Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pete La Roca was born Peter Sims on April 7, 1938 in Harlem, New York to a pianist mother and a stepfather who played trumpet. He was introduced to jazz by his uncle Kenneth Bright, a major shareholder in Circle Records and the manager of rehearsal spaces above the Lafayette Theater. He studied percussion at the High School of Music and Art and at the City College of New York, where he played tympani in the CCNY Orchestra. He adopted the name La Roca early in his musical career, when he played timbales for six years in Latin bands.
During the 1970s, after a hiatus from jazz performance, he resumed using his original surname. When he returned to jazz in the late 1970s, he usually inserted La Roca into his name in quotation marks to help audiences familiar with his early work identify him. In 1957, Max Roach became aware of him while jamming at Birdland and recommended him to Sonny Rollins. On the afternoon set at the Village Vanguard he became part of the important record A Night at the Village Vanguard. In 1959 he recorded with Jackie McLean and in a quartet with Tony Scott, Bill Evans and Jimmy Garrison.
Between the end of the 1950s and 1968, he also played and/or recorded with Slide Hampton, the John Coltrane Quartet, Marian McPartland, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Mose Allison, and Charles Lloyd, among numerous others. During this period, he led his own group and worked as the house drummer at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1968 he enrolled in law school and drove a New York City taxi cab to supplement his income. He returned to jazz part-time in 1979, and recorded one new album as a leader, Swing Time in 1997.
Drummer and attorney Pete La Roca died in New York of lung cancer at the age of 74 on November 20, 2012.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Hubble was born John Edgar Hubble II on April 6, 1928 in Santa Barbara, California and learned trombone from his father, who was also a professional trombonist in the Los Angeles, California area.
A move to New York City in 1944 and by late in the decade had played with Bob Wilber, Buddy Rich, Doc Evans, Alvino Rey, and Eddie Condon. He played with his own ensemble from the late 1940s, recording for Savoy Records in 1952.
He played with a Dixieland jazz ensemble known as The Six in 1953, and worked with Muggsy Spanier in the 1960s, playing in Ohio and Connecticut. He also worked with the World’s Greatest Jazz Band.
Despite being seriously injured in a car crash in 1979, he was soon back playing, including for international tours.
Trombonist Eddie Hubble died on March 22, 2016, at the age of 91.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kenji Yoshitake was born on April 5, 1985 in Sakura, Chiba, Japan on April 5, 1985 and started playing electric bass when he was 12 years old. After he graduated from high school, he entered Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Yokohama studying acoustic bass, jazz theory, ear training, jazz arranging and ensemble.
In 2007, after receiving a scholarship he moved to Boston, Massachusetts for Berklee College of Music. During his tenure he studied with musicians such as John Lockwood, Greg Osby, Dave Santro, Victor Mendoza, Dave Samuels, Oscar Stagnaro, Marcello Pellitteri and Whit Brown.
Upon his graduation from Berklee College of Music graduation, he moved to New York. He has since been playing around the New York area. Though he hasn’t recorded as a leader at present, bassist Kenji Yoshitake has been playing with legendary singer Tony Middleton at Kitano every Sunday.
Jazz Voyager
It’s been a few years since the Jazz Voyager has been on the other side of the Atlantic but this week begins the tradition anew. I’ll be heading across the pond to experience a new city and a new venue. The city is Warsaw, the country is Poland, and the venue is Jassmine. It is an intimate place that fills the gap, embodying the history of a genre that has always neatly balanced on the thin line between elegance and freedom, concentration and element, reflection and downright ecstatic fun.
An old favorite alto saxophonist Vincent Herring will be performing tomorrow night who I haven’t seen in more years than I care to remember. With Joris Dudli the two musicians recall their long and fruitful collaboration with their latest, highly anticipated release Soul Chemistry. Together with rising star Erena Terakubo on saxophones, New York masters Gary Fisher on piano and Essiet Essiet on bass, this group has the perfect chemistry to create the intense, always soulful jazz of today.
The venue is located two floors below the intersection of Koszykowa and Wilcza, at Wilcza 7300-670. For more info go to https://notoriousjazz.com/event/vincent-herring-soul-chemistry.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Arne Gunnar Valter Hülphers was born April 4, 1904 in Trollhättan, Sweden. Early in his career he played at the club Felix-Kronprinsen from 1924 to 1927, and played in dance bands into the early 1930s.
He founded his own ensemble in 1934 which became one of Sweden’s most important jazz big bands. They toured Europe and recorded until 1940. Sidemen in his group included Miff Görling, Zilas Görling, and Thore Jederby.
Later in his career, he concentrated more on popular musical styles; he led an orchestra in which Fred Bertelmann played. Pianist and bandleader Arne Hülphers died on July 24, 1978 in Norrköping Municipality, Sweden.
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