Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Britton was born on November 28, 1903 in Birmingham, Alabama and following his student days under the guidance of Fess Whatley, he went to work with Bessie Smith who took him on the road from 1924 through 1926 as a member of her backing group, followed with the Fred Longshaw Orchestra and then the Bill Woods Orchestra. The next year, he jumped to Frank Bunch & the Fuzzy Wuzzies, most likely the most obscure name in the list of the groups he played for.
Settling in New York in the ’30s and immediately got into the fast-paced jazz scene working with Ellsworth Reynold’s Bostonians, Teddy Hill, the band of classic jazz drummer Kaiser Marshall, Charlie Johnson, Edgar Hayes, and the Vernon Andrade Orchestra. In the ’40s: he worked with Benny Carter from 1940-1941 and Dizzy Gillespie, while at the same time collaborating on older styles of jazz.
In the 1940s Britton worked and recorded with Jelly Roll Morton, Jay McShann, and Lucky Millinder in 1942. He would go on to be employed by Wynonie Harris showing up on a half-dozen of her R&B records, and also recorded with Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
He performed and recorded with pianist Earl Hines. The trombonist dabbled into orchestra arrangements and his work in this field is highlighted on the album Breaks, Blues and Boogies by fellow bone-man Vic Dickenson. retired from full-time professional playing in the 1950s, however, he gigged off and on into the Sixties, including a regular stint in a band led by saxophonist Wesley Fagan. Trombonist Joe Britton passed away on August 12, 1972 in New York City, New York.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wilber Morris was born on November 27, 1937 in Los Angeles, California and began playing drums as a child. Joining the Air Force in 1954, during his tour of duty of eight years switched to the bass. He would play around San Francisco, California in his off times with the likes of Pharoah Sanders and Sonny Simmons. After his discharge, he returned to Los Angeles and played with Arthur Blythe and Horace Tapscott.
Moving back to San Francisco in 1969 his jazz career didn’t really take off until he relocated to New York City nearly a decade later. By 1978 Wilber found work with violinist Billy Bang and saxophonist David Murray, the latter would become a long-standing association well into the ’90s. During the early Eighties, he formed his own trio, Wilber Force, with drummer Denis Charles and saxophonist Charles Tyler with whom he recorded.
He held various teaching positions in addition to recording and performing. He began to work outside Murray’s group and also founded the One World Ensemble. He recorded four albums as a leader and as a sideman another two dozen albums. Morris performed with such musicians as Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Simmons, Alan Silva, Joe McPhee, Horace Tapscott, Butch Morris, Arthur Blythe, Charles Gayle, William Parker, and Bob Ackerman, Charles Tyler, Dennis Charles, Roy Campbell, Avram Fefer, Alfred 23 Harth, Borah Bergman, Bobby Few, and Rashied Ali.
Double bassist and bandleader Wilber Morris, who performed mainly in the free jazz genre and was the brother of the cornetist, composer, and conductor Butch Morris, passed away on August 8, 2002 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kiane Zawadi was born Bernard Atwell McKinney on November 26, 1932 in Detroit, Michigan into a family of ten children, several of whom also became musicians. A trombone and euphonium player, he first worked with Barry Harris and Sonny Stitt in 1951, and then played with Alvin Jackson’s band early in the decade. Toward the middle of the decade, he joined Art Blakey, and by 1959 he moved with Yusef Lateef to New York City.
The 1960s had him playing with Illinois Jacquet, James Moody, and Curtis Fuller. It was later in the Sixties that Bernard adopted the name Kiane Zawadi. By the 1970s he was performing with Archie Shepp, Carlos Garnett, Harold Vick, Frank Foster, Charles Tolliver, Abdullah Ibrahim, and McCoy Tyner.
In 1978, he played in the pit orchestra for Dancin’, a Broadway show. He also appeared at a Charlie Parker tribute at Town Hall in New York City in 1985. Other musicians Zawadi worked with include Mongo Santamaría, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Joe Henderson, and Aretha Franklin.
