Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rodney Charles Levitt was born on September 16, 1929 in Portland, Oregon and studied composition at the University of Washington, where he took his BA in 1951.
He was in the Radio City Music Hall orchestra from 1957 to 1963, and during those years he performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Ernie Wilkins, Kai Winding, and Sy Oliver. In 1959 Rod worked with Gil Evans when his orchestra accompanied Miles Davis. The following year he played with Gerry Mulligan and Mundell Lowe, with Quincy Jones in ‘61, and with Oliver Nelson in 1962.
He recorded four albums as a leader of an octet between 1963-66 and continued to work with this combination into the 1970s, when he played with bassist Chuck Israels.
Later in his career he worked with Cedar Walton and Blue Mitchell, and wrote music for commercials with a company he ran from 1966-1989. The late Seventies saw him teaching at Fairleigh Dickinson, Hofstra University, CUNY, and Hunter College.
Trombonist, composer, and bandleader Rod Levitt transitioned from Alzheimer’s disease in Wardsboro, Vermont at the age of 77 on May 8, 2007.
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THE JAZZ SYMBIOSIS QUINTET
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David W. Bargeron was born September 6, 1942 in Atho, Massachusetts. He became the lead trombonist with Clark Terry’s Big Band and played bass trombone and tuba with Doc Severinsen’s Band between 1968 and 1970.
In 1970 he joined Blood, Sweat, and Tears after Jerry Hyman departed and first appeared on the album B, S & T; 4. While with this group, he recorded the jazz-rock solo on the tuba in And When I Die/One Room Country Shack on the album Live and Improvised. His recording credits with BS&T include eleven albums. A break in their schedule allowed him to join the Gil Evans Orchestra in 1972.
After leaving Blood, Sweat, and Tears he became a freelance musician recording with Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Mick Jagger, James Taylor, Eric Clapton, David Sanborn, Carla Bley, and Pat Metheny.
He has performed with the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band from Switzerland, the George Russell Living Time Orchestra, and was a long-time member of Jaco Pastorius’s Word of Mouth Band. He has recorded and toured with Tuba Tuba, a jazz tuba band which includes Michel Godard, Luciano Biondini, and Kenwood Dennard.
He is a member of Howard Johnson’s Gravity, a six-tuba group that has been together since 1968. Trombone and tubist David Bargeron, who has released several albums as a soloist and collaborator, at 80 still performs.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sonny Lee was born Thomas Ball Lee on August 26, 1904 in Huntsville, Texas. While a student at Texas State Teachers’ College in the early 1920s he played with Peck Kelley, then moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he worked with the Scranton Sirens, Frankie Trumbauer, Gene Rodemich, Vincent Lopez, and Paul Specht.
By 1932 he had joined the Isham Jones Orchestra, remaining with Jones until 1936. Concomitantly he played with Benny Goodman in 1934-35. After this stint he went to work with Artie Shaw, Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, and Bunny Berigan. In 1938 he joined the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, where he played until 1946.
Trombonist Sonny Lee, who is credited on nearly 200 recording sessions between 1925 and 1946, transitioned on May 17, 1975 in Amarillo, Texas.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jiggs Whigham was born Oliver Haydn Whigham III on August 20, 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio and began his professional career at the age of 17, joining the Glenn Miller/Ray McKinley orchestra in 1961. He left that band for Stan Kenton, where he played in the touring mellophonium band in 1963 before settling in New York City to play commercially.
Finding commercial playing frustrating, Whigham migrated to Germany where he still lives. He played for many years in the big band of Kurt Edelhagen, was a featured soloist in the Bert Kaempfert orchestra, and was also a member of the Peter Herbolzheimer band.
He has produced an extensive discography as a leader, including work with Bill Holman, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Carl Fontana, and many others.
Recent years have seen Jiggs as musical director of the RIAS Big Band in Berlin, Germany. He is formerly conductor of the BBC Big Band in Great Britain and currently co-director of the Berlin Jazz Orchestra with singer Marc Secara.
As an educator he has taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, been a visiting tutor and artist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and KUG in Graz, Austria
He is featured on the Berlin Jazz Orchestra albums Update, You’re Everything, Songs of Berlin and music DVD Strangers In Night – The Music Of Bert Kaempfert. He is artist-in-residence for the Conn-Selmer company, maker of the King Jiggs Whigham model trombone.
Trombonist Jiggs Whigham is the musical director for the Bundesjazzorchester working with the top student jazz musicians in Germany. He continues to tour worldwide as soloist, conductor, and educator.
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