Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jeanette Kimball was born Jeanette Salvant on December 18, 1906 in Pass Christian, Mississippi, the niece of blues pianist Isadore “Tuts” Washington. When she was seven she began playing the piano and as a teenager she performed as a professional musician with classical string formations, then in the field of jazz.
Moving to New Orleans, Louisiana she played in traditional jazz bands, first in 1926 in a “society” dance band, Papa Celestin’s Original Tuxedo Orchestra, with whom she went on tour in the southern United States. By 1929 she had married Celestin’s banjo and guitar player Narvin Kimball, and six years later left the band to raise their children. Post divorce, she retained Kimball and started her career anew in the mid-1940s. She went on to work with Buddy Charles, Herb Leary and Sidney Desvigne.
The 1950s saw Kimball working again with Papa Celestin, when he reactivated his band, which then was under the guidance of Papa French. She was a member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and played with Clive Wilson’s Original Camellia Jazz Band.
She appeared in 1976 on the Jazz Festival Breda live 1999 album Jeanette Kimball Meets the Fondy Riverside Bullet Band; their album Sophisticated Lady with Frank Fields and Freddie Kohlman. In the field of jazz, Jeanette worked between 1953 and 1991 on 72 recording sessions, among others with Alvin Alcorn, Paul Barbarin, Papa Celestin, Punch Miller and Johnny St. Cyr.
She left New Orleans in the 1990s to live in Ohio and South Carolina. Pianist Jeanette Kimball, received the Black Men of Labor Jazz Legacy Award in 1998, transitioned in Charleston, South Carolina, at the age of 94 on March 28, 2001.
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CHRISTIAN SANDS
Steinway Artist & 6-time Grammy Nominee Christian Sands is an emerging jazz force. His abundant piano technique perfectly matches his conception, accomplishing a much deeper musical goal: a fresh look at the entire language of jazz.
It wasn’t long ago Christian Sands was being called “a jazz star of the future” by such luminaries as Wynton Marsalis and Christian McBride, whom he toured the world with as part of McBride’s Trio. Well, that future has arrived. At only 32, pianist and composer Christian Sands is arguably the leading pianist of his generation.
“…few of his peers have so many achievements to contemplate: piano prodigy at the age of four, leading gigs at 12 and playing with masters like Billy Taylor, Oscar Peterson and Herbie Hancock during his teens.” – Downbeat Magazine
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Requisites
Pannonica ~ Horace Parlan Trio | By Eddie Carter
This morning’s album is by Horace Parlan, a pianist whose roots were deep in hard bop. I fell in love with his playing after hearing Movin’ & Groovin’ and The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions. Pannonica (Enja Records 4076) is a 1984 release capturing The Horace Parlan Trio in performance at the Munich jazz club, The Domicile, on February 11,1981. Horace was stricken with polio as a child, resulting in the partial crippling of his right hand. It contributed to his developing a left-hand chord-voicing style and an ability to play rhythmic phrases with the right. He’s joined on stage by Reggie Johnson on bass and Alvin Queen on drums. My copy is the original German Stereo album.
No Greater Love, an abbreviation of the title There Is No Greater Love by Isham Jones and Marty Symes, begins the set with the trio’s energetic melody. Horace launches into a highly satisfying opening solo. Reggie comes in behind him with a vigorous statement. Alvin engages in an aggressive exchange with the pianist before the reprise and climax. The title tune, Pannonica, by Thelonious Monk, is one of his most beautiful compositions and opens with a solo piano introduction, segueing into the threesome’s delicately soft theme. Parlan treats the standard tenderly in the only solo, complemented by Johnson and Queen’s lush foundation into a gentle ending.
