A.C. Reed (sax, tenor) 1926-2004 :: Aaron Corthen, better known as A.C. Reed was an American blues saxophonist, closely associated with the Chicago blues scene from the 1940s into the 2000s. He took his stage name from his friend, Jimmy Reed. He moved to Chicago during World War II, playing with Earl Hooker and Willie Mabon in the 1940s. He toured with Dennis "Long Man" Binder in 1956, and did extensive work as a sideman for Mel London's blues record labels Chief/Profile/Age in the 1960s, with Lillian Offitt and Ricky Allen, amongst others. He had a regionally popular single in 1961 with "This Little Voice" (Age 29101), and cut several more singles over the course of the decade.
He became a member of Buddy Guy's band in 1967, playing with him on his tour of Africa in 1969 and, with Junior Wells, opening for The Rolling Stones in 1970. He remained with Guy until 1977, then played with Son Seals and Albert Collins in the late 1970s and 1980s. He began recording solo material for Alligator Records in the 1980s. On his 1987 offering, I'm in the Wrong Business, came cameo appearances by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bonnie Raitt.
He toured extensively in the 1980's and 90's with his band The Spark Plugs, playing small venues throughout the United States.
Dennis Chambers (drums) 1959 :: Bornday greetings to drummer Dennis Chambers. Dennis is an American drummer who has recorded and performed with John Scofield, George Duke, Brecker Brothers, Santana, Parliament/Funkadelic, John McLaughlin, Niacin, Mike Stern, CAB, Greg Howe, and many others. Despite a lack of formal training, Chambers has become well known among drummers for his technique and speed. Chambers is particularly regarded for his ability to play “in the pocket” but can also stretch very far out of the pocket which is also a hallmark of his technique. Chambers exhibits a powerful style that is technically proficient, yet highly musical and groove-oriented. He can play in a wide variety of musical genres, but is perhaps most notable for his jazz-fusion, funk, and Latin music playing. He is mostly known for his fast hands and triplets on the bass drum. He has helped many young drummers, the most prominent being Tony Royster, Jr.
Chambers began drumming at the age of four years old, and was gigging in Baltimore-area nightclubs by the age of six. In 1978 (at 18 years old) he joined Parliament/Funkadelic, and stayed with them until 1985. In 1986 he joined the John Scofield band. Since then he has played with most of the major figures in jazz fusion music.
In 2007, just before Led Zeppelin were scheduled to play at the O2 Arena in London, John Bonham’s son Jason was asked in an interview that if he himself were to pass up the opportunity, which drummer would he recommend to fill the coveted drum throne. His reply was ‘If I were to choose, I would probably want a jazz drummer with a strong swing feel. You know what - Dennis Chambers. I think he would “get it”, whereas other rock drummers wouldn’t.’
In an interview by Bonedo in 2011 Dennis Chambers was asked who some of his influences and favorite drummers were and he mentioned Clyde Stubblefield, Al Jackson, Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Garry Husband, Jack Dejonette, Billy Cobham, Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, and Tony Williams.
Tania Maria(piano) 1948 :: Feliz aniversário para Tânia Maria! Tania is a Brazilian artist, singer, composer, bandleader and piano player, singing mostly in Portuguese or English. Her Brazilian-style music is mostly vocal, sometimes pop, often jazzy, and includes samba, bossa, Afro-Latin, Pop and Jazz fusion.
Her father, a metal worker and a gifted guitarist and singer, had encouraged her to study piano so that she could play in his weekend jam sessions, where she first absorbed the rhythms and melodies of samba, jazz, pop music and Brazilian chorinho. Since then, she has never worked in anyone else’s group. Maria’s first album Apresentamos was released in Brazil in 1969, followed by Olha Quem Chega in 1971, but it was a move to France in the late 1970s that exploded Tania onto the international scene. At a concert in Australia, her formidable musical precision and freewheeling spirit caught the attention of the late American guitarist, Charlie Byrd, who recommended her to the late Carl Jefferson, founder of Concord Records.
Tania has played virtually every important jazz festival in the world and has appeared on countless television and radio programmes. Tania has recorded more than 25 albums and in 1985 was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category “Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female”. Tania performed at prestigious venues like The Blue Note and famous festivals like the Monterey Jazz Festival in ‘81, ‘83 and ‘89, Saratoga Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Fest 1991, Montreux Jazz Festival, New Orleans Heritage Festival, Puerto Rico Heineken Jazzfest 2001, Malta Jazz Festival 2003 at Maltese Islands, Novosadski Jazz Festival 2004, Belgium’s Jazz Middelheim 2007, and has played with such greats as Steve Gadd, Anthony Jackson, Sammy Figueroa and Eddie Gomez.
Dick Morrissey (saxophone, tenor) 1940-2000 :: Richard Edwin “Dick” Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.
Dick Morrissey emerged in the early 1960s in the wake of Tubby Hayes, Britain’s pre-eminent sax player at the time. Self-taught, he started playing clarinet in his school band at the age of sixteen and then joined the Original Climax Jazz Band. Going on to join trumpeter Gus Galbraith's Septet, where alto-sax player Peter King introduced him to Charlie Parker's recordings, he began specialising on tenor saxophone shortly after.
Making his name as a hard bop player, he appeared regularly at the Marquee Club from August 1960, and recorded his first solo album at the age of 21, It’s Morrissey, Man! (1961) for Fontana, featuring Stan Jones on piano, Colin Barnes on drums, and The Jazz Couriers founding member Malcolm Cecil on bass. The Dick Morrissey Quartet recorded three LPs, Have You Heard? (1963); the live recording Storm Warning! (1965) on Mercury; and Here and Now and Sounding Good! (1966).
Dick Morrissey performed regularly at the National Jazz Festival in the 1960s; his last appearance under his own name there was at the 6th festival held at Windsor (1966). In 1969, Dick Morrissey teamed up with another Melody Maker award-winner, guitarist Terry Smith, to form an early jazz-rock group, if.
When if disbanded in 1975, Dick Morrissey went to Germany on a tour with Alexis Korner and then to the United States to tour and record with the Average White Band, and met up with Glaswegian guitarist, Jim Mullen, who had played with Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express with some of the members of AWB, and together they formed Morrissey–Mullen (aka M&M), recording their first album, Up (1976) in New York. On returning to Great Britain, Morrissey–Mullen formed a band which rapidly became Britain’s most highly acclaimed jazz-fusion band of the day, initially including two top session musicians from New Zealand, Frank Gibson, Jr. and Bruce Lynch.
M&M recorded seven albums over the 16 years they were together, with Morrissey and Mullen collaborating on each other’s solo albums, notably After Dark (1983) with John Critchinson, Ron Mathewson, Martin Drew, Barry Whitworth
