Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Lorez Alexandria was born Dolorez Alexandria Turner on August 14, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois and began as a singer in churches in her teens, spending 11 years as part of an “a cappela” choir. Turning to jazz, she worked the local Chicago club scene before moving to Los Angeles in 1962 to further her career.

Although Alexandria never made the anticipated breakthrough to a wider audience, but she was highly regarded as a jazz singer by those who knew her work, whether as critics, musicians or fans. Over the course of her career Lorez recorded with such musicians as King Fleming, Ramsey Lewis, Howard McGhee and Gildo Mahones.

Lorez had an attractive voice, a good feel for jazz phrasing, and a cleanly enunciated delivery that was always highly sensitive to the import of the lyric she was singing. 

 She remains best known for her album Alexandria the Great released in 1964 that featured her in a variety of contexts ranging from big bands to small groups, including several tracks with the Wynton Kelly Trio.

She recorded several albums, including This is Lorez Alexandria with the King Fleming Quartet 1957; Deep Roots 1960; A Woman Knows 1978 and Harlem Butterfly 1984.

Retiring from performing in 1996, she suffered a stroke shortly afterwards, remaining in failing health. Vocalist Lorez Alexandria succumbed to complications from kidney failure on May 22, 2001 in Los Angeles, California.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jimmy Witherspoon was born on August 8, 1920 in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford’s band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II. Witherspoon made his first recordings with Jay McShann’s band in 1945.

By 1949 Jimmy was recording under his own name with the McShann band and had his first hit and signature tune with “Ain’t Nobody’s Business”. In 1950 he had several more with “No Rollin’ Blues” and “Big Fine Girl”, as well as “Failing By Degrees” and “New Orleans Woman” recorded with the Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra. These Gilbeaux recordings are from a live performance on May 10, 1949 at a “Just Jazz” concert in Pasadena, CA sponsored by Gene Norman.

Witherspoon’s style of the “blues shouter” became unfashionable in the mid-1950s, but he returned to popularity with his 1959 album, “Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival” featuring Roy Eldridge, Woody Herman, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines and Mel Lewis among others.

The early 60s saw Witherspoon touring Europe with Buck Clayton, recording in the UK, the 70s recording with Brother Jack McDuff in London, with Eric Burdon, toured with his own band with a host of players such as Joe Sample, Cornell Dupree, Thad Jones and others.  He continued to record and perform well into the Nineties with Gerry Mulligan, Leroy Vinnegar, Teddy Wilson, Pepper Adams, Junior Mance and the list jazz luminaries goes on and on.

Vocalist Jimmy Witherspoon died of throat cancer in Los Angeles, California on September 18, 1997.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Eddie Jefferson was born on August 3, 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and started his career in show business as a tap dancer. By the late Forties, he was singing and writing lyrics to tunes like “Parker’s Mood” and “I Cover The Waterfront”. He is credited with pioneering vocalese, a musical style in which lyrics are set to an instrumental composition or solo. Perhaps his best-known song is “Moody’s Mood for Love”, though first recorded by King Pleasure, who cited Jefferson as an influence.

One of Jefferson’s most notable recordings “So What” combined the lyrics of artist Christopher Acemandese Hall with the music of Miles Davis to create a masterwork that highlighted his prolific skills, and ability to majestically turn a phrase, into his jazz vocalese.

Jefferson’s last recorded performance was at the Joe Segal’s Jazz Showcase in Chicago and released on video by Rhapsody Films. He shared the stand with fellow bandleader and alto saxophonist Richie Cole. The performance was part of a tour that Jefferson and Cole led together that took them to their opening night in Detroit at the legendary Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, a jazz club built in the 1930’s whose stage graced musicians from the genre as diverse as Dexter Gordon and Sonny Stitt.

Vocalist Eddie Jefferson was shot and killed while leaving Baker’s on May 8, 1979 by a suspected disgruntled dancer who had been fired by Jefferson. She was later acquitted of the murder charge. He was 60. A previously unreleased 1976 live album, Eddie Jefferson at Ali’s Alley, with drummer Rashied Ali, was finally posthumously released in 2009.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Kevin Mahogany was born July 30, 1958, in Kansas City, Missouri and began his childhood study of music with piano, later learning to play the clarinet and baritone saxophone. He performed with jazz bands and teaching music while still in high school and later attended Baker University, performing with both instrumental and vocal ensembles. He formed a vocal jazz group, matriculating with a BFA in Music and English Drama.

After graduation, he returned to Kansas City where he attracted a local following in the 80’s performing with his groups, “The Apollos” and “Mahogany”. 1991 saw the vocalist featured on a Frank Mantooth CD and lists his influences as Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Al Jarreau and Eddie Jefferson.

His first CD release as a solo artist was Double Rainbow in 1993 followed by his self-titled album Kevin Mahogany, which won him his first critical acclaim in the media, prompting Newsweek to call him “the standout jazz vocalist of his generation.”

He appeared in Robert Altman’s 1996 film Kansas City playing a character that’s said to be based on Kansas City singer Big Joe Turner. As a jazz educator, he has taught at the Berklee College of Music and the University of Miami. Known for his scat singing and with a dozen albums to his credit, vocalist Kevin Mahogany continued to perform, record, tour and educate until he passed away in his home on December 17, 2017 at the age of 59.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Nnenna Freelon, born Chinyere Nnenna Pierce on July 28, 1954 was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts and sang in Union Baptist Church and St. Paul AME choirs as a young woman. She graduated from Boston’s Simmons College with a health care administration degree, worked at the Durham County Hospital in North Carolina and by 1990 had been singing for about seven years under her married name.

Attending the Southern Arts Federation conference presented her the opportunity to meet Ellis Marsalis, who became mentor and teacher. He passed her “package” on to George Butler of Columbia Records and in 1992 she was signed and dropped her debut. By 1994 Columbia ended their association and two-years later Concord picked her up.

The singer, composer, arranger, producer has been nominated for a five Grammy Awards, has performed and toured with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Ellis Marsalis, Al Jarreau, Clark Terry, Dianne Reeves, Terence Blanchard and Herbie Hancock, just to name a few. Nnenna has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Montreux, Monterey and Ellington Jazz Festivals, the Kennedy Center, the Apollo Theatre and many more worldwide.

Aside from her many jazz and singing responsibilities, Freelon is the national spokesperson for the National Association of Partners in Education, an arts education organization with over 400,000 school/community partnership programs across the U.S; and her Babysong workshops teaches young mothers and healthcare providers the importance of the human voice for healing, nurturing and brain development in young children. She continues to perform, record and tour.

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