Curtis Fuller belongs in a first-rate group of trombone players who always make the trombone sound fluid and inviting. His ability to play with a clear sound up and down his instrument in a relaxed, casual manner is a testament to his skill. Fuller’s bop style solos and phrases are often ambitious and creative, setting him out front of almost all other trombone players.

Born in 1934, Fuller grew up in an orphanage in Detroit, studied music in high school, then began developing his skills in an Army band, where he played with Cannonball Adderley. He worked with Kenny Burrell and Yusef Lateef before moving to New York.

Fuller made his recording debut on the release Transition in 1955, and recorded in the late ’50s for Blue Note, Prestige and Savoy. He played with Coltrane on Blue Train, and many consider his work on that session to be one of the best examples of his complete mastery of the trombone.

He was a charter member of the Jazztet with Benny Golson and Art Farmer in 1959, then played in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers from 1961 to 1965. Fuller toured Europe with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 1968, played with the Count Basie band from 1975 to 1977, and then did several sessions in New York. He also played with Art Blakey, Cedar Walton and Benny Golson in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

Curtis Fuller continues to perform and record today. In 2007, he was named a NEA Jazz Master.

Photo credit:

1. Home – www.ejazzlines.com
2. Above #1 – www.allmusic.com

Cecil Percival Taylor was an American jazz musician and composer, and the leading icon of free-jazz pianists from the 1950’s until his death in 2018.

From his first recording, Jazz Advance (1956), Taylor was known as an uncompromising musical radical. He received high critical acclaim for his avant garde approach that combined modern classical and jazz, and Taylor played the piano as if it were a percussion instrument. He became a virtuoso pianist with a unique range of dynamics, attacks, and harmonic resources, including many tone clusters never heard in jazz before.

Taylor was one of the first musicians to free up jazz improvisation from fixed harmonic structures. Instead, anything was fair game harmonically. He led the way for freedom of expression with open improvisations.

His mastery of improvised form was unprecedented in jazz; he used an extensive repertoire to develop simple material into dense, complex, extended, but structurally unified works. His repertoire consisted of original works, some composed of broken materials in successions of unrelated tempos.
In the late 1960s, he worked most often with ferociously fast tempos and long improvisations lasting 30 minutes or longer, and in his later work, he steadily expanded his emotional range.

Taylor’s career spanned more than 50 years. He recorded dozens of albums and remained musically productive into his 80s.

Cecil Taylor passed away April 5, 2018.

Photo credit:

1. Home – www.npr.org
2. Above – www.nytimes.com

Major Holley, also known as “Mule”, was best known for singing along in unison with his bowed, upright bass solos, and for his sense of a grooving, steady swing. He was able to produce a rich, deep sound from his bass whether playing up tempo or ballads.

A Detroit native, Holley originally played violin and tuba, but switched to bass while playing in Navy bands in the 40’s. He played with jazz luminaries like Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald in the mid- to late ’40s. In 1950, he did a series of duet recordings with Oscar Peterson. He also toured with Woody Herman in 1958, played with Coleman Hawkins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Shirley Scott.

Holley’s bass recordings with guitarist Kenny Burrell are considered some of his best work, including Midnight Blue, Burrell’s most famous album recorded in 1963. He also did a good deal of studio work and had a stint with Duke Ellington in 1964. He taught at the prestigious Berklee School of Music from 1967-70, freelanced in New York, and recorded with everyone from Roy Eldridge to Quincy Jones. He recorded two albums with Slam Stewart where they both did their signature vocal solo with stringed bass riffing.

Holley died in 1990, but his sound and contribution to jazz is very much alive in modern bass playing. Bass players, like Ray Brown, followed in his footsteps.

Photo credit:

1. Home – news.stlpublicradio.org
2. Above – www.discogs.com

March is Women’s History Month and Jazz icon, composer, lyricist and performer Abbey Lincoln is the featured artist at WNCU for March 2018.

Known for her versatile talents, her passion for civil rights and justice and her unique, earthy sound live on in her music and her films.

