Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Albert Stinson was born on August 2, 1944 in Cleveland, Ohio and learned to play piano, trombone, and tuba before settling on bass at age 14. After graduating from John Muir High School in Pasadena, California in 1962, he began playing professionally in the early 1960s in Los Angeles, California. There he worked with Terry Gibbs, Frank Rosolino, Chico Hamilton, and Charles Lloyd in 1965.
Later in the decade around 1967 he worked with Larry Coryell, John Handy, Miles Davis, Bobby Hutcherson, and Gerald Wilson’s Los Angeles-based big band.
Never recording as a leader, Stinson appeared on Hamilton’s Impulse! albums, Hutcherson’s Blue Note album Oblique, Handy’s Koch Records album New View! and Clare Fischer’s album Surging Ahead. He recorded thirteen albums with the above as well as with Coryell, Lloyd and Joe Pass
Double-bassist Albert Stinson, whose ebullient personality, bright tone, and aggressive attack contributed to his being nicknamed Sparky, transitioned from a drug overdose while on tour on June 2, 1969 at the age of 24.
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Three Wishes
Dwike MItchell was hanging out at the house of the Baroness when she questioned his three wishes and told her:
- “To be able to play for people every night, that is my very special wish. To be able to play consistently well for everyone, to be able to give the best of myself every day. Love me like I love you, darling! For every day is different. Today is dark and black. And if one could give one’s best to everyone, that would be the greatest wish of every musician.”
*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…
Petra Van Nuis was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 1, 1975. Her initial exposure to music came from her father who was a classical pianist. She made her professional debut at the age of eleven with the Cincinnati Opera Company and the following year her first national tour was underway.
Middle and high school saw her attending Cincinnati’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts and continued summer studies at New York City Ballet’s School of American Ballet and San Francisco Ballet School. Van Nuis went on to get her BFA in Musical Theater from the University of Cincinnati’s College~Conservatory of Music. She then performed in regional theaters and national tours until 1999 when she hung up her dancing shoes to sing.
Entering the world of jazz singing she spent nights in her hometown listening to vocalists Ann Chamberlain and Mary Ellen Tanner who supported her early efforts. By 2001 she and husband, guitarist Andy Brown, moved to New York City where she met Marion Cowings and Barbara Lea. Two years later she’s in Chicago, Illinois under the wings of Jeannie Lambert, Judy Roberts and Marc Pompe who mentored her. Forming her own band she sings at all the major venues and festivals around the city.
Vocalist Petra van Nuis, who has five Japanese released CDs, continues to perform, record and tour nationally and internationally.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Deniz was born Francisco Antonio Deniz on July 31, 1912 in Cardiff, Wales. His father, an African born in Cape Verde, was a seaman, and his mother was of English and African-American descent. They were amateur musicians, father playing violin and mother playing piano. From the age of 15 he joined his father on sea voyages. In 1931 his father was taken ill and the lad was forced to leave him in hospital in Odessa, Ukraine where he died. Between voyages he played music, inspired by jazz guitarists Teddy Bunn and Eddie Lang.
He married pianist Clara Wason in 1936 and they moved to London, England and found work as musicians in Soho. In 1937 they played for a time in the orchestra of Ken “Snakehips” Johnson. Deniz later played at Adelaide Hall’s Florida Club in Mayfair, where he played with pianist Fela Sowande.
Joining the Merchant Navy in 1940, he played music in between voyages with contemporaries Eric Winstone and Edmundo Ros, and formed his own band, the Spirits of Rhythm. In 1944 he was wounded when his ship was torpedoed on approaching Anzio.
Stanley Black, leader of the BBC Dance Orchestra employed him regularly and introduced him to others in the music business. Deniz joined Harry Parry’s Radio Rhythm Club Sextet, which had a regular radio series. In 1953 with his brothers, he formed the Hermanos Deniz Cuban Rhythm Band, which gave regular broadcasts in the 1950s regularly through to the 1970s.
Deniz composed music with his brother Laurence for the 1959 film Our Man in Havana. He accompanied Hoagy Carmichael on a tour of Britain. In his later years he played with the Hermanos Deniz band at the Talk of the Town. This continued for many years until his retirement in 1980, when they lived in Málaga Spain during the summer, until Clara contracted Parkinson’s disease in the 1990s. At this point Deniz became her caregiver until her death.
Guitarist Frank Deniz transitioned on July 17, 2005 at his home in Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire, England.
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LIZZ WRIGHT
A steward of American music, acclaimed vocalist Lizz Wright reclaims her legacy with the launch of an independent record company, Blues & Greens Records. Wright’s label venture is designed to forge an innovative business model where artists are positioned to build sustainable and wholesome careers. Blues & Greens Records launches with the June 15, 2022 release of Holding Space, a brilliant live album capturing a Berlin, Germany concert where Wright and her band close out their 2018 European summer tour. In a short film companion piece, Wright reflects with her bandmates about what it actually feels like to have the presence of a listening world in her life.
Rising out of the pandemic and returning to stages across the globe, Wright embraces her career through an inspired initiative where she is at the helm of her business. After 20+ years of major and indie label contracts, Wright sees the imbalances of power and unfairnesses in artistic ownership. Blues & Greens Records creates a healthy ecosystem for Wright, and inspires her to imagine and develop offerings for emerging artists. Her debut release, Holding Space, becomes the first master recording she owns.
THIS EVENT IS AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS ONLY
In addition to early access to tickets and Members-Only events, Members at the $80 Supporter Level and higher enjoy the following ticket discounts:
25% off select concerts
10% off orders of 10+ tickets
FREE Listening Parties
No Ticket Service Fees (up to $9.50 per ticket)
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