The Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager had a blast at Cliff Bell’s last week hanging out with friends but it’s time to head South to Texas and see what’s happening at the Parker Jazz Club at 117 W 4th Street, #10, Austin 78701. I’m looking forward to what promises to be an evening of jazz classics and the Great American Songbook performed by the Ryan Davis Trio with drummer Jeremy Bruch and bassist Ben Triesch.
I’ll be masking throughout the day starting with catching an early flight into the state capital and home of those famous City Limits and I’ll be Ubering or Lyfting to do some sightseeing. My first stop being the Moody Theater where the longest running music television show is taped, then off to the Bullock Museum for a history lesson of the state, the George Washington Carver Museum, LBJ Presidential Library, a visit to the Downs~Mabson Field which was the former home of the Austin Black Senators of the Texas Negro League during the early 20th century. Don’t know if I’ll get it all done in one day because I’m grabbing some dinner before showtime. My last stop of the first day is the Congress Bridge at sunset to see the 1.5 million bats take wing.
Then it’s off to the hotel to shower and change and get ready for a great night of jazz. The doors are at 7:00pm, the one performance runs from 7:30pm ~ 9:00pm, the cover is $15~$25. Early evening for this nightowl, so I’ll be adventuring into the city for more music. For additional information, the number is 512-394-6003 or parkerjazzclub.com.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Samuel Benskin was born in The Bronx, New York on September 27, 1922 and made his professional debut around 1940 as piano accompanist to singer and guitarist Bardu Ali. He worked throughout the 1940s with among other jazz musicians Stuff Smith, Benny Morton and Don Redman. The 1950s witnessed Sammy leading his own piano trio, appearing as a soloist and accompanying singers Roy Hamilton, Dinah Washington and Al Hibbler. In 1954 he also joined a group, The Three Flames, which also featured Tiger Haynes.
By the end of the decade with a band credited as The Spacemen, Sammy recorded an instrumental, The Clouds, written and produced by Julius Dixson for his Alton record label. A departure from jazz, the song’s original vocals were removed and presented as an instrumental. It went to No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, and No. 41 on the pop chart. The song was the first number one on any chart released by an African-American owned independent record label, predating Motown’s first No. 1 by a year.
From the 1960s Benskin worked primarily as a vocal coach, arranger and producer. In 1986, he recorded an album in Paris, France for Black & Blue Records, These Foolish Songs. Pianist Sammy Benskin transitioned in Teaneck, New Jersey on August 26, 1992 at 69.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Romano Bruno Mussolini was born on September 26, 1927 in Villa Carpena, Forlì,Italy. He was the fourth child and youngest son of Il Duce, Benito Mussolini. He studied music as a child, playing classical pieces with his father on the violin. After World War II, he started playing jazz under the alias Romano Full.
By the mid-1950s, he formed a trio and in 1956 released a self-titled record featuring Lilian Terry on vocals and trumpeter Nunzio Rotondo on RCA Records. The Sixties saw him form the Romano Mussolini All Stars, which became one of Italy’s foremost jazz bands.
The All Stars recorded a well-received record Jazz Allo Studio 7 in 1963 with At the Santa Tecla following a year later. Romano’s band toured internationally with Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Helen Merrill and Chet Baker, among others. In the 1990s he recorded two more albums, Perfect Alibi and Soft and Swing.
His playing style has been described as “like a slightly melancholic Oscar Peterson. Occasionally inspired, he was always efficient; he made the refrains run on time.
Pianist Romano Mussolini, who was also a painter and film producer, transitioned on February 3, 2006, at the age of 78, in a hospital in Rome, Italy from heart problems.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roland Alexander was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 25, 1935 and grew up with his parents and sister, Gloria, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music composition from the Boston Conservatory in 1958.
A prolific composer and arranger, Alexander wrote and played for many of the better known bands in Boston during the 1950s, associating himself with Sabby Lewis, Preston ‘Sandy’ Sandiford, Richie Lowery, Jaki Byard and many more. He co-led a group called the Boston All Stars that featured trumpeter Joe Gordon, and after Joe Gordon left to play with Dizzy Gillespie’s band, he was replaced by Wajid Lateef (Crazy Wilbur Lucaw), and Gordon Wooly.
In 1956 he recorded High Step as a sideman with bassist Paul Chambers before moving to New York City the year he graduated from the conservatory. In addition to a 1961 and 1978 release as a leader, he played and recorded with John Coltrane, Howard McGhee, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Blue Mitchell, Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp, and Mal Waldron.
Post bop saxophonist Roland Alexander, who in addition to playing tenor and soprano saxophone was also a pianist, transitioned on June 14, 2006.
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The Jazz Voyager
Last week the Jazz Voyager was in Nashville checking out Rudy’s Jazz Room and had a great experience. This week he’s on his way and looking forward to another wonderful experience in Kansas City, Missouri at The Black Dolphin located at 1813 Grand Boulevard. Planning to catch an early set with the Tim Whitmer Quartet, I’ll be hanging around for the late hit by the Reyes Brothers Trio, both on Friday night..
Depending on which set you catch you can dine in or eat beforehand and then enjoy a full bar of cocktails, mocktails, wine and beer. The first set begins at 6:30~9:30pm followed by the second set 10:00pm ~ 1:00am. Rated $$, come and enjoy an evening of good music. For additional information, the number is 816-215-2954.
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