Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Phillip Rista Nimmons was born on June 3, 1923 in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. He studied clarinet at the Juilliard School and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada. In 1953 Nimmons formed the ensemble Nimmons ‘N’ Nine, which later he led during his weekly radio show on CBC radio. This ensemble eventually grew to 16 musicians in 1965 and was active intil 1980.
He joined the University of Toronto in 1973 and as an educator, Nimmons has made substantial contributions to the study of jazz. In 1960, Along with Oscar Peterson, he founded the Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto, Canada. He was involved in the development of the jazz performance program at the University of Toronto.
Nimmons received the first Juno Award given in the Juno Awards jazz category, for his album Atlantic Suite. His composition The Torch was commissioned for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and was performed at the Olympics by a big band led by Rob McConnell.
In 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, received the Order of Ontario, the Jazz Education Hall of Fame honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award by SOCAN and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, Canada’s highest honour in the performing arts, for his lifetime contribution to popular music.
Clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and educator Phil Nimmons, known for playing in the free jazz and mainstream styles, has recorded seventeen albums as a leader and at 98 is still involved in music.
More Posts: clarinet,composeer,educator,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pierre Favre was born June 2, 1937 in Le Locle, Switzerland. Not much is known about his childhood or his early music career.
He recorded the album Singing Drums in 1984 on the ECM label with Paul Motian and Nana Vasconcelos. He also appears on John Surman’s album, Such Winters of Memory released the year beore.
He has recorded with several well-known musicians, including Tamia, Michel Godard, Mal Waldron, Paul Giger, Jiří Stivín, Michel Portal, Irene Schweizer, Samuel Blaser, the ARTE Quartett, Barre Phillips and the London Jazz Composers Orchestra.
He has recorded six albums as a leader and drummer and percussionist Pierre Favre continues to explore his craft, perform and record.
More Posts: bandleader,drums,history,instrumental,jazz,music,percussion
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Herbie Lovelle was born June 1, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York. His uncle was drummer Arthur Herbert. He began his career in the late 1940s with the trumpeter, singer and bandleader Hot Lips Page. By the 1950s he was playing with the saxophonist Hal Singer, Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers and the pianist Earl Hines.
Through working for both Lucky Thompson and Jimmy Rushing of Count Basie’s Orchestra, he became house drummer at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City for much of the 1950s. He toured with the tenor saxophonist Arnett Cobb and the pianist Teddy Wilson in 1954.
He contributed to the pianist Paul Curry’s album Paul Curry Presents the Friends of Fats in 1959. Then in the early years of television, Herbie performed with the King Guion Orchestra on the Jerry Lester Show and the Ed Sullivan Show. In 1966, he was the lead drummer for the Sammy Davis, Jr. TV show.
During the 1950s Lovelle began playing more R&B and worked as a studio musician recording behind Sam Taylor, Bob Dylan, Pearls Before Swine, Eric Andersen, David Blue, John Denver, Tom Rush, B. B. King, John Martyn, the Strangeloves, the McCoys, and the Monkees. He continued working as a studio musician well into the 1980s.
In 1976, he produced the first album by Stuff, which went platinum in Japan. He also played drums in the 1976 revival of Guys and Dolls. From the 1980s on he acted in film and television, on such shows as Law & Order and Third Watch. His film credits ~ A Man Called Adam, Bella, Mitchellville, The Rhythm of the Saints, Don’t Explain, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, and Down to Earth among others.
His list of recordings as a studio musician extended across genres to some six dozen albums with jazz notables Candido Camero, Buck Clayton , Art Farmer, Herbie Mann, Sonny Stitt, Budd Johnson, Buddy Tate, Chico O’Farrill, Evie Sands, Johnny Hodges, Nat Adderley, Tony Bennett, Illinois Jacquet and numerous others. Drummer, producer and actor Herbie Lovelle transitioned on April 8, 2009 in New York City.
Three Wishes
When the subject of three wishes was broached, Willie Ruff told Nica he had only one that he would like to be granted and that was:
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“I wouldn’t have three wishes. I would only have one and that’s to be forty. Because by then I will have everything I need.”
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*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
Willie Ruff: September 1, 1931 | French Horn, Double BassMore Posts: baroness,bass,french horn,history,instrumental,jazz,music,pannonica,three,wishes
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Billy Robinson was born on May 31, 1939, in Fort Worth, Texas. His jazz roots go back to his father’s nightclub where he played boogie-woogie piano as a child, and watched the adult musicians perform. At the beginning of his musical career he played with John Carter, Ornette Coleman, and Dewey Redman. Living and playing in San Francisco, California in the mid-1960s towards the end of the decade he relocated to New York City, where he collaborated with Charles Mingus in 1969.
During the late 1960s, Robinson converted to Islam and remained a practicing Muslim for the rest of his life. A move to Montreal, Canada is where he married his first wife in 1970. Short-lived, four years later he married Suzanne Cyr and moved to Ottawa, Canada in 1978 and performed sporadically at the local level.
Following his recording debut on Archie Shepp’s Attica Blues, Billy released his first album titled Evolution’s Blend as a leader in 1972. Then in 1973 he played on the Sadik Hakim track Grey Cup Caper. From 1972 to 1998 he was a part of six recording sessions.
Tenor saxophonist, composer, educator and bandleader Billy Robinson, who was dubbed The Mystic by Freddie Hubbard, transitioned from a heart attack on August 11, 2005, in Ottawa, Ontario, at the age of 66.Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a Fort Worth saxophonist to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…
Billy Robinson: 1939 ~2005 | Tenor SaxophoneMore Posts: bandleader,composer,educator,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone