Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roy Williams was born on March 7, 1937 in Salford, England and learned piano as a youth, He did not play the trombone until he was 18. After serving his National Service in the military in the late 1950s, he joined the trad jazz group of trumpeter Mike Peters and worked with Terry Lightfoot in the early 1960s.
In 1965 he became a member of Alex Welsh’s band, which accompanied Ruby Braff, Wild Bill Davison, and Bud Freeman. Roy remained with Welsh until 1978, while also collaborating with bandmate John Barnes in a side ensemble. He went on to work with Humphrey Lyttelton from 1978 to 1983), and in 1980 played with the Pizza Express All Stars and Benny Waters.
Leaving Lyttelton’s ensemble in 1983 gave him the opportunity to work as a regular performer at festivals during the 1980s and 1990s. He was a sideman for Doc Cheatham, Jim Galloway, Buddy Tate, the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, the World’s Greatest Jazz Band, Peanuts Hucko, Bent Persson, Bob Rosengarden, Stan Barker, Bob Wilber, Digby Fairweather, Pete Strange, and Keith Smith.
He co-led a swing-oriented quintet in 1998 with saxophonist Danny Moss. Their musical collaboration produced Steamers! for the Nagel-Heyer Records label.
Trombonist Roy Williams was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to jazz and continues to perform to this day.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
De Priest E. B. Wheeler was born on March 1, 1903 in Kansas City, Missouri and played trumpet and mellophone in The Knights of Pythias Band while attending Lincoln High School. With the band he journeyed to St. Louis, Missouri in 1917. Returning to Kansas City he worked in a local dance hall for a year, before becoming a member of the resident band at the Chauffeur’s Club in St. Louis in 1918.
He was with Dave Lewis’s Jazz Boys in Kansas City, then toured with a circus band until 1922. Joining the Wilson Robinson Syncopators in St. Louis in 1923, he toured the Pantages Circuit from Chicago, Illinois to California with that band. The band eventually settled in New York in early 1925 where they were renamed Andy Preer And His Cotton Club Orchestra. Subsequently they worked under the leadership of violinist Andrew Freer until his death in 1927. Later on the group became known as The Missourians, and when Cab Calloway joined as a singer in 1928, from 1930 on he took over and they became Cab’s band.
Wheeler remained with Calloway until 1940, touring Europe in 1934. He worked for the postal authorities for many years, but continued to play part-time with bands and orchestras through the 1950s. Trombonist De Preist Wheeler passed away April 10, 1998 in St. Albans, Queens, New York.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Richard Bently Boone was born on February 24, 1930 in Little Rock, Arkansas and began singing in a Baptist church choir as a boy. By age twwelve he was playing the trombone. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army from 1948 to 1953 where he played trombone in a military band. Following his discharge from the Army, he returned to Little Rock to study music at Philander Smith College.
In 1956 Boone moved to Los Angeles, California where he played with Dolo Coker, Sonny Criss, and Dexter Gordon. Working in the backup band for Della Reese between 1962 and 1966, he then became a member of the Count Basie band. A few years later he left Basie and emigrated to Copenhagen, Denmark and mking it his home, performed with the Ernie Wilkins Big Band.
Trombonist and scat singer Richard Boone passed away in Copenhagen on February 8, 1999.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,scat singer,trombone,vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frederick L. Robinson was born on February 20, 1901 in Memphis, Tennessee. He learned to play trombone as a teenager, and studied music in Ohio before moving to Chicago, Illinois where he played in the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra.
Robinson went on to play on Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five recordings and continued working with both Dickerson and Armstrong until late 1929, when he took a position in Edgar Hayes’s band. In the 1930s he worked extensively as a sideman, with Marion Hardy, Don Redman, Benny Carter, Charlie Turner, Fletcher Henderson, and Fats Waller.
In 1939-1940 he was in Andy Kirk’s band, and played later in the 1940s with George James, Cab Calloway, and Sy Oliver. Early in the 1950s he worked with Noble Sissle, but after 1954 he was less active as a performer. Trombonist Fred Robinson passed away on April 11, 1984 in New York City.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ade Monsbourgh was born on Febrauary 17, 1917 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He studied piano first before taking up reeds, valve trombone, trumpet and even recorder. He met pianist Graeme Bell early on and was part of his band regularly during 1944 to 1952. During his tenure with the band he recorded several times with Bell’s freewheeling band and toured Europe and Czechoslovakia.
He had occasional opportunities to lead his own dates, in addition to playing with groups led by Roger Bell, Dave Dallwitz, Len Barnard and Frank Traynor. His band, the Late Hour Boys, recorded prolifically for Swaggie through 1971.
During the 1992 Australia Day Honours, Monsbourgh was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to music, particularly jazz as a performer and composer.
Retiring from fulltime playing in the 1970’s, clarinetist Ade Monsbourgh, known as Lazy Ade or Father Ade, and who also played alto and tenor saxophone, trumpet, trombone and recorder, passed away on July 19, 2006 in Nathalia, Victoria, Australia.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,recorder,saxophone,trombone,trumpet