Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Pete Johnson was born Kermit H. Johnson on March 25, 1904 in Kansas City, Missouri. Raised by his mother after the father deserted the family, financially distressed, he was placed in an orphanage at three. Homesick, he ran away and returned home. By the age of 12, finding work to ease the financial burden at home, he dropped out of school in the fifth grade as a result of his efforts.

Beginning his musical career in 1922 as a drummer in Kansas City, Missouri. He began piano about the same time he was learning the drums. His early piano practices took place in a church, where he was working as a water boy for a construction company. From 1926 to 1938, he worked as a pianist, often working with Big Joe Turner. with record producer John Hammond that led to an engagement at the Famous Door in New York City, and an in the From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. Working locally, touring and recording with Turner, Meade Lux Lewis, and Albert Ammons kept him busy during this period. He appeared in the film short Boogie-Woogie Dream in 1941.

The song Roll ‘Em Pete, composed with and featuring Turner on vocals and Johnson on piano, was one of the first rock and roll records. They went on to record Johnson and Turner Blues and Rocket 88 Boogie.

By 1946 Pete recorded a concept album, Pete Johnson’s Housewarmin’, with J. C. Higginbotham, J. C. Heard, Albert Nicholas, Hot Lips Page, Clyde Bernhardt. Budd Johnson, and a young singer, Etta Jones. It was later re-released as Pete’s Blues.

The Fifties saw Johnson moving to Buffalo, New York, where he suffered health and financial difficulties including being partially paralyzed by a stroke. He held a series of jobs over the next few years supplementing them with occasional gigs. He continued to record, and toured Europe in 1958 with the Jazz at the Philharmonic ensemble, despite the fact that wasn’t in thebest of health. Returning to the States, he accompanied Big Joe Turner, Chuck Berry and Big Maybelle at the Newport Jazz Festival.

Diagnosed with a heart condition, diabetes and plagued with several strokes, Pete lost the mobility in both hands. Four years ater he began losing his eyesight. Royalties were dribbling in from Blue Note and Victor until he was finally accepted into ASCAP, which ensured that some of the royalties would be received on a regular basis.

His final live appearance was the Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall in January 1967, his eighth and final appearance at this event. Pianist Pete Johnson, who played jazz and boogie~woogie, transitioned two months later in Meyer Hospital in Buffalo, on March 23, 1967, at the age of 62, two days before his 63rd birthday.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre was born on March 24, 1936 in Clarksville, Arkansas but raised in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at the Chicago College of Music, and during the 1960s began playing with musicians such as Malachi Favors, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Roscoe Mitchell. Along with them he became a member of the ensemble Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in 1965.

He recorded his first solo album in 1969. During this time he recorded as a session musician for Delmark Records, playing with George Freeman, J.B. Hutto, and Little Milton, among others. The same year, Kalaparusha was convicted for drug offences, serving his sentence in Lexington, Kentucky with fellow inmate and friend musician/composer Tadd Dameron.

Moving to New York City in the 1970s, he played at Sam Rivers’s Rivbea Studios and taught at Karl Berger’s Creative Studio. He and Muhal Richard Abrams toured Europe several times. After his 1981 live album, McIntyre recorded very little, playing on the streets and in the subways of New York. His next major appearance on record was not until 1998, with Pheeroan akLaff and Michael Logan. The following year he played with many AACM ensemble members on the album Bright Moments. He continued releasing albums as a leader into the new century.

Free jazz tenor saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre transitioned on November 9, 2013, in The Bronx, New York, at the age of 77.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Gerry Hemingway was born March 23, 1955 in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from Foote School in New Haven and studied under Alan Dawson. In 2000 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work in music composition.

He was a member of the Anthony Braxton quartet from 1983 to 1994. He has also performed with Ernst Reijseger, Anthony Davis, Earl Howard, Leo Smith, George E. Lewis, Ray Anderson, Mark Helias, Reggie Workman, Michael Moore, Oliver Lake, Marilyn Crispell, Christy Doran, John Wolf Brennan, Don Byron, Cecil Taylor, and Cuong Vu.

He has recorded on over one hundred albums for the labels Clean Feed, Enja, hatArt, Palmetto, Random Acoustics, and Tzadik. Avant~garde drummer and composer Gerry Hemingway, who  owns his own record label Auricle,continues to pursue his musical endeavors.

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Three Wishes

In response to the question of three wishes by Baroness de Koenigswarter, Terry Gibbs told her the two he had:

1. 1. “I would like to have access to all the money I can have. I’d like to be a billionaire!”

   2. “I’d like to have my own club and play when I feel like playing.”

   3. “A million dollars. If I had all these I wouldn’t need to wish for anything for my wife and family, because they’d be covered and it would be Utopia.”

*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…

Tommy Chase was born on March 22, 1947 in Manchester, England and was largely self taught. He turned professional in the mid 1960s and after working in night clubs and on cruise liners settled in London, England in 1973.

Through the 1980s and ’90s he led his own straight ahead hard driving bebop groups with some success in the clubs and at the first Soho Jazz Festival. He used young musicians, notably sax player Alan Barnes, guitarist Dave Cliff and bassiat Andy Cleyndert. He recorded as a leader and as a collaborator with Ray Warleigh. He worked with Art Themen and Harry Becket as well as accompanying visiting Americans including Al Haig, Jon Eardley and Joe Albany.

A forceful drummer very much in the hard hitting style of Art Blakey, many musicians commented on his skill and timing. Quitting the music scene early in 1999, he played his final gig at the Jazz Cafe in Camden.

Drummer and bandleader Tommy Chase, recorded seven albums as a leader, transitioned on December 2, 2018.

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