart. In 1960 he played with Slide Hampton, also led the International Sax Band and the Third Herdsmen, and late in the decade, he toured with Paul Winter.

Bass and B-flat clarinetist and baritone saxophonist Jay Cameron died in San Diego, California on March 20, 2001.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Gerald Graham Valentine was born on September 13, 1914 and received formal training in music when he was young, learning piano, composition, and music theory. He learned to play the trombone on his own.

In the early 1940s Jerry composed and arranged for Earl Hines and worked in Chicago with Dallas Bartley, King Kolax and he booked shows for the Club DeLisa. He then joined Billy Eckstine’s band from 1944 to 1947 and worked later in the decade with Wynonie Harris and Buddy DeFranco.

From 1950 to 1952 Valentine was an artist and repertory man for National Records. He played with Gene Ammons in 1954, and in 1958-1959 wrote arrangements for Pepper Adams, Art Farmer, and Coleman Hawkins in the group Prestige Blues Swingers.

Trombonist, composer and arranger Jerry Valentine died in October 1983.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joëlle Léandre was born September 12, 1951 in Aix-en-Provence, France on Opera Street across from a theatre. She studied the standard double-bass repertoire intensively in her hometown conservatory and at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. By her late teens she was subbing in the bass sections of large classical ensembles. Drawn to Paris jazz clubs, she wasn’t involved in the scene because her pizzicato playing off-putting the jazz field’s standard.

Her appreciation of improvisation came from her chance discovery of Bowin’ Swingin’ Slam, by swing bassist Slam Stewart. Around the same time Joëlle received a one-year scholarship to study at the Center for Creative and Performing Arts in Buffalo, New York. Not only was she exposed daily to serious music from composers and travelled to New York to listen to improvisers.

She began her career in the early 1970s when she was still a student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, France. She studied with renowned bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse and developed a unique style that fused avant-garde jazz with classical music. In 1974, she formed the ensemble Musica Elettronica Viva with Italian composer and electronic musician Luciano Berio.

Collaborating with many on the avant-garde jazz scene including John Cage, Anthony Braxton, Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, George E. Lewis, India Cooke, Steve Lacy, Sylvie Courvoisier, John Zorn and Cecil Taylor, among others. She is also a founding member of the improvising trio Fish Music with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Barry Guy. Aside from performing as a soloist, her bands have been trio, quartet configurations.

In 1983 she became a member of the European Women Improvising Group (EWIG), which evolved from the Feminist Improvising Group. In the early 1990s she co-founded the feminist improvising trio Les Diaboliques, with Irène Schweizer and Maggie Nicols.

Double bassist, vocalist, and composer Joëlle Léandre remains active in new music, avant~garde and free improvisation.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Peck Morrison was born John A. Morrison on September 11, 1919 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was classically trained, and in addition to bass, being competent on trumpet and percussion was also his talent.

During World War II he played in military bands in Italy and after the war he moved to New York City to play professionally. He played with Lucky Thompson in the early 1950s, and then recorded with Horace Silver, Gigi Gryce, and Art Farmer. He played and toured Europe with Gerry Mulligan.

He was a noted accompanist and sideman with Carmen McRae, Tiny Bradshaw, King Pleasure, Zoot Sims, Dave Bailey, Betty Carter, Eddie Jefferson, the J. J. Johnson/Kai Winding Quintet, and Duke Ellington in the Fifties and the latter in the 1960s.

He performed or recorded in the Sixties with Lou Donaldson, Johnny Smith, Mal Waldron, Randy Weston, Babs Gonzales, the Newport Rebels, Shirley Scott, Red Garland, Charles McPherson, and Sy Oliver. In 1986 he performed as a member of the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band.

Bassist Peck Morrison, who never recorded as a session leader, died on February 25, 1988.

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Jazz Poems

FOUR BONGOS: TAKE THE A TRAIN for Vinnie

from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young

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