Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Pasco Gourley, Jr. was born June 9, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri. He met saxophonist Lee Konitz in Chicago when both were members of the same high school band and credits Konitz with encouraging him to become a serious musician.
His father started the Monarch Conservatory of Music in Hammond, Indiana, though he didn’t teach and bought his son his first guitar. Jimmy took his first guitar classes at the school and became interested in jazz while listening to the radio, enjoying in particular Nat King Cole. For his first professional experience as a performer, he dropped out of high school to play with a jazz band in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
From 1944 to 1946 Gourley served in the U.S. Navy. Upon his return to Chicago, Illinois he met guitarist Jimmy Raney and wanted to play like him. He worked in bars and clubs with Jackie Cain & Roy Kral, Anita O’Day, Sonny Stitt, and Gene Ammons. Through the G.I. Bill he received tuition for three years to any college in the world.
Beginning in 1951, Jimmy spent the rest of his life in France, working with Henri Renaud, Lou Bennett, Kenny Clarke, Richard Galliano, Stéphane Grappelli, Bobby Jaspar, Eddy Louiss, Martial Solal, and Barney Wilen. He played with American musicians who were passing through, including Bob Brookmeyer, Clifford Brown, Stan Getz, Gigi Gryce, Roy Haynes, Lee Konitz, Bud Powell, Zoot Sims, Lucky Thompson, and Lester Young.
Guitarist Jimmy Gourley, who spent the better part of his life in Paris, France transitioned at the age of 82 on December 7, 2008 in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Joseph Harold Holmes was born in Montreal, Canada on June 8. 1916 and began playing cornet at 10, briefly studying with C. Van Camp. After playing trumpet for a year in 1940 in a co-operative band, the Escorts, he took over its leadership 1941-50.
Under the name Johnny Holmes Orchestra, they played Saturday nights at Victoria Hall in Montreal, broadcasted on CBC radio, and occasionally toured Canada’s Quebec and Ontario. One of Montreal’s leading dance bands of the day, it boasted a healthy jazz quotient and benefited from Holmes’ ability to identify talented young musicians. His sidemen included, at various times, Nick Ayoub, Al Baculis, Percy and Maynard Ferguson, Bud Hayward, Art Morrow, and Oscar Peterson. Lorraine McAllister and Sheila Graham, in turn, sang with the band.
Retiring from music from 1951 to 1959, he reemerged and from 1959 to 1969 was heard on CBC radio in The Johnny Holmes Show, Broadway Holiday, and others. Holmes’ orchestras made several broadcast recordings between 1966 and 1973 for the CBC’s LM series. He continued to perform periodically until his final retirement from music in 1978.
Trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, composer Johnny Holmes, who wrote more than 40 songs and many arrangements for his orchestra and his radio shows and has no available recordings online, transitioned on June 11, 1989.
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Three Wishes
When the Baroness asked Jimmy Jones if he had the opportunity to get three wishes granted what would they be he responded with:
- “I’d like to be a better musician.”
- “Communicate my music.”
- “To hit a golf ball straight.”
*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…
Don Murray was born on June 7, 1904 in Joliet, Illinois and attended high school in Chicago, Illinois. In his teens he made a name for himself as one of the best young jazz clarinetists and saxophonists in the city. In 1923 he recorded with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and though he was not a regular member of the band, he was a friend who sometimes sat in with them.
Murray made early recordings with Muggsy Spanier before joining the Detroit, Michigan based band of Jean Goldkette, with whom he remained until 1927. It was here that he mentored the young Jimmy Dorsey.
After a brief stint with Adrian Rollini’s band, during which he contributed to several highly regarded recordings by Bix Beiderbecke, he was hired by Ted Lewis. He can be heard in the 1929 Ted Lewis film Is Everybody Happy?
>Suffering injuries sustained in a freak automobile accident where Don was standing on the running board of a moving roadster and fell, striking the back of his head on the pavement. Immediately hospitalized with serious head injury, clarinetist and saxophonist Don Murray transitioned at the age of 24 on June 2, 1929 in Los Angeles, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Matthews was born on June 6, 1911 in Chagrin Falls, Ohio but was raised in McAlester, Oklahoma. He attended the University of Oklahoma and Chicago College of Music.
He started out as an alto saxophonist with Ben Pollack in 1935, moved to Jimmy Dorsey then Benny Goodman through the rest of the decade. In the Forties Dave went on to play with Harry James, Hal McIntyre, then switched to tenor saxophone with Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and Charlie Barnet.
Matthews arranged for many of these groups, and continued working as an arranger in New York City and California well into the 1960s, with Duke Ellington among others. Occasionally he played with his own bands, including at Lake Tahoe in the 1970s.
He made recordings with the big bands of Bud Freeman, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Noone, Jack Teagarden, and Hot Lips Page. Saxophonist Dave Matthews, who was principally playing in the swing era, transitioned in 1997.
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