#don braden

[jazzdailyblog]

Don Braden: Masterful Saxophonist, Composer, and Educator

Introduction: Jazz is a language that thrives on its ability to evolve, and few artists embody this spirit as fully as Don Braden. A master saxophonist, prolific composer, and devoted educator, Braden has carved out a career that bridges tradition and innovation. Whether performing hard-swinging standards, writing intricate original compositions, or mentoring the next generation of jazz…

Don Braden: Masterful Saxophonist, Composer, and Educator

[jazzdailyblog]

Embracing the Night: Don Braden's "After Dark"

Introduction: Don Braden’s 1994 album “After Dark” is a captivating exploration of the nighttime experience through the lens of jazz. Recorded in New York City on January 5, 1993, and released on the Criss Cross Jazz label, