Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ronnie Bedford was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on June 2, 1931. He started early on the drums, taking lessons from Fred Albright of the NBC Orchestra when he was ten. Later he started listening to radio airchecks of the great big bands on the radio which, among other things, resulted in Gene Krupa becoming his idol. Although he was already in jazz, the defining moment when he fully committed to the jazz life came in 1970 while he was with the Morris Nanton Trio.
He went on to perform with Broadway shows, big bands, small groups, TV, and the recording studio. A very short list of those he has sat in at drums are Hank Jones, Sylvia Sims, Arnett Cobb, Benny Carter, Walter Norris, and Bill Watrous. The drummer has also performed at key jazz festivals and major concert halls including the Newport Jazz Festival, Royal Albert Hall in London and New York’s Avery Fisher Hall, both with Benny Goodman, and the Smithsonian Museum with Benny Carter.
In 1993 he released a self-published album titled Tour de West. He later produced three more albums before the turn of the century on the Progressive Records label. As a sideman he recorded with Carter, Cobb, Jones, Chris Connor, Buddy DeFranco, Don Friedman, Rod Levitt, Pee Wee Russell, Derek Smith and Chuck Wayne.
He was one of the founders of the Yellowstone Jazz Festival held annually in Cody, Wyoming, and was the recipient of the 1993 Wyoming Governor’s Award for the Arts. Living in Powell, Wyoming he taught percussion at Northwest College. Drummer and professor Ronnie Bedford transitioned on December 20, 2014.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Harry Alexander White was born on June 1, 1898 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As a teenager, he played drums, then switched to trombone after moving to Washington, D.C. around 1919. In the early Twenties he played with Duke Ellington, Elmer Snowden, and Claude Hopkins. Then in 1925 he formed the family band called the White Brothers Orchestra, which played the mid-Atlantic states for several years with regular gigs in New York City and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Late in the 1920s, he played with Luis Russell, then joined the Mills Blue Rhythm Band in 1931. The following year he joined Cab Calloway’s orchestra, working as an arranger and composer in addition to his duties on trombone. One of Calloway’s trumpeters, Edwin Swayze, overheard Harry use the term “jitterbug”, and wrote a tune called The Jitterbug. Calloway’s 1934 recording of the song brought the term into widespread currency.
Returning to play with Russell in 1935 when the band was backing Louis Armstrong, he eventually quit playing for part of the Thirties decade. He would later perform with Manzie Johnson, Hot Lips Page, Edgar Hayes, and Bud Freeman.
Trombonist, pianist, saxophonist, arranger and composer Harry White, who was affectionately known as Father White, transitioned on August 14, 1962 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joseph Samuel Thomas was born on May 31, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey. As a child, he learned to play alto and soprano saxophone, trombone, flute and piano, and also taught himself how to write music. Encouraged by his older brother, he began performing in clubs from the age of fifteen and was ultimately noticed by James Moody.
After enlisting in the United States Army he received a Purple Heart during combat in the Korean War. Returning to the States, Joe performed with Specks Williams and joined Rhoda Scott’s Trio in the early 1960s.
Thomas recorded with organist Jimmy McGriff and released a dozen albums under his own name in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a sideman he also recorded five albums with Scott, and one each with Ambersunshower, Beck, Buddy Terry and Joe Tex.
Flutist, tenor saxophonist and bandleader Joe Thomas passed away in Orange, New Jersey at the age of 84 on July 26, 2017.
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Three Wishes
After a set, Pannonica sat down by Mickey Roker and during the conversation the subject of three wishes came up and when she inquired he answered:
- “Health first. I know I can always use that.”
- “Music – like, study some more. I don’t know what else I want, really! Because if I could maintain those two, I’d be cool. That’s enough.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Bernard Gordon was born May 30, 1939 in New York City, New York. He studied at Juilliard School and played with Buddy Johnson and Ray Draper in the 1950s.
Gordon worked with Lionel Hampton in 1961 and 1962 and with Lloyd Price and Sam Rivers later in the 1960s. By the 1970s, he was playing with Charles Tolliver, Clark Terry, Count Basie, Howard McGhee, and Frank Foster.
John led his own ensembles in the late 1970s, and his sidemen included Tolliver, Roland Alexander, Lisle Atkinson, Stanley Cowell, and Andrew Cyrille. During this decade he rejoined Hampton again, with whom he continued working until 1989.
After his Hampton residency Gordon played in Al Grey’s ensemble, Trombone Summit, and founded a group called Trombones Incorporated with Fred Joiner. When Joiner left the group in the early 1990s, he became its leader and changed its name to Trombones Unlimited. The late 1990s had him playing with Slide Hampton, Josh Roseman, Lafayette Harris, Martin Winder, Curtis Fuller, and Thilo Berg.
Gordon worked for several decades as a session musician for recordings and has also performed in pit orchestras for Broadway musicals. At 83, trombonist JOhn Gordon continues to play.
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