As a sideman, he has recorded thirty-eight albums with Foster, Slide Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Jordan, Yusef Lateef, Donald Byrd, Pepper Adams, James Moody, Sun Ra, Hank Mobley, Howard McGhee, Freddie Roach, Archie Shepp, Willis “Gator” Jackson, Dollar Brand, McCoy Tyner, Les McCann, Shirley Scott, Jackie DeShannon, Harold Vick, Charles Tolliver, Carlos Garnett, Kenny Vance, Ralph MacDonald, Phyllis Hyman, Cornell Dupree, Grant Green, Mickey Bass, Illinois Jacquet, Rodney Kendrick, Joe Henderson, and Patience Higgins.
Trombonist and euphonium player Kiane Zawadi, one of the few jazz soloists on the latter instrument, at 87 he continues to perform and record.
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Hollywood On 52nd Street
Stella by Starlight is a popular song by Victor Young that was drawn from thematic material composed for the main title and soundtrack of the 1944 Paramount Pictures film, The Uninvited. Appearing in the film’s underscore as well as in source music as an instrumental theme song without lyrics.
It was turned over to Ned Washington, who wrote the lyrics for it two years later in 1946. The title had to be incorporated into the lyrics, which resulted in its unusual placement: the phrase appears about three-quarters of the way through the song, rather than at the beginning or the end.
At one point in the film, the main character, Rick (Ray Milland) tells Stella (Gail Russell) that he is playing a serenade, To Stella by Starlight.
Plot
Rick (Ray Milland) and his sister Pamela (Ruth Hussey) unknowingly buy a seaside home that is haunted by the ghost of Mary Meredith. Meredith’s husband was a painter who had an affair with his gypsy model, Carmel, Meredith discovers the affair, takes Carmel to and leaves her in Paris, where she gives birth to a child, which ultimately Mary took. Subsequently, Carmel returned to England, takes the infant Stella from Windward, and, during the confrontation, pushes Mary off the cliff to her death. So Mary haunts the house and when Stella returns her affinity to the place is cemented. Rick falls for her but wants her to leave. Seances, ghost visitations by both Camel and Mary, and a sanatorium reveal that Carmel, not Mary is Stella’s mother. This frees Carmel’s spirit from Windward House and with Rick confronting Mary’s spirit announcing he is no longer afraid, the spirit also departs.
Recordings
“Stella by Starlight” is one of the most popular standards, its May 1947 recording by Harry James and his orchestra reached 21st place in the pop charts. Two months later, the recording by Frank Sinatra with Axel Stordahl and his orchestra also rose to the 21st position.
Early adaptations of the song were performed and recorded by Charlie Parker, Stan Getz in December 1952, trumpeter Chet Baker, Bud Powell, Stan Kenton, Nat King Cole. Other recordings have been made by Miles Davis, Red Garland, Earl Grant, Joe Pass, Bill Evans, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Lou Donaldson, Charlie Rouse, Dexter Gordon, Billy Eckstine, Dick Haymes, Ray Charles, Anita O’Day, Helen Reddy, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Mina, Al Hirt, Larry Coryell, among others.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William McLeish Smith was born on November 25, 1910 in Charleston, South Carolina, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. His first instrument was the clarinet and his education was in chemistry, receiving his degree from Fisk University, an HBCU.
In 1929 Smith became an alto saxophonist for Jimmie Lunceford’s band, becoming one of the main stars in the group. 1940 had him leading his own quintet as a side project. His success with Lunceford had lost its charms by 1942 as he now wanted more pay and less travel. Moving to the Charlie Spivak Orchestra for a year and was in the navy for another year. He then switched to Harry James’s orchestra, where he made more money and stayed with him for seven years.
His next move was to work with Duke Ellington and Billy May. He was also part of the Gene Krupa Trio and can be heard on the 1952 live Verve album The Drum Battle, part of the Jazz at the Philharmonic series. In 1954 he returned to Harry James’s band.
He recorded some three dozen albums as a sideman with Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Barney Kessel, Jimmie Lunceford, Billy May, Rose Murphy, Red Norvo, Andre Previn, Googie René, and Kay Starr among others.
Alto saxophonist Willie Smith, who has been described as one of the triumvirates of great jazz alto saxophonists with Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter before Charlie Parker arrived, passed away of cancer on March 7, 1967 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 56.
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