The college year is now done and I am working full-time (for the summer) at Salvation Army. I have a handfull of posts that I am working on and I hope to be able to work in some time each week to spend on articles for Jazzworks. Until then God bless, -A.M. Perkins.

Hello everyone,

This is finals week at Grove City College so I’ll be finishing the semester up very soon. Until the end though, I’ll be quite busy.

I have a few articles in the works that I hope to finish during Christmas break.

Until then, God bless.

Thomas ‘Papa’ ‘Mutt’ Carey [1891 - September 3, 1948] was a New Orleans cornetist who played with Kid Ory during the 1910s and 20s. He is also recognized for his work as a bandleader during the revival of traditional jazz during the late 1940s.

Thomas Carey was born in Hahnville, Louisiana in 1891, and moved to New Orleans with his family early in his life. He started on drums, later trying the guitar and the alto horn before finally settling on the cornet. By 1912, he was playing cornet with his older brother, Jack Carey, who was the trombonist and bandleader of the Cresent City Orchestra.

He joined with Kid Ory in 1914, and later toured the vaudeville circuit and played in Chicago in 1917, returning to New Orleans in 1918. The next year he toured with Kid Ory in California, and took over leadership of Ory’s band when Ory left in 1925. He would rejoin with Kid Ory from 1944 until he left in 1947 to make recordings as a bandleader in New York, in which his New Yorkers band was one of the more influential bands in the revival of traditional jazz in the later 1940s. He died in Elsinore, California (near San Francisco) on September 3, 1948.

Copyright Information: All videos and pictures posted on this site are believed to be either listed under a CC, GNU license or are in the public domain.  If you are the owner of a video or picture posted on this site and would like to see it removed, please email me.

As the year winds down, I would like to take a few moments to honor those from the world of jazz who have passed away this year.

Alice McLeod Coltrane (August 27, 1937 – January 12, 2007) was a woman of many talents, including but not limited to jazz pianist, harpist, organist, and composer. She was the wife of jazz legend John Coltrane; playing piano in his band from 1965 until his death in 1967. She continued playing with her own groups, moving toward freer and more meditative forms of jazz. Coltrane was a devotee of the Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba, devoting much of her life as a spiritual leader, changing her name in the late 1970s to Turiyasangitananda. A renewed interest in her music in the 1990s lead to the release of the compilation album Astral Meditations in 1999, as well as a new album Translinear Light in 2004.

Alice Coltrane died of respiratory failure at West Hills hospital and medical center in Los Angeles, California on January 12, 2007.

Michael Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was one of the most influential saxophonists since John Coltrane, performing in multiple genres including jazz-fusion and pop with artists such as Frank Zappa, Aerosmith, James Brown, and Chick Corea, leaving behind a legacy that includes a discography of more than 900 albums. His career as a recording artist began in 1969, on the album Score, playing in a band with his brother, trumpeter Randy Brecker. His greatest achievements were his own albums, under his own name and with the Brecker Brothers band, as well as his work with the group Steps Ahead. In the summer of 2005, it was announced that Michael Brecker had myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow disorder, which would later progress to leukemia. He continued to work sporadically, completing his last album two weeks before his death.

Michael Brecker died from complications of leukemia at a hospital in New York City on January 13, 2007.

Max Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an innovative modern jazz percussionist whose sheer mastery of the drum kit set the stage for bebop and every resulting genre of jazz. He was the last surviving member of the circle of musicians, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gellespie, and Thelonius Monk whose innovations brought about a revolutionary new style to jazz known as bebop, characterized by unpredictable rhythms and complex harmonies which demanded technical virtuosity. Throughout his life, he continued to redefine the role of the drum set, constantly setting new standards for the possibilities of the drums. His career spanned the greater portion of a century and has included work with jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gellespie, as well as his work with Clifford Brown and their innovations which led to hard bop (a powerfully driven sub-genre of bebop).

Max Roach died of undisclosed causes on August 16, 2007.

Josef  ‘Joe’ Erich Zawinul (July 7, 1932 – September 11, 2007) was a jazz keyboardist and composer most famous for his work with Cannonball Adderly and with the jazz fusion group Weather Report. He moved to the United States in 1959, playing with Maynard Ferguson and Dinah Washington until he was hired by Cannonball Adderly in 1961. It was with the Cannonball Adderly Quintet that Zawinul would write Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, one of his most famous compostions. He then composed several charts with Miles Davis before joining up with saxophonist Wayne Shorter to form the jazz fusion group, Weather Report, for which he would compose the chart Birdland. After the breakup of Weather Report, he persued a solo career with his own group, the Zawinul Syndicate, with which he led until shortly before his death.

Josef Zawinul died of Merkel cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, in Vienna, Austria on September 11, 2007.

