Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Elmer “Sonny” Dunham was born November 16, 1911 in Brockton, Massachusetts and attended local schools, taking lessons on the valve trombone at the age of 7. He changed to the slide trombone at the age of 11, and was playing in local bands at 13. He began his musical career as a trombone player in the Boston, Massachusetts area.
By the late 1920s he had moved to New York City where he played with Ben Bernie for six months before moving on in 1929 to Paul Tremaine’s Orchestra. He remained there for two years and while working as an arranger and vocalist with Tremaine’s group he switched to the trumpet.
In 1931 he left Tremaine and for a few months led his own group, calling it Sonny Dunham and his New York Yankees. That same year along with clarinettist Clarence Hutchenrider, trombonist-singer Pee Wee Hunt and singer Kenny Sargent, he was recruited by Glen Gray for Gray’s Casa Loma Orchestra. During the golden years of Casa Loma, he was a popular soloist, scoring a big hit with his trumpet work on Memories of You. He stayed until 1936, when he formed another more unusual group, Sonny Lee and The New Yorkers Band, which featured 14 pieces, with ten of his musicians doubling on trumpet.
Moving to Europe for three months, he then returned to the Casa Loma Orchestra, remaining until 1940 when he tried again to form his own group, this time, with more success. They debuted in 1940 at the Glendale Auditorium in Los Angeles, California and toured and held talent searches throughout the United States. After returning to New York in 1941, they were on nightly radio broadcasts at the Roseland Ballroom, and the Meadowbrook at Cedar Grove, New Jersey.
On the road in California the band played Los Angeles, were featured in the Universal picture Behind the Eight Ball with the Ritz Brothers and he served as musical director for this film, and was part of a vaudeville revue. Over the next couple of decades he would divide his time between New York and Los Angeles with stints in Chicago, Illinois. Dunham briefly experimented with dual female vocalists, Mickie Roy and Dorothy Claire, which did not turn out due to professional temperament.
Dissolving the band in 1951 Sonny joined Tommy Dorsey’s band as trumpet player, then reorganized the next year, remaining active until the decline of the big-band business. By the 1970s obscurity set in, however, he recorded playing trombone on a few LPs with Don Goldie’s Dixieland revival bands.
In the 1980s trumpeter, trombonist and bandleader Sonny Dunham, who was living in a trailer in Miami, Florida and still involved in booking bands for cruises and playing occasionally, transitioned from cancer on July 9, 1990, aged 78.
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WYCLIFFE GORDON
American jazz trombonist, arranger, composer, band leader, and music educator Wycliffe Gordon will light up the bistro stage this November and December!
Wycliffe took an interest in jazz in 1980 when he was thirteen, while listening to jazz records inherited from his great-aunt. The collection included a five-LP anthology produced by Sony-Columbia. In particular, he was drawn to musicians like Louis Armstrong and the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. His early works as a professional were with Wynton Marsalis and he later conducted the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in the premiere of his new, original score for the 1925 silent film Body and Soul, directed by Oscar Micheaux.
Known affectionately as “Pinecone,” the Georgia-born trombonist also sings and plays didgeridoo, trumpet, soprano trombone, tuba, and piano. In 1995, Gordon arranged and orchestrated the theme song for NPR’s All Things Considered. Make sure to catch these spirited performances that are sure to be bad to the bone!
Prepaid Parking; $15.00
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The Jazz Voyager
From Charlotte to New York City is the flight plan for this Jazz Voyager. Landing at LaGuardia I’m taking a private car to just above the theater district on Broadway and 59th Street where Dizzy’s Club sits. Jazz At Lincoln Center has established an intimate venue with panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline where world class musicians come to perform. The club soars high above the expansive views of Central Park.
Trombonist, arranger, composer, bandleader and educator Wycliffe Gordon will be gracing the stage on this trip. Aside from being a stellar trombonist, he also sings and plays didgeridoo, trumpet, tuba, and piano. Always bringing something new I am anticipating his arrival on stage to witness what he will be laying down on this show.
The venue is located at 10 Columbus Circle, 10019 and for more information you can visit notoriousjazz.com/event/wycliffe-gordon-friends
More Posts: adventure,club,genius,jazz,music,piano,preserving,travel,trombone,tuba,vocal
Three Wishes
Nica was inquisitive about the three wishes Albert Mangelsdorff would request, so she asked and he told her:
- “First, I vant to live long enough to get my playing, so I vould be satisfied.”
- “I vould say, that the life of a jazz musician vouldn’t interfere vith family life.”
- “I vish that people all over the vorld vould get smart enough that there vould be peace forever.”
“I should have made that the first vish.”
*Dialect transcribed by Nica de Koenigswarter
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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TYSHAWN SOREY TRIO
At 43, Tyshawn Sorey is an American composer, multi-instrumentalist, and professor of contemporary music. Sorey has received accolades for performances, recordings, and compositions ranging from improvised solo percussion to opera, with work in best-of lists for both classical and jazz music.
A Newark native, is among the most formidable denizens of the in-between zone. Here is an extraordinary talent who can see across the entire musical landscape.
More Posts: adventure,club,drums,genius,jazz,music,percussion,piano,preserving,travel,trombone