Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lee L. Blair was born on October 10, 1903 in Savannah, Georgia and was a left-handed autodidact on banjo, aside from a few lessons taken from Mike Pingitore, the banjoist for Paul Whiteman. He played and recorded in New York City, New York with Thomas Morris’s Seven Hot Babies in 1926, then played with Charlie Skeete in 1926-28, before playing and recording with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers in 1928-30.
In the Thirties he went on to play with Billy Kato, then played and recorded with Luis Russell and Louis Armstrong from 1935 to the end of the decade. He worked part-time in music through the 1940s, then joined Wilbur De Paris’s New New Orleans Jazz Band in the 1950s at Jimmy Ryan’s Club on West 52nd Street in New York City.
The summer of 1957 had him touring Africa with the DeParis band for the State Department. During the 1960s he played less, concentrating on raising chickens on his farm in Belmore, Long Island, but appeared at the 1964 World’s Fair in a trio with Danny Barker and Eddie Gibbs. He freelanced around New York with Hank Duncan and others until his death.
He never recorded as a leader, but appears on record with Morris, Morton, Russell, Armstrong, and De Paris, as well as with Dick Cary, Pee Wee Erwin, and Leonard Gaskin among others. He is honored in the jazz section of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, GA.
Banjoist and guitarist Lee Blair, who never recorded as a leader, transitioned on October 15, 1966 in New York City.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Manny Flores Jr. was born in El Paso, Texas on October 9, 1954. He spent his first eighteen years of life as an army brat, traveling and listening to music in a variety of different places. He began his playing career in the summer of 1971 at a gig at the Fort Huachuca NCO Club. At this time his inspiration for the bass was fellow left-handed bass player Paul McCartney. Graduating from Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona in l972.
He also listened to jazz when he would buy Blue Note LPs at the bargain bin with Eric Dolphy and Charles Mingus among his favorites. He then graduated from Cochise College in Douglas, Arizona in 1974 with an Associates degree in Liberal Arts. By 1975 he was back in his hometown of El Paso and began playing in various groups including Top 40 and Country/Western groups in New Mexico, Wyoming and Arizona. Enrolling at the University of Texas at El Paso, he received his Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1982.
In 1983 he auditioned for and began playing with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Abraham Chavez Jr. He also began teaching instrumental music in the Ysleta Independent School District. During the decade Manny met many musicans who inspired him to make music a way of life including Frank Zappa, Jaco Pastorius, Ray Brown and Julliard cello teacher Harvey Shapiro.
In 1985 he began the first of a four-year trek to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to attend the prestigious Johannesen International School of the Arts. He attended six-week master classes, and spent a summer in New York City studying jazz and listening to live performances of Charlie Haden, Marc Johnson, Harvie Swartz, and Eddie Gomez.
Flores has played with several big bands in addition to Bobby Saunders, Frank Dove and the Sundowners, Mario Otero, Crossroads, El Paso Brass Quintet, Bobby Booth Dixieland Band, M.D. Quartet, U.T.E.P. Lab Band I with Gene Lewis, Mike Francis Quartet, Gerald Hunter and the Quintones, Art Lewis and the Earthmen, Orchestra Puerto Rico, Spice of Life, Bing Browning Trio, Cecile Larochelle, The Platters, The Four Lads, The Four Aces, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Mel Carter, Roger Miller, Johnny Mathis, Guy Lombardo’s Royal Canadians, Charlie Rouse and Boyz II Men.
By 1998 he made his first trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to fulfill a lifelong desire to experience Brasilian music firsthand and to meet one of his favorite musicans Hermeto Pascoal. He hung out with his friends Albert Suhett, Itibere Zwarg, Marcio Bahia, and Hermeto. Marcio Bahia introduced him to bassist Adriano Giffoni with whom he studied with each summer in Rio.
Bassist Manny Flores Jr. is involved in the Universal Music movement and continues to perform locally in Austin and El Paso.
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ROY HARGROVE BIG BAND: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROY!
The Roy Hargrove Big Band celebrates what would have been his birthday — and the magnitude of his contribution — by sharing his expression with new listeners and longtime fans. Always energetic, always swinging, the outfit’s repertoire includes Hargrove originals, standard tunes, and new music from current band members. Come celebrate a true champion of the music.
Performance Lineup:
Willie Jones, Danton Boller, Saul Rubin, Freddie Hendrix, Wayne Tucker, Duane Eubanks, Camerahn Alforque, Jason Jackson, James Burton, Rashaan Salaam, Max Seigel, Bruce Williams, Mark Gross, Mike Lee, Keith Loftis, Jason Marshall
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WYCLIFFE GORDON & FRIENDS
Wycliffe A. Gordon jazz trombonist, arranger, composer, band leader, and music educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. Gordon also sings and plays didgeridoo, trumpet, soprano trombone, tuba, and piano.
His early works as a professional were with Wynton Marsalis, but in 2010 he has expanded beyond swing and has experimented with new instruments. The strongest example of this might be The Search where he plays didgeridoo and covers Thelonious Monk songs. He has also played Gospel music.
In 1995, Gordon arranged and orchestrated the theme song for NPR’s All Things Considered. Gordon’s arrangement and orchestration is the third version of the melody composed in 1971 by Donald Joseph Voegeli (1920–2009).
On September 24, 2004, Gordon conducted the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in the premiere of his new, original score for “Body and Soul”, the 1925 silent film directed by Oscar Micheaux.
He has recently gained more worldwide popularity, being featured in South Australia’s Generations In Jazz 2016 and 2017, playing alongside artists such as James Morrison, Jazzmeia Horn, Gordon Goodwin and Ross Irwin among others. For over a decade, he has also worked with visual artist and educator Ligel Lambert on numerous collaborative projects.
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VINCENT HERRING
11th Anniversary with the SCC Jazz Orchestra
Saxophonist Vincent Herring’s intense, soulful, multi-noted style and ebullient swing have excited audiences worldwide. On stage, Herring and his band often make an incendiary sound over fine and controlled rhythms of modern times.
Vincent tours frequently with his projects around the in the United States, Europe, Japan, China and around the world. Vincent continues to share his distinct voice and musical knowledge, as a performer and jazz educator. He is currently on staff at William Paterson University and at Manhattan School of Music.
More Posts: adventure,club,genius,jazz,music,preserving,saxophone,travel