Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill Perkins was born on July 22, 1924 in San Francisco, California, grew up in Chile, moved to Santa Barbara and served in the military during World War II. While living in Santa Barbara after his discharge, he studied music and engineering at Cal-Tech at the University of California and a Westlake College.
Bill started out performing in the big bands of Woody Herman and Jerry Wald. He also worked for the Stan Kenton orchestra, a move that subsequently led to his entry into the cool jazz idiom. He became one of the coolest and a major influence in the cool school on the West Coast jazz scene.
Perk, as he was known, started recording as a leader in 1956 with John Lewis on Grand Encounter and sessions with Art Pepper, Bud Shank and Richie Kamuca, to name just a few. During the 60s he held had a dual career as a studio musician and recording engineer. From 1970-1992 he held a chair in The Tonight Show band and a member of the Bud Shank Sextet.
Though he played baritone, alto, soprano and flute he was best known for his tenor and most remembered for his baritone and tenor work with The Lighthouse All-Stars. Over the course of his career Bill Perkins recorded twenty-three albums as a leader and sideman up until the time of his death on August 9, 2003.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Paulo Moura was born on July 15, 1932 in Sao Jose do Rio Preto, Brazil. His father, a maestro of a marching band, encouraged his son to train as a tailor but Paulo instead studied in the National Music School and performed with the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra.
He was the first black artist to become first clarinetist in the Municipal Theatre Orchestra. He appeared at Bossa Nova night at Carnegie Hall in 1962 with Sergio Mendes and both were featured on Cannonball Adderley’s 1962 album, Cannonball’s Bossa Nova.
From 1997 to 1999, Paulo was on the State Council of Culture in Rio de Janiero, a Councillor of the Federal Council of Music, and President of the Museum Foundation of Image and Sound. In 2000, Moura became the first Brazilian instrumentalist to win the Latin Grammy.
He won the Sharp Award for the most popular instrumentalist of the year in 1992. His CD “Paulo Moura e Os Oito Batutas” was listed by Barnes & Noble as one of the top 10 recommendations of the year for 1998. Clarinetist and saxophonist Paulo Moura passed away of lymphoma on July 12, 2010 just three days before his 78th birthday.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George E. Lewis was born July 14, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois. He began his musical journey playing the trombone but graduated from Yale University with a degree in philosophy. In 1971 he became a member of AACM, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
The trombonist, composer and pioneer of computer music has recorded over two dozen albums as a leader and co-leader and some 40 as a sideman working with the likes of Muhal Richard Abrams, Gil Evans, Conny Bauer, Roscoe Mitchell, Count Basie and Anthony Braxton to name a few. He was also frequently a member of the ICP Orchestra (Instant Composer’s Pool).
As an educator in the 1970s, he succeeded Rhys Chatham as the music director of The Kitchen, a performance space in Greenwich Village, has served as a professor at Columbia University, the University of California – San Diego, and has received a MacArthur Fellowship.
Trombonist George Lewis has performed at festivals and venues throughout America and Europe, has authored a book-length history of the AACM, titled A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music, and continues to be active of the jazz and experimental music scene.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sam Taylor was born on July 12, 1916 in Lexington, Tennessee. Playing tenor saxophone he attended Alabama State University and was a part of the Bama State Collegians. Picking up the moniker “The Man”, Taylor would go on to work with Scatman Crothers, Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Buddy Johnson, Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner.
He was one of the most requested session players in the New York recording studios in the 1950s and replaced Count Basie as the house bandleader on Alan Freed’s ‘Camel Rock ‘n Roll Dance Party’ radio series over CBS.
Venturing into rhythm and blues, Taylor’s saxophone solo appeared on Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters “Money Honey” and “Sh-Boom” by The Chords. During the 1960s, Sam led a five-piece band called the Blues Chasers and in the 1970s frequently played and recorded in Japan.
Tenor saxophonist Sam “The Man” Taylor died on October 5, 1990 in Lexington, Kentucky. He left a discography of fifteen albums as a leader across the MGM, Moodsville, Decca, Pony Canyon, Epic and Japanese labels.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Herb Harris was born in Washington D.C. on July 8, 1968. He began his musical journey on clarinet at age 12. Upon entering high school, he switched to alto saxophone, playing the instrument in the marching band, and then switched to tenor saxophone at age 17.
His interest in jazz peaked when he heard a recording of John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. Early on, he admired the sound and style of Dexter Gordon, followed by Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt and Charlie Parker.
Upon graduating high school, Harris spent several years of study at Florida A&M University. It was while attending the university that Harris met and jammed with Marcus Roberts, eventually playing with Roberts, touring the States and Europe and recording with him on Deep in The Shed.
Harris also spent a short period in the Nineties with the Wynton Marsalis Septet with whom he toured the States, Europe, and South America. He has appeared on the soundtrack “Tune In Tomorrow”, was featured in the group of saxophonists dubbed the “Tough Young Tenors” on the album “Alone Together”, was a member of the second edition of the Jazz Futures, and saxophonist Herb Harris embarked on his first tour as a leader in the spring of 2002. He continues to perform, tour, compose and record.
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