Daily Dose Of Jazz…
It has been said that Antonio Carlos Jobim was the George Gershwin of Brazil, and there is a solid ring of truth in that, for both contributed large bodies of songs to the jazz repertoire, both expanded their reach into the concert hall, and both tend to symbolize their countries in the eyes of the rest of the world.
Born Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim on January 25, 1927 in Tijuca neighborhood of Rio de Janiero studied to become an architect but the lure of music was too strong being firmly rooted in the music of Pixinguinha, who began modern Brazilian music in the 1930’s. By twenty he started playing piano in nightclubs and working recording sessions. He cut his first record in 1954 leader his group Tom and His Band, backing singer Bill Farr.
Tom, a nickname he affectionately carried throughout his life, was firmly planted in jazz having been impacted by Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Barney Kessel and other West Coast musicians. He also gleaned influence upon his harmonies from Claude Debussy and Samba gave his music an exotic rhythmic underpinning. His piano is simple and melodic, his guitar gentle and his singing hauntingly emotional. Among his many themes his lyrics talked of love, political repression, betrayal, the natural beauties of Brazil and his home city of Rio.
Jobim first found fame in 1956 when he teamed with poet and diplomat Vinicius de Moraes to score part of the play Orfeo do Carnival, which would later gain them worldwide acclaim at Cannes when Black Orpheus debut in 1959.
In 1958, an unknown Brazilian singer João Gilberto recorded some of Jobim’s songs, which effectively launched bossa nova. Yet, Jobim’s breakthrough outside Brazil occurred in 1962 when Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd scored a surprise hit with his tune “Desafinado” – and later Getz teamed with Joao Gilberto and his wife Astrud resulting in Getz/Gilberto in 1963 and Getz/Gilberto 2 in 1964. The ’63 album became one of the best selling jazz albums of all time and grabbed 4 Grammy Awards. With their gracefully urbane, sensuously aching melodies and harmonies, Jobim’s songs gave jazz musicians in the 1960s a quiet, strikingly original alternative to their traditional Tin Pan Alley source.
Grammy award winning songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, pianist and guitarist while driving home after finishing recording for his next album Tom Jobim, collapsed and passed away of heart failure in New York City on December 8, 1994.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Vocalist Irene Kral was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 18, 1932. The younger sister of Roy Kral, an already a successful musician, she started singing professionally as a teenager making her debut with the Jay Burkhardt Big Band. She went on to work with Woody Herman and Chubby Jackson.
Freelancing around Chicago, Irene gigged with a vocal group called Tattle-Tales, spent nine months singing with Maynard Ferguson’s big band and also performed with groups led by Stan Kenton and Shelly Manne, After an association with the Herb Pomeroy Orchestra, she got married, moved to Los Angeles and stopped performing.
Fortunately for the jazz world by the late 50’s Irene embarked upon a solo career recording two sessions for United Artists, a ’65 date for Mainstream and from 1974 to 1977 recorded three great albums, “Kral Space” and two projects with pianist Alan Broadbent “Where Is Love” and “Gentle Rain”. Her rendition of Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most is not only considered classic but also definitive.
Irene Kral died at the age of 46 of breast cancer in Encino, California on August 15, 1978. She attributed Carmen McRae as one of her inspirations and was brought back to the attention of the world posthumously by director Clint Eastwood when he used her recording in the Bridges of Madison County.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Osie Johnson was born James Johnson in Washington, DC on January 11, 1923. He started his drumming career in 1941 in Boston with the Sabby Lewis band and then during the war years in the Navy Band. Upon discharge from the service he freelanced around Chicago until he joined the Earl Hines band from 51-53.
He played stints with Dorothy Donegan and Illinois Jacquet prior to becoming one of the most in-demand drummers in the 50’s and first half of the 60’s in New York. As a busy session musician working with the likes of Coleman Hawkins, Dinah Washington, Wes Montgomery and Sonny Stitt, Paul Gonsalves, Zoot Sims and Mose Allison among the many who’s who list of musicians he kept time for.
On February 10, 1966 drummer, composer, arranger and singer Osie Johnson, who made a countless recordings as a leader and studio musician, passed away in New York City at the age of 43.
Daily Dose Of Jazz
Betty Roché was born in Wilmington, Delaware on January 9, 1920. She began her career by taking the amateur contest on the famed stages of the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Famous for her strong, dramatic way of singing the blues, she sang with the Savoy Sultans in 1941 and then joined Duke Ellington two years later replacing Ivie Anderson just days before his Carnegie concert.
Betty rose to the occasion to critical acclaim performing a section of Black, Brown & Beige. But it was her rendition of Take The “A” Train that gained her greatest fame. She performed it in the 1943 film “Reveille With Beverly” but because of WWII it would be nearly a decade later before she would record the tune.
Roché performed and recorded with pianist Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines, trumpet master Clark Terry and pianist/singer Charles Brown. In the late 50’s and early 60’s she recorded for both Bethlehem and Prestige and her contribution to the jazz scene is larger than most think as she is credited with being a major influence on bebop singers and the public’s ability to deal with the musical adventure.
Vocalist Betty Roché, known for her blues and jazz renderings, died on February 16, 1999.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Chano Pozo was born Luciano Pozo Gonales was born in Havana, Cuba on January 7, 1915 and Chano showed an early interest in drumming, gaining his musical background performing ably in Afro-Cuban religious ceremonies in which drumming was a key element.
Growing up in poverty in the foul and dangerous area of El Africa solar where even the police feared to tread, By 13 he was in reformatory learning to read and write, study auto repair and hone his already exceptional drumming skill. Upon his release and during a series of lackluster jobs he composed music. His reputation grew among the people each year for the compositions he wrote for carnival and he quickly became the most sought after rumbero in Cuba.
At the beginning of 1947 Pozo moved to New York City with the encouragement of Miguelito Valdes with who he recorded along with Arsenio Rodriguez, Carlos Vidal Bolado and Jose Mangual. By September he was a featured performer with Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band at Carnegie Hall and subsequently on a European tour. Their most notable material was ‘Cubana Be, Cubana Bop, Tin Tin Deo and Manteca, the latter two co-written by Pozo.
A conguero, percussionist, singer, dancer and composer, Chano became one of the founding fathers of Latin jazz, which was essentially a blend of bebop and Cuban folk music. Chano Pozo, a hot-tempered Cuban, was killed in a Harlem bar, a little more than a month shy of his 34th birthday on December 2, 1948.
Chano Pozo: 1915-1948 / Drums, Percussion
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