Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Gale Lanphere was born on June 26, 1928 in Wenatchee, Washington and briefly studied music at Northwestern University in the 1940s, but moved to New York City as a member of Johnny Bothwell’s group and became part of the bebop jazz scene. While in New York, he was in a relationship with Chan Richardson, who later married Charlie Parker and then Phil Woods.
1951 saw Don arrested and charged with heroin possession in New York City. After his release from jail, he worked in his family’s music store in Wenatchee, where he met Midge Hess, whom he married in 1953. By the late 1950s and early 1960s he performed with Herb Pomeroy and with Woody Herman.
Throughout most of the 1960s Lanphere was mostly inactive musically but began performing around the Seattle, Washington area after becoming a born again Christian in 1969, at which time he also stopped using drugs and alcohol. It wasn’t until the 1980s that he would begin recording again and started releasing albums. He toured in New York City and Kansas City in 1983 and a Europe in 1985.
His later years, had Don as a jazz educator in the Pacific Northwest, giving lessons out of his home in Kirkland, Washington. He instructed clinics and small groups, as well as performing at the Bud Shank Jazz Workshop, an annual, week-long summer camp in Port Townsend, Washington for jazz students of all ages. The workshop coincided with the annual Port Townsend Jazz Festival.
He led thirteen recording sessions as well as Fats Nava Jazz Orchestrarro and the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. Tenor and soprano saxophonist, bandleader, and educator Don Lanphere passed away on October 9, 2003.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bernard Francis “Bernie” McGann was born June 22, 1937 in Granville, New South Wales, Australia. He began his career in the late 1950s and remained active as a performer, composer, and recording artist until near the end of his life.
Bernie first came to prominence as part of a loose alliance of modern jazz musicians who performed at the El Rocco Jazz Cellar in Kings Cross, Sydney in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He had an enduring collaboration with drummer John Pochee.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, McGann also performed with rock and pop groups as a session musician. Around 1970 he was a member of the Sydney rock-soul band Southern Comfort.
He led the Bernie McGann Trio and Bernie McGann Quartet through his career. The most well-known lineup of the trio was McGann on alto saxophone, John Pochee on drums, Lloyd Swanton on bass, with the addition of Warwick Alder on trumpet in the quartet.
Alto saxophonist Bernie McGann passed away on September 17, 2013 following complications from heart surgery. He was 76.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
From the library of The Quarantined Jazz Voyager comes a favorite album from Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. It’s his 1962 recording titled Cannonball’s Bossa Nova that was released the following year on the Riverside label. However, the album was reissued on Capitol Records several times with different covers and titles.
Cannonball selected eight tunes composed by Durval Ferreira and Maurício Einhorn; João Donato; Antonio Carlos Jobim; Sérgio Mendes; Vinicius de Moraes and João Gilberto for a total of 34:46. The songs are Clouds, Minha Saudade, Corcovado, Batida Differente, Joyce’s Samba, Groovy Samba, O Amor Em Paz (Once I Loved), and Sambop.
The performers that were enlisted for this date were: Cannonball Adderley – alto saxophone, Sérgio Mendes – piano, Durval Ferreira – guitar, Octavio Bailly, Jr. – bass, Dom Um Romão – drums, Pedro Paulo – trumpet (#2, 4-5, 7-8) and Paulo Moura – alto saxophone (#2, 4-5, 7-8).
Remain diligent my fellow voyagers in staying healthy, continue to practice social distancing, and don’t be so anxious to rush back to the new normal. It has been said that music soothes the savage beast, so listen to great music. I share that music to give you a little insight into the choices this voyager has made over the years of collecting during this sabbatical from jet setting investigations of jazz around the globe.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rudy Rutherford was born Elmer H. Rutherford on June 18, 1924 in Huachuca City, Arizona. He began performing in the early 1940s with Lionel Hampton and Count Basie. Initially taking Jack Washington’s place in Basie’s orchestra as a baritone saxophonist, once Washington returned from military service, he switched to alto saxophone.
1947 saw Rudy moving to Teddy Buckner’s band, though he continued working with Basie into the early 1950s. He worked with Wilbur De Paris late in the 1950s and appeared with Chuck Berry at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958. He would record with Dicky Wells, Dinah Washington and Lurlean Hunter.
In the 1960s he worked with Buddy Tate and spent several years with Earl Hines in the mid-1970s. Saxophonist and clarinetist Rudy Rutherford, who worked with Illinois Jacquet in the 1980s and was active in performance until his death, passed away on March 31, 1995 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gene Sedric, born Eugene Hall Cedric on June 17, 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri into a family where his father played ragtime piano. He played with Charlie Creath in his hometown and then with Fate Marable, Dewey Jackson, Ed Allen, and Julian Arthur.
Joining Sam Wooding’s Orchestra in 1925 he toured Europe with him until 1931 when the unit dissolved. During his time in Europe he recorded with Alex Hyde. When he returned to New York City he played with Fletcher Henderson and Alex Hill, before joining Fats Waller’s Rhythm in 1934, where he remained to 1942. When Waller went on solo tours Sedric found work gigging alongside Mezz Mezzrow in 1937 and Don Redman from 1938 to 1939).
Sedric put together his own group in 1943, prior to playing with Phil Moore in 1944 and Hazel Scott in 1945. He put together another ensemble from 1946–51, playing in New York City. His later associations through the late 1940s into the early 60s include time with Pat Flowers, Bobby Hackett, Jimmy McPartland, Mezzrow again, Conrad Janis, and Dick Wellstood. He recorded sparingly as a leader in 1938, 1946, and with Mezzrow in 1953.
Clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Gene Sedric, who acquired the nickname “Honey Bear” in the 1930s because of his large camel hair coat, passed away on April 3, 1963 in New York City.
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