The Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager returned home to the Big Apple and caught the last performance of Kenny Barron at the Village Vanguard on Sunday and is hanging out to bring in the new year with hope that the world will turn around and be kinder. If you can’t be in some exotic destination like Bahia, Tahiti or San Blas there’s no better place to be than New York City.
I’ll be at the Blue Note for the last set of the evening by Chris Botti. Owner and founder Danny Bensusan had a vision to create a jazz club in Greenwich Village that would treat deserving artists with respect, while allowing patrons to see the world’s finest jazz musicians in a close, comfortable setting. He accomplished his goal. Since 1981, Blue Note has been a cultural institution in New York City and one of the premiere jazz clubs in the world.
As we look towards the future, I implore you to be responsible for yourself and others, promote gentleness with this world and practice random acts of kindness whenever the opportunity presents itself. Have a prosperous and Happy New Year!
The club’s number is 212-475-8592. If you want to get more information visit notoriousjazz.com/event/chris-botti.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ralph Marterie was born in Acerra near Naples, Italy on December 24 1914 and first played professionally at age 14 in Chicago, Illinois. In the 1940s, he played trumpet for various bands. During World War II he got his first job as a bandleader courtesy of the US Navy. He was then hired by the ABC Radio network and the reputation built from these broadcasts led to a recording contract in 1949 with Mercury Records.
In 1953 Ralph recorded a version of Bill Haley’s Crazy, Man, Crazy, which reached No. 13 on the Billboard jockey chart and No. 11 on Cashbox that year. His recordings of Pretend and Caravan made the Top 10 and the latter sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. His highest success in the U.S. charts was a cover of Skokiaan in 1954. He had other hits with Tricky, Shish-Kebab, Dancing Trumpet, Dry Marterie, and Carla.
Trumpeter and big band leader Ralph Marterie transitioned on October 10, 1978 in Dayton, Ohio.
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Bernard Flood was born on December 16, 1907 in Montgomery, Alabama and graduated from Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute in the Twenties. The following decade he went to New York City and became associated with a series of bandleaders in a slow and careful fashion. For the first two years he worked with Bob Neal, moved over to Fess Williams for about an equal length of time, before becoming involved with Teddy Hill in 1933 on through the middle of the decade.
He was quickly in and out of the Luis Russell and Chick Webb outfits before joining up with Charlie Johnson. By 1937 the trumpeter was hitting high notes with Edgar Hayes as well as with Johnson, the former leader launching a terrific European tour. In 1939 Bernard became part of the Louis Armstrong big-band project, dropping out for a spring 1941 James Reynolds gig before rejoining Armstrong and remaining until 1943.
Military service called in 1943 and three years later he was discharged and began working with Luis Russell and Duke Ellington. Flood went on to start his own combo, and collaborated with Happy Caldwell in both the late Forties and early 1950s.
Retiring from full-time music in the early ’70s, Flood was available for gigs, but made no new recordings during this period. Suffering from diabetes Bernard lost both of his legs due to the disease. Trumpeter Bernard Flood, who was featured in the HBO documentary Curtain Call performing Wonderful World, transitioned on June 9, 2000 in Englewood, New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Louis Raphael Mucci was born December 13, 1909 in Syracuse, New York and began as a baritone horn player and was appearing in professional settings by the time he was ten years old. As a teenager he switched to trumpet and worked in the late 1930s with Mildred Bailey and Red Norvo before joining Glenn Miller’s ensemble in 1938-1939.
During World War II he played in the bands of Bob Chester, Hal McIntyre, Claude Thornhill, and Benny Goodman. In the first half of the 1950s Lou worked as a house musician for CBS and also recorded with Buddy DeFranco and Artie Shaw. Later in the decade he worked with Helen Merrill, John LaPorta and Miles Davis, the latter lasting into the early Sixties.
Trumpeter Lou Mucci, who also played with Kenny Burrell in 1964, transitioned on January 4, 2000.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marky Markowitz was born Irwin Markowitz but also known as Irving Markowitz on December 11, 1923 in Washington, DC. The youngest of seven children of Russian-Jewish immigrants, he learned the trumpet at the local Police Boys’ Club. He played early in his career in a number of big bands during the Forties, including those of Charlie Spivak, Jimmy Dorsey, Boyd Raeburn, and Woody Herman. He played in Buddy Rich’s orchestra in 1946–47, then returned to service under Herman in 1947–48.
Moving his family from Washington, D.C. to New York City in 1958 he eventually settled in Nyack, New York where he worked primarily as a studio musician in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. During this period in his career he did appear on stage with Herman, Gene Krupa, Lee Konit, Ralph Burns, George Russell, Al Cohn, Paul Desmond, and Bill Evans. Marky was a first call trumpeter for many top artists of the time including Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, the Young Rascals, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dionne Warwick, Maynard Ferguson, George Segal, and many others. He played as well on hundreds of advertising jingles, TV ads and movie scores.
He was a perennial on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy, had a vocal impression of Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, and performed in his hometown with an All-Star band, led by Nelson Riddle, at the Inaugural Ball for President Ronald Reagan’s 2nd term.
Trumpeter and flugelhornist Marky Markowitz, who recorded one album as a leader titled Marks Vibes, transitioned on November 18, 1986.
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