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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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Rehak was born on July 6, 1926, in New York City and started on piano and cello before switching to trombone. He was a member of the Gil Evans band and worked with Miles Davis, appearing with Davis on the broadcast The Sounds of Miles Davis.
As a leader he recorded Jazzville Vol. 2 on the Dawn label but as a sideman he had a prolific career. He recorded with Tony Bennett, Al Cohn, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Quincy Jones, Gene Krupa, Hugo Montenegro, Cat Anderson, Ernestine Anderson, Charlie Barnet, Big Maybelle, Art Blakey, Bob Brookmeyer, Ruth Brown, Cándido Camero, Chris Connor, Urbie Green, Johnny Hartman, Michel Legrand, Melba Liston, Mundell Lowe, Teo Macero, Carmen McRae, Red Mitchell, Whitey Mitchell, Blue Mitchell, André Previn, Gerry Mulligan, Kai Winding and the list goes on.
Along with a failed marriage to nightclub dancer Jerri Gray, he also had a heroin addiction, which combined with other financial problems led to his withdrawal from music. With that, he lapsed into relative obscurity.
In an effort to deal with these issues he spent time at Synanon, which led to his mention in Art Pepper’s autobiography. Trombonist Frank Rehak passed away on June 22, 1987 in Badger, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Milt Bernhart was born on May 25, 1926 in Valparaiso, Indiana and began on tuba but switched to trombone in high school. At 16 he worked in Boyd Raeburn’s band and later had some gigs with Teddy Powell. After time in the Army he worked, off and on, with Stan Kenton for the next ten years. In 1955 Bernhart recorded his first album as a leader. In 1986 he was elected President of the Big Band Academy of America.
Although known as mild-mannered or humorous, he spent a brief period with Benny Goodman, who brought out his ire. He indicated working with Goodman was “the bottom” of his first 23 years of life, except for basic training in the Army. He called Goodman a bore and claimed he did nothing about the treatment Wardell Gray faced at a segregated club in Las Vegas and he even alleges that he quit because Goodman publicly humiliated Gray in front of an audience.
The West Coast jazz trombonist recorded more than a hundred albums as a sideman working with Maynard Ferguson, Henri Rene, Shorty Rogers, Pete Rugolo, Howard Rumsey, Lalo Schifrin, Chet Baker, Sammy Davis Jr., June Christy, Astrud Gilberto, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mandel, and Henry Mancini among numerous others.
He recorded with Frank Sinatra, supplying the solo in the middle of Sinatra’s 1956 recording of I’ve Got You Under My Skin conducted by Nelson Riddle. Trombonist Milt Bernhart passed away from congestive heart failure at the Adventist Health in Glendale, California at the age of 77 on January 22, 2004.
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