Daily Dose O fJazz…

Ronald Shannon Jackson was born on January 12, 1940 in Fort Worth, Texas and as a child he was immersed in music. His father monopolized the local jukebox business and established the only African American-owned record store in the metropolitan area. His mother played piano and organ at their local church. Beginning at age five until nine he took piano lessons and in the third grade he studied music with John Carter. He graduated from I.M. Terrell High School, where he played with the marching band and learned about symphonic percussion. By the age of 15, he was playing professionally. His first paid gig was with tenor saxophonist James Clay.

Attending Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri gave him access to St. Louis, Missouri and the musicians touring the Midwest. His roommate was pianist John Hicks and his bandmates also included Lester Bowie and Julius Hemphill. Transferring first to Texas Southern University, then to Prairie View A & M before landing at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut studying history and sociology. In 1966, through trumpeter Kenny Dorham he attended New York University on a full music scholarship.

Once in New York City he performed with many jazz musicians, including Charles Mingus, Betty Carter, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Kenny Dorham, McCoy Tyner, Stanley Turrentine, Charles Tyler and Albert Ayler. By 1975 he joined Ornette Coleman’s electric free funk band, Prime Time, where he learned composition and harmolodics. He would go on to play Paris, France, record four albums with Cecil Taylor, and formed his band, The Decoding Society, in 1979. In addition to leading Decoding Society lineups, guitarist James Blood Ulmer recruited Ron for another group.

Continuing to push the envelope over the next few years he formed several groups including Last Exit, SXL, Mooko, and Power Tools. Jackson joined trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet, then played with the Punk Funk All Stars, and toured Europe with The Last Poets. In 2011 he formed a power trio called Encryption.

Drummer Ron Jackson who recorded nineteen albums as a leader, six with Last Exit and as a sideman fifteen with Albert Ayler, James Blood Ulmer, Cecil Taylor, SXL, Music Revelation Ensemble, and Ornette Coleman, died of leukemia on October 19, 2013, aged 73.

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Three Wishes

Pannonica finally got the opportunity to ask Lionel Hampton what he would wish for and his retort was:

1. 1. “To be in tune with jazz. Jazz to me is like the human emotion of the Negro. From the time he was in bondage praying to God to give him freedom – that was the blues then, coming from the spiritual vein – and when he was freed some, he would make jazz more happy. It was coming from the Negroes. From the time of the slave in the cotton fields, swinging up, you dig? From the time it got popularized and commercial, and left the cotton fields and railroad tracks, and they were putting it in the cafes. It was the days of King Oliver and Sidney Bechet..”
   2. “The colored man always has been the one to change the color of jazz. As the country advanced, they changes the music. It’s always been moving along, integrated by Negroes, turning to his feelings as he advanced. From Louis Armstrong up to Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Edgar Sampson, and Sy Oliver. They started changing the picture of jaz. It was their orchestrations, their chart that made jazz. They began writing arrangements for Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and so on – for the ofay bands. fats Waller, Jimmie Lunceford, those guys were all great arrangers. Then Monk, Dizzy, Prez, Don Byas, and Charlie Parker, they came in, all influencing the music, all great instrumentalists. As the Negro got free he added more ingredients. You’d need an encyclopedia to tell it all. I hope I’ll always be tuned so I can dig the transitions in jazz. Because there are more transitions coming.”
   3. “Lots of white folks write about jazz, but they don’t know the pains of it. You should be the one to write about it, because you understand. And musicians will talk to you. Gotta get down on that stand now, but I’ll be over to your pad tomorrow, and we’ll do this with the tape recorder. It’ll take another three of four hours, at the very least. I’ve not done more than get started on the first answer yet, you dig?”

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FRAN VIELMA JAZZ ORCHESTRA

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Sadi Pol Lallemand was born on October 23, 1927 in Andenne, Belgium. His first instrument was the xylophone, which he played in a circus in the 1930s. After World War II, he turned professional playing the vibraphone and performed with Bobby Jaspar in the Bob Shots, then with Don Byas.

Moving to Europe he lived in Paris, France from 1950 to 1961 where he played with Aimé Barelli, Django Reinhardt, and Martial Solal. In the Sixties, Fats moved to Brussels, Belgium and was a member of Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band.

He worked for RTBF, the TV channel of the French Community in Belgium. Sadi led both a quartet and nonet, and won the Belgian Golden Django for best French-speaking artist in 1996.

Vibraphonist, percussionist, vocalist and composer Fats Sadi, who chose the name “Sadi” because he disliked his last name, which means “the German” in French, transitioned on February 20, 2009 in Huy, Belgium.

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TYSHAWN SOREY TRIO

At 43, Tyshawn Sorey is an American composer, multi-instrumentalist, and professor of contemporary music. Sorey has received accolades for performances, recordings, and compositions ranging from improvised solo percussion to opera, with work in best-of lists for both classical and jazz music.

A Newark native, is among the most formidable denizens of the in-between zone. Here is an extraordinary talent who can see across the entire musical landscape.

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