Born Anna Marie Woolridge in 1930, Lincoln spent her formative years in Michigan. When spending time in New York City, she would go to the Blue Note Club and hear the great jazz artists of the day.

In 1960, she was heard on Max Roach’s album, We Insist, which became part of Roach’s important works during the civil rights movement. An outspoken civil rights activist herself, her lyrics often reflected the ideals of the movement and helped in generating passion for the cause across America.

In the 1980’s, Lincoln recorded over 10 albums for Verve Records and this body of work clearly elevated her compositions to legendary status, not only in her compelling lyrics, but her passionate, vocal stylings that are unmatched.

Abbey Lincoln died on August 14, 2010 in Manhattan. Many vocalists today, such as DeeDee Bridgewater, pay homage to Ms. Lincoln as their inspiration. Her music is still performed and celebrated worldwide as some of the most influential compositions in the jazz lexicon.

Photo credit:

1. Home – www.allmusic.com
2. Above – www.nytimes.com

Jazz critics agree that “Sweet Poppa Lou” Donaldson is one of the greatest alto saxophonists of all time.  He began his career as a bandleader with Blue Note Records in 1952 and, already at age 25, he had found his sound, though it would continue to sweeten over the years — earning him his famed nickname –“Sweet Poppa Lou.”  He made a series of classic records for Blue Note in the 50’s, and takes pride in having showcased many musicians who made their first records as sidemen for him: Horace Silver, Clifford Brown, Grant Green, Blue Mitchell, Donald Byrd, Horace Parlan, and others.  After also making some excellent recordings for Cadet and Argo Records in the early 60s, Lou’s return to Blue Note in 1967 was marked by one of his most famous recordings, Alligator Bogaloo. Lou was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by North Carolina A & T University and a scholarship was established in his name that is awarded to the most gifted jazz musician at North Carolina A & T University each year. He was inducted into the International Jazz Hall of Fame, is an NEA Jazz Master — the nation’s highest honor in jazz, and is the recipient of countless other honors and awards for his outstanding contributions to jazz, America’s “classical music.”

Lou was born in Badin, North Carolina on November 1, 1926 — the second of 4 children born to father Andrew, a minister and graduate of Livingstone College, and mother, Lucy, graduate of Cheney University who was a teacher, music director and concert pianist who recognized Lou’s expert ear for music and introduced him to the clarinet. He matriculated to North Carolina A& T College at age 15 where he received a Bachelor of Science degree and joined the marching band playing clarinet. After being drafted into the US Navy in 1945, Lou played in the Great Lakes Navy Band where, when playing for dances, he would also play the alto saxophone. After going into Chicago several times, he heard of Charlie Parker and, after checking him out, decided that this was the style of playing he would make his own. Lou moved to New York in 1950 or late 49 where he attended the Darrow Institute of Music and lived at 127^th Street and 8^th Avenue with his new wife, Maker, his longtime sweetheart from North Carolina who remained his wife and business partner for 56 years until her death in 2006. Together they raised two daughters, Lydia and Carol, and called the Bronx their home where Lou still resides and where he penned his signature tunes like Blues Walk that are still acclaimed classics today.

Lou continues to play at his very best, entertaining audiences worldwide with spirited performances that are always soulful, thoroughly swinging, and steeped in the blues.  Lou’s hits on Blue Note Records are still high demand favorites and, today, he is the label’s oldest musician from that notable era of jazz.

Originally published at loudonaldson.com

Photo credit:

1. Homepage – www.youtube.com
2. Photo #1 above – www.loudonaldson.com
3. Photo #2 above – fthmb.tqn.com

Carmen Lundy began her professional career in Miami, FL as a jazz vocalist and composer when there were very few young, gifted and aspiring jazz vocalists on the horizon. Over four decades later, Ms. Lundy is celebrated throughout the world for her vocal artistry and is highly regarded for her jazz innovation.

