Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jeri Southern was born Genevieve Hering on August 5, 1926 in Royal, Nebraska and began playing piano at age three. At age six she started formal study in classical piano and studying classical piano and voice at Sacred Heart in Omaha, Nebraska. It was during this period that her interest in jazz developed.
Southern began her career at the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha, then joined a United States Navy recruiting tour during WWII. In the late 1940s, she worked the Chicago club scene, once playing piano for Anita O’Day and where she became known for torch songs.
Signing with Decca Records in 1951, Jeri became known both for jazz and pop, rising to the height of her career during the decade. In 1955 her recording of “An Occasional Man”, reached #89 in the Billboard pop chart and in 1957 she had a Top 30 hit with “Fire Down Below”, that also hit #22 on the UK Singles Chart.
After her switch to Capitol Records, Southern found more success performing interpretations of Cole Porter with Billy May arrangements of some of the more humorous examples. She also sang in a few films
By the 1960s Jeri gave up the performing side of the music industry opting to teach instead, leaving a catalogue of more than two-dozen recordings. She would later move to Hollywood, California and work on film composing with Hugo Friedhofer. She wrote Interpreting Popular Music At The Keyboard during her final years.
Pianist and vocalist Jeri Southern passed away in Los Angeles, California of pneumonia on August 4,1991, at the age of 64.
Take A Dose On The Road
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jack Wilson was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 3, 1936 but grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana from the age of seven. From 1949-54, he studied piano with Carl Atkinson at the Fort Wayne College of Music where he was introduced to the music of George Shearing.
Wilson later picked up the tenor saxophone and played in the Central High School band. He began performing locally leading small combos. By his fifteenth birthday, he had become the youngest member ever to join the Fort Wayne Musicians Union, Local 58. At 17, James Moody hired him to play a two-week stint as a substitute pianist.
After graduating from Central High, Jack spent a year-and-a-half at Indiana University, where he met Freddie Hubbard and Slide Hampton. Then touring with a rock ‘n roll band, he wound up in Columbus, Ohio and connecting with then unknown Nancy Wilson and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
After a year in Columbus, he moved to Atlantic City and led the house band at the Cotton Club, adding organ to his musical arsenal. At the Club he met Dinah Washington and worked with her from 1957-58.
A return to Chicago, Wilson was playing with Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Eddie Harris and Al Hibbler and holding down the gig at the Persian Lounge. Drafted into the Army, he went to Fort Stewart, GA. and became the first Black music director for the Third Army Area, playing tenor saxophone in the army band.
In 1961, jack received an honorable medical discharge due to diabetes, returned to Dinah Washington’s band for a year and encouraged by Buddy Collette moved to Los Angeles, California. It was here he worked with Gerald Wilson, Lou Donaldson, Herbie Mann, Johnny Griffin, Sammy Davis Jr., Sarah Vaughan, Lou Rawls, Eartha Kitt, Julie London, as well as Sonny & Cher. He composed and recorded the title track for Earl Anderza’s debut album Outa Sight!
Wilson recorded his debut as a leader for Atlantic Records with The Jack Wilson Quartet featuring Roy Ayers followed by a sophomore project, then three for the label’s subsidiary Vault Records and three albums for Blue Note including the classic Easterly Winds in 1967. From there he focused on work with vocalist Esther Phillips, went back to the studio for Discovery Records, and returned to be a sideman with Lorez Alexandria, Tutti Camarata and Eddie Harris.
His final recording session simply titled In New York, took place on June 4, 1993 and featured legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb. Composer and pianist Jack Wilson died on October 5, 2007 due to complications from his life with diabetes.
Inspire A Young Mind
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gaspare “Gap” Mangione was born July 31, 1938 in Rochester, New York and learned to play the piano as a child. Along with his Grammy-winning flugelhornist brother Chuck, they started performing together as the Jazz Brothers in 1958 and eventually recorded three albums for Riverside Records.
In 1968, Gap Mangione released his first solo album, “Diana in the Autumn Wind”, featured new compositions and arrangements, and was conducted by Chuck Mangione. The 1970s brought more solo albums along with tours with his own group and many as featured pianist in his brother’s orchestral performances.
By the Eighties, Gap began spending less time on the road and more time playing in and around Rochester. In 1990, he formed the Gap Mangione New Big Band, which remains the premier dance and concert big band in the Rochester area. The New Big Band has released four recordings since 1998.
Many major rappers and producers, including Jaylib, Talib Kweli, Guerilla Black, Ghostface Killah, Slum Village and People Under The Stars have sampled Gap’s “Diana in the Autumn Wind” for their recent works.
Gap Mangione has received the Artist of the Year Award from the Arts & Cultural Council of Greater Rochester, continues to make regular appearances at Rochester locations, among them the Woodcliff Hotel and Spa, Pier 45 at the Port, as well as the Rochester International Jazz Festival. The composer, arranger, bandleader and pianist continues to play with his brother.
Put A Dose In Your Pocket
More Posts: piano
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sadik Hakim was born Argonne Thornton on July 15, 1919 in Duluth, Minnesota and was taught piano by his grandfather and started playing professionally about 1939. In 1944 he moved to New York City and was hired by Ben Webster. A participant in the emergence of bebop, he shared piano duties with Dizzy Gillespie on Charlie Parker’s famous “Ko-Ko” session.
He recorded with Dexter Gordon and Lester Young, heard on the latter’s I’m Confessin’, also credited with co-writing Thelonious Monk’s standard “Eronel” and is rumored to have written a few famous bop tunes credited to other composers. He adopted his Muslim name in 1947.
Hakim moved to Montreal after visiting in 1949 and was a big fish on the small bebop scene there, working with Louis Metcalf’s International Band. Compelled to leave Canada following a drug bust in 1950 he returned to New York and through the decade worked with James Moody and George Holmes Tate.
He returned to Montreal from 1966 to 1976, leading bands and recording with Charles Biddle. He led a few recording dates from 1976–1980 and cut an album with Sonny Stitt in 1978. Hakim played “Round Midnight” at Monk’s funeral in 1982, and the pianist and composer passed away himself the following year on June 20, 1983.
Give The Gift Of Knowledge
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Peter Cincotti was born July 11, 1983 in New York City. The singer, songwriter and pianist started playing a toy piano at the age of three and attended the Horace Mann School. While in high school, he regularly performed at clubs throughout Manhattan and performed at the White House.
At the 2000 Montreux Jazz Festival he won an award for a rendition of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night In Tunisia” and in 2002 Peter reached No. 1 on the Billboard Traditional jazz Charts, the youngest solo artist to do so to date.
Cincotti appeared in a small role and contributed to the soundtrack of the 2004 Bobby Darin biopic Beyond The Sea, had a small role as the Piano Player in Spider-Man 2, and his song “December Boys” is featured in the 2007 film of the same name.
His self-titled debut album is a compilation of traditional jazz songs, while his second album, “On The Moon” featured some of the artist’s own songs, that was followed by his third “East of Angel Town”. Combining pop, jazz, rock and dance, Peter created his fourth studio album, “Metropolis” and released worldwide in the spring of 2012.
That same year, Peter and his sister Pia Cincotti wrote and produced an original full-length musical titled “How Deep Is The Ocean?” that debuted at The New York Musical Theater Festival to sold out audiences in New York. He continues to perform, compose, record and tour.
Inspire A Young Mind