Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Avery Parrish was born on January 24, 1917 in Birmingham, Alabama. Graduating from Parker High School he went on to matriculate Alabama State Teachers College, where he played in the Bama State Collegians, an ensemble led by Erskine Hawkins. He remained in Hawkins’s employ performing and arranging until 1942 and recorded with him extensively. Composing the music to After Hours, a 1940 recording of the tune with Hawkins’s orchestra resulted in its becoming a jazz standard.
Driving to gigs between Pittsburgh and Chattanooga in 1942 he was injured in an overturned car crash that killed Hawkin’s trumpeter Marcellus Green, one of the five men in the vehicle. Avery left Hawkins later that year and moved to California, where hebecame a commercially successful solo pianist. Hit in the head by a bar stool during a bar fight in 1943l put him in hospital for a few months. His injuries left him partly paralyzed, thus ending his career and ability to play music for the rest of his life.
Pianist, composer and arranger Avery Parrish transitioned of unknown causes on December 10, 1959. He was posthumously inducted twenty years later into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
There’s A Sweet, Sweet Spirit ~ Cyrus Chestnut
Remain safe and healthy and be responsible for your health and others. That is all I request.
This week we listen to the music from There’s a Sweet Sweet Spirit, an album by pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Recorded on February 27, 2017 at Systems Two Recording Studios in Brooklyn, New York, the album was released on the HighNote label on Julyu 14, 2017.
- The Littlest One of All (Bobby Hutcherson) ~ 4:20
- Chopin Prelude (Frédéric Chopin) ~ 6:53
- Nardis (Miles Davis) ~ 7:33
- Little B’s Poem (Bobby Hutcherson) ~ 4:50
- Christina (Buster Williams) ~ 4:51
- CDC (Cyrus Chestnut) ~ 6:23
- You Make Me Feel Brand New (Thom Bell, Linda Creed) ~ 6:07
- Easy Living (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) ~ 8:32
- Rhythm-a-Ning (Thelonious Monk) ~ 4:51
- There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit (Doris Akers) ~ 5:36
The Players
- Cyrus Chestnut ~ piano
- Buster Williams ~ bass (tracks 1–4 & 6–9)
- Lenny White ~ drums (tracks 1–4 & 6–9)
- Steve Nelson ~ vibraphone (tracks 1, 4 & 8)
- Charlotte Small, Djoré Nance, Keesha Gumbs ~ vocals (track 7)
Tracks | 59:56
- The Littlest One of All (Bobby Hutcherson) ~ 4:20
- Chopin Prelude (Frédéric Chopin) ~ 6:53
- Nardis (Miles Davis) ~ 7:33
- Little B’s Poem (Bobby Hutcherson) ~ 4:50
- Christina (Buster Williams) ~ 4:51
- CDC (Cyrus Chestnut) ~ 6:23
- You Make Me Feel Brand New (Thom Bell, Linda Creed) ~ 6:07
- Easy Living (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) ~ 8:32
- Rhythm-a-Ning (Thelonious Monk) ~ 4:51
- There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit (Doris Akers) ~ 5:36
The Players
- Cyrus Chestnut ~ piano
- Buster Williams ~ bass (tracks 1–4 & 6–9)
- Lenny White ~ drums (tracks 1–4 & 6–9)
- Steve Nelson ~ vibraphone (tracks 1, 4 & 8)
- Charlotte Small, Djoré Nance, Keesha Gumbs ~ vocals (track 7)
The album was produced by the pianist who pulls from a multitude of generations for his song choices. From Monk and Miles to Chopin, Thom Bell and Linda Creed, blending them perfectly for our listening pleasure.This tight knit group of musicians carry the musical conversation forward never overstepping or interrupting but supporting whoever is speaking.
Tracks | 59:56
- The Littlest One of All (Bobby Hutcherson) ~ 4:20
- Chopin Prelude (Frédéric Chopin) ~ 6:53
- Nardis (Miles Davis) ~ 7:33
- Little B’s Poem (Bobby Hutcherson) ~ 4:50
- Christina (Buster Williams) ~ 4:51
- CDC (Cyrus Chestnut) ~ 6:23
- You Make Me Feel Brand New (Thom Bell, Linda Creed) ~ 6:07
- Easy Living (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) ~ 8:32
- Rhythm-a-Ning (Thelonious Monk) ~ 4:51
- There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit (Doris Akers) ~ 5:36
The Players
- Cyrus Chestnut ~ piano
- Buster Williams ~ bass (tracks 1–4 & 6–9)
- Lenny White ~ drums (tracks 1–4 & 6–9)
- Steve Nelson ~ vibraphone (tracks 1, 4 & 8)
- Charlotte Small, Djoré Nance, Keesha Gumbs ~ vocals (track 7)
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Handy, born George Joseph Hendleman on January 17, 1920 in New York City, where his musical beginnings were fostered under the tutelage of composer Aaron Copland.
He first worked professionally as a swing pianist for Michael Loring in 1938. Soon afterward George was drafted into the United States Army in 1940. Post WWII, from 1944 to 1946 he became a member of the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra, composing and performing on piano. This was during a time when many big bands were transforming their musical tendencies toward bebop. Leaving the orchestra briefly to work for Paramount Studios, he returned to Raeburn quickly. During this period he entered one of his most creative periods, doing arrangements of older standards with a distinctly bebop quality.
A rift between him and Raeburn, just as he was entering his prime, forced him to depart the group. Handy continued to arrange for other musicians in his later career.
Pianist, arranger and composer George Handy, best remembered in retrospect for his bebop arrangements, transitioned in Harris, New York, on January 8, 1997 at the age of 76, from heart disease.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alain Mion was born of French extraction on January 14, 1947 in Casablanca, Morocco but was raised in Paris, France.Influenced by Bobby Timmons, Ray Charles and Les McCann, his style varies between jazz, soul jazz and funky music. By the time he was 19 he formed his own trio and performed at the Blue Note. This subsequently led to him gigging at various festivals with Hank Mobley and Philly Joe Jones.
1974 Alain created the jazz funk group Cortex and recorded a dozen albums before embarking upon a career under his own name in 1982, recording to date eleven albums, such as Pheno-Men, Alain Mion in New York recorded with David Binney and Marc Johnson, and Some Soul Food recorded in Stockholm, Sweden with Patrik Boman and Ronnie Gardiner.
In 2008, he emerged with a new group, Alain Mion FunKey Combo with drums, bass and a saxophone section consisting of Italian and French musicians. He reinvented his new group Alain Mion & The New Cortex with the singer Adeline de Lépinay reprising the role originally performed by Mireille Dalbray on the Troupeau Bleu album.
In the United States, Alain Mion and Cortex’s songs have been sampled by several hip-hop artists including but not limited to Madlib, Fat Joe, DJ Day, MF DOOM, Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y, Mellowhype, Tyler The Creator, Rick Ross, and Lupe Fiasco.
Pianist, composer, arranger, and vocalist Alain Mion continues his exploration of the jazz idiom.
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Three Wishes
Erroll Garner was puzzled by the question asked of the Baroness he said to her this:
- “I don’t know! I feel as though I’m limited with only three wishes. I feel as though I’m limited.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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