Currently on the Afrasia Productions label, Carmen has just completed work on her 15th album Code Noir, due in February 2017. Written entirely by Lundy, the album traverses musical genres and is a song cycle for these turbulent times. Her previous album “Soul To Soul” was released in 2014 to huge critical and popular acclaim. Almost two years in the making, “Soul To Soul” consists of new original songs by Lundy and a few special collaborations, among them Patrice Rushen, Geri Allen, Randy Brecker and Simphiwe Dana, a stunning South African vocalist and composer. “Soul To Soul” is on several major Top Ten Albums lists, including Downbeat and JazzTimes, as are the highly regarded releases “Changes”, “Jazz and the New Songbook-Live at The Madrid”, and “Come Home”. “Good Morning Kiss”, Ms. Lundy’s debut album, held a #3 spot on Billboard’s Jazz Chart for 23 weeks.

Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project – Grammy Winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album of 2011 – features the Carmen Lundy composition “Show Me A Sign”, with Ms. Lundy’s original performance from the album “Solamente” reinvented on the arrangement.

In April 2016, Carmen Lundy was honored with the 2016 Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award by Black Women In Jazz and The Arts, based in Atlanta, GA. Among her other awards and recognitions, especially rewarding was Miami-Dade’s County Office of the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners proclaiming January 25th “Carmen Lundy Day”, along with handing Ms. Lundy the keys to the City of Miami.

Having recorded more than fourteen albums as a leader, Carmen’s far-reaching discography also includes performances and recordings with such musicians as brother and bassist Curtis Lundy, Ray Barretto, Kenny Barron, Bruce Hornsby, Mulgrew Miller, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kip Hanrahan, Courtney Pine, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, Marian McPartland, Regina Carter, Steve Turre, Geri Allen, Robert Glasper, Jamison Ross, Kenny Davis, Darryl Hall, Patrice Rushen and the late Kenny Kirkland. Ms. Lundy’s 2005 release, the hugely successful “Jazz and The New Songbook-Live at The Madrid”, features some of the jazz world’s best known musicians paying tribute to Ms. Lundy.

Carmen Lundy’s work as a vocalist and composer has been critically acclaimed by The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Washington Post, Jazz Times, Jazziz, Downbeat and Vanity Fair among many others, as well as numerous foreign publications. Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times writes “Carmen Lundy, as beautiful inside as out, has accomplished the near impossible for a jazz singer by maintaining a solid, successful, three-decade career while focusing largely on original, self-penned material.” And Don Heckman of The Los Angeles Times – “Lundy’s performance was the product of talent that has ripened fully. Her far-ranging, fluidly mobile voice roved through and around the melodies, and her innate sense of theatricality illuminated every layer of drama in her story-driven songs.”

As a composer, Ms. Lundy’s catalogue numbers over 100 published songs, one of the few jazz vocalists in history to accomplish such a distinction, and has led to the first publication of the Carmen Lundy Songbook (2007). Her songs have been recorded by such artists as Kenny Barron (“Quiet Times”), Ernie Watts (“At The End Of My Rope”), and Straight Ahead (“Never Gonna Let You Go”). Officially endorsed by Neumann microphones, Carmen Lundy continues to compose and expand her vast catalogue.

Her discography consists of “Good Morning Kiss” (CLR/Afrasia Productions), “Moment To Moment” (Arabesque/Afrasia Productions), “Night And Day” (CBS/SONY and re-issued by Afrasia in 2011), “Old Devil Moon” (JVC), “Self Portrait” (JVC), “Something To Believe In” and “This Is Carmen Lundy” (both for Justin Time), “Jazz and The New Songbook – Live at The Madrid” (2-disc set and DVD, Afrasia Productions), “Come Home” (Afrasia), “Solamente” and the 2012 release “Changes” (Afrasia Productions). Her newest recording “Soul To Soul” was almost 2 years in the making, and will be released in the Fall of 2014 on Afrasia Productions.

