Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Francis Picard was born May 17, 1934 in Tottenham, London, England and started learning music when he was seven years old by taking lessons on the piano.
After serving in the RAF, during which he played on weekends with Cy Laurie, he spent a further four months with Laurie before joining Humphrey Lyttelton, from 1954 until 1961. Through the Sixties and into the early 1970s he worked with Tony Coe as well as co-leading a quintet with Kathy Stobart. Then beginning in 1975 to 1983, he was a member of the London Jazz Big Band, led by Stan Greig.
During the early 1980s, with his friends Ian Stewart, Colin Smith and Dick Morrissey, he was a founding member of Rocket 88. and later went on to join the Charlie Watts Big Band.. Trombonist John Picard continues to perform.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Henderson Chambers was born on May 1, 1908 in Alexandria, Louisiana and studied at Leland College and Morehouse College before joining the Neil Montgomery band in 1931. He played in Nashville with Doc Banks in 1932, then with Jack Jackson’s Pullman Porters, Speed Webb, Zack Whyte, and Al Sears in Kentucky.
After two years with Tiny Bradshaw in the middle of the Thirties, Chambers moved to New York City where he played with Chris Columbus at the Savoy Ballroom in 1939-40. Following this he played for the next three years with Louis Armstrong.
Later in the 1940s, he worked with Don Redman, Sy Oliver, Lucky Millinder, and Count Basie. By the 1950s he would spend time with Cab Calloway, Doc Cheatham, Duke Ellington, and Mercer Ellington. For a period he worked as a studio musician, however, after joining Ray Charles’s band from 1961 to 1963, Henderson played with Basie again until 1966.
He recorded seven albums with Count Basie, five with Buck Clayton and ten with Gene Ammons, Cat Anderson, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Edmond Hall, Arthur Prysock & Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, Frank Sinatra & Count Basie, and Ernie Wilkins.
Trombonist Henderson Chambers’ final performances were with Edgar Battle, shortly before his transition from a heart attack on October 19, 1967 in New York City.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Miff Görling was born Uno Görling on March 21, 1909 in Stockholm, Sweden. He took his nickname from trombonist Miff Mole and got his start late in the 1920s with the Frank Vernon Orchestra, where he played until 1932.
He then worked with Arne Hülphers, Gösta Jonsson, Seymour Österwall, and Gösta Säfbom before organizing his own ensemble in 1938 and led bands well into the 1950s. He also did arrangement and composition work for other jazz groups as well as for popular Swedish musicians.
Bandleader, trombonist, arranger, and composer Miff Görling transitioned on February 24, 1988 in Stockholm.
More Posts: arranger,bandleader,composer,history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Santo J. “Sonny” Russo was born on March 20, 1929 in New York City, New York and grew up in a musical family, both his father and grandfather were professional horn players. He first played piano and violin, and played with his father’s group at age 15, before settling on the trombone.
The consummate sideman, through the late Forties he started out playing with Buddy Morrow in 1947, Lee Castle in 1948, Sam Donahue in 1949, and Artie Shaw in 1949–50. The 1950s saw him performing with Art Mooney, Tito Puente, Jerry Wald, Tommy Tucker, Buddy Rich, Ralph Flanagan, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Neal Hefti, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, and Maynard Ferguson.
For a short period during the mid-1950s Russo found work in the bands of various Broadway shows, then in the late 1950s and 1960s he worked with Louie Bellson, Machito, Bobby Hackett, Benny Goodman, and Doc Severinsen. From 1969to 1972 he was a member of The Tonight Show orchestra, and he worked with Frank Sinatra from 1967 to 1988.
He played on Urbie Green’s 21 Trombones, soloed on numerous others, and toured with The World’s Greatest Jazz Band. Sonny recorded extensively with Jimmy Rushing, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Perry Como, Dinah Washington, Liza Minnelli, Elvis Presley, Paul Anka, Ray Charles, Steve Lawrence, and Eydie Gorme. He performs on the soundtracks to the films The Godfather, The Godfather II, Goodfellas, and Sophie’s Choice, and in 1971 on The Tonight Show he shared the stage with Louis Armstrong, playing the solo on Someday You’ll Be Sorry.
A fixture in the recording studios for radio and television, he was a regular in the Orchestra for Jerry Lewis’s Muscular Dystrophy Telethon in New York City. Always in demand he continued to work with Lewis on his one-man show, toured around the world with Sinatra who announced his playing a trombone solo on the tune I’ve Got You Under My Skin.
He has also done many gigs with the likes of Al Cohn, Zoot Simms, Mousey Alexander, and Milt Hinton. Trombonist Sonny Russo, a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, transitioned on February 23, 2013.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Christopher Brubeck was born on March 19, 1952 in Los Angeles, California to pianist and composer Dave Brubeck. By the age of twenty he was joining his father and brothers Darius and Daniel in The New Brubeck Quartet.
Having toured for about 30 years in a group called Triple Play, he joined with guitarist Joel Brown and singer and harmonica virtuoso Peter Madcat Ruth, and swung jazz Louisiana style. He was a member of New Heavenly Blue, Chris also participated and recorded as a keyboardist/trombonist/guitarist in 1970’s Educated Homegrown.
In 1999, Chris and his brother Daniel joined with other musicians to form The Brubeck Brothers Quartet, having previously partnered with Andy LaVerne and released a 1972 album, The Brubeck-LaVerne Trio. He has performed with Mike DeMicco and Chuck Lamb.
In 2003, Chris played his first Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra with the Czech national Symphony Orchestra in Prague, Czech Republic. A year later, he composed his own concerto titled, The Prague Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra. Many of his classical compositions still contain strong hints of the jazz influence of his father.
Grammy nominated electric bassist, bass trombonist and pianist Chris Brubeck continues to pursue his musical explorations.
More Posts: bandleader,bass,history,instrumental,jazz,music,piano,trombone