Three Wishes

Pannonica finally got the opportunity to ask Lionel Hampton what he would wish for and his retort was:

1. 1. “To be in tune with jazz. Jazz to me is like the human emotion of the Negro. From the time he was in bondage praying to God to give him freedom – that was the blues then, coming from the spiritual vein – and when he was freed some, he would make jazz more happy. It was coming from the Negroes. From the time of the slave in the cotton fields, swinging up, you dig? From the time it got popularized and commercial, and left the cotton fields and railroad tracks, and they were putting it in the cafes. It was the days of King Oliver and Sidney Bechet..”
   2. “The colored man always has been the one to change the color of jazz. As the country advanced, they changes the music. It’s always been moving along, integrated by Negroes, turning to his feelings as he advanced. From Louis Armstrong up to Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Edgar Sampson, and Sy Oliver. They started changing the picture of jaz. It was their orchestrations, their chart that made jazz. They began writing arrangements for Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and so on – for the ofay bands. fats Waller, Jimmie Lunceford, those guys were all great arrangers. Then Monk, Dizzy, Prez, Don Byas, and Charlie Parker, they came in, all influencing the music, all great instrumentalists. As the Negro got free he added more ingredients. You’d need an encyclopedia to tell it all. I hope I’ll always be tuned so I can dig the transitions in jazz. Because there are more transitions coming.”
   3. “Lots of white folks write about jazz, but they don’t know the pains of it. You should be the one to write about it, because you understand. And musicians will talk to you. Gotta get down on that stand now, but I’ll be over to your pad tomorrow, and we’ll do this with the tape recorder. It’ll take another three of four hours, at the very least. I’ve not done more than get started on the first answer yet, you dig?”

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

John Cocuzzi was born in Camp Springs, Maryland on Andrews Air Force Base on October 26, 1964. Taking a very early interest in playing drums, immediately after graduating from high school, in 1982 he attended Montgomery Junior College in Rockville, Maryland as an applied percussion major. While there he also studied arranging with Bill Potts, who wrote for Buddy Rich and others.

Towards the end of the decade he had established himself, performing in and around the nation’s capital. During these years, in addition to playing drums, Cocuzzi also played piano and vibraphone, gradually advancing his skills on the latter instrument until it became the dominant force in his impressive arsenal.

The early 90s saw John appearing at numerous festivals across the country, as well as  Belgium and the Netherlands. Throughout his career he has mainly led his own small groups and has also played piano with the swing, blues and jump band, Big Joe And The Dynaflows, led by Big Joe Maher.

He has worked and/or recorded with Howard Alden, Joe Ascione, Louie Bellson, Bobby Gordon, Chuck Hedges, Nat King Cole, Milt Hinton, Dick Hyman, Russell Malone, Ken Peplowski, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Houston Person, Eddie Locke, Barbara Morrison, Peter Appleyard, Russell Malone, Ed Polcer, Daryl Sherman, Warren and Allan Vaché, Johnny Varro, Bob Wilber and Snooky Young. A dynamic and swinging drummer, Cocuzzi is a fluently inventive improviser on piano. His vibraphone playing ably blends the urgent thrust he displays in his drumming with the fluid grace of his piano playing.

On radio, Cocuzzi recorded a session for NPR’s “Riverwalk: Live at The Landing” with the Jim Cullum Band. It was a tribute to Benny Goodman, The Swing Shift: Jazz on Late-Night Radio, and featured Allan Vaché on clarinet with Nicholas Payton on trumpet.

For 15 years, he was the music director for the 219 Restaurant’s Basin Street Lounge in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. He was also music director for the Crystal City Jazz Celebration from 2003 to 2006.

Jazz, blues and swing vibraphonist, pianist and drummer John Cocuzzi, whose influences are Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo, continues to perform

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Sadi Pol Lallemand was born on October 23, 1927 in Andenne, Belgium. His first instrument was the xylophone, which he played in a circus in the 1930s. After World War II, he turned professional playing the vibraphone and performed with Bobby Jaspar in the Bob Shots, then with Don Byas.

Moving to Europe he lived in Paris, France from 1950 to 1961 where he played with Aimé Barelli, Django Reinhardt, and Martial Solal. In the Sixties, Fats moved to Brussels, Belgium and was a member of Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band.

He worked for RTBF, the TV channel of the French Community in Belgium. Sadi led both a quartet and nonet, and won the Belgian Golden Django for best French-speaking artist in 1996.

Vibraphonist, percussionist, vocalist and composer Fats Sadi, who chose the name “Sadi” because he disliked his last name, which means “the German” in French, transitioned on February 20, 2009 in Huy, Belgium.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Anthony Kerr was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on October 16, 1965. From 1981 till 1984 he received his education at the Belfast School of Music. Moving to New York City after graduating, he studied vibes and marimba with David Friedman and Kenny Werner. He won a scholarship to the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in 1987.

Returning to Ireland, Anthony went on to work as a percussionist with the RTE Symphony Orchestra. There was a period of time when he was employed with the UK’s National Theater.

Kerr later worked as a jazz musician with John Taylor, Louis Stewart, Peter King, Norma Winstone, Mike Westbrook, a bandleader he toured with around Europe. He worked with Charlie Watts and Georgie Fame, while simultaneously leading his own group and conducting jazz workshops in Belfast.

He toured with the Irish Youth Jazz Orchestra and worked with BBC Big Band and collaborated with Ian Shaw and a saxophonist Dale Barlow. He leads his own quartet and the Mallet Band with Justin Woodward, Stewe Brown and Geoff Gascoyne.

In 1994 Kerr was voted best instrumentalist at the British Jazz Awards and the following year received the Young Jazz Musician of the Year. He also won nominations in the Rising Star category in 1995, 1996 and 1998.

His first album “First Cry” was made in collaboration with singer / lyricist Jacqui Dankworth. His second album, “Now Hear This” which was recorded live at Ronnie Scott’s Club, was released in 1997.

Vibraphonist Anthony Kerr currently teaches vibraphone and jazz improvisation at the Royal College of Music in London, produces and records music from his home studio in Hertfordshire, England.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Hal Russell was born Harold Russell Luttenbacher on August 28, 1926 in Detroit, Michigan. Raised in Chicago, Illinois from the eighth grade, he began playing drums at age four, but majored in trumpet at college. He subsequently drummed in several big bands, including those of Woody Herman and Boyd Raeburn.

As with many young players in the mid-1940s, Russell’s life was irreversibly changed by bebop. In the 1950s he worked with Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and Duke Ellington. During this period he succumbed to drugs and was a heroin addict for ten years. In 1959, he joined the Joe Daley Trio, whose Newport’ 1963, which was mostly studio material, was reputedly one of the earliest free jazz records.

The early 1970s saw Hal as the regular percussionist for the band at the suburban Chicago Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. He played mostly drums, but occasionally vibes and keyboards. By the end of the decade he formed the NRG Ensemble, which featured saxophonist Mars Williams, multi-instrumentalist Brian Sandstrom, and percussionist Steve Hunt, among others. During this period he started playing tenor and soprano saxophone and trumpet, in addition to drums and vibes.

Issuing his first album in 1981 for the Nessa label, in the late Eighties the group began playing frequently in Europe, and began recording for ECM with The Finnish/Swiss Tour. In addition to the NRG Ensemble, Russell always maintained several bands, the rock-oriented trio NRG 3 and The Flying Luttenbachers.

Tenor and soprano saxophonist, trumpeter, vibraphonist and drummer Hal Russell, shortly after completing the semi-autobiographical album The Hal Russell Story, transitioned from a heart attack on September 5,1992 in La Grange, Illinois.

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