Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Thomas Mansergh Pickering was born on August 8. 1921 in Burra, South Australia, Australia. When the family moved to Australia’s island state of Tasmania from Burra in the mid-l930s and settled in the house next door to where Ian Pearce lived, the stage was set for the beginning of what was to become a significant part of Tasmania’s jazz history.

In his mid teens, he and Ian discovered British dance bands and over timethey embraced Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and the Swing Era musicians. Pee Wee Russell and Bud Freeman came later. At sixteen Tom received his first clarinet, doubling on saxophone and with his brother Cedri on drums, friend Ian playing cornet, pianist Rex Withers-Green, they gave birth to The Barrelhouse Four. He started playing in local bands and the four hit at local jam sessions. With the oncoming of WWII in 1939 they went their separate ways, reuniting in 1946 to record their first commercial pressing.

Pickering played traditional jazz in various parts of Australia during the late 30s and 40s. He continued working throughout succeeding decades, continuing his preference for older styles but also playing effective tenor saxophone in mainstream settings. His playing and recording career continued apace into the 80s, and his contribution to the musical life of his country has been rewarded with a number of honours.

Pickering went on to form his Good Time Jazz Band, which found success until the rising popularity of rock music led to the band’s eventual break up. A trio followed untilhe and Ian put together the Pearce- Pickering Ragtime Five. They had two very long and successful runs at the Tattersall’s Bar and Bistro, and then at Wrest Point Casino.

Ill-health led to Tom’s eventual retirement from music and the end of his playing career. Having qualified as a librarian in 1948, he would go on to work in the State Library of Tasmania, then became Parliamentary Librarian in 1974. He was made a member of the Order of Australia (AM), won the Australian Jazz Convention Composition Competition twice, and received the Satchmo Award.

Clarinetist Tom Pickering transitioned in Hobart, Tasmania on October 26, 2001.

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SEATTLE SINGS

Closing Day of Jackson Street Jazz Walk

Location: Fountainhead Gallery, 625 W McGraw Street, Seattle 98119

  • Kim MGuire
  • Joan Penney
  • Ben Black
  • Nancy Erikson
  • Lamont & The Shawn Schlogel Trio

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JACKSON STREET JAZZ WALK

Admission By Donation For All Events

Location: Wonder Bar, 1800 S Jackson Street, Seattle 98144

  • Good Company featuring Butch Harrison | 5:00pm ~ 7:00pm | Jazz, Blues, Soul
  • Pritt & Itson: E. Pritt & Maureese Itson | 7:30pm ~ 9:30pm | Contemporary Jazz, R&B, Funk

Location: Cass Green Dolphin Room, 500 30th Avenue S, Seattle 98144

  • Line Dance with The Sliders | 3:00pm ~ 4:00pm
  • King Dre Trifecta | 4:30pm ~ 6:30pm | Jazz, Funk, Soul, Instrumental Music
  • Frank Salero: Tribute To Ray Charles ~ His Life In Music | 7:00pm ~ 9:00pm

Location: Cheeky Cafe, 1700 S Jackson Street, Seattle 98144

  • Tina | 5:00pm ~ 6:15pm | Soulful Singer & Guitarist
  • Charles Cunningham Jr. | 6:30 ~ 7:45pm | Solo Jazz Guitarist

Location: Jackson Apartments, 2401 S Jackson Street, Seattle 98144

  • The Kelley Johnson Quartet | 500pm ~ 6:30pm | Vocal Jazz
  • Alma Villegas | 7:00 ~ 8:30pm | Latin Jazz

Location: Pratt Fine Arts ~ Mural Stage, 1902 South MainStreet, Seattle 98144

  • Comfort Food | 5:00pm ~ 6:15pm | Jazz, Afro, Latin, Funk, Reggae
  • Joe Brazil Legacy Band ~ 6:30pm ~ 8:00pm | Music Commemorating Seattle Jazz Great Joe  Brazil

Location: Pratt Fine Arts ~ Court Stage, 1700 S Jackson Street, Seattle 98144

  • Todo Es | 5:00pm ~ 6:15pm | Brazilian & Cuban Vocal Jazz
  • Jovino Santos Neto Quarteto | 6:30pm ~ 8:00pm

Location: Jackson Street Pizza Lounge, 2901 S Jackson Street, Seattle 98144

  • The Reggie Goines Quartet | 5:00pm ~ 6:30pm | Vocal Trumpeter, Jazz, Blues, Soul
  • The Jay Mabin Trio | 7:00pm ~ 9:00pm | Harmonica Led Jazz, Latin, Blues

Location: Shewar~Ber Bar & Restaurant, 1801 S Jackson Street, Seattle 98144

  • Maureese Itson |  5:00pm ~ 6:30pm | Soulful Vocalist & Saxophonist
  • The Park Evans Trio | 7:00pm ~ 8:30pm | Guitarist, Original Multi~Style Influenced Music

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RED DRESS JAZZ GALA

Location: Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Avenue s, Seattle Washington 98144

  • 6:00pm~9:00pm Featuring Nathan Breedlove | Eugenie Jones & A History Worth Preserving by Washington State Historical Society’s Stephanie Johnson~Tolliver

Tickets ~ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jsjw-red-dress-jazz-gala-tickets-691994944507?aff=oddtdtcreator

Location: Wonder Bar, 1800 S Jackson Street, Seattle, Washington 98144

  • Blues Bash After~Party featuring Raphael Tranquilino | 9:00pm

Tickets ~ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rafael-tranquilino-blues-bash-tickets-692631568667?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

George Abel Van Eps was born on August 7, 1913 in Plainfield, New Jersey into a family of musicians. His mother was a classical pianist, his father was a ragtime banjoist and sound engineer and his three brothers were musicians. He began playing banjo at eleven years old but after hearing Eddie Lang on the radio, he devoted himself to guitar. By thirteen, in 1926, he was performing on the radio.

Through the middle of the 1930s, he played with Harry Reser, Smith Ballew, Freddy Martin, Benny Goodman, and Ray Noble. Van Eps moved to Los Angeles, California and spent most of his remaining career as a studio musician, playing on many commercials and movie soundtracks.

In the 1930s, he invented a model of guitar with another bass string added to the common six-string guitar. The seven-string guitar allowed him to play bass lines below his chord voicings, unlike the single-string style of Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt. He called his technique “lap piano”, as it anticipated the fingerpicking style of country guitarists Chet Atkins and Merle Travis and inspired jazz guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, and Howard Alden to pick up the seven-string.

Dixieland had a following in Los Angeles during the 1940s and 1950s, and he played in groups led by Bob Crosby and Matty Matlock and appeared in the film Pete Kelly’s Blues. He played guitar on Frank Sinatra’s 1955 album. In The Wee Small Hours.

Playing guitar into his eighties, he built a career that lasted over sixty years. Swing and mainstream guitarist George Van Eps, who recorded eleven albums as a leader and thirty~two as a sideman, transitioned from pneumonia on November 29, 1998 in Newport Beach, California at the age of 85.

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