Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ford Leary was born on September 5, 1908 in Lockport, New York. He married early, had a son, and left both wife and child for a music career. During the thirties he performed as part of the Frank Trumbaur band and with the Bunny Berigan band, the latter being one of his better positions while scuffling to make ends meet freelancing in New York City.
Ford would go on to work with Larry Clinton in the late Thirties and in the early 1940s with Charlie Barnet, Mike Riley, and Muggsy Spanier. As he was readying to begin a new career path as a replacement performer in the Broadway show Follow The Girls, he suffered a back injury from which he never fully recovered.
His short career ended in the late ‘40s when trombonist and vocalist Ford Leary, the only trombonist of note to die institutionalized at Bellevue Hospital, passed away on June 4, 1949 at age 40.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Big Chief Russell Moore was a Pima American Indian born on August 13, 1912 in Komatke, Arizona and lived in Blue Island, Illinois from age twelve, where he studied trumpet, piano, drums, French horn, and trombone. Moving to Los Angeles, California in the early 1930s, he worked freelance with Lionel Hampton, Eddie Barefield, and others. Departing Los Angeles for New Orleans, Louisiana in 1939, he worked with Oscar Celestin, Kid Rena, A.J. Piron, Paul Barbarin, Ernie Fields, Harlan Leonard, and Noble Sissle.
He played with Louis Armstrong’s last big band from 1944 to ‘47, then worked freelance on the Dixieland jazz circuit. The 1950s saw him playing with Ruby Braff, Pee Wee Russell, Eddie Condon, Wild Bill Davison, Jimmy McPartland, Tony Parenti, Mezz Mezzrow, Sidney Bechet, and Buck Clayton. He returned to play in the Louis Armstrong All-Stars in 1964–65, but fell ill and had to leave the group. After recovering he led a Dixieland group of his own, which toured Canada repeatedly.
He worked with pianist Eddie Wilcox shortly before Wilcox died in 1968, then played with Cozy Cole in 1977 and Keith Smith in 1981. Trombonist Big Chief Russell Moore, who recorded as a leader for Vogue, Trutone, and Jazz Art record labels, passed away in Nyack, New York on December 15, 1983.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Annie Whitehead was born on July 16, 1955 in Oldham, Lancashire, England and learned the trombone in high school and participated in rock and jazz bands. At 16, she left school and became a member of a female big band led by Ivy Benson, playing with the band for two years before moving to Jersey.
Unhappy with the life of a musician, she quit music for almost six years, only to return in 1979 and start a ska band. Taking an interest in jazz again after moving to London two years later, Whitehead began performing in pubs. During the 1980s she toured with Brotherhood of Breath, a big band led by South African pianist Chris McGregor.
Over the course of her career, Annie has worked with …And the Native Hipsters, Blur, Carla Bley, Charlie Watts Orchestra, Jah Wobble, Jamiroquai, John Stevens, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Smiley Culture, Spice Girls, and Working Week. She was a member of The Zappatistas, a Frank Zappa tribute band led by guitarist John Etheridge.
Trombonist Annie Whitehead, who has recorded five albums, her first, Mix Up in 1984 to The Gathering, her last in 2000, continues to compose and perform.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The Quarantined Jazz Voyager is choosing from the library the 1960 album coming from trombonist Julian Priester titled Spiritsville released on the Riverside subsidiary label Jazzland. It was recorded on July 12, 1960 at the Plaza Sound Studios in New York City and was produced by Orrin Keepnews.
The tracks include Chi-Chi (Charlie Parker) ~ 4:43; Blue Stride ~ 6:15; It Might As Well Be Spring (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) ~ 5:47; Excursion (Walter Benton) ~ 5:42; Spiritsville ~ 7:31; My Romance (Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) ~ 5:50; and Donna’s Waltz ~ 5:32
The personnel brought in for this recording session were: Julian Priester ~ trombone, Walter Benton ~ tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 2 & 4-7), Charles Davis ~ baritone saxophone (tracks 1, 2 & 4-7), McCoy Tyner ~ piano, Sam Jones – bass, and Art Taylor ~ drums.
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…
Charles Redland was born Carl Gustaf Mauritz Nilsson on July 7, 1911 in Södertälje, Sweden. The son of a musician, he learned several instruments when he was young.
In the 1930s he was a member of bands in which he played alto saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, and trombone. During that decade he also worked as a leader.
On clarinet, he recorded with Benny Carter in Sweden in 1936. He composed and arranged jazz and popular music. He also composed for more than 80 films, as well as for radio and television programs. Alto saxophonist, Charles Redland passed away on August 18, 1994 in Stockholm, Sweden.
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