Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Albert “Andy” Gibson was born on November 6, 1913 in Zanesville, Ohio. He played violin early on before settling on trumpet. He played professionally in many orchestras and though he did not solo, he worked more often as an arranger.
During the 1930s his associations include Lew Redman, Zack Whyte, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, Blanche Calloway, Willie Bryant, and Lucky Millinder. He quit playing in 1937 to arrange and compose full-time, working with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Charlie Barnet, and Harry James. in the United States Army he led a big band while serving from 1942-45.
After his discharge, he continued working with Barnet but turned his focus primarily on R&B music. He was musical director for King Records from 1955–60 and recorded four songs as a leader in 1959 which were released by RCA Camden. He composed I Left My Baby popularized by Count Basie, The Great Lie, and The Hucklebuck.
Trumpeter, arranger, and composer Andy Gibson transitioned from a heart attack on February 11, 1961 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Louis Bacon was born on November 1, 1904 in Louisville, Kentucky. His family moved to Chicago, Illinois when he was a young child. After a short stint playing with Zinky Cohn in Michigan, he relocated to New York City in 1928. There he worked through 1938 with musicians Louis Armstrong, Benny Carter, Duke Ellington, Bingie Madison, Bessie Smith, and Chick Webb among others.
Contracting tuberculosis in 1938, resulting in a performance hiatus, but by early 1939 he was playing with Benny Carter once more. Later that same year, he embarked on a tour of Europe with Willie Lewis and remained there for two years. He recorded under his own name as well as with Lewis and Freddy Johnson.
After his return to the United States he worked with Garvin Bushell, Cootie Williams, and Jesse Stone. Shortly after the end of World War II, he stopped playing once again due to persistent health problems. He did play trumpet again briefly in 1959–60, working in New York, and late in his career taught voice and sang with Wilbur De Paris.
Trumpeter and vocalist Louis Bacon transitioned on December 8, 1967.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Raymond Crane was born on October 31, 1930, Skegness, Lincolnshire, England. Refusing to become discouraged with a music instructor who regarded his tooth unsuitable for his designed profession, he started playing trumpet around his city. After being employed in the East Midlands for several years, playing in groupings like the Mercia Jazz Music group, in 1963 he became a member of Bruce Turner’s Leap Music group. This brought him to the attention of the much wider market through concerts and information, such as Heading Places.
Afterwards he played in groups led by Brian Lemon, with whom he previously proved helpful while they had been still in the Midlands, and Stan Greig. Crane frequently accompanied American jazzmen, including Henry “Crimson” Allen, Ray Nance and Costs Coleman.
He occasionally performed as a pianist, which proved helpful to his being a musical pedagogue, teaching and leading a youth jazz band which graduated Martin Taylor and Guy Barker.
Trumpeter Ray Crane, who was a fiery, swing-era-rooted player, transitioned on June 29, 1994 at the age of 63.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Elmon Wright was born on October 27, 1929 in Kansas City, Missouri to trumpeter Lammar Wright Sr. and the brother of trumpeter Lammar Wright Jr. Following in his father’s and brother’s footsteps, he learned to play the trumpet.
Wright played with Don Redman early in his career, then with Dizzy Gillespie’s first big band in 1945. He then went on to play with Roy Eldridge and then went back to Gillespie’s band, touring and recording with him from 1946 until 1950.
He toured with Earl Bostic for a year in 1954, then worked as a freelance musician in New York City, performing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem with R&B and rock groups. He played with Buddy Rich and Earle Warren in 1959 and recorded with Milt Jackson in 1963. Trumpeter Elmon Wright transitioned in 1984.
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BENNY BENACK III
The Band: Benny Benack III – trumpet & vocals | TBA – piano | Russell Hall – bass | Joe Peri – drums
By age 32, Emmy-nominated trumpeter and singer Benny Benack III has proven to be that rarest of talents: not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the postbop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mold, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. This duel-threat ability was recognized by the 2022 Downbeat Critics Poll where he appeared as not only the #2 Rising Star Male Vocalist, but a top Rising Star Trumpeter as well. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). On top of it all, he’s a highly capable pianist as well.
Benny has performed internationally as an Emcee/Host for the Youtube sensation Postmodern Jukebox, and achieved his own viral success amassing millions of views for his crooning alongside the Grammy-award winning “8-Bit Big Band”. In early 2020 he released A Lot of Livin’ to Do, the follow-up to his well-received 2017 debut One of a Kind. This sophomore effort, richly varied in mood and brimming with bop inflection, features bassist extraordinaire and Jazz ambassador Christian McBride (whose Grammy-award winning Big Band frequently calls upon Benny in the trumpet section) and drummer/producer Ulysses Owens, Jr., as well as the radiant Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano and Rhodes. His vocalese duet on “Social Call” from this album alongside fellow young star vocalist Veronica Swift became an instant smash hit single, being transcribed and learned by Jazz vocalists around the world.
Alongside his global touring as a straight-ahead/contemporary bandleader, Benny has appeared as a trumpet soloist in more commercial circles alongside Josh Groban, Ben Folds, fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi, Ann Hampton Callaway and more. He’s been featured at Birdland, Jazz @ Lincoln Center, Mezzrow, Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle and other leading New York venues, and has also been a special guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Orchestra, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra and the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his television debut in NBC’s short-lived, SNL-inspired variety show “Maya & Marty” playing in the in-studio band led by acclaimed bassist & Broadway arranger Charlie Rosen. More recent TV credits include “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” where he frequently performs in the House Band. His global recognition has been bolstered by recent live-streaming concerts at Smalls Jazz Club, where he maintains a weekly residency, as well as frequent appearances on fellow young lion Emmet Cohen’s “Emmet’s Place” weekly show.
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