Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mike Elliott was born on May 18, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois to a studio musician father and a blues singer mother. Raised in Colorado he learned guitar at a young age and was playing professionally by the time he was sixteen. It was in Colorado where he studied guitar with Johnny Smith.
He formed his first jazz group and in 1964 was on the road. He moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota two years later, and in the Seventies he helped found the jazz fusion group Natural Life, which included saxophonist Bob Rockwell, bassist Billy Peterson, pianist Bobby Peterson, and drummers Bill Berg and Eric Kamau Gravatt.
The 1980s saw him moving to Nashville, Tennessee and becoming manager of Gibson Professional Musical Services and holding clinics with Les Paul, Howard Roberts, and Elliot Easton. Mike did session work, engineering, producing, arranging, and songwriting. In the middle of the decade he teamed up with songwriter musician Jim Pasquale to form Magic Tracks Recording Studio.
Remaining in Nashville until 1998 he worked with Johnny Cash, Mickey Newbury, Chubby Checker, Emmylou Harris, Trisha Yearwood, Joe Diffie, Earl Klugh, Vic Damone, Steve Earle, Crystal Gayle, and Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Gruitarist Mike Elliott died on September 14, 2005. A Mike Elliott Scholarship Award for excellence in guitar was established in his honor.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Theodore McCord was born May 17, 1907 in Birmingham, Alabama and was the twin brother of Castor McCord, also a reedist. While both brothers played tenor saxophone and clarinet, in addition Ted played alto saxophone.
As a student at Wilberforce University in the 1920s, he played in a student group led by Horace Henderson. He also played in Edgar Hayes’s group, the Blue Grass Buddies, and the McKinney’s Cotton Pickers and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band.
He can be heard playing on their sessions with Louis Armstrong. Other credits include recordings with King Carter and the singer Ollie Shepard.
Roping out of music in the Forties, saxophonist Ted McCord, who was principally active in the 1920s and 1930s, his date and place of his death is unknown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hanna Richardson was born on May 16,1956 in Alexandria, Virginia and as the daughter of a foreign service officer, much of her childhood was spent overseas. At the age of seven, while living in South America, she began piano lessons and also sang at home with the family. 1965 saw her father retiring to Geneva, New York where she met bass player Phil Flanigan while in high school.
College saw her singing professionally, first rock and folk music, then hearing an Ella Fitzgerald record she turned to singing jazz. However, it was the singing style of Maxine Sullivan that was to have the greatest impact upon her. After college, Richardson moved to Rochester, New York and continued to pursue her interest in both folk music and jazz and she also taught herself to play the mandolin.
A move to Syracuse, New York had her working at Syracuse University and becoming Assistant Dean in the School of Management. She sang professionally during this period as a session back-up singer. Connecting again with Flanigan who had toured and recorded with Sullivan, and began singing with him. They married and recorded their debut album, Something To Remember You By, in 2002.
Vocalist Hanna Richardson, who has released a half dozen albums, continues to regionally perform, record and educate.
The Jazz Voyager
On the way east to Music City USA to check out an authentic jazz experience standing out as a beacon in the city that boasts country music. Rudy’s Jazz Room embodies the history and spirit of traditional jazz clubs, where musicians played their hearts out while people gathered to listen, dance, eat, drink and socialize in a swingin’ atmosphere. The venue raises Nashville to the level of other great jazz cities like New York, New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City and many more.
Hitting the stage this evening is saxophonist Don Aliquo who Presents Bebop Live and explores the various elements, depths and history of bebop jazz. In the early 1940’s when the younger generation of jazz musicians expanded the creative possibilities of jazz and bebop music first hit the jazz scene it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Tickets: $14.00
Rudy’s Jazz Room is located at 809 Gleaves Street, Nashville, TN 37203. For more information contact the venue at rudysjazzroom.com.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Randy Sutin was born on May 14, 1958 in Great Falls, Montana where he studied piano starting at age four and guitar when he turned eight. By the time he was ten he began study of the drums. He began playing mostly rock and some country professionally with local groups at age thirteen. At 20, he began to study mallet percussion, in particular the vibraphone, which became the main staple of his professional life as a musician.
In 1985, Randy relocated to Trenton, New Jersey, then to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area four years later. He was a regular member of the Bill Hollis Quartet and soon began working regularly and recording with the Barry Sames Jazz Ensemble. A regular member of the late pianist Eddie Green’s group, he was featured on Eddie’s last recording, Shades of Green. He has also played and recorded with Walter Bell and the Latin Jazz Unit.
Over the last fifteen years, Sutin has continued playing as a regular member of the Barry Sames Jazz Ensemble, which does jazz arrangements of Christian music. He is featured as a soloist on both of Barry Sames’ recordings, Awaiting the Spirit and Celebration. This association with playing jazz for spiritual purposes and a desire to do a project with his wife, Marianne, who is an experienced yogi, led to his latest musical endeavor.
In 2007 they released Meditations for Percussion and Flute, a suite of compositions based on yoga practice blending a mixture of styles, but always falling back to jazz as its core. Together they created their record label, Balanced American Music. Recent work has focused on The Birdhouse Project, a trio with Jim Miller and Tyrone Brown, performing the compositions of Charlie Parker.
His most current project is with The Tyrone Brown String Ensemble. Randy is featured on both of their 2008 releases, The Magic Within and Moon of the Falling Leaves.
Vibraphonist Randy Sutin, who also plays marimba, continues to perform and record.
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