Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jay McShann, born James Columbus McShann on January 12, 1916 in Muskogee, Oklahoma began played the piano from the age of 12. His primary education came from Earl “Fatha” Hines late-night radio broadcasts from the Grand Terrace Café. Leaving home he spent time at college and working with bands throughout Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona and New Mexico.
In the 1930 Jay moved to Kansas City working with both local groups and his own band with his 1938 band comprised of Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Al Hibbler, Paul Quinichette, Earl Coleman, Ben Webster and Walker Brown, creating a music that would become known as the Kansas City sound.
Nicknamed Hootie, it was during the 1940s that he stood at the forefront of the blues and hard bop jazz musicians mainly from Kansas City. His first recordings were all with Charlie Parker, the first as “The Jay McShann Orchestra” on August 9, 1940. After World War II he began to lead small groups featuring blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon. Witherspoon started recording with McShann in 1945, and fronting McShann’s band, and had a hit in 1949 with “Ain’t Nobody’s Business”.
Jay McShann was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, was nominated twice for a Grammy Award, performed regularly with violinist Claude Williams and continued to recording and touring into the nineties around Kansas City and Toronto, Ontario. The blues and jazz pianist Jay McShann, whose career spanned more than sixty years, passed on December 7, 2006, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Laten John Adams was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 5, 1932 the oldest of ten children and became a professional musician after leaving school. He began his career-singing gospel with the Soul Revivers and Bessie Griffin’s Consolators, but crossed over to secular music in 1959. He recorded Dorothy LaBostrie’s “I Won’t Cry” on the RIC label and produced by teenager Mac Rebennack a.k.a. Dr. John who would later give him a #27 hit in 1962 with “A Losing Battle”.
In 1963, Adams went on to record for Modern Records and Watch Records with limited success until he signed with SSS International. Having three hits on the billboard charts and an album “Heart and Soul” he moved unsuccessfully to other labels like Atlantic and Ariola. During this period he held down a regular gig at Dorothy’s Medallion Lounge in New Orleans and toured the southern nightclub circuit.
In 1983 signing with Rounder Records, Johnny recorded a series of nine critically acclaimed albums beginning with “From the Heart” in 1984, encompassing a wide range of jazz, blues and R&B styles while highlighting Adams’ voice. By 1991 “The Real Me” album brought him a number of accolades, including a W.C. Handy Award. He began touring internationally, working and recording with such musicians as Aaron Neville, Harry Connick Jr. Lonnie Smith and Dr. John.
Johnny Adams, jazz, blues and gospel singer, passed away on September 14, 1998 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana after a long battle with prostate cancer.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bulee “Slim” Gaillard was born on January 4, 1916 in Santa Clara, Cuba. His childhood in Cuba was spent cutting sugarcane and picking bananas, as well as occasionally going to sea with his father. At age 12, he made his way to America settling in Detroit. A move to New York City in the late 1930s saw Gaillard’s rise to prominence as part of Slim & Slam, a jazz novelty act he formed with bassist Slam Stewart. Their hits included “Flat Foot Floogie”, “Cement Mixer” and the hipster anthem, “The Groove Juice Special”.
Gaillard’s appeal was that he presented a hip style with broad appeal, was a master improviser whose stream of consciousness vocals ranged far afield from the original lyrics along with wild interpolations of nonsense syllables. Gaillard could play several instruments, such as guitar and piano and always managed to turn the performance from hip jazz to comedy.
In the late forties and early fifties, Gaillard frequently opened at Birdland for such greats as Charlie Parker, Flip Phillips and Coleman Hawkins. Slim composed theme songs for radio shows, appeared in several shows in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Charlie’s Angels, Mission Impossible, Along Came Bronson and Roots: The Next Generation. By the early 1980s he was touring the European jazz festival circuit, playing with such musicians as Arnett Cobb.
Slim Gaillard, singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist and actor noted for his vocalese, spoke 9 languages including “Vout”, a language he constructed out of word play and created a dictionary, passed away on February 26, 1991 in London, England at the age of 75.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Arthur Prysock was born on January 2, 1929 on Spartanburg, South Carolina but was raised on a farm in North Carolina. He left home at 16, moved to Hartford, Connecticut and found work with an aircraft company during World War II until they discovered he was underage. He then found a day job as a cook, singing around town at night with a band.
In 1944 bandleader Buddy Johnson signed the baritone as a vocalist, singing on several Johnson hits on Decca Records and became a mainstay of the live performance circuits. By 1952 Prysock went solo, signed with Decca, recorded “I Didn’t Sleep a Wink Last Night” and in 1960s covered Ray Noble’s ballad “The Very Thought Of You” and “It’s Too Late Baby, It’s Too Late”. Signing with Verve Records he recorded “Arthur Prysock & Count Basie” and “A Working Man’s Prayer”.
In the seventies, he had a surprise disco hit with “When Love Is New” and in 1985, recorded his first new album in almost a decade, “Arthur Prysock” He gained further attention for his tender, soulful singing on a beer commercial, “Tonight, Tonight, Let It Be Lowenbrau”.
Over the course of a prolific 43-year career, Arthur, who had been influenced by Billy Eckstine, was seen primarily in front of big bands. He recorded nearly 60 albums for Mercury, Old Town, Milestone and Decca record labels, including the orated “This Is My Beloved”. In 1995 he received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
His tender music has been a staple of jazz radio in the wee hours of the morning, and of cheek-to-cheek dancing in smoke-filled cocktail lounges. Arthur Prysock, the baritone romantic crooner that never lost his vocal strength, rich resonance or his deep, velvety tones, passed away on June 21, 1997.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ernie Andrews was born on December 25, 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and spent his earliest years singing in his mother’s church. When he was becoming teen age his family move to Los Angeles, California where he studied drums and continued singing at Jefferson High School. His early influences included Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstine, Al Hibbler, Johnny Mercer, Jimmy Rushing and “Big” Joe Turner.
Discovered by songwriter Joe Greene in 1947 when he won an amateur contest at Central Avenue’s Lincoln Theatre, Ernie was taken into the studio and recorded him at the ripe age of 17.The hit “Soothe Me” sold 300,000 copies and Andrews became a singer to be reckoned with. His next big hit came with Benny Carter called “Make Me A Present Of You” and by this time he was not only working at home but also touring playing clubs, after-hours rooms and concerts.
By 1959, Andrews had joined Harry James’ band, touring the U.S. and South America for nine years, which time he considers his most valuable learning experience. In 1967, he recorded the jazz classic “Big City” with Cannonball Adderley on Capital Records, rejoined James in 68, based himself in Baltimore in ’69, began a solo career and had another big hit with “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”. Her returned to Los Angeles in 1974 where he has resided for more than 50 years.
He has the ear to improvise and a rich resonant voice, and plays his vocal chords as a musician plays his horn. With his special strut, unique mannerisms and a performance that portrays the gamut of emotional experience, he consistently moves audiences to standing ovations. Vocalist Ernie Andrews continued to play clubs, concerts and jazz festivals throughout the world, often performing in Las Vegas, until his transition on February 21, 2022, at the age of 94.
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