A native of Miami, Florida, Carmen Lundy’s path to being one of today’s most talented, respected and sophisticated jazz singers began at age six, with her first piano lessons. She was deeply inspired by her mother who was then lead singer in the gospel group, The Apostolic Singers. Ms. Lundy attended The University of Miami as an Opera major, but soon discovered that jazz was where her talent really shone. While working steadily in the Miami Jazz scene, she graduated with a degree in Studio Music and Jazz – one of the first singers to do so. Lundy then moved to New York City in the spring of ’78 and immediately began working in jazz circles throughout the Tri-State area, and from Harlem to Greenwich Village, quickly impressing the notoriously critical jazz cognoscenti and audiences alike. Esteemed critic Gary Giddins stated (in 1983), “Jazz singing stopped regenerating itself about 20 years ago, and it’s not hard to see why, so it’s with some trepidation that I call your attention to an authentic young jazz singer named Carmen Lundy – she’s got it all.” Armed with a devoted following and critical kudos, the uncompromising Ms. Lundy continued to make waves, not just in North America, but in Asia and throughout the UK and Europe.

Teaching, too, is an important activity for Ms Lundy; she’s given Master Classes in Australia, Denmark, Russia, Japan, Switzerland, New York, Washington, D.C., Northern California, Los Angeles and other cities around the world. Since its inception in 1998, Lundy has and continues to participate in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Program at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as Resident Clinician and guest artist. She has also worked with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz as guest artist and clinician.

Ms. Lundy is also a gifted actress active in theatre. “Acting,” as she told Dr. Billy Taylor in 2006, “helps me to get more comfortable and acquainted with the art of performance.” She performed the lead role as Billie Holiday in the Off-Off Broadway play “They Were All Gardenias” by Lawrence Holder, as well as the lead role in the Broadway show, Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Ladies,” and she made her television debut as the star of the CBS Pilot-Special “Shangri-La Plaza” in the role of Geneva, after which she relocated to Los Angeles, where she currently resides.

In addition to her recordings, Carmen Lundy has also composed and arranged for the Sonoton Music Library, the largest independent production music library in the world. Her music has been featured on such TV shows as “Mad Men”, “The L Word”, “Boardwalk Empire”, “So You Think You Can Dance”, “Baby Story”, and many others; as well as Feature Films and Documentaries including “9/11 – A Remembrance”.

Carmen Lundy is also a celebrated mixed media artist and painter, and her works have been exhibited in New York at The Jazz Gallery in Soho, at The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, and at a month-long exhibition at the Madrid Theatre in Los Angeles, CA.

Lundy resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Originally published on carmenlundy.com

Photo credit:

1. Homepage – www.360artistmanagement.com
2. Photo #1 above – www.mileshighproductions.com
3. Photo #2 above – www.wclk.com
4. Photo #3 above – www.jazzfestivalleibnitz.at

David ‘Fathead’ Newman was born in Corsicana, Texas on February 24, 1933. His family soon moved to Dallas, where they settled and David stayed through

graduating Lincoln High School. After school, David found gigs in local bands. He received a scholarship to Jarvis Christian College where he studied theology and music.

After two years of college, David decided to go on the road full time with Buster Smith (Charlie Parker’s mentor). The band played lots of one-nighters and dance halls, touring Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and sometimes California. On one of those tours, David met Ray Charles.

Ray was working as a sideman with another group on the night’s roster. They immediately bonded, both musically and as friends. When Ray started his own band, he called on David to be part of his group. In 1954, David began a twelve year association with the Ray Charles Band. David began as the baritone player and soon became the star tenor soloist.

In 1959, David recorded his first album as a leader titled, “Fathead: Ray Charles Presents ‘Fathead'” on Atlantic records. It included Newman’s dramatic and now famous rendition of Hard Times.

He returned to Dallas for a short time and led his own bands. Then he moved to New York City where his career took off in many directions.

Newman recorded many albums for Atlantic records, as well as Warner Brothers and Prestige. During this time in NYC, David gigged with Lee Morgan, Kenny Drew Sr., Billy Higgins, Kenny Dorham and so many other of the great jazz musicians hanging out on the New York scene. He gigged around the East Coast with his own quartet and soon began touring Europe and Japan as a leader.

As a studio musician he was very busy working on lots of recording projects with the likes of Herbie Mann, Aretha Franklin, Hank Crawford, Aaron Neville, to name a few. After meeting at a studio session, David joined forces with Herbie Mann during “The Family of Mann” era. Cal Tjader (later Roy Ayres) were part of this outstanding group.