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a true piano virtuoso who possessed a technique that was elaborate and meticulous, yet modest and graceful. He played with many of the jazz greats including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, and Ella Fitzgerald, earning himself eight grammy awards along the way as well as the respect of the jazz community. Count Basie once said of him, “Oscar Peterson plays the best ivory box I’ve ever heard.” Despite suffering a stroke in 1993, he continued touring and recording after his recovery.

Oscar Peterson died of kidney failure at his home in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on December 23, 2007.

Charles ‘Buddy’ Bolden (September 6, 1877-November 4, 1931) was the first important name is jazz history and was a cornetist and pioneer of the kind of New Orleans rag time music that eventually came to be known as jazz.

Very little is known but much is rumored about the life of Buddy Bolden. What is known is that he was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on September 6, 1877. His band (pictured below) was quite popular from 1900-07 until Bolden suffered an episode of acute alcoholic psychosis in 1907 and was diagnosed as a schizophenic (called Dementia praecox at the time). He then spent the remainder of his life in a mental institution until his death on November 4, 1931 when he was buried in a pauper’s grave at Holt graveyard in New Orleans.

The rumors and legends about ‘King’ Bolden, as he was frequently called, include stories of Buddy holding a day job as a barber or even publishing a scandal-sheet (much like a modern tabloid) called the Cricket and have been perpetuated by time and by works of fiction that include Bolden as a character such as Michael Ondattje’s book Coming Through the Slaughter an interesting work of fiction which features Boldon as a main character.

Bolden’s Band from circa 1905. Bolden is in the back row, second from the left. Click the picture for a larger view.

There are, very unfortunately, no recordings of Buddy Bolden that exist, although it is rumored that he recorded at least one phonograph cylinder (a method of recording used prior to the record disc). What is known about Bolden’s sound is from secondary sources which speak of his powerful, loud, and clear tone on the cornet and that Bolden was ‘one of the finest horn players around.’

His band began playing around 1895 in New Orleans and eventually became one of the most popular groups in the city, being famous for their more bluesy and improvised brand of rag time music. Some of the songs associated with the Bolden band are the traditional songs Careless Love and My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It, as well as the originals Get Out of Here and Go Home and his most famous ‘Funky Butt,’ a song that would inspire the jazz standard ‘Buddy Bolden’s Blues (I thought I heard Buddy Bolden say…)’ and was one of the many songs in Bolden’s repetoire known for their rude and off-color lyrics.

Bolden’s music would be a great influence on some of jazz’s earliest musicians such as Joe ‘King’ Oliver, Freddie Keppard, and Bunk Johnson. The man himself would be honored musically by Sidney Bechet’s Buddy Bolden Stomp and Duke Ellington’s 1957 suite A Drum is a Woman. A monument was erected in Holt cemetary in 1998 in Bolden’s honor although his exact gravesite remains unknown.

For more information about Buddy Bolden:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/buddy.html
http://www.southernmusic.net/buddybolden.htm

William ‘Bill’ Edward Chiaiese (Chase) (October 20, 1934 – August 9, 1974) was the legendary trumpeter and bandleader of the jazz-rock fusion band Chase, and is also known for his lead trumpet work with Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd during the 1960s.

William Edward Chiaiese was born on October 20, 1934 in Boston, Massachusetts to his parents John and Emily Chiaiese, who later changed the name ‘Chiaiese’ to Chase to make it easier to pronounce. His father played the trumpet in the Gillette Marching Band and encouraged Bill’s musical interests which included violin and percussion before he finally settled on the trumpet during his mid-teens. After graduating high school, Bill studied classical trumpet at the New England Conservatory but would shortly transfer to the Berklee School of Music under John Coffey, who taught both the trombones and the trumpets at the school.

“Coffey’s whole teaching was correct embouchure. That was one thing he corrected me on right away. I was definitely not using my lips properly. The placement of the mouthpiece on my lips was wrong and he corrected that for me.”

It was while Bill attended Berklee in 1952 that he attended his first Stan Kenton concert, which featured Maynard Ferguson on lead trumpet.

“My ears opened up like a parachute. I couldn’t believe him! All that night and next day I was making noises to myself, trying to recapture Maynard’s sound.”

Soon after, Bill was a member of a Boston orchestra led by one of his Berkeley instructors. “One night,” Chase recalled, “Maynard Ferguson came into the club, I told him, if you ever need a trumpet player call me up, and to my amazement, not long afterward he did.” Bill would play with Maynard for about year, later gaining experience with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, until he joined Woody Herman’s band The Thundering Herd, where Chase spent most the early and middle 1960’s.