The first side closes with an enthusiastic rendition of C Jam Blues by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard. The trio goes right to work with a lively melody. Horace leads the way with a vigorous solo. Reggie says his piece in the following reading. Alvin adds a bit of excitement in a spirited interpretation leading to the ensemble’s splendid finale. Randy Weston’s Hi-Fly starts Side Two with the trio’s inspired theme. Parlan is up first and stretches out in a beautifully constructed opening statement. Johnson takes the next turn, displaying an exemplary flow of ideas that builds to an effective climax.
The album closes with an old thirties song by George and Ira Gershwin, Who Cares? The trio opens with a medium-tempo melody as fresh as the fragrance after a summer rain shower. Horace takes the lead and brings out the sun in the first solo. Reggie responds with a compelling reading that flows nicely into the theme’s reprise and finish. Horst Weber and Matthias Winckelman produced Pannonica, and Carlos Albrecht recorded the album. This digital recording has an impressive soundstage that makes the instruments come alive through your speakers and places the listener in The Domicile audience as the musicians are performing.
Horace Parlan was one of jazz’s elder statesmen who constantly explored the individual possibilities of each tune he played with a sureness in his approach, which fueled his ability to improve with each new album continually. He, Reggie Johnson, and Alvin Queen make a fine team and demonstrate what a piano, bass, and drums could accomplish when firing on all cylinders. If you’re a fan of trio jazz, I invite you to consider Pannonica by The Horace Parlan Trio on your next record hunt. It’s one of the pianist’s best records and a very entertaining set that shouldn’t be missed for a spot in your library!
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alfred Williams was born December 17, 1919 in Memphis, Tennessee but moved as a young child with his family to Chicago, Illinois. He studied classical piano and worked as a professional pianist from the age of 16, initially as leader of a 12-piece dance orchestra in local venues. In 1942, he formed a trio, the Three Dudes, and also played with trumpeter Henry “Red” Allen, clarinetist Jimmie Noone, and violinist Erskine Tate. He wrote arrangements for many Chicago bands.
His marriage to singer Audrey Hobbs brought about the couple performing together in the late 1940s as Alfred and Audrey. From the early Fifties he performed in New York City at venues including the Savoy Ballroom and the Metropole Cafe. He played in a Dixieland band, and also with Sam “The Man” Taylor, Jimmy Rushing, and others.
As a session musician Al appeared on Langston Hughes’ 1958 album Weary Blues. He toured Europe with Buck Clayton in 1959 and Johnny Hodges in 1961. He also recorded as the leader of a trio, accompanied the 1968 satirical revue The Establishment, and in the 1970s worked as arranger and pianist with the Deep River Boys.
Pianist Al Williams transitioned in New York on November 15, 1998 at the age of 78.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Borah Bergman was born on December 13, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. He took piano lessons as a child, changed to clarinet, then returned to piano after being discharged from the army. Determining right away that he wanted to develop an individual voice, the right-handed player worked for years in strengthening his left hand. He practiced playing left-handed almost exclusively and eventually as a pianist he became ambidextrous.
Early in his career comparisons arose and though he cited Tristano, Monk, and Powell as influences, his ability as an improvising pianist was so singular. Bergman had the most comprehensive technique of any jazz musician on any instrument. His facility is nonpareil with both hands. He improvised spontaneous free counterpoint at unfathomable speeds and with remarkable precision and no pianist in the history of jazz ever developed more speed and agility in his left hand.
Borah began recording late and his first four albums were solo efforts. His debut album Discovery was released in 1975 on the Chiaroscuro label. Three more would follow through 1984, and in 1992, he began a series of successful duo collaborations with free-bop altoist Thomas Chapin, drummer Andrew Cyrille, and soprano saxophonist Evan Parker. He would go on to record duo/trio albums with saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell and vocalist Thomas Buckner, saxophonists Peter Brotzman and Thomas Borgmann. At the end of the century his recorded output continued to rise substantially, as well as his profile as one of the music’s major contributors.
Pianist Borah Bergman, who performed in the free jazz idiom and recorded thirty albums as a leader or co-leader, transitioned on October 18, 2012 in New York City.
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