Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ellen Radka Toneff was born on June 25, 1952 in Oslo, Norway. She was the daughter of the Bulgarian folk singer, pilot and radio technician Toni Toneff, and grew up in Lambertseter and Kolbotn. She studied music at Oslo Musikkonservatorium (1971–75), combined with playing in the jazz rock band Unis.
From 1975 to 1980 she led her own Radka Toneff Quintet, with a changing lineup including musicians like Arild Andersen, Jon Balke, Jon Eberson and Jon Christensen, among others. From 1979 she cooperated with Steve Dobrogosz, and in 1980 she participated in the Norwegian national final of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Parken by Ole Paus.
Toneff was awarded the Spellemannsprisen 1977 in the category best vocal for the album Winter Poem, and posthumously received the Norwegian Jazz Association’s Buddypris in 1982. The Radka Toneff Memorial Award is funded with royalties from the albums Fairytales and Live in Hamburg. A biography of her life was published in 2008.
Her 1982 album Fairytales was voted the best Norwegian album of all time. Vocalist Radka Toneff, considered one of Norway’s greatest jazz singers, committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills and was found in the woods of Bygdøy outside Oslo on October 21, 1982.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bob Howard was born Howard Joyner on June 20, 1906 in Newton, Massachusetts, He began singing in New York City night clubs in the mid-1920s and began recording in 1931 under his real name for Columbia Records.
Under the name Bob Howard, he played New York’s Park Central Hotel, Famous Door, Hickory House and other clubs as well as theaters. Signed to Decca Records in 1934 he recorded a series of hot small group swing records between 1935 and 1938. His studio groups included Benny Carter, Buster Bailey, Rex Stewart, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, Russell Procope, Cecil Scott, Cozy Cole, Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw, and Babe Russin among others. Unfortunately on these Decca recording sessions he did not play piano, only sang.
Embarking on several European tours as a solo performer in the middle and late 1930s, Bob also had his own radio series in New York. From 1936 to 1947 he performed in a handful of short films, and 1959 saw him acting in an episode of Perry Mason.
In 1948, Howard hosted The Bob Howard Show on CBS, making him the first Black man to host a regularly broadcast network TV show. The program was cancelled after 13 episodes. He also was a regular performer on Sing It Again on CBS-TV in 1950 – 1951.
Relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angeles, California for a time, he returned East. Pianist and vocalist Bob Howard passed away on December 3, 1986 in the Bronx, New York.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marilyn Montez Moore was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 16, 1930. Her vocal style was similar to that of Billie Holiday’s, at twenty-six she recorded her only solo album as a leader in 1957 on the Bethlehem label titled Moody Marilyn Moore. With Jackie Paris she recorde another album titled Oh, Captain.
She was the first wife of saxophonist Al Cohn, who played on Moody Marilyn Moore, and the mother of guitarist Joe Coh. After she and Cohn separated and later divorced, Moore was left to raise her family and never recorded again.
Singer Marilyn Moore, whose short career was limited to activity during the 1950s, passed away on March 19, 1992 at the age of 61 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Born Jeannette Schwager on June 15th in the Netherlands, Jeannette Lambert grew up in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Her Dutch and Indonesian parents loved jazz, and she started singing at the age of nine. From the age of 12, she performed with her brother, guitarist Reg Schwager, at coffee houses and music festivals. She did not have to venture far to perform regular jam sessions, which were held at her house when she was a teenager.
Particularly inspired by the older jazz musicians who participated, especially Herbie Spanier, he encouraged her to improvise as freely as possible. While she studied film production at Toronto’s York University during 1984-1986, Lambert also attended the Banff Summer Jazz Workshop in 1985, singing with the Cecil Taylor Workshop Big Band and taking lessons from Jay Clayton, Dave Liebman, and Julian Priester.
After periods living in Paris, New York, and Amsterdam, she settled in Montreal, married drummer Michel Lambert, and co-founded the record label Jazz from Rant with her brother and her husband in 1991. Jeannette’s music is inspired and influenced not only by other jazz singers but by flamenco, fado, and jaipongan. In addition to her singing and recording, she writes music to her own poetry and is an internet filmmaker.
Her several recordings, primarily on the Jazz from Rant label, include free improvisations, collaborations with pianist Paul Bley, and two volumes of Bebop for Babies, jazz versions of children’s melodies. Vocalist, poet, record label owner Jennette Lambert continues to compose, perform and record,
The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
I REMEMBER MILES 6.10.21
As I continue to be vigilant in my social distancing, masking, and avoiding the unasked that no one is checking I take down off the shelf a favorite vocalist who I used to see perform at the Bohemian Caverns in Washington, DC. This week the album I have selected is the 1998 studio album I Remember Miles by Shirley Horn. It was recorded in tribute to Miles Davis and covers songs that showed the sensitive side of the musicians..
The album’s cover art is a drawing Davis had once done of them both. The album design and artwork was by Chika Azuma, and Ira Gitler wrote the liner notes. Horn’s performance on this album won her the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance at the 41st Grammy Awards.
The production team was composed of producer Richard Seidel, assistant producer Sheila Mathis, production coordination by Camille Tominaro, Dave Baker engineered and mixed the album, and mastering was performed by Duncan Stanbury.
Track List | 52:54
- My Funny Valentine (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) ~ 5:33
- I Fall in Love Too Easily (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) ~ 5:39
- Summertime (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) – 4:59
- Baby Won’t You Please Come Home (Charles Warfield, Clarence Williams) ~ 7:21
- This Hotel (Johnny Keating, Richard Quine) ~ 3:37
- I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’ (Gershwin, Gershwin, Heyward) – 3:39
- Basin Street Blues (Williams) ~ 5:28
- My Man’s Gone Now (Gershwin, Gershwin, Heyward) ~ 10:39
- Blue in Green (Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Al Jarreau) ~ 5:59
- Shirley Horn ~ piano, vocals, producer
- Ron Carter ~ bass guitar
- Roy Hargrove ~ flugelhorn, trumpet
- Toots Thielemans ~ harmonica
- Buck Hill ~ tenor saxophone
- Charles Ables ~ double bass
- Steve Williams ~ drums, percussion
- Al Foster ~ drums
More Posts: adventure,album,club,genius,jazz,museum,music,preserving,restaurant,travel,vocal