Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Palmieri was born of Puerto Rican parentage on December 15, 1936 in Bronx, New York and when he was only 8 years old, he would musically accompany his older brother Charlie and together they entered and participated in many talent contests
Palmieri continued his education in the city’s public school system where he was constantly exposed to music, specifically jazz. He took piano lessons and performed at Carnegie Hall when he was 11 years old. Influenced by Thelonious Monk and McCoy Tyner and inspired by his brother he formed his own band in 1950 at age 14.
In 1961, Palmieri formed the band Conjunto La Perfecta, featuring legendary singer Ismael Quintana and replaced the traditional violins with trombones to create a more robust sound by including a touch of jazz in his recordings and incorporating a popular Cuban rhythm known as Mozambique.
Eddie disbanded the band in 1968 but three years later was recording with his brother and in 1974 was the first Latin musician to win a Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording with The Sun of Latin Music. Through the Eighties he continued performing and recording, winning two Grammys for his Palo Pa Rumba and Solito albums.
In the 1990s Palmieri was part of various concerts and recordings with the Fania All-Stars and the Tico All-Stars; he introduced La India with the production of Llego La India via Eddie Palmieri released in 1992. In 2000, Palmieri announced his retirement from the world of music. He recorded Masterpiece with Tito Puente, won 2 Grammys and was also named the “Outstanding Producer of the Year” by the National Foundation of Popular Culture. Palmieri has won a total of 9 Grammy Awards in his career, most recently for his 2006 album with Brian Lynch – Simpatico.
Palmieri teamed up with longtime trumpeter and band member Brian Lynch, has worked with Phil Woods, Lila Downs, Donald Harrison, Conrad Herwig, Gregory Tardy, Edsel Gomez and Rubén Rodríguez among others. With more than three-dozen albums to his credit he continues to perform and tour.
More Posts: piano
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bob Dorough, born December 12, 1923 in Cherry Hill, Arkansas, he grew up in Texas. He learned to play piano and would play in an Army band during World War II. After discharge he attended North Texas State University, majoring in composition and minored in piano.
Around 1950 Bob moved to New York City and was playing piano in a Times square tap studio where he was introduced to the boxer sugar Ray Robinson, who was putting together a song and dance revue. He was hired, became the show’s music director and toured the U.S. and Europe. Leaving the revue in Paris in 1954, he recorded with singer Blossom Dearie during that time. Returning to the U.S. and moving to Los Angeles, he played various gigs, including a job between sets by comedian Lenny Bruce. Dorough released his first album, Devil May Care, in 1956 that contained a version of Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite”.
Dorough penned the lyrics for Miles Davis on the Christmas song “Blue Xmas” and a few years later recorded “Nothing Like You” that is on the Sorcerer album. He worked with Allen Ginsberg, and his adventurous style influenced Mose Allison among other singers. He is perhaps best known as a voice and primary composer of many of the songs used in “Schoolhouse Rock!” during the Seventies and Eighties.
The cool jazz pianist and composer he has penned with bassist Ben Tucker the tune “Comin’ Home Baby” that earned Mel Torme two Grammy nominations and a Top 40 hit. A vocalese singer, he has released 28 vocal jazz albums as a leader, four singles and 17 as a sideman and/or guest over the last 50 years. Bob Dorough received an honorary degree from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania with a Doctor of Fine Arts, was named Artist of the Year in 2002 by the Pennsylvania Governor’s Awards for the Arts. He garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Recording for Children and was inducted into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame prior to passing away on April 23, 2018 in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania at age 94.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Diane Schuur was born December 10, 1953 in Tacoma, Washington and was blinded at birth due to retinopathy of prematurity. Encouraged by both her parents to sing, she started when she was a two-and-a-half and by age nine was getting professional gigs. Early heroines were Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington but while attending Washington State School for the Blind she began performing original material and by sixteen had revealed a distinctive voice and began performing.
Diane’s big break came when Stan Getz heard her at the 1979 Monterey Jazz Festival and became a positive influence. In 1982 he invited her to join him at a White House performance and Nancy Reagan invited her back to perform with Count Basie. She began recording in 1984 on her nickname titled album “Deedles” with Getz performing and on her next two albums.
Pianist and vocalist Diane Schuur has performed with Quincy Jones, Stan Getz, B.B. King, Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson, Ray Charles, Joe Williams, Barry Manilow, Alan Broadbent, Harvey mason, Peter Erskine and Stevie Wonder among others. She has been nominated five times and won two Grammy Awards, and her catalogue of recordings is too extensive to enumerate. Her staying power is evident in her continual performance, touring and recording of both studio and live performances.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Matthew Shipp was born December 7, 1960 in Wilmington, Delaware and began playing piano at six years old. Strongly attracted to jazz, he also played in rock groups while in high school, and then attended the University of Delaware for one year, then the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with saxophonist/composer Joe Marini.
Shipp has been very active since the early 1990s initially becoming most active in free jazz but branched out to explore music that touches on contemporary classical, hip hop and electronica. He has appeared on more than three dozens of albums as a leader, sideman or producer.
Matthew has long been a member of saxophonist David S. Ware’s quartet, has recorded or performed with William Parker, DJ Spooky, Joe Morris, Daniel Carter and Roscoe Mitchell among others.
Pianist Matthew Shipp continuously improves his repertoire from touring the world, writing new compositions and currently collaborating with multi-media artist Barbara Januszkiewicz, exploring new territory through an avant-garde film called “The Composer”.
More Posts: piano
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Heywood was born Edward Heywood, Jr. on December 4, 1915 in Atlanta, Georgia. Following in his father’s jazz footsteps, in through the Thirties he played with Waymon Carter, Clarence Love and Benny Carter once he moved to New York in 1939.
After starting his band, Heywood was an occasional sideman with Billie Holiday in 1941. By 1943 he was taking several classic solos on a Coleman Hawkins quartet date and put together the first sestet with Doc Cheatham and Vic Dickerson. Their version of “Begin the Beguine” became a hit in 1944 and three successful years followed.
Between 1947 and 1950, Eddie was stricken with a partial paralysis of his hands and could not play at all. However, it did not stop him when he made a comeback later in the decade. During the Fifties he composed and recorded “Land of Dreams” and “Soft Summer Breeze” and is probably best known for his 1956 recording of his composition “Canadian Sunset,” all of which he recorded with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra.
After a second partial paralysis in the 1960s, he made another comeback and continued his career in the 1980s. Pianist Eddie Heywood, who passed away on January 3, 1989 in Miami Beach, Florida, was awarded a star at 1709 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Eddie Heywood: 1915-1989 / Piano
More Posts: piano