Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Mel Martin was born on June 7, 1942 in Sacramento, California. Both parents were singers and early piano and clarinet lessons led him to Benny Goodman and Glen Church’s Jazz Rhythm & Blues radio program. The big bands of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Shelly Manne and His Men, and Cannonball Adderley, passing through town kept his interest high. Forming a small combo of clarinet, accordion and drums, his father got him his first gig, afterwards they played at Mel’s Drive-In for tips.

While still a teenager, Martin was good enough to sit in with Wes Montgomery and his brothers. Already jamming with Black musicians in the community, he’d hit the clubs to hear the Montgomery Brothers when they played, sometimes sitting in on flute.

At San Francisco State in 1962 while majoring in music he met fellow undergraduate John Handy and played with him in his Freedom Band. At the same time, Mel was learning how to play bop with the musicians who hung out at Bop City, Soulville, the Jazz Workshop, Shelton’s Blue Mirror, Jack’s on Sutter and later the Both/And.

In the late 1960s and early Seventies Martin played with progressive rock and Latin bands including The Loading Zone, Cold Blood, Azteca and Boz Scaggs, Doug Sahm’s Honky Blues Band, Wayne Talberty, Chuck Berry, Dr. John and others. Creating Listen in 1977 which became part of the early West Coast jazz fusion scene, he recorded three albums before the end of the decade.

He was the artistic director of Bebop and Beyond, a group he founded in 1983 and released four albums. Martin has received five National Endowment for the Arts grants, and was honored by the San Francisco Jewish Museum. As performer, composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist he contributed music to television and film. He was a bandleader, contractor and sideman, he played in) big bands for McCoy Tyner and Dizzy Gillespie and played with the Freddie Hubbard Quintet and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra.

As an educator he taught the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University from 1984 to 1995, produced a series of Jazz Workshops for the Marin Jewish Community Center and regularly conducts workshops at his studio in Novato and in the Marin public schools.

Saxophonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader Mel Martin, who also played flute, clarinet and piccolo, died of a heart attack on November 17, 2017 at age 75.

More Posts: ,,,,,

GERALD ALBRIGHT, KANDACE SPRINGS, THE DANGERFIELD NEWBIES

MABRA LAW and 91.9 JAZZ WCLK present The WCLK JazzFest featuring saxophonist Gerald Albright, Kandace Springs and the Dangerfield Newbies for one spectacular night of music.

Gerald Albright is a Los Angeles, California born saxophonist and bass guitarist who has been a central figure in contemporary jazz since the 1980s. He’s known for his R&B instrumentals and has played with artists like Anita Baker, Whitney Houston, and The Temptations. Albright’s solo career began in 1987 with Just Between Us and has included 19 albums, chart-topping hits, and Grammy nominations. He’s also toured with Phil Collins and Summer Horns.

Kandace Springs is a Nashville-based singer and pianist who blends jazz, soul, and pop with contemporary influences. Her smoky voice and piano mastery have led to performances at the Afropunk and Bonnaroo festivals, as well as a sold-out Royal Albert Hall concert. Springs cites Norah Jones, Roberta Flack, and Nina Simone as her biggest influences. Her father, Scat Springs, sang backup for artists like Aretha Franklin and exposed her to a wide range of music.

The Dangerfeel Newbies are Jamal Ahmad, Darren “DJ” Wagner and Mark Angel. Inspired by the story of Dangerfield Newby, one of five African-Americans in the John Brown party, this Atlanta-based trio delivers a set that is deeply rooted in blues, jazz, soul, funk, hip-hop & house.

Tickets: $45.00

Bring your own food and libations. Food trucks on hand to purchase favorites.

 

More Posts: ,,,,,,,,,,,

The Jazz Voyager

Getting out of Philadelphia the Jazz Voyager is on his way to Andy’s Jazz Club in a much warmer Chi-Town this month. Originally a lounge oasis for the newspaper personnel in the 1950s, by the late Seventies it changed hands and became a destination for jazz. Offering first Jazz at Noon, the club expanded to Jazz at Five and Jazz at Nine.

Having never seen the soul jazz, hard bop, post bop and modal group Sabertooth, this jazz voyager is anticipating a fervent showing of talent. Headed by saxophonists Cameron Pfiffner and  Pat Mallinger, who put the group together thirty-five years ago, they play the classics by the likes of Horace Silver, Wayne Shorter, Lester Young, John Coltrane, covers by the Beatles, Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, and Bob Marley as well as their original compositions.

Showtimes:   6:00pm-7:15pm & 8:15pm-9:30pm

Cover: $15.00

Andy’s Jazz Club is located at 11 E. Hubbard Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611. For more information contact the venue at https://andysjazzclub.com.

CALIFORNIA JAZZ FOUNDATION

More Posts: ,,,,,,,,

SABERTOOTH

Founded around 1990, Sabertooth is led by two saxophonists:  Cameron Pfiffner & Pat Mallinger. The band started out with the unique pairing of its two lead reedmen at an old musicians hang called Jazz Bulls in Lincoln Park West neighborhood of Chicago. From that night’s collaboration the idea of Sabertooth began to take shape with a driving force behind the widely varied stylings best summed up as, just groove it.

The group has often ventured beyond soul-jazz and hard bop and moved into post-bop and modal territory with John Coltrane’s modal recordings of the early to mid-’60s influencing the groups sound. Sabertoothis both a post-bop group and a soul-jazz/hard bop group with a highly diverse repertoire that includes many original compositions and jazz classics by Duke Ellington, Horace Silver, Wayne Shorter, Lester Young, John Coltrane, as well as covers by the Beatles, Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bob Marley.

Special invited guests who have performed with the group have included Harry Connick Jr., Kurt Elling, Joe Lovano, Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis Band, Jack McDuff, Joey DeFrancesco, Umphrey’s Mcgee Band, and many others.

Showtimes: 6:00pm-7:15pm & 8:15pm-9:30pm

Cover: $15.00

More Posts: ,,,,,,,,

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

John Troy was born on June 3, 1989 in Buffalo, New York. He began playing the saxophone at age twelve. After showing exceptional ability in the classical realm throughout middle school, with the tutelage of William Eicher, his attention gradually turned toward the study of Jazz Saxophone. He honed his skills with lead alto saxophone for Concert and Jazz All-County Ensembles, and New York All-State Bands as well.

John played both lead alto and tenor in the Fredonia Jazz Ensemble, student big band. He can be heard on the 2009 release of the FJE’s, Still Kickin’ and his debut album All Ahead Flank. He led his own small groups, Jazz Quintessential, and an organ trio, the JT Trio both with significant success.

He has performed and/or studied with the likes of Eric Alexander, Grant Stewart, Ralph Lalama, Todd Coolman, Tim Armacost, Chris Potter, Tom Harrell, Stacy Dillard, Hal Galper, Arturo O’ Farrell, and Pete Malinverni, among others.

Tenor saxophonist John Troy continues to find his musical way through performance and recording in the hard bop genre..

More Posts: ,,,,,

« Older Posts       Newer Posts »
© Notorious Jazz 2025