Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Dolo Coker was born Charles Mitchell Coker on November 16, 1927 in Hartford, Connecticut but was raised in Florence, South Carolina and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first musical instruments Coker played in childhood were the C-melody and alto saxophones, learning them at a school. By age thirteen he was starting to play piano and after moving to Philadelphia he studied piano at the Landis School of Music and at Orenstein’s Conservatory.

During his Philadelphia years Coker played piano with Jimmy Heath, then became a member of Frank Morgan’s quartet, but it wasn’t until 1976 that he recorded as a leader. Signing with Xanadu Records he cut four albums and worked extensively as a sideman for Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Lou Donaldson, Art Pepper, Philly Joe Jones and Dexter Gordon.

For the next several years pianist Dolo Coker continued to work as a sideman until he passed away of cancer at the age of fifty-five on April 13, 1983.

Dose A Day – Blues Away

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Art Hodes was born Arthur W. Hodes on November 14, 1904 in Ukraine, Russia but his family emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Chicago, Illinois when he was just a few months old. Although he gained wider attention once he moved to New York City in 1938, He began his career as a pianist in Chicago playing with Sidney Bechet, Joe Marsala and Mezz Mezzrow.

In the 1940s Art led his own big band that would be associated with his hometown of Chicago, playing mostly in that area for the next forty years. By the late 1960s he starred in a series of TV shows on Chicago style jazz called “Jazz Alley” appearing with greats like Pee Wee Russell and Jimmy McPartland. During this period he also wrote for jazz magazines like Jazz Record and remained an educator and writer in jazz.

He toured the UK in 1987 recording with drummer John Petters, and then returned the next year to play the Cork Jazz Festival with Petters and Wild Bill Davison, followed by a tour with the Legends of American Dixieland.

Over the course of his career he performed and recorded with Louis Armstrong, Wingy Manone, Gene Krupa, Mugsy Spanier, Alert Nicholas and Vic Dickerson among others. Pianist Art Hodes passed away on March 4, 1993 in Harvey, Illinois and was posthumously inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998.

Give A Gift Of Jazz – Share

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bennie Moten was born on November 13, 1894 in Kansas City, Missouri. By the time he reached his mid-twenties he was leading the Kansas City Orchestra that was the most important of the itinerant, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest at the time. The band helped develop the riffing style that would come to define many of the 1930s Big Bands.

Moten first recorded with Okeh Records in 1923 influenced by New Orleans and ragtime. His Victor Records sessions had a more sophisticated sound similar to Fletcher Henderson but featured a hard stomp popular to Kansas City.

By 1928 Bennie’s piano was showing some Boogie Woogie influences, but the real revolution came in 1929 when he recruited Count Basie, Walter Page and Oran “Hot Lips” Page. Walter Page’s walking bass lines gave the music an entirely new feel compared to the 2/4 tuba, colored by Basie’s understated, syncopated piano fills.

Their final session comprised of 10 recordings made in 1932 were made during a time when the band was suffering significant financial hardship but had added Ben Webster and Jimmy Rushing as their primary vocalist. These recordings showed the early stages of what became known as the “Basie Sound” some four years before Basie would record under his own name.

Pianist and bandleader Bennie Moten passed away after an unsuccessful tonsillectomy on April 2, 1935.

Jazz Is Global – Share

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bertha Hope was born Bertha Rosemond on November 8, 1936 and raised in Los Angeles, California. At age three she began studying classical piano and at a young age she was playing and learning from other young musicians in her neighborhood such as Richie Powell and Elmo Hope. Hope attended Manual Arts High School, performed in numerous nightclubs around town and went on to study piano at the Los Angeles Community College, finally receiving a B.A. in early childhood education from Antioch College.

In 1957 she married Elmo and relocated to the Bronx, New York, working at the telephone company during the day and performing at night. After her husband’s passing ten years later, Bertha continued to present his music and remained an active force in improvised music within the New York jazz scene. Her second husband, Walter Booker Jr., worked with her to keep the music of Elmo Hope alive through their tribute ensemble called “ELMOllenium” and The Elmo Hope Project.

The composer and arranger has recorded for Steeplechase, Minor and Reservoir record labels, has toured extensively through Japan, plays with the group, Jazzberry Jam in addition to leading The Bertha Hope Trio with Walter and Jimmy Cobb and has taught an advanced jazz ensemble at the Lucy Moses School in NYC, and an introduction to jazz program at Washington Irving High, sponsored by Bette Midler.

Inspire A Young Mind

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Arturo “Chico” O’Farrill was born on October 28, 1921 in Havana, Cuba of Irish/German heritage. Attending military school in Georgia he learned to play trumpet and was exposed to big band jazz.

Although he played trumpet early in his career, he became a sought-after composer and arranger, and was one of many leading the emergence of the Afro-Cuban jazz movement in the ‘50s dubbed Cubop.

Best known for his work in the Latin idiom, Chico also composed straight-ahead jazz pieces and even symphonic works. He composed works for Machito’s Afro-Cuban Suite with Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman’s Bebop Orchestra’s Undercurrent Blues and composed the Manteca Suite for Dizzy Gillespie and arranged for Stan Kenton and David Bowie, among others.

Over the course of his career he has recorded for Norman Granz’s label, with Todd Barkan at Fantasy, worked with the count Basie, Gato Barbieri, and Cal Tjader and has recorded and performed as a leader in small configurations, a bandleader and a sideman on more the two dozen albums. His music has been featured in the film Calle-54 and in the ‘90s he led a big band that took up residence at Birdland in New York.

Chico O’Farrill, Grammy nominee, passed away on June 27, 2001 in New York City and eventually his son Arturo took over the band.

Take A Dose On The Road

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