JOE GRANSDEN
Anthony Dominick Benedetto ~ August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023, known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Bennett was named an NEA Jazz Master and a Kennedy Center Honoree and founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York. He sold more than 50 million records worldwide and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Who better to pay tribute to this legendary performer than Atlanta’s consummate jazzman, Joe Gransden! At 42 years old, Joe has already performed worldwide and released 14 CDs under his own name. Renowned first for the hard bop approach of his trumpet, Gransden’s singing voice has been compared to that of Chet Baker and Frank Sinatra.
More Posts: adventure,club,genius,jazz,music,preserving,travel,trumpet,vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ron Horton was born on February 12, 1960 in Bethesda, Maryland and attended Berklee College of Music from 1978 to 1980. He moved to New York City two years later where, as a longtime member of Jane Ira Bloom’s band (1983-2000), he became an integral part of the jazz scene.
Since 1992 Ron has been a member of the New York Jazz Composers Collective and the Herbie Nichols Project under Frank Kimbrough and Ben Allison. From 1998 to 2003 he was also a member of Andrew Hill’s sextet, and appeared on his album Dusk (1999).
Horton worked as a sideman with Ted Nash, Allan Chase, Bill Mays, Jon Gordon, Andy Laster, Phillip Johnston, Matt Wilson, Roberta Piket, Rez Abbasi, Walter Thompson, Pete Malinverni, Jamie Baum, Bill Gerhardt, Rich Rosenzweig, John McKenna, Michael Jefry Stevens, Peggy Stern and others.
He has given master classes and workshops at The New School in New York, the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of North Carolina, and Oxford University.
Trumpeter Ron Horton, who released his debut album as a leader in 1999, continues to perform and record.
More Posts: bandleader,educAATOR,history,instrumental,jazz,music,trumpet
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Alton Fagerquist, born February 6, 1927 in Worcester, Massachusetts and studied trumpet privately under Ms. Marion Twiss at Roosevelt Elementary and lessons at Carl Seder’s Music as well as classes at North High School. He began playing around his hometown in 1940 with Paul rhode, Paul Gervais, Bud Boyce and the Ambassadors/Crusaders. By 1942 he had played a year each with the Dol Brissette Orchestra and the Bob Pooley Band.
At 16 Fagerquist was making a name for himself through the decade as a featured soloist with several major bands, including Mal Hallett, Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, and Artie Shaw’s Gramercy Five. In the Fifties he was performing with Woody Herman, Les Brown, and the Dave Pell Octet. He played on the Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook album in 1963 under the baton of Nelson Riddle.
Despite high demand for his services as a lyrical soloist, Donald only recorded twice as a leader, a half-date for Capitol Records in 1955 that was reissued as part of the Dave Pell Octet compact disc, I Had the Craziest Dream, and a complete project for Mode in 1957 titled Music to Fill a Void. During the 1950s he recorded more than two dozen albums with Chet Baker, Louis Bellson, Hoagy Carmichael, Bob Cooper, Fred Katz, Shorty Rogers, Stan Kenton, Mel Tormé, Benny Goodman, Skip Martin and Pete Rugolo.
In 1956, Fagerquist signed on as a staff musician for Paramount Films, while still periodically recording with artists such as Shelly Manne, Mel Tormé, and Art Pepper. Throughout the early to mid-1960s, his solos could be heard on the recordings of Pete Rugolo, Frank Comstock, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Paul Weston, Si Zentner, Dean Martin, Junior Mance, and many others.
However, by 1966 health issues forced him to withdraw from studio recordin. Trumpeter Don Fagerquist, who was a small group, big band, and studio session player, died from kidney disease at his home in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California at the age of 46 on January 23, 1974.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,trumpet
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tony Fruscella was born February 4, 1927 in Orangeburg, New York and grew up in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York. He played in an Army band early in his career. He worked as a sideman in the 1950s for Charlie Barnet, Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, and Stan Getz.
He played with Don Joseph later in the 1950s, but by the early 1960s his problems with drug abuse and alcoholism prevented him from performing. Fruscella released one album, I’ll Be Seeing You in 1955, as a leader during his lifetime. It was recorded with Allen Eager and Danny Bank for Atlantic Records.
He married singer Morgana King, however it ended in divorce after nine years. Trumpeter Tony Fruscella died on August 14, 1969 at 42 years old.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,trumpet
THE COPA KINGS
A night of swingin’ Rat Pack music reminiscent of Las Vegas in its prime! The Copa Kings were formed out of a desire to breathe new life into some of the great jazz standards of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. With great reverence, the band brings a unique passion, artistry, and flair to the jazz music of this period. Led by frontman Billy Murphy, the Austin-based Copa Kings pay homage to some of our country’s greatest jazz songwriters and performers, including Frank, Billie, Ella, Louis (Armstrong and Jordan), Dean, and Ray.
More Posts: adventure,club,genius,jazz,music,preserving,travel,trumpet,vocal