Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Niels Hartvig Foss was born on January 28, 1916 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He began playing guitar and from 1933 to 1934 began performing with the Svend Asmussen Group. He went on to play bass with Asmussen and others.
From 1940 to 1948 Niels led and played trombone in orxhestras and bands he formed. In 1949 for the next two years he performed with Peter Rasmussen and in 1957 moved to Switzerland where he continued to play part-time.
Over the course of his career Foss was a member of All Danish Starband, Etly Lizette And Her Orchestra, Kai Ewans Og Hans Orkester, Kaj Timmermann’s Septet, The Kordt Sisters Med Swingtet, and The Swingin’ Birds. He recorded for Odeon, His Master’s Voice, Imperial record labels.
Bassist, trombonist and guitarist Niels Foss died on May 16, 2018.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Peter Charles Strange was born December 19, 1938 in Plaistow, Newham, London, England and played violin as a child before switching to trombone as a teenager. His first major gig was with Eric Silk and his Southern Jazz Band when he was just 18 years old.
In 1957, Silk’s clarinetist Teddy Layton split off and formed his own band, and Strange went with him. Called up for National Service in 1958 and became a bandsman in the Lancashire Fusiliers, whilst serving in Cyprus. Following this he played with Sonny Morris, Charlie Gall, and Ken Sims, before joining Bruce Turner from 1961 to 1964.
1964 saw Turner in a 10 year partial retirement for about 10 years, playing but when he returned Peter played with Turner permanently in 1974, and in 1978 co-founded the Midnite Follies Orchestra with Alan Elsdon.
In 1980, he founded the five-trombone ensemble, Five-A-Slide, which featured Roy Williams and Campbell Burnap. He joined Humphrey Lyttelton’s band in 1983, and remained with the ensemble until the leader died. With the other members of the Lyttelton band, Strange performed on the 2001 Radiohead album Amnesiac.
Trombonist, arranger and composer Pete Strange, who played with his group The Great British Jazz Band, died of cancer in Banstead, Surrey, England on August 14, 2004 at the age of 65.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz
George Robert Swope was born December 2, 1926 in Washington, D.C. By 1947 he was playing with Buddy Rich, recording with Jerry Wald, and followed with a two year stint with Chubby Jackson in 1948. He closed out the decade working with Gene Krupa in 1949-50, then with Elliot Lawrence in 1950-51.
He led his own trio in the D.C. area in the early Fifties, and also was a member of The Orchestra, the band which accompanied Charlie Parker in 1953 and Dizzy Gillespie in 1955. Spending time in New York City in the latter half of the decade, he played alongside Larry Sonn, Boyd Raeburn, Claude Thornhill, Jimmy Dorsey, and Louie Bellson.
In the 1960s he worked in Washington, D.C. often as a leader. On January 9, 1967 trombonist Rob Swope, the younger brother to trombonist Earl, died in his hometown.
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WYCLIFFE GORDON & FROST STUDIO JAZZ BAND
Highly acclaimed musician Wycliffe Gordon enjoys an extraordinary career as a soloist, as well as performing and touring with some of the world’s most sought-after jazz musicians. His high-energy, traditional hard-swinging style captivates audiences across time–performing for dignitaries and heads- of-state to elementary school children. He is equally at home as a composer, arranger and recording artist with over 50 recordings to his credit, 24 of which he is leader or co-leader. He is one of America’s foremost music educators and currently serves as full time director of jazz studies at Augusta University and travels all over the world giving masterclasses and performances with college and university ensembles.
Presenting Oscar Micheaux’s silent race film Within Our Gates, synchronized with Wycliffe Gordon’s original score, “Within These Gates of Mine.” This event powerfully fuses history and music, highlighting the earliest surviving film by an African-American filmmaker. Within Our Gates is a dark and emotional indictment of American racial injustices. The concert features Gordon, Etienne Charles, a 20-piece jazz orchestra, and vocalists.
Tickets: $15.00~$40.00
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Grant Sangster was born November 17, 1928 in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham, Victoria, Australia. He was an only child that attended primary schools in Sandringham and Vermont, and then Box Hill High School. While at high school he taught himself to play trombone and with a friend, Sid Bridle, formed a band.
In 1946 he started a civil engineering course at Melbourne Technical School. Two years later Sangster performed at the third annual Australian Jazz Convention, held in Melbourne. By the following year he led his own ensemble, John Sangster’s Jazz Six, which included Ken Evans on trombone. He provided trombone for Graeme Bell and his Australian Jazz Band, later took up the cornet and then the drums. They toured several times from 1950 to 1955, and in the late Fifties he began playing the vibraphone.
He went on to play with Don Burrows in the early 1960s, form his own quartet and experimented with group improvisatory jazz, after becoming interested in the music of Sun Ra and Archie Shepp. By the end of the Sixties his attention turned to rock musicians and he joined the expanded lineup of the Australian progressive rock group Tully, who provided the musical backing for the original Australian production of the rock musical Hair. He performed and recorded with Tully and their successors, Luke’s Walnut, throughout the two years he played in Hair. In 1970 he re-joined the Burrows group for Expo 1970 in Osaka, Japan.
In the 1970s Sangster released a series of popular The Lord of the Rings inspired albums that started with The Hobbit Suite in 1973. He was also the composer of a large number of scores for television shows, documentaries, films, and radio. In 1988, Sangster published his autobiography, Seeing the Rafters.
Trombonist John Sangster, who also plays trumpet, drums, percussion, cornet, vibraphone and is best known as a composer, died in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on October 26, 1995 at age 66.
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