Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Akira Sakata was born on February 21, 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan and first heard jazz on short-wave radio and Voice of America, then became more interested in it from listening to film soundtracks. His serious study of music began in high school where he played clarinet. He played alto sax in a jazz band when at Hiroshima University and trained as a marine biologist before moving to Tokyo, Japan in 1969.
From 1972 to 1979 Sakata was a member of the Yamashita Yosuke Trio and toured internationally with them. In 1986, he performed with the group Last Exit with Bill Laswell. This performance was released as The Noise of Trouble: Live in Tokyo. Laswell went on to play bass on and produce Sakata albums such as Mooko, Silent Plankton and Fisherman’s.com, the last of which also featured the reclusive Pete Cosey on guitar. He later worked with DJ Krush and Chikamorachi with Darin Gray and Chris Corsano.
His career nearly ended in 2002, when he had a brain haemorrhage and he had to relearn the saxophone, only to return to performing after three months, but still had some remaining restrictions years later. Akira is also a television and film actor, as well as being a writer.
Free jazz saxophonist Akira Sakata, who has recorded fifteen albums as a leader, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frederick L. Robinson was born on February 20, 1901 in Memphis, Tennessee. He learned to play trombone as a teenager, and studied music in Ohio before moving to Chicago, Illinois where he played in the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra.
Robinson went on to play on Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five recordings and continued working with both Dickerson and Armstrong until late 1929, when he took a position in Edgar Hayes’s band. In the 1930s he worked extensively as a sideman, with Marion Hardy, Don Redman, Benny Carter, Charlie Turner, Fletcher Henderson, and Fats Waller.
In 1939-1940 he was in Andy Kirk’s band, and played later in the 1940s with George James, Cab Calloway, and Sy Oliver. Early in the 1950s he worked with Noble Sissle, but after 1954 he was less active as a performer. Trombonist Fred Robinson passed away on April 11, 1984 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Emile Barnes was born on February 18, 1892 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His first instrument was a toy fife. He soon moved on to the flute, and then the clarinet, which was given to him by the great Bunk Johnson. He studied under Lorenzo Tio Jr., Alphonse Picou, George Baquet, and Big Eye Louis Nelson Delisle. By 1908, at sixteen, he became active professionally in New Orleans, Lousiana by 1908, he was long well regarded locally for his bluesy and distinctively individualistic style.
He played with the Chris Kelly band from the late 1910s through the 1920s. He never became widely known to jazz fans outside of New Orleans until he made recordings during the revival era for American Music Records. He performed at the opening night of Preservation Hall and also in his later years.
In the 1930s he played with Wooden Joe Nicholas, and in the 1940s with Kid Howard. During this time, Barnes also had standing gigs with Lawrence Toca at the Harmony Inn, a New Orleans venue, and with Billie and DeDe Pierce at Luthjen’s dancehall. As a brass band musician, he performed with the Superior and Olympia Brass Bands, among others.
Emile was featured on several Folkways Records New Orleans compilation albums during the 1950s, and again in the early 60s as a solo artist. When British trumpeter Ken Colyer jumped ship and visited New Orleans in 1953, he recorded with a pick-up band including Barnes.
Clarinetist Emile Barnes, ragtime and brass band player, passed away on March 2, 1970 in his hometown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ade Monsbourgh was born on Febrauary 17, 1917 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He studied piano first before taking up reeds, valve trombone, trumpet and even recorder. He met pianist Graeme Bell early on and was part of his band regularly during 1944 to 1952. During his tenure with the band he recorded several times with Bell’s freewheeling band and toured Europe and Czechoslovakia.
He had occasional opportunities to lead his own dates, in addition to playing with groups led by Roger Bell, Dave Dallwitz, Len Barnard and Frank Traynor. His band, the Late Hour Boys, recorded prolifically for Swaggie through 1971.
During the 1992 Australia Day Honours, Monsbourgh was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to music, particularly jazz as a performer and composer.
Retiring from fulltime playing in the 1970’s, clarinetist Ade Monsbourgh, known as Lazy Ade or Father Ade, and who also played alto and tenor saxophone, trumpet, trombone and recorder, passed away on July 19, 2006 in Nathalia, Victoria, Australia.
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Three Wishes
Nica asked Ray McKinney what he would wish for if he was given three and his response was:
- “I want to be the greatest person in the world.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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