It was now time for David Newman to focus on his personal choices and let the public know more about the music that he chose to play. In 1980, Newman, determined to pursue his own musical identity, recorded several mainstream jazz albums for the Muse label. Artists such as Cedar Walton, Jimmy Cobb, Buster Williams, Louis Hayes, and other fine NY musicians, helped round out the rhythm sections.

David returned to Atlantic Records in the late eighties to record several albums. One of he recordings was done live at the Village Vanguard in NYC, featuring Stanley Turrentine and Hank Crawford.

Newman’s next recordings were on the Kokopelli label. This was a new label owned by Herbie Mann. David recorded a beautiful CD in tribute to Duke Ellington, titled Mr. Gentle, Mr. Cool. David produced the next one on Kokopelli, titled Under A Woodstock Moon.

The late nineties brought David to the High Note label where he has recorded six successful CDs. The most recent, I Remember Brother Ray, was released in January 2005 and became the #1 Most Played Jazz Album nationwide.

David Newman has appeared on many television shows including Saturday Night Live, David Sanborn’s Night Music, David Letterman, and various featured news segments. David appeared in Robert Altman’s film Kansas City and did a national tour with the Kansas City Orchestra, for Verve Records.

Originally published on www.davidfatheadnewman.com

Photo credit:

1. Homepage – www.wikipedia.org
2. Photo #1 above – www.wrti.org
3. Photo #2 above – www.allmusic.com
4. Photo #3 above – www.nytimes.com

By virtue of his warm, flamboyant stage manner, longevity, constant touring, and appearances in the mass media, Tito Puente is probably the most beloved symbol of Latin jazz. But more than that, Puente managed to keep his music remarkably fresh over the decades; as a timbales virtuoso, he combined mastery over every rhythmic nuance with old-fashioned showmanship — watching his eyes bug out when taking a dynamic solo was one of the great treats for Latin jazz fans. A trained musician, he was also a fine, lyrical vibraphonist, a gifted arranger, and played piano, congas, bongos, and saxophone. His appeal continues to cut across all ages and ethnic groups, helped no doubt by Santana’s best-selling cover versions of “Oye Como Va” and “Para Los Rumberos” in 1970-1971, and cameo appearances on The Cosby Show in the 1980s and the film The Mambo Kings in 1992. His brand of classic salsa is generally free of dark undercurrents, radiating a joyous, compulsively danceable party atmosphere.

Rooted in Spanish Harlem, of Puerto Rican descent, Puente originally intended to become a dancer but those ambitions were scotched by a torn ankle tendon suffered in an accident. At age 13, he began working in Ramon Olivero’s big band as a drummer, and later he studied composing, orchestration, and piano at Juilliard and the the New York School of Music. More importantly, he played with and absorbed the influence of Machito, who was successfully fusing Latin rhythms with progressive jazz. Forming the nine-piece Piccadilly Boys in 1947 and then expanding it to a full orchestra two years later, Puente recorded for Seeco, Tico, and eventually RCA Victor, helping to fuel the mambo craze that gave him the unofficial — and ultimately lifelong — title “King of the Mambo,” or just “El Rey.” Puente also helped popularize the cha-cha during the 1950s, and he was the only non-Cuban who was invited to a government-sponsored “50 Years of Cuban Music” celebration in Cuba in 1952.

Puente Goes Jazz Among the major-league congueros who played with the Puente band in the ’50s were Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Johnny Pacheco, and Ray Barretto, which resulted in some explosive percussion shootouts. Not one to paint himself into a tight Latin music corner, Puente’s range extended to big-band jazz (Puente Goes Jazz), and in the ’60s, bossa nova tunes, Broadway hits, boogaloos, and pop music, although in later years he tended to stick with older Latin jazz styles that became popularly known as salsa. In 1982, he started reeling off a string of several Latin jazz albums with octets or big bands for Concord Picante that gave him greater exposure and respect in the jazz world than he ever had.
The Mambo King: His 100th Album An indefatigable visitor to the recording studios, Puente recorded his 100th album, The Mambo King, in 1991 amid much ceremony and affection (an all-star Latin music concert at Los Angeles’ Universal Amphitheatre in March 1992 commemorated the milestone), and he kept adding more titles to the tally throughout the ’90s. He also appeared as a guest on innumerable albums over the years, and such jazz stars as Phil Woods, George Shearing, James Moody, Dave Valentin, and Terry Gibbs played on Puente’s own later albums. Just months after accepting his fifth Grammy award, he died on June 1, 2000. Several months later, Puente was recognized at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards, winning for Best Traditional Tropical Perfomance for Mambo Birdland.

