Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gil Coggins was born Alvin Gilbert Coggins on August 23, 1928 in New York City to parents of West Indian heritage. His mother was a pianist and had her son start on the piano from an early age. Attending school in both New York City and Barbados, he went to the High School of Music & Art in Harlem.
In 1946, Gil met Miles Davis while stationed at Jefferson Barracks in Missouri. After his discharge he began playing piano professionally, working with Davis on several of his Blue Note and Prestige releases. He went on to record with John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Lester Young, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Ray Draper, and Jackie McLean.
Coggins retired from playing jazz professionally in 1954 and took up a career in real estate, only playing music occasionally. He did not record as a leader until 1990, when Interplay Records released Gil’s Mood. He continued performing through the 1990s and the early years of the 2000s.
On February 15, 2004 pianist Gil Coggins, whose second album as a leader Better Late Than Never was released posthumously, passed away from complications sustained in a car crash eight months earlier in Forest Hills, New York.
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Three Wishes
When inquired, Joe Knight told Nica that his three wishes would be:
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“I would like to be inordinately healthy, to give me the strength to do anything of which I am capable to the fullest extent.”
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“I would like to have a certain peace of mind – which could be obtainable from the result of number one.”
- “I would like to develop, within the span of my lifetime, the art of music.”
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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…
Terry Pollard (August 15, 1931 in Detroit, Michigan and began her career by collaborating with other Detroit musicians, such as Billy Mitchell and Elvin Jones, in the house band at the Blue Bird Inn. Johnny Hill, and the Emmitt Slay Trio.
Discovered by Terry Gibbs, she toured with him in the early 1950s, playing piano and vibraphone. They recorded several albums, including Terry Gibbs Quartet – Featuring Terry Pollard. Pollard appeared with Gibbs on an episode of The Tonight Show hosted by Steve Allen. Her collaborations with Gibbs from 1953 to 1957 marked the height of her career.
Pollard also performed with John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald
Recording a self-titled solo album for Bethlehem Records in 1955, Terry won Down Beat magazine’s New Artist award in 1956. She retired from her full-time music career shortly thereafter in order to raise a family, but she continued to play locally in Detroit and performed with Yusef Lateef, Dorothy Ashby, Don Fagerquist, and Diana Ross and the Supremes among others.
Her contributions to the mid-century Detroit jazz scene were recognized in the book Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit 1920-1960, by Lars Bjorn and Jim Gallert. Pianist, vibraphonist Terry Pollard, who was inducted into the Michigan Jazz Hall of Fame, passed away on December 16, 2009 in Detroit.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edwin James Costa was born on August 14, 1930 in Atlas, Pennsylvania, near Mount Carmel, in Northumberland County. He was taught and influenced on piano by his older, musically trained brother, Bill, and a local piano teacher. He took paid jobs as a pianist from the age of 15, and in contrast to his piano training, he was self-taught on vibes.
In 1949 he played and toured for a few months with violinist Joe Venuti. He then worked for his brother in New York until 1951, when Eddie was drafted into the army. During this time in the armed forces, he performed in Japan and Korea. After his discharge, he returned home and worked around the New York area, including for bands led by Kai Winding, Johnny Smith, and Don Elliott.
n 1957 he was chosen as Down Beat jazz critics’ new star on piano and vibes – the first time that one artist won two categories in the same year. He became known for his percussive, driving piano style that concentrated on the lower octaves of the keyboard.
Costa had an eight-year recording career, during which he appeared on more than 100 albums, with five of them were under his own leadership. As a sideman, he appeared in orchestras led by Manny Albam, Gil Evans, Woody Herman, and others; played in smaller groups led by musicians including Tal Farlow, Coleman Hawkins, Gunther Schuller, and Phil Woods; and accompanied vocalists including Tony Bennett and Chris Connor. Costa died, aged 31, in a car accident in New York City.
His first recording as a leader was in 1956, with his trio featuring bassist Vinnie Burke and drummer Nick Stabulas. Around this time, he was nicknamed The Bear by Burke for his powerful playing. He and Burke joined Tal Farlow and became the resident trio at the Composer Club. In 1957 Costa was again leader, recording Eddie Costa Quintet with Woods, Art Farmer, Teddy Kotick, and Paul Motian. He would go on to record 1958’s Guys and Dolls Like Vibes with Bill Evans, Wendell Marshall, and Motian.
Late at night on July 28, 1962, pianist, vibraphonist, composer, and arranger Eddie Costa passed away in a car crash, involving no other vehicles, on New York’s Westside Highway at 72nd Street in New York City.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
Stone Flower is the sixth studio album by Antônio Carlos Jobim. Recorded over a period of seven sessions in 1970 on March 16, April 23, 24, 29, and May 8, 20, and 22nd by Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The album was produced by Creed Taylor, the album was released on July 7, 1970 on CTI Records. The album peaked at #18 on the Jazz Albums chart in 1971 and #196 on the Billboard 200.
Track Listing | 33:47 All tracks composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim, except where noted- Tereza My Love ~ 4:24
- Children’s Games ~ 3:30
- Choro ~ 2:10
- Brazil (Ary Barroso) ~ 7:25
- Stone Flower ~ 3:21
- Amparo ~ 3:41
- Andorinha ~ 3:32
- God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun ~ 2:23
- Sabiá ~ 3:58
- Antônio Carlos Jobim – piano, electric piano, guitar, vocals
- Harry Lookofsky – violin
- Joe Farrell – soprano saxophone
- Urbie Green – trombone
- Hubert Laws – flute
- Ron Carter – double bass
- João Palma – drums
- Airto Moreira – percussion
- Everaldo Ferreira – percussion
- Eumir Deodato – guitar, arranger
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