The Jazz Voyager

I’m leaving on a jet plane from the cold of the East Coast for much warmer temperatures of Southern California in San Diego. A jacket may be required by this Jazz Voyager to maintain a modicum of warmth in the evening hours. That said, I will be visiting the Balboa Theatre, located at 868 Fourth Avenue, 92101. They are playing host to a fabulous lineup of musicians on the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour.

One of the world’s longest-running musical events that was begun in 2007 after celebrating 50 years, the Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates its 65th year with a once-in-a-lifetime ensemble. Featuring Tony and Grammy Award-winning NEA Jazz Master vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater alongside Grammy Award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling and critically acclaimed rising star saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin. This stellar band is directed by visionary pianist Christian Sands and anchored by his longtime rhythm section, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Clarence Penn.

If you’ve never been to the jazz festival in Monterey here’s your chance to experience the verve of these musicians. Take a moment to purchase your tickets and I’ll see you there and experience it together.

The theatre’s number is 619-615-4000. If you want to get more information visit notoriousjazz.com/event/monterey-jazz-festival-on-tour.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Page Cavanaugh was born Walter Page Cavanaugh on January 26, 1922 in Cherokee, Kansas and began on piano at age nine. By the time he turned 16 he was playing with Ernie Williamson’s band for a year before moving to Los Angeles, California and joining the Bobby Sherwood band at age 20.

While serving in the military during World War II, he met guitarist Al Viola and bassist Lloyd Pratt, and they formed a trio. After the war’s end they performed together in the style of the Nat King Cole Trio, scoring a number of hits in the late 1940s, including The Three Bears, Walkin’ My Baby Back Home, and All of Me. The trio appeared in the films A Song Is Born, Big City, Lullaby of Broadway and Romance on the High Seas. He recorded dozens of tracks with Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, June Christy, Mel Torme and other legendary singers.

During the early Fifties he had a program, Page Pages You, on the short-lived Progressive Broadcasting System, the trio played on Frank Sinatra’s radio program, Songs by Sinatra, and on The Jack Paar Show. Cavanaugh played in Los Angeles nightclubs through the 1990s, both in a trio setting and as a septet, the Page 7. He recorded with Bobby Woods & Les Deux Love Orchestra, and as a bandleader with MGM, Capitol, RCA, Star Line, Tiara, and Dobre Records over the course of his career, releasing his final trio album, Return to Elegance, in 2006.

Pianist, vocalist, and arranger Page Cavanaugh transitioned from kidney failure on December 19, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Paul F. Murphy was born on January 25, 1949 in Worcester, Massachusetts and began playing drums at a very early age and made the acquaintance of Gene Krupa at age six. He went on to study with Krupa, Louis Bellson, and Joseph Levitt, the principal percussionist of the National Symphony Orchestra and director of the Peabody Conservatory.

At age sixteen, Murphy began playing in the Washington, D.C. area with Duke Ellington’s bassist Billy Taylor, who exposed him to the music of pianist Cecil Taylor. At Taylor’s advice he moved to San Francisco, California where he established himself as a bandleader. While there, he met and befriended Cecil Taylor and Jimmy Lyons. At the suggestion of Lyons, he then moved to New York, where he managed Ali’s Alley, a club run by drummer Rashied Ali, and began playing and recording with Lyons’ groups as well as his own quintet. While in New York, Murphy immersed himself in both the experimental jazz and punk rock scenes.

Following Lyons’ untimely death in 1986, Murphy spent time playing drums in Las Vegas, Nevada before returning to San Francisco, where he formed Trio Hurricane with saxophonist Glenn Spearman and bassist William Parker. A move back to the Washington, D.C. area in 1990, and has since collaborated with pianists Joel Futterman and Larry Willis, poet Jere Carroll, and others.

Percussionist, bandleader and composer Paul Murphy, best known for leading a variety of small jazz ensembles, continues to perform and record.

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Three Wishes

Baroness de Koenigswarter presented Eddie Thompson with the inquiry of three wishes and he responded by telling her:

1. “I wish I could jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and make it! You want a serious wish? I wish I could make a record album I’d be satisfied with.”
2. “Oh God, this is hellishly difficult! I wish I could live like a millionaire. I don’t want to be one. I want to live like one.”
3. “I hope I’ll still be playing when I’m a hundred.”

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Lenny McBrowne was born Leonard Louis McBrowne in Brooklyn, New York on January 24, 1933. Influenced by his drummer father Arnold he took up drums at a young age, playing in street marching bands between ages 12 and 15, while also taking lessons on the bass. Graduating high school in 1951 he studied under Max Roach for one year and Sticks Evans.

McBrowne began his professional career in Pete Brown’s group, which featured Paul Bley. He also played with Randy Weston and Cecil Payne in various Brooklyn clubs, and with Paul Bley’s Trio in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. By 1956 he was playing with Tony Scott in New York City, and continued performing with Paul Bley in a college tour that led to his relocation to California.

His first West Coast dates included the likes of Billie Holiday, Sonny Stitt, Harold Land, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Fred Katz and Sonny Rollins. 1959 saw Lenny forming his own group, The Four Souls, with pianist Terry Trotter, bassist Herbie Lewis, tenor saxophonist and composer Daniel Jackson, and trumpeter Donald Sleet.

Between January and March 1960, The band recorded their debut album Lenny McBrowne and the 4 Souls in 1960 that was released by Pacific Jazz Records. Shortly after they relocated to New York City and recorded their second and final album Eastern Lights with Jimmy Bond on bass. Cannonball Adderley was the producer and supervisor and the album was released by Riverside Records.

Described as a highly close-knit and well-rehearsed combo with fluid and competent soloing by several leading jazz magazines, the group was destined for dissolution.  Lenny then free-lanced with Sal Salvador, Chris Connor and Carmen McRae. During the 1960s, he played with Sarah Vaughan, Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan, Randy Weston, Booker Ervin, Ray Bryant, Teddy Wilson, and toured Japan with Thelonious Monk.

In the second half of the 1960s, McBrowne played primarily with Ervin’s band. He then relocated to San Francisco, California and began to perform with Kenny Burrell on a regular basis until 1976, when he made his last recording. Hard bop and soul jazz drummer Lenny McBrowne transitioned on October 4, 1980 at 47 in San Francisco, California.

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