Three Wishes
Sun Ra had three wishes for the Baroness when she inquired what his would be:
- “A flexible instrument which could reflect every mood of any being, even a cat’s or a bird’s.”
- “A center where I would be free to present what I am actually doing to the world in the proper manner. Lights, shadows, colors, music would all be working at the same time, and it would be a synopsis of cosmic things so concentrated that, in an hour, you could be enlightened about the entire universe.”
- “The means to do things precisely, directly, and unhampered.”
*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…
Gerald Wiggins was born on May 12, 1922 in New York City. He started classical piano lessons when he was four but by his teenage years became interested in jazz. He doubled on bass while attending High School & Art and for a period in the 40s accompanied Stepin’ Fetchit. Following this he worked and toured with the big bands of Les Hite, Louis Armstrong and Benny Carter. Stationed in Seattle while in the military he played in the local jazz clubs.
By the mid 40s Wiggins relocated to Los Angeles and played music for television and film. He has worked with Lena Horne, Kay Starr, Nat King Cole, Lou Rawls, Jimmy Witherspoon Helen Humes, Joe Williams, Ernie Andrews and Eartha Kitt to name a few. He also worked at the Hollywood studios as a vocal coach and worked with Marilyn Monroe and others.
Always a highly flexible pianist, Wiggins was comfortable in swing and bop settings with a consistently witty style filled with catchy riffs became his distinctive signature. His best-known recording as an organist was Wiggin’ Out but it was Wiggins’ trio work with Andy Simpkins and Paul Humphreys that is legendary. Pianist Gerald Wiggins passed away at the age of 86 on July 13, 2008.
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Three Wishes
When the ladies took a moment for themselves, Nica inquired of Alice Coltrane what her three wishes would be if they were able to be given and she told her:
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“I’d like to see my little daughter graduate from the University in Paris.”
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“I would dig an artist’s colony. Like one block of buildings, or area, where artists and musicians could get together, and teach, and study. Artists could display their art. Writers ~ we’d allow them in, too, but it’d be mostly artists and musicians. We’d have a library, concerts, and sessions, and rooms for tapings. Artists could come in and record. You know, you’ve got it!”
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*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…
Lyman Woodard was born on March 3, 1942 in Owosso, Michigan. He started his musical career with a trio with drummer Melvin Davis and guitarist Dennis Coffey. They recorded the album Hair And Thangs that was released under Coffey’s name, however a single with It’s Your Thing and River Rouge was released under the name of Dennis Coffey and the Lyman Woodard Trio.
From the late 1960s, Woodard recorded with Motown acts, and served as musical director for Martha and the Vandellas. Establishing the jazz~funk band, the Lyman Woodard Organization in 1975 recorded Saturday Night Special, and in 1979, he recorded Don’t Stop The Groove, for the Corridor label. His 1987 recording, Dedicacion, featured violinist Regina Carter.
In March 2009, Wax Poetics Records reissued a limited pressing of his Saturday Night Special as a double LP on 180-gram vinyl.
Organist Lyman Woodard, who was based in Detroit, Michigan and was known for his ability to fuse Latin and Afro~Cuban inspired rhythms, transitioned on February 25, 2009 in his hometown of Owosso.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Raymond Colignon was born on February 7, 1907 in Liège, Belgium. He initially was active as an accompanist for silent films, then went on to tour Switzerland, France and Algeria. In the early 1930s, he joined the Lucien Hirsch and His Orchestra who made the first recordings for Columbia Records. Between 1931 and 1934 he worked in a nightclub in his native town. From 1935 to 1940 he played and wrote big band arrangements with Fud Candrix.
As a soloist, he recorded under his own name for the Brussels Jazz Club record label. In 1939 he recorded Honeysuckle Rose for Telefunken and Swinging Through the Style, accompanied by bassist Camille Marchand and drummer Armand Dralandts. The early Forties saw him playing in Brussels, Belgium with Jack Lowens and His Swing Quartet, in Berlin, Germany with Kurt Widmann and his dance orchestra, and in Adolf Steimel ‘s Organum dance orchestra.
In 1941/42 further recordings were made in Brussels under his own name, with trumpeter and singer Billy West recording I Hear A Rhapsody and with Tony Jongenelen Gute Nacht, Mutter (Good NIght , Mother) sung in German. In the post World War II period he worked mainly as an organist in the genre of dance and entertainment music, recording Surprise Party – Calling All Dancers or Come Dance with Me for Philips.
Pianist, organist and arranger Coco Colignon, who was involved in 53 jazz recording sessions between 1931 and 1961, transitioned on February 10, 1987 in Wavre, Belgium.
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