Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Myron Pierman “Mynie” Sutton was born October 9, 1903 in Niagara Falls, Canada. He worked in dance ensembles in Buffalo, New York and Cleveland, Ohio between 1924 and 1931. Returning to Canada in 1931 he founded the Canadian Ambassadors in Aylmer, Quebec. This was one of very few black jazz bands based out of Canada in the 1930s.
The group operated out of Montreal, Canada from 1933, playing at Connie’s Inn, the Hollywood Club, and Cafe Montmartre. Additionally they toured Quebec and Ontario. Pianists in the ensemble included Lou Hooper and Buster Harding.
By 1941 the Ambassadors had disbanded and Sutton returned to his birthplace of Niagara Falls, where he played locally for decades. He made no commercial recordings. A collection of materials devoted to Sutton is held at the Concordia University library in Montreal.
Alto saxophonist and bandleader Mynie Sutton transitioned on June 17, 1982 in Niagara Falls.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ami Nakazono was born on October 6, 1986 in Kagoshima, Japan and began classical piano lessons at the age of 4. By 12 she was playing the alto saxophone and joined her school brass band. After two years, she won the “City Solo Instrumental Competition.” At the same time she was offered a full scholarship to study music at Fukuoka Daiichi High School in Fukuoka, Japan, where she studied classical music, theory, ear training, harmony, and brass band skills.
After graduation, she entered Senzoku Gakuen University, Japan’s most prestigious university, with a jazz major. During this time, Ami formed her own band and began playing gigs in and around Tokyo, Japan. Again two years later in 2007 she accepted a scholarship from Berklee College of Music, moved to Boston, Massachusetts and continued to perform and study under Walter Beasley, Dino Govoni, Bill Pierce, Shannon LeClaire and Jeff Harrington, and flute with Mia Olson. In 2008 with mentor and inspiration George W. Russell Jr., the two worked on several collaborations during this period at Berklee.
Nakazono began performing internationally with the acclaimed band, Violette, headed by French jazz singer~songwriter Violette De Bartillat. In 2010 she recorded for two critically praised albums, Joie de Vivre with Violette and Shine with George W Russell Jr.
Saxophonist Ami Nakazono is currently an active member of Boston’s entertainment group Raw Ambition and continues to perform at prestigious venues and festivals across the United States.
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Three Wishes
When Pannonica approached J. R. Monterose with the question of three wishes if granted what would he ask for he told her:
- “Play, play, play.”
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Buddy Featherstonhaugh was born Rupert Edward Lee Featherstonhaugh on October 4, 1909 in Paris, France. After the family moved to England he studied in Sussex, and had his first professional gig with Pat O’Malley in 1927. He went on to play with Spike Hughes from 1930 to 1932, and toured England in Billy Mason’s band behind Louis Armstrong that same year and in 1933 recorded with a group called The Cosmopolitans. which included Fletcher Allen. In 1935 he recorded with Valaida Snow and two years later with Benny Carter.
During World War II, he led a Royal Air Force band which included in its ranks Vic Lewis, Don McAffer, and Jack Parnell. They went on to record as The BBC Radio Rhythm Club Sextet during 1943-45. After the war Buddy toured Iceland in 1946, and then left the jazz scene, taking up work as a car salesman.
1956 saw his return to playing and recording in a quintet with trumpeter Leon Calvert, Roy Sidewell, Kenny Wheeler, and Bobby Wellins. He also appeared with the band at Butlin’s Holiday Camps in the mid-1950s. He toured the Middle East in 1957, after which he retired.
Saxophonist and clarinetist Buddy Featherstonhaugh, who was an occasional racing car driver who won the 1934 Albi Grand Prix, transitioned on July 12, 1976.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edgar “Puddinghead” Battle was born on October 3, 1907 into a musical family in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1921 while a student at Morris Brown University he started playing trumpet and formed his own band, the Dixie Serenaders. A few years later the group changed their name to Dixie Ramblers.
Battle played with Eddie Heywood Sr., and toured with the 101 Ranch Boys traveling show. During the 1920s he worked with Gene Coy, Andy Kirk, Blanche Calloway, Ira Coffey, and Willie Bryant. A move to New York City in the early Thirties saw him doing short stints with Benny Carter and Sam Wooding before joining George White’s ensemble on Broadway.
Over time, he began doing more work as a studio musician and arranger, writing charts for Cab Calloway, Paul Whiteman, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Rudy Vallee, and Count Basie. During World War II, Edgar held a position as an electrician in a shipyard, while simultaneously running a big band with Shirley Clay.
In the 1950s, he founded Cosmopolitan Records and continued to play in big bands part-time through the 1960s. Among his numerous jazz compositions are the pieces Topsy, co-composed with Eddie Durham and Doggin’ Around with Herschel Evans.
Trumpeter, trombonist, saxophonist and pianist Edgar “Puddinghead” Battle, who was also a composer and arranger, transitioned in New York City on February 6, 1977, at the age of 69.
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