“That was hard work – I had to play lead trumpet and set fire to the whole band. Even when we saw nothing but buses and hotel rooms and ballrooms, when my chops were beat and swollen, I just forced myself to keep going. Woody (Herman) was an inspiration; he’s a true pro. He showed me that my primary duty was never to let the public down.” The respect was mutual with Woody Herman recalling Bill Chase to be the best lead trumpet ever to pass through his band.

Chase: The Band

In 1970, he started his own band, Chase, which consisted of four trumpets, a rhythm section, and a vocalist. Joining Bill on trumpet were Ted Piercefield, Alan Ware, and Jerry Van Blair. The trumpets were backed up by Phil Porter on the keyboards, Angel South on guitar, Dennis Johnson on Bass, and Jay Burrid on percussion. The group released its self-titled debut album in 1971, which featured Terry Richards on lead vocals. The album featured the group’s most well known song “Get It On,” which was released as a single and spent thirteen weeks on the charts beginning in May of 1971. The album would even earn the band a best new artist grammy nomination.

The band released its second album, Ennea, in 1972. The album’s title was taken from the Greek word for nine, a reference to the band’s nine members. The line-up for the album was altered slightly with Gary Smith taking over on percussion and G.G. Shinn on lead vocals. The album itself featured the ‘Ennea Suite’ on side two with tightly chorded jazz arrangments and lyrics based on Greek Mythology and was not as well received by the public as the previous album had been.

After an extended hiatus, Chase released a third album named Pure Music in 1974. The album featured a new line-up, but with Chase’s familiar four trumpet section with Jim Peterik from the Ides of March as songwriter and back-up vocalist as well as Dartanyan Brown on lead vocals and bass. Pure Music was another step away from rock and was considered by Variety magazine to be Chase’s ‘most commercial effort yet’ and that ‘their brand of jazz could have a commercial impact.”

On August 9, 1974, while enroute to a performance in Minnesota, Bill Chase died when his plane went down along with keyboardist Wally Yohn, drummer Walter Clark, and guitarist John Emma. The last song Chase ever recorded was Close Up Tight, the first was Open Up Wide. In 1977, A Chase tribute band, primarily composed of original members, recorded an album entitled Watch Closely Now in tribute to Bill Chase.

This is a video of Bill Chase performing ‘Weird Song #1′ in 1974. This is the only commercial recording of the Chase band that I know of. The entire performance can be purchased at www.seeleymusic.com

For Information about Bill Chase:
http://www.great-music.com/bill-chase
http://www.jazztrumpetsolos.com/Chase.htm
http://www.seeleymusic.com/chase/

To order Chase’s music:
http://www.great-music.net/chase.htm

Copyright Information: All videos and pictures posted on this site are believed to be either listed under a CC, GNU license or are in the public domain.  If you are the owner of a video or picture posted on this site and would like to see it removed, please email me.

Arturo Sandoval: Trumpet Evolution (2003). The legendary Arturo Sandoval pays tribute to nineteen of the greatest and most influential trumpeters in both jazz and classical music from the last century in this journey through the development of the trumpet. The album features Arturo’s mastery of the styles of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Wynton Marsalis just to name a few.

Tracks: Dipper Mouth Blues – Joseph ‘King’ Oliver (2:15), When It’s Sleepy Time Down South – Louis Armstrong (3:02), At the Jazz Band Ball – Bix Beiderbecke (2:56), La Virgen de la Macarena – Rafael Mendez (3:06), I Can’t Get Started – Bunny Berigan (4:35), Concerto for Cootie – Charles ‘Cootie’ Williams (3:51), Little Jazz – Roy Eldridge (2:40), Man With a Horn – Harry James (3:30), Manteca – Dizzy Gellespie (3:23), Tee Pee Time – Clark Terry (4:07), Concerto for Soprano Coloratura by Reinhold Gilere, First Movement - Timofei Dokschitzer (3:41), Nostalgia – ‘Fats’ Novarro (3:31),  Round Midnight – Miles Davis (5:42), Maynard Ferguson – Maynard Ferguson (4:16), My Funny Valentine – Chet Baker (4:25), Joy Spring – Clifford Brown (4:17), Concerto in D Major by Giuseppe Tartini, First Movement – Maurice Andre (3:57), Up Jumped Spring – Freddie Hubbard (4:11), Later – Wynton Marsalis (4:01).

Here is Arturo Sandoval performing ‘A Night in Tunisia’ live at the Montreal Jazz Festival back in 1991. If you are interested in more of Arturo’s music visit his homepage: http://www.arturosandoval.com/

Copyright Information: All videos and pictures posted on this site are believed to be either listed under a CC, GNU license or are in the public domain.  If you are the owner of a video or picture posted on this site and would like to see it removed, please email me.