Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Johnny McClanian Best, Jr. was born in Shelby, North Carolina on October 20, 1913. He played piano as a child and learned trumpet from age 13. In the 1930s he worked with Les Brown, Charlie Barnet, and Artie Shaw from 1937 to 1939, then joined Glenn Miller’s orchestra for three years in 1939.

Before serving in the Navy during World War II as a lifeguard he spent a short time with Bob Crosby. During his service he played in Shaw’s military band and Sam Donahue’s band. Following a stint with Benny Goodman after the war, then he relocated to Hollywood, California where he worked with Crosby again on radio and played in numerous studio big bands in the 1940s and 1950s.

Touring with Billy May in 1953, later in the decade he led his own group locally. His trumpet can be heard along with Ella Fitzgerald on her album Get Happy. In 1964 he toured Japan with Crosby, and joined Ray Conniff for worldwide tours in the 1970s.

In 1982, he broke his back while working in his avocado orchard and used a wheelchair late in life, but was active into the 1980s. He played the trumpet solo on the Glenn Miller recording At Last, which was featured in the film Orchestra Wives.

Trumpeter Johnny Best,  who played on Begin the Beguine which put Artie Shaw in business, transitioned on September 19, 2003.

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Three Wishes

It was Al Shorter that she approached with the question of three wishes and he told Nica he had only one wish that summed it all up:

1. “I want to live more than my life. That’s all my three wishes, really.”

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Leeds “Lee” Collins was born on October 17, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a teenager he played in brass bands, including the Young Eagles, the Columbia Band, and the Tuxedo Brass Band. The 1910s saw him playing in New Orleans alongside Louis Armstrong, Papa Celestin, and Zutty Singleton.

Moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1924 he replaced Louis Armstrong in King Oliver’s band. He also played with Jelly Roll Morton but the two had disagreements and fell out when Collins claimed that Morton stole the song Fish Tail Blues from him. He returned to New Orleans, where he played on the recordings of the Jones & Collins Astoria Hot Eight in 1929. He traveled to New York City in 1930 and played with Luis Russell.

Arriving back in Chicago he played through the Thirties with Dave Peyton, the Chicago Ramblers, Johnny Dodds and Baby Dodds, Zutty Singleton, Mezz Mezzrow, Lovie Austin, and with Jimmy Bertrand in 1945. Lee played around the city during this period in his career as an accompanist to many blues singers and in nightclubs. After 1945, he led his own band at the Victory Club, on Clark Street and gigged with Bertha Hill, Kid Ory, and Art Hodes in the early Fifties.

While in Europe he performed with Mezz Mezzrow in 1951 and 1954 and in California with Joe Sullivan in 1953. In the mid-1950s he retired because of poor health

Trumpeter Lee Collins, wrote an autobiography, Oh, Didn’t He Ramble, and with the aid of his wife, Mary, who published it posthumously in 1974, transitioned in Chicago on July 3, 1960, at the age of 58.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ford Lee “Buck” Washington was born October 16, 1903 in Louisville, Kentucky. He and John W. Sublett, known by his stage name Bubbles, first began working together in the 1910s, while in his teens. Their duo was known as Buck and Bubbles.

Bubbles was primarily a tap dancer while Washington sang and played stride piano and sang. They were so popular that the duo moved to Manhattan, New York City in 1919 and by the late 1920s they were on Broadway. They played together in the Columbia Theater, the Palace, performing with Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, and Danny Kaye. They were in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931.

They became the first black artists to perform at Radio City Music Hall. They toured Europe in the 1930s and appeared on television and in films, including Calling All Stars in 1937 and Cabin in the Sky in 1942. They performed live in the first scheduled high definition television program on November 2, 1936 at Alexandra Palace in London, England for the BBC. In 1927, when Buck and Bubbles were performing at the Sunset Café, Buck developed a working relationship and friendship with Louis Armstrong.

As a pianist, Washington also recorded sessions in the 1930s with jazz musicians including Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Benny Goodman and Coleman Hawkins. He also played trumpet, though he only made home recordings on the instrument. He continued working with Bubbles until 1953, and then for a couple of years worked with Timmie Rogers and Jonah Jones.

Pianist, singer and vaudeville performer Buck Washington, with partner Bubbles were the first black artists to appear on television anywhere in the world, transitioned on January 31, 1955 in New York City.

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TERENCE BLANCHARD: ABSENCE

Terence Blanchard has blown audiences away with his bands, film scores, operas, and most recently in performance with Herbie Hancock. Called “a brass-wielding force of nature” by the Los Angeles Times, the trumpeter/composer returns with his 2021 Blue Note release Absence—a powerful tribute to the great Wayne Shorter.

Teaming up with Turtle Island Quartet and his electric ensemble the E-Collective, Blanchard reimagines songs from across Shorter’s vast catalog and shares original music inspired by the legendary saxophonist—resulting in “a lush and dramatic soundscape that calls to mind Blanchard’s career as a successful film composer.” (The New Yorker).

E-Collective

Terence Blanchard (Trumpet/Synths)

Charles Altura (Guitar)

Taylor Eigsti (Piano/Keyboard/Synths)

David Ginyard, Jr. (Electric Bass)

Oscar Seaton (Drums)

Turtle Island Quartet

David Balakrishnan (Violin)

Gabriel Terracciano (Violin)

Benjamin von Gutzeit (Viola)

Naseem Alatrash (Cello)

Showtimes: 7:00pm & 9:00pm

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