Three Wishes

Pannonica inquired of Marshal Royal what his three wishes would be if given and his response was: 

1. “Health.”
2. “Life.”
3. “Happiness.”

*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…

William Carl “Bama” Warwick was born on October 27, 1917 in Birmingham, Alabama and lived in Brookside, Alabama as a child. Moving northward in the early 1930s he lived with Charlie Shavers and together they moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1936. There they became members of Frank Fairfax’s band, playing alongside Dizzy Gillespie.

They subsequently played with Tiny Bradshaw and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. After Shavers left to join John Kirby’s ensemble, Carl then worked with Teddy Hill, Edgar Hayes, Don Redman, and Bunny Berigan. During World War II, he conducted a military band, and played with Woody Herman in 1944-45, then with Buddy Rich.

In the 1950s he led his own group and also worked with Lucky Millinder and Brew Moore; he returned to Gillespie’s employ in 1956, playing intermittently with him until 1961. He took a position in 1966 directing music with the New York City Department of Corrections, and in 1972, he appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival with Benny Carter.

Trumpeter Carl Bama Warwick passed away in 2003, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jacques Loussier was born on October 26, 1934 in Angers, France. Starting piano lessons there aged ten, the following year he heard a piece from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. He fell in love with the music and began adding his own notes and expanding the harmonies. By 13, he met the pianist Yves Nat in Paris, who regularly gave him projects for three months, after which he returned for another lesson.

While studying at the Conservatoire National Musique, Loussier began composing music, having moved by then to Paris, with Nat, from the age of 16. He played jazz in Paris bars to finance his studies, and fusing Bach and jazz was unique at the time. After six years of studies, he traveled to the Middle East and Latin America, where he was inspired by different sounds. He stayed in Cuba for a year.

Early in his career, he was an accompanist for the singers Frank Alamo, Charles Aznavour, Léo Ferré, and Catherine Sauvage, before forming a trio in 1959 with string bass player Pierre Michelot, a Reinhardt alum, and percussionist Christian Garros. The trio began with Decca Records then moved to Philips/Phonogram in 1973, selling over six million albums in 15 years.

By the mid-1970s, the trio dissolved and Jacques set up his own recording studio, Studio Miraval, where he composed for acoustic and electric instruments. He recorded with musicians such as Pink Floyd, Elton John, Sting, Chris Rea, and Sade. Reviving his trio in 1985, with the percussionist André Arpino and the bassist Vincent Charbonnier. As early as 1998 the trio recorded interpretations). Besides Bach, the trio recorded interpretations of classical compositions on the album Satie: Gymnopédies Gnossienne. His last albums, My Personal Favorites, and Beyond Bach, Other Composers I Adore, were released in 2014, on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Suffering a stroke during a performance at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr on July 14, 2011 retired from the stage. Pianist Jacques Loussier, who performed in the classical, jazz, and third stream arenas, passed away on March 5, 2019 at the age of 84.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

David Friedrich Dallwitz was born on October 25, 1914 in Freeling, South Australia. He studied violin as a child and after moving with his family to Adelaide, South Australia in 1930, he developed an aptitude for jazz piano. Beginning in 1933 for two years he studied concurrently at the South Australian School of Art and the North Adelaide School of Fine Art.

He led the Southern Jazz Group, a Dixieland band that performed at the first Australian Jazz Convention. Abandoning jazz for a period, he studied at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, composing symphonic and chamber music and taking up bassoon and cello. He became involved in composing and arranging music for revues, leading to the formation of the Flinders Street Revue Company, for which he also directed and played piano.

Returning to jazz in 1970, he resumed recording. He worked with Australian progressive musicians such as John Sangster, Bob Barnard, and Len Barnard. He led the Dave Dallwitz Ragtime Ensemble.

Pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger, painter, and art teacher Dave Dallwitz, who led jazz, Dixieland and ragtime bands, passed away on March 24, 2003 in Adelaide after finishing the artwork for his album The Dave Dallwitz Big Band live at Wollongong, December 1984.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

James Theodore Powell was born on October 24, 1914. He played on two recording dates with Billie Holiday for Columbia Records, the first in 1940, was with a band comprising of trumpeter Roy Eldridge, alto saxophonists Carl Frye and Powell, tenor saxophonist Kermit Scott, pianist Sonny White, guitarist Lawrence Lucie, bassist John Williams, and Hal West on drums. The second recording session was in 1941, again with Eldridge, Lester Boone, Ernie Powell, and Jimmy Powell on alto saxophones, Eddie Heywood on piano, Paul Chapman on guitar, Grachan Moncur on bass, and drummer Herbert Cowans.

1944 had Jimmy recording with Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra, with Oscar Pettiford, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons, Thomas Crump, Wardell Gray, Dizzy Gillespie, Chippy Outcalt, and Trummie Young, among others. The album was released in 1960 as Mr. B. In 1945, he recorded in New York with Don Byas and Hal Singer.

At the beginning of 1947, Powell was with Illinois Jacquet and his Orchestra, which featured Miles Davis, Marion Hazel, Fats Navarro and Joe Newman on trumpets, Gus Chapwell, Ted Kelly, Eli Robinson and Dickie Wells on trombones, Ray Perry and Powell on alto saxes, Jacquet and Big Nick Nicholas on tenor saxes, Leo Parker on baritone sax, Bill Doggett and Leonard Feather on piano, Al Lucas on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums, together with Tadd Dameron and Jimmy Mundi as arrangers. And again, in April the same year, with a slightly different line-up, this time featuring Russell Jacquet, Navarro and Newman on trumpets, J.J. Johnson on trombone, Powell or Ray Perry on alto, Illinois Jacquet on tenor, Leo Parker on baritone, Sir Charles Thompson on piano, Freddie Green on guitar, Al Lucas on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums.

In 1956, Powell was a member of the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band that recorded Groovin’ High live at Birdland with Walter Bishop on piano, Nelson Boyd on bass, Marty Flax on baritone, Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Carl Warwick and Joe Gordon on trumpets, Benny Golson and Ernie Wilkins on tenor, Ernie Henry and Phil Woods on alto saxes, Roy Levitt and Melba Liston on trombones. He went on to record several albums with Gillespie.

Alto saxophonist Jimmy Powell, who never recorded as a leader but as a sideman was part of nine recording sessions, passed away on February 16, 1994.

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