Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Makanda Ken McIntyre was born Kenneth Arthur McIntyreon on September 7, 1931 in Boston, Massachusetts to a father whoplayed mandolin. He started his musical life on the bugle when he was eight years old, followed by piano. In his teens he discovered the music of Charlie Parker and began playing saxophone at nineteen, then clarinet and flute two years later. Serving in the Army in 1953, for two years he played saxophone and piano in Japan.

Following his discharge Ken attended the Boston Conservatory where he studied with Gigi Gryce, Charlie Mariano, and Andy McGhee. In 1958 he received a degree in flute and composition with a master’s degree the next year in composition. He also received a doctorate (Ed.D.) in curriculum design from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1975.

1960 saw McIntyre recording as a leader with Eric Dolphy. The following year and for the next six he taught music in public schools. He took oboe lessons in New York before playing with Bill Dixon, Jaki Byard, and the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra. He went on to spend three years with pianist Cecil Taylor. During the 1970s he recorded with Nat Adderley and Beaver Harris and in the 1980s with Craig Harris and Charlie Haden.

In 1971, he founded the first African American Music program in the United States at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, teaching for 24 years. He also taught at Wesleyan University, Smith College, Central State University, Fordham University, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.

In the early 1990s, while performing in Zimbabwe, a stranger handed him a piece of paper with the word “Makanda” written on it, which translates to many skins in the Ndebele language and many heads in Shona. He changed his name to Makanda Ken McIntyre. At the age of 69 on June 13, 2001 he transitioned from a heart attack in New York City.

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Three Wishes

The question that came to Charles Lloyd from the Baroness when she asked if he had three wishes what would his answers be and he told her:

1. “That’s awful difficult! Well, no – I wish I could play the music that I feel, and play with the musicians I’d like to.”
2. “I would like to be a … to derive some kind of financial success from my music, and to know that it’s aesthetically pleasing.”
3. “I’d like to make a contribution to art.”

*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Senri Oe was born on September 6, 1960, in Fujiidera city, Osaka, Japan. He began playing piano at the age of three, and was trained by his junior high school teacher Yumi Nara, who would go on to become an acclaimed opera singer. After each of the lessons, Nara would encourage him to improvise, and eventually he began to compose.

Upon being introduced to music by The Carpenters, Captain & Tenille and Gilbert O’Sullivan, Oe decided to become a singer-songwriter. Soon after, Oe’s music repertoire expanded to include jazz musicians such as Chris Conor, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Winton Kelly, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.

In 1975 at 15 Oe intended to study jazz but after participating in the final Yamaha Popular Song Contest POPCON, in 1980 he entered Kwansei Gakuin University majoring in economics while simultaneously beginning to pursue a professional music career. He formed his first band during his time at university, was scouted by Sony Music and signed to Epic Sony Japan in 1981. His pop career unexpectedly took off and he chose to put his jazz aspirations on hold.

At the New School for Jazz, in 2008 Senri moved to Manhattan, New Yorkand later He went on to start a prolific carrer as a pop singer/songwriter but in 2007 he began his serious study of jazz. After graduating from The New School for Jazz, he launched his jazz record label, Peace Never Die Records, in 2012. His jazz debut album was Boys Mature Slow the same year. As of 2021 he has released another six albums under the PND label.

Oe’s work towards composing for a drum-less trio was titled Collective Scribble, with saxophone, piano and upright bass. He has recorded as a leader with Sheila Jordan, Jon Hendricks, Theo Bleckmann and Lauren Kinhan. His Answer July was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Jazz Album category in 2017.

Pianist, composer, producer, actor, singer, and songwriter Senri Oe continues to compose, perform and stretch the realms of his jazz imagination, while writing and producing music for other artists and film soundtracks.

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JAZZ MUSIC AWARDS

~ Wayne Shorter | Lifetime Achievement Award

~ McCoy Tyner | Jazz Legend Award

~ James H. Patterson | Jazz Impact Award

~ Henry Threadgill | Jazz Composer Award

~ Ambrose Akinmusire | Jazz Innovator Award

~ Dr. Lenora Z Helm Hammonds | Jazz Educator Award

2022 Nominees

~ Best Mainstream Artist | Joey DeFrancesco, Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride & Inside Straight, Brandee Younger

~ Best Contemporary Artist | Brian Bromberg, Ben Tankard, Lindsey Webster, Ragan Whiteside

~ Best Duo, Group or Band | The Baylor Project, Jazzmeia Horn & Her Noble Force, Christian McBride & Inside Straight, Count Basie Orchestra, Kevin Eubanks & Orrin Evans

~ Best New Jazz Artist | Simon Moullier, Julieta Engenio, Kazemde George, Samara Joy

~ Best Vocal Performance | The Baylor Project, Somi, Stacey Kent, Shawnn Monteiro

~ Best Mainstream Album | Generation – The Baylor Project, The Magic Of Now – Orrin Evans, Sounds From The Ancestors – Kenny Garrett, Somewhere Different – Brandee Younger

~ Best Contemporary Album | The Stay At Home Series – Bob Baldwin & Friends, The Trilogy Red – Brian Culbertson, Soul Ascension – Sonny Emory, Tongue & Groove – Gabriel Mark Hasselbach

~ Song Of The Year | Back At Ya – Norman Brown, Feel The Love – Brian Culbertson, Gruv Kid – Justin~Lee Schultz, Up From Here – James “PJ” Spraggins

Performers

~ Terri Lyne Carrington – Music Director, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ledisi, The Baylor Project, Jazzmeia Horn, Lizz Wright

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LIZZ WRIGHT

A steward of American music, acclaimed vocalist Lizz Wright is rising out of the pandemic and returning to stages across the globe. She has reclaimed her legacy with the launch of an independent record company, Blues & Greens Records. Wright’s label launched with the June 15, 2022 release of Holding Space, a brilliant live album capturing a Berlin, Germany concert where Wright and her band closed out their 2018 European summer tour.

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