Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Horace W. Henderson, the younger brother of Fletcher Henderson, was born on November 22, 1904 in Cuthbert, Georgia. He attended Wilberforce University and played in the “Collegians” band that included Benny Carter and Rex Stewart. This band would later be known as the Horace Henderson Orchestra and then as the Dixie Stompers.
Henderson left the band to work with Sammy Stewart, then in 1928 organized a new band called the Collegians and in 1931 Don Redman took over this band. Henderson continued to work as the band’s pianist and arranger before leaving to work for his brother.
He arranged for many of the most important jazz musicians of the era, such as Charlie Barnet, the Casa Loma Orchestra, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, Jimmie Lunceford and also for his brother. Although Horace worked continually, led bands, arranged, recorded, and composed into the 1980s without the popularity of his older sibling, he is considered by many the more talented and skillful of the Henderson brothers.
His best-known arrangements are of his own “Hot and Anxious” which later became “In The Mood”, “Christopher Columbus” and “Big John Special”. At different times in his career, Horace was pianist and musical director for both Lena Horne and Billie Holiday.
Jazz pianist, organist, arranger and bandleader Horace Henderson passed away on August 29, 1988 at the age of 83.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Matt Dusk was born Matthew-Aaron Dusk on November 19, 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and from an early age wanted to become a performer. At seven, he was accepted into St. Michael’s Choir School and for the next eleven years performed opera and classical music. It wasn’t until hearing Tony Bennett and Sarah Vaughan records at age 17 that he began to change his musical style and direction.
In 1998 Matt won the top spot in the Canadian National Exhibition Rising Star Competition, entered York University for economics but a year later change to music studying jazz theory and jazz vocal, graduating with honors in 2002.
Dusk recorded four independent CDs before his major record deal, making his mark on the MP3 web circuit. This was followed by a 2003 record deal with Decca Records, the next year played Las Vegas at the Golden Nugget, and became the house entertainer for the reality TV show Casino.
Matt has recorded with Capitol Records, worked with a 58-piece orchestra, is the first jazz artist in Japanese history to reach #1 on the pop radio charts, recorded the soundtrack for the TV series Call Me Fitz, and has shot a live DVD concert special with a 17-piece band and has six albums to his credit alongside his independent project. He currently performs, tours and records.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Cherry was born Donald Eugene Cherry on November 18, 1936 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His father, trumpeter and club owner moved the family to Watts in Los Angeles, California when he was four. He would skip high school at Fremont to play with the swing band at Jefferson High, resulting in his transfer to reform school at Jacob Riis, where he first met drummer Billy Higgins.
By the early 50s Cherry was playing with jazz musicians in Los Angeles, sometimes acting as pianist in Art Farmer’s group. While trumpeter Clifford Brown was in L. A. he would informally mentor him. He became well known in 1958 when he performed and recorded with Ornette Coleman quintet. He co-led The Avant-Garde session with John Coltrane replacing Coleman, toured with Sonny Rollins, joined the New York Contemporary Five and recorded with Albert Ayler and George Russell.
Don’s first recording as a leader was Complete Communion for Blue Note in 1965 with Ed Blackwell and Gato Barbieri. He would begin leaning toward funk/fusion and play sparse jazz during his Scandinavia years. He would go on to play with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, Lou Reed, and Sun Ra, and then ventured into developing world fusion music incorporating Middle Eastern, African and Indian into his playing.
Cherry appeared on the Red Hot Organization’s compilation CD, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool, was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, played piano, pocket trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn and bugle. He recorded some two-dozen albums as a leader and some 48 as a sideman. Don Cherry died on October 19, 1995 at age 58 from liver cancer in Málaga, Spain.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Diana Jean Krall was born on November 16, 1964 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. At age four she was playing piano and playing jazz in a local restaurant at 15. She went to the Berklee College of Music on scholarship before heading out to Los Angeles, California.
In 1993, Krall released her debut album, Stepping Out, with John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton. Her sophomore project hit the stands two years later followed by a third, a dedication to Nat King Cole in 1996. She teamed up with guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Christian McBride on her next release Love Scenes that quickly became a hit recording in 1997.
Diana has been on tour with Tony Bennett, teamed up with Claus Ogerman, incorporated orchestral arrangements by Johnny Mandel, performed closing credit music for the DeNiro film The Score, joined Ray Charles on his Genius Loves Company, featured in a Lexus ad campaign, produced Barbra Streisand’s Love Is The Answer album.
She has been awarded the Order of British Columbia, an honorary doctorate from the University of Victoria, inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame, has had a plaza named after her, has won two Grammy and eight Juno awards. Pianist and contralto vocalist Diana Krall continues to perform, record and tour.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Ewell was born November 14, 1916 in Baltimore, Maryland. Playing stride piano, from 1956 to 1962, Ewell was a leading member of the Jack Teagarden band. Following Teagarden’s death Ewell did several European tours before moving back to New Orleans, playing clubs and hotels.
Ewell played with such musicians as Sidney Bechet, Kid Ory, George Lewis, George Brunis, Muggsy Spanier, Barbara Dane and Bunk Johnson among others.
He recorded a couple of albums as a leader for the Pumkin and Good Time Jazz labels and as a sideman with Willie “The Lion” Smith, Barbara Dane and Doc Evans. Pianist Don Ewell suffered two strokes before passing away on August 9, 1983.
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