Written by Richard S. Ginell
Originally published at www.allmusic.com
Photo credit:

1. Homepage – jazzmuseuminharlem.org
2. Photo #1 above – image.iheart.com
3. Photo #2 above – i.ytimg.com

Few entertainers have ever commanded such depth of artistry in every medium. Fewer still have been rewarded with Broadway’s coveted Tony Award (Best Featured Actress in a Musical – The Wiz), nominated for the London theater’s West End equivalent, the Laurence Oliver Award (Best Actress in a Musical – Lady Day), won three Grammy® Awards (2011‘s Best Jazz Vocal Album for “Eleanora Fagan: To Billie with Love from Dee Dee Bridgewater”, 1998’s Best Jazz Vocal Performance and Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal for “Cottontail” – Slide Hampton, arranger – “Dear Ella “), and France’s 1998 top honor Victoire de la Musique (Best Jazz Vocal Album).

Dee Dee captured the hearts of audiences worldwide in The Wiz with her signature song, If You Believe. According to Nick Ashford of Ashford and Simpson, Dee Dee’s rendition “personified a generation and gave us all hope.”

As an ambassador for jazz, she bathed in its music before she could walk. Her mother played the greatest albums of Ella Fitzgerald, whose artistry provided an inspiration for Dee Dee throughout her career. Her father was a trumpeter who taught music – to Booker Little, Charles Lloyd and George Coleman, among others. It is the kind of background that leaves its mark on an adolescent, especially one who appeared solo and with a trio as soon as she was able. Dee Dee’s other vocation, that of globetrotter, reared its head when she toured the Soviet Union in 1969 with the University of Illinois Big Band. A year later, she followed her then husband, Cecil Bridgewater, to New York.

Dee Dee made her New York debut in 1970 as the lead vocalist for the band led by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, one of the premier jazz orchestras of the time. These New York years marked an early career in concerts and on recordings with such giants as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach and Roland Kirk, and rich experiences with Norman Connors, Stanley Clarke and Frank Foster’s “Loud Minority.”

Dee Dee doesn’t care much for labels, and in 1974 she jumped at the chance to act and sing on Broadway where her voice, beauty and stage presence won her great success and a Tony Award for her role as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz. This began a long line of awards and accolades as well as opportunities to work in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris and in London where she garnered the coveted “Laurence Olivier” Award nomination as Best Actress for her tour de force portrayal of jazz legend Billie Holiday in Stephen Stahl’s Lady Day. Performing the lead in equally demanding acting/singing roles as Sophisticated Ladies, Cosmopolitan Greetings, Black Ballad, Carmen Jazz and the musical Cabaret (the first black actress to star as Sally Bowles), she secured her reputation as a consummate entertainer.

Named Ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in October 1999, Dee Dee joined the battle against world hunger. Appealing for international solidarity to finance global grass-roots projects, the FAO’s Ambassadors aid in developing self-reliance in long-term conservation and management of sustainable agriculture, rural development and the conservation and management of natural resources.

Taking over the reigns of Jazzset© from Branford Marsalis, Dee Dee brought her message to listeners. NPR’s JazzSet© with Dee Dee Bridgewater is the jazz lover’s ears and eyes on the world of live music. It presents today’s best jazz artists in performance on stages around the world, taking listeners to Puerto Rico and Cuba, as well as Marciac in the French countryside and across the North American continent from Montreal to Monterey.

Photo credit (above): www.tedkurland.com
Photo credit (home): static-secure.guim.co.uk