Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pete Levin was born on December 20, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts and started his musical journey on the French horn under the direction John Corley, director of the MIT concert band. Inspired by his teacher, he enrolled at Julliard School of Music in New York City.
Moving to New York in the 70s, Pete began a 15-year association with the Gil Evans Orchestra as both a French horn and electric keyboardist, receiving two Grammy awards during his tenure. This he followed with eight years with Jimmy Giuffre.
As a bandleader, he signed his first record deal with Grammavision Records in 1990, releasing his solo jazz project “Party In The Basement” followed by “Solitary Man” the following year. He went on to release four new age albums and produced the album Deacon Blues in 2007.
He plays Hammond organ, clavinet and Moog synthesizer, has performed, composed or arranged for such film and television scores as Missing In Action, Lean On Me, The Color of Money, The Guiding Light, Spin City, America’s Most Wanted, Star Trek and the Discovery Channel’s Secret of the Humpback Whales among others.
As a sideman Levin has performed with Carla Bley, The Brubeck Brothers, Jimmy Cobb, Hiram Bullock, Rachelle Ferrell, Chuck Mangione, Gregory Hines, Wayne Shorter, David Sanborn, Miles Davis, Vanessa Williams, Lenny White, Lew Soloff and Gerry Mulligan on the short list. He continues to perform, record, arrange and tour.
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.
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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”.
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