Daily Dose OF Jazz…
Carson Raymond Smith was born on January 9, 1931 in San Francisco, California and his older brother, Putter, was also a notable bassist & composer. His early work was in West Coast jazz, playing with Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Russ Freeman, and Chico Hamilton and recorded with Clifford Brown, Dick Twardzik, and Billie Holiday at Carnegie Hall through the Fifties.
In 1959, he toured with Stan Kenton, then in 1960 recorded with Charlie Barnet. 1962 saw Carson moving to Los Angeles, California and playing with Charlie Teagarden and Lionel Hampton. He toured Japan with Georgie Auld in 1964.
Later in the 1960s, he played with Buddy Rich, Arno Marsh, and Carl Fontana. He held a longtime residency at the Four Queens Hotel in Las Vegas, where he accompanied visiting musicians such as Art Farmer, Lew Tabackin, Zoot Sims, and Chet Baker. Double-bassist Carson Smith passed away on November 2, 1997, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dick Charlesworth was born Richard Anthony Charlesworth on January 8, 1932 and brought up in Sheffield. He attended King Edward VII School and at age 16 he became a clerk in the Ministry of Labour and in due course was transferred to London. He bought a clarinet and started playing jazz as a hobby in 1952-53.
Entirely self-taught, Dick became good enough to play saxophone and clarinet in a dance band and performed with jazz bands in south London including Jim Weller’s Jazzmen. While still working his day job, 1956 saw him form his first group, Dick Charlesworth’s Jazzmen and winning the South London Jazz Band Championship in 1957. The group was signed by the Melodisc label, recorded an EP in 1957 and produced an album for Doug Dobell’s 77 Records.
Leaving the Civil Service in 1959 he became a professional musician. He signed a recording contract with EMI and his group was remarketed as Dick Charlesworth’s City Gents. Light jazz was popular in the British charts and Charlesworth’s group sported pinstripes and bowler hats and had a motto, while we live, let us enjoy life. Their only chart single was Billy Boy, which reached 43 in the UK Singles Chart in 1961.
The City Gents appeared on television, worked the cruise ship circuit, disbanded the group, then settled in Spain and ran a music bar before returning to England in 1977. He went on to be active in the London jazz scene until early in the new millennium. He worked with many artists including Keith Smith, Rod Mason, Alan Littlejohn and Denny Wright. He appeared on the BBC Radio series, Jazz Score, a quiz show which encouraged its participants to relate anecdotes about their lives in jazz.
In his later years, Charlesworth lived in Thames Ditton, Surrey, and played a residency at the George and Dragon pub every Tuesday and at various other local pubs. English jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and bandleader Dick Charlesworth passed away following a heart attack on April 15, 2008, at the age of 76.
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Three Wishes
George Coleman was requested to answer the inquiry of three wishes by the Baroness and he said:
- “Happiness for my family. This has to include my mother.”
- “To be half as good a musician as Bird was.”
- “To achieve success.”
*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…
Donald Ray Payne was born on January 7, 1933 in Wellington, Texas but was raised in California, He initially played trumpet before switching to double bass in high school. His first major gigs came in the mid-1950s and he worked in the second half of the decade with Georgie Auld, Ornette Coleman, Maynard Ferguson, Calvin Jackson, Joe Maini, and Art Pepper.
1958 saw Don relocating to New York City, where he played with Tony Bennett, Chris Connor, and Mundell Lowe. He then joined Herbie Mann and Astrud Gilberto for international tours and also worked with Stan Getz around this time. He led his own ensemble with a rotating cast of sidemen, including Mike Abene, Joe Beck, and Gene Bertoncini.
Payne began playing bass guitar in 1964 and worked in popular and rock idioms as well as in jazz as a session musician for New York studio recordings. He played on releases by Loudon Wainwright III, Judy Collins, Roy Buchanan, Leonard Cohen (New Skin for the Old Ceremony, 1974), Janis Ian, Luiz Henrique, Harry Chapin, and Melanie Safka. His later jazz associations included Bobby Hackett, Jackie Cain, and Roy Kral.
Double bassist and bass guitarist Don Payne passed away on February 25, 2017 in Plantation, Florida. He was 84.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Barry Altschul was born on January 6, 1943 in New York City and having initially taught himself to play drums, studied with Charlie Persip during the 1960s. The free jazz and hard bop drummer first came to notice in the late 1960s when he performed with pianists Paul Bley and then he joined Chick Corea in 1969 with Dave Holland and Anthony Braxton to form the group Circle. At the time, he made use of a high-pitched Gretsch kit with add-on drums and percussion instruments.
By the 1970s, Altschul worked extensively with Anthony Braxton’s quartet featuring Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, and George Lewis. Braxton, signed to Arista Records, was able to secure a large enough budget to tour with a collection of dozens of percussion instruments, strings, and winds. In addition to his participation in ensembles featuring avant-garde musicians, Altschul performed with Lee Konitz, Art Pepper and other straight-ahead jazz performers.
Barry recorded thirteen albums from 1967 to 2015 but by the mid-Eighties, he spent most of his time in Europe, not becoming visible until 2000, performing with Billy Bang and Joe Fonda billing themselves as The FAB Trio. He also performed with the Jon Irabagon Trio, Adam Lane, Roswell Rudd, Dave Liebman, Barre Phillips, Denis Levaillant, Andrew Hill, Sonny Criss, Hampton Hawes, Annette Peacock, Sam Rivers, Julius Hemphill, Lee Konitz and numerous others in both the avant-garde and straight-ahead genres. The free jazz and hard bop drummer continues to perform and record.
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