Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jimmy Namaro was born James Namaro on April 14, 1913 in La Rosita, Mexico however, his family moved to Hamilton, Ontario in 1921. This is where he studied piano with Sid Walling and Eric Lewis.
He made his radio debut as a marimba player on CHML, Hamilton, and was heard in his teens on CFRB, Toronto, and on the CBC. In 1933, he was assistant conductor of a marimba band at the Chicago World’s Fair. Namaro subsequently pursued dual careers as the leader of pop or light jazz trios and quartets in nightclubs in Toronto, Canada and New York and as a popular CBC radio performer.
As a member of the Happy Gang from 1943 to 1959, he was also bandleader or soloist on several other CBC radio and television programs before moving to the United States in the Seventies. He was music director for Frankie Laine 1978-1993, with whom he toured the USA, Canada, and the UK. Namaro moved to Richmond, British Columbia, in 1987, where he continued to compose and to work with Laine.
His discography includes LPs Between 1958 and 1972 he recorded for Sparton, RCA Victor, Quality, Camden and others originally produced by the Canadian Talent Library Trust (CTL). Namaro wrote many jingles and composed music for CBC dramas such as the TV series Seaway, for the Broadway production Andorra, and for ballet. His paintings, in the primitive style, have had several exhibitions.
Vibraphonist, marimbist, percussionist, composer, painter Jimmy Namaro, who was naturalized Canadian around 1945, transitioned in Richmond, British Columbia on April 25, 1998.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Daniel LaPorta was born on April 13, 1920 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and started playing clarinet at the age of nine. He studied at the Mastbaum School in Philadelphia, alongside classmate Buddy DeFranco. As a teenager he played in local bands with Charlie Ventura and Bill Harris, and studied classically with Joseph Gigliotti of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leon Russianoff at the Manhattan School of Music.
1942 saw him as a member of the Bob Chester big band for two years, then spent the following two years with the Woody Herman Orchestra. Beginning in 1947, he studied with Lennie Tristano, and with Teo Macero and Charles Mingus he was a member of the Jazz Composers Workshop, trying to combine jazz with classical music. Classically, he worked with Boston Pops, Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski, and Igor Stravinsky. In jazz he worked with Kenny Clarke, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Buddy Rich, and Lester Young.
In 1956, La Porta played the first jazz concert in Venezuela at Caracas National Theater, where a selection of the repertoire performed was released under the title South American Brothers by Fantasy Records, becoming the first jazz recording in Venezuela.
As an educator he taught at Parkway Music School, then at public schools on Long Island, followed by the Manhattan School of Music and the Berklee College of Music. With guitarist Jack Petersen, he pioneered the use of Greek modes for teaching chord-scales.
In the 1990s, he retired to Sarasota, Florida, where he performed at the Sarasota Jazz Club and as a guest with the Fred Williams Trio. His autobiography is titled Playing It by Ear. Clarinetist and composer John LaPorta transitioned from complications of a stroke on May 12, 2004 in Sarasota.
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Three Wishes
When asked what his three wishes would be, Chuck Wayne answered with:
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“The funny part is, I really… you know, frankly? I can’t think of any! Because frankly, I like things the way they are. I really don’t want to be rich, I love my wife, I have wonderful children, and I have a certain amount of security, which is substantial enough for me. I really don’t care for anything else. Between music and my wife and kids’ love, life is pretty good as it is. There are so few other things that count. Would a million dollars help me play a good chorus? Or give me more to the one I love?”
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Esther Miller was born on April 12, 1968 and raised in the east coastal motor city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is here that she sang in church and school choirs and raided the family Nat King Cole albums for early inspiration.
Leaving Port Elizabeth to study medicine at Cape Town University, she soon gave in to the lure of jazz. Esther started her professional career as the vocalist with Gerry Spencer’s Jazz Cyclone, one of the leading bands on the South African jazz circuit at the time.
During this early apprenticeship Miller worked with some excellent players on both sides of the pond, Herb Ellis, Alan Skidmore, Johnny Fourie, Errol and Alvin Dyers, Winston Mankunku and Ezra Ngkukana, to name but a few.
Esther has honed her technique with classical singing lessons and delved into jazz history, gleaning inspiration from Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Shirley Horn, Blossom Dearie, Frank Sinatra, and of course, Nat King Cole.
She performed in South African jazz festivals, concert halls and jazz clubs before settling in the United Kingdom for 10 years. There she performed and recorded with some excellent musicians including Steve Melling, Steve Waterman, Zoltan Dekany, Karen Sharp, among others.
Possessing an outstanding technique and sensitive interpretation, with a half dozen albums under her belt, vocalist Esther Miller has moved to Denmark where she continues to add to her repertoire as she explores the Scandinavian jazz scene.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jimmy Lewis was born April 11, 1918 in Nashville, Tennessee learned to play the bass and though little is known about his early years, he began working professionally with the Count Basie Orchestra and sextet in the 1950s. He went on to perform with Duke Ellington, Cootie Williams, Billie Holiday and Ivory Joe Hunter.
Moving to bass guitar during his time with King Curtis, Jimmy freelanced profusely, recording on over four dozen jazz, soul and R&B albums. He was a sideman and sessionplayer with Solomon Burke, Billy Butler, Al Casey, David Clayton-Thomas, Sam Cooke, Lou Donaldson, Byrdie Green, Grant Green, Tiny Grimes, John P. Hammond, Richard “Groove” Holmes, Alberta Hunter, Willis Jackson, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Charles Kynard, Johnny Lytle, Freddie McCoy, Galt MacDermot, Modern Jazz Quartet, Idris Muhammad, Mark Murphy, Houston Person, Sonny Phillips, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Dave Pike, Arthur Prysock, Horace Silver, Johnny “Hammond” Smith, Buddy Terry, Charles Williams.
Continuing to perform and record up until the Eighties, double bassist Jimmy Lewis, who provided the basslines for the Broadway musical Hair, transitioned in New York City in 2000.