KATHLEEN BERTRAND
Kathleen Bertrand will be kicking-off the Balzer Theater’s Summer Live At The Balzer Jazz Series for a one night performance delivering her classic vocal stylings as only she can do. The evening is curated by pianist, composer and producer Tyrone Jackson. Joining the singer will be Phil Davis, Chris Burroughs, Terrell Montgomery and Rod Harris Jr.
Spend a very special evening and as we celebrate Father’s Day!!!
More Posts: adventure,album,club,festival,genius,jazz,museum,music,preserving,restaurant,travel,vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Prince Robinson was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on June 7, 1902. He learned to play clarinet as a teenager and after playing locally in Virginia, he moved to New York City, New York in 1923. Once settled Robinson quickly found work both performing and recording, with the Blue Rhythm Orchestra, June Clark, Duke Ellington, Billy Fowler, the Gulf Coast Seven, Fletcher Henderson, Lionel Howard, Clara Smith, and Elmer Snowden. He went on to tour South America with Leon Abbey’s group in 1927, and the following year became a member of McKinney’s Cotton Pickers.
The Thirties saw Prince working with Lil Armstrong, Willie Bryant, Blanche Calloway, Roy Eldridge, and Teddy Wilson accompanying Billie Holiday. His career continued in the 1940s, including work with Louis Armstrong, Lucky Millinder, and Benny Morton. In 1945 he joined Claude Hopkins’s band, remaining until 1952. Later in the decade he worked with Fletcher Henderson again and with Red Allen and Freddie Washington, in addition to leading his own ensemble in 1953.
His last recording was Mainstream Jazz by Andy Gibson and His Orchestra in 1959. He played a tenor saxophone solo on the theme Blueprint. Tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Prince Robinson transitioned on July 23, 1960 in New York City.
More Posts: bandleader,clarinet,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Three Wishes
One night when they were just hanging out Nica asked George Bright what he would wish for if he was given three and he said to her:
- “That fragmentation might be resolved into a kind of unified action in the world.”
- “That men might get into a one-to-one relationship with what they are.”
- “That we realize that the challenge to make sense out of what appears to be nonsense is the only therapy that anyone can have.
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
More Posts: baroness,history,instrumental,jazz,music,pannonica,saxophone,three,wishes
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ted Lewis was born Theodore Leopold Friedman on June 6, 1890 in Circleville, Ohio. His first instrument was the piccolo, however, he also learned to play the C-melody saxophone but was known principally as a clarinetist throughout his long career.
He was one of the first Northern musicians to imitate the style of New Orleans jazz musicians who came to New York in the 1910s. He first recorded in 1917 with Earl Fuller’s Jazz Band, a band attempting to copy the sound of the Original Dixieland Jass Band.
His earliest clarinet recordings were not very good but as his career gained momentum he refined his style under the influence of the first New Orleans clarinetists Larry Shields, Alcide Nunez, and Achille Baquet who relocated to New York.
By 1919, Lewis was leading his own band, and had a recording contract with Columbia Records. At the start of the Roaring Twenties, he was being promoted as one of the leading lights of the mainstream form of jazz popular at the time. He hired musicians Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Frank Teschemacher, and Don Murray to play clarinet in his band. Over the years he hired trumpeter Muggsy Spanier and trombonist George Brunies as he led his band to be second only to the Paul Whiteman band in popularity.
One of his most memorable songs, Me and My Shadow, had usher Eddie Chester mimicking his movements during his act. He then hired four Black shadows, the most famous being Charles “Snowball” Whittier, making Lewis one of the first prominent white entertainers to showcase Black performers, albeit in stereotypical ways, to be onstage, on film, and eventually on network television.
Remaining successful through the Great Depression, Ted adopted a battered top hat for sentimental, hard-luck tunes. He kept his band together through the 1950s and continued to make appearances in Las Vegas, Nevada and on the popular television shows of the decade. He would go on to perform in the early talkie films by Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures.
Clarinetist, bandleader, and singer Ted Lewis, transitioned in his sleep from lung failure on August 25, 1971 in New York City. He was 81. His memorabilia resides in The Ted Lewis Museum, created by his wife Adah, located across the street from where he was born in Circleville.
More Posts: bandleader,clarinet,history,instrumental,jazz,music,vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mick Hutton was born on June 5, 1956 in Chester, United Kingdom. Making a name for himself in the British jazz scene, he worked with a number of musicians and groups including but not limited to Harry Beckett, Julian Argüelles, Iain Ballamy, Django Bates and Ken Stubbs of First House, the Chris Biscoe Sextet and Bill Bruford’s Band Earthworks.
A hand injury forced Mick to abandon the upright bass and he started working as bass guitarist, percussionist, and synthesizer player and as a composer. He works with his own band of saxophonist Andy Panayi, pianist Barry Green, and drummer Paul Robinson. With his quartet, including saxophonist Iain Ballamy, pianist Ross Stanley and drummer Paul Robinson, he frequently visits venues around the world.
Throughout his career Hutton has performed with Alan Barnes, Peter Erskine, Tina May, Jim Mullen, John Scofield, Alan Skidmore, Tommy Smith, John Taylor, Stan Tracey, and Kenny Wheeler. In 2002 he recorded on Robin Williamsons album Skirting the River Road, and the same year he played in a trio with Martin Speake and Paul Motian, recording Change of Heart.
Bassist, guitarist, percussionist and composer Mick Hutton, who also plays synthesizer, continues to perform and record.
More Posts: bass,composer,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music,percussion,synthesizer