Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Martha Tilton was born November 14, 1915 in Corpus Christi, Texas however, her family moved to Edna, Kansas when she was three months old. They relocated to Los Angeles, California when she was seven years old. While attending Fairfax High School she was singing on a small radio station when she was heard by an agent who signed her and began booking her with larger stations.
Dropping out of school in the eleventh grade she joined Hal Grayson’s band. After singing with the quartet Three Hits and a Miss, she joined the Myer Alexander Chorus on Benny Goodman’s radio show, Camel Caravan. Goodman hired Tilton as a vocalist with his band in 1937. She continued to appear as Goodman’s star vocalist until the end of 1939 and had a No. 1 hit with the Goodman recording of And the Angels Sing.
Her major success happened from 1942 to 1949 as one of the first artists to record for Capitol Records. Her first recording for the label was Moon Dreams with Orchestra and The Mellowaires. Among her biggest hits as a solo artist were I’ll Walk Alone, I Should Care, A Stranger in Town, How Are Things in Glocca Morra, That’s My Desire, and I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder.
After she left Capitol, she recorded for other labels, including Coral and Tops. Martha sang on Fibber McGee and Molly and starred on Campana Serenade, a program of popular music on first NBC and then CBS in 1942–1944. She would go to sing and appear on further radio and television shows into the Fifties. She also appeared in several films from 1941 to 1975 including the Benny Goodman Story. Her singing voice was used for other actresses including Barbara Stanwyck, Martha O’Driscoll, and Anne Gwynne.
On December 8, 2006 vocalist Martha Tilton, who appeared in several Soundies musical films of the 1940s, passed away of natural causes at her Brentwood home.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Singleton Palmer was born on November 13, 1912 in St. Louis, Missouri and began playing cornet at age 11, and was actively playing gigs with the Mose Wiley Band in St. Louis by 14. 1928 saw him playing tuba, and joined Oliver Cobb’s Rhythm Kings in 1929. His first recordings were with Cobb in 1929, and he continued to perform with the band through 1934.
Following Cobb’s death in 1931, Eddie Johnson took over leadership for the band, renaming it the St. Louis Crackerjacks. He recorded with the band under Johnson’s leadership in 1932, and switched to string bass in 1933. The following year Palmer joined Dewey Jackson on the riverboats, performing with him until 1941.
Singleton took a job at Scullin Steel, where he joined the company’s 45-piece big band, which performed for the employees in the cafeteria during the daily lunch hour. Additionally he began performing with George Hudson’s first band in 1941, continuing until 1947. Toward the end of the decade he got higher-profile performing and recording opportunities, including with Clark Terry in 1947 and Jimmy Forrest in 1948. In 1947 he joined Count Basie’s 18-piece jazz band, touring for 3 years and recording 11 sides.
In 1950 Palmer left Basie’s group and started his own band, the Dixieland Six. He led this Dixieland jazz ensemble in jam sessions at the Universal Dance Hall on the DeBaliviere Strip, performed at Gaslight Square at the Opera House, and recorded six albums between 1960 and 1967. Late in his life he became a source for jazz historians, offering oral history testimonies of his early years in the music industry.
Multi-instrumentalist Singleton Palmer, who played bass, cornet and tuba, and recorded with blues musicians Big Joe Williams and Sonny Boy Williamson, passed away on March 8, 1993, St. Louis.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Satoshi Inoue 井上智 was born on November 12, 1956 in Kobe, Japan and studied at Kyoto’s Fuji School of Music from 1979 to 1981. Between 1981-1988, he led his own groups in Japan.
Moving to New York City in 1989 he studied at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music where he met Jim Hall, who has been on the faculty of the university since his senior year.
Over the years, Inoue has toured with jazz greats such as James Moody, James Williams, Cecil Bridgewater, Frank Foster, Slide Hampton, Barry Harris, Jimmy Heath, Arnie Lawrence, Jack McDuff, Junior Mance, Jon Faddis, Akira Tana, The Clayton Brothers and Toshiko Akiyoshi.
His own band has gigged at New York’s top jazz venues, and for twelve years, Inoue has brought American musicians to Japan to conduct fall tours for concerts and workshops, including the Big Apple in Nonoichi festival. His lectures on jazz standards appear monthly in a Japanese jazz magazine called Jazz Life.
Guitarist Satoshi Inoue, who performed together on Hall’s widely used instructional video collection called Jazz Guitar Master Class Volumes 1&2, continues to compose, record and perform.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dick Wilson, born November 11, 1911 in Mount Vernon, Illinois was raised in Seattle, Washington, but attended high school in Los Angeles, California. He started on piano and learned saxophone in Seattle from saxophonist Joe Darensbourg. He became a member of Darensbourg’s band in 1930.
In 1936, he joined Andy Kirk’s Clouds of Joy, where he spent the next five years. With Mary Lou Williams and Pha Terrell, Wilson was one of the most striking musical personalities in the band. He cultivated a style that has been compared to Lester Young’s because of similar characteristics in their solos.
Tenor saxophone Dick Wilson, best known for his work with the Andy Kirk big band, passed away from tuberculosis on November 24, 1941 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ariel de la Portilla was born on November 10, 1975 in Matanzas, Cuba where he lived until immigrating with his parents to Miami, Florida when he was five. Growing up in the Little Havana neighborhood he was surrounded by the sounds of Cuban and Brazilian music as well as simultaneously experiencing American music and culture that gave his childhood a distinctly unique dichotomy that later proved to have become a crucial aspect of his life, education, and musical identity.
After graduating from high school in 1994, he left Miami to pursue his interests in the double bass. Awarded a music scholarship to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, he dedicated most of his time to studying classical bass and jazz. He remained at CCM until recruited by the University of Miami in 1996 to study under the instruction of Don Coffman, Matt Bonnelli and Lucas Drew.
Since arriving in New York City, he has performed with jazz and Latin musicians including Ray Vega, Dave Valentin, Patato Valdez, Candido Camero, Edy Martinez, Willie Martinez, Peter Erskine, Eddie Daniels, and Sonny Bravo.
Bassist Ariel De La Portilla is currently a member of the Ze Luis Quartet and a new conceptual guitar trio, Lengua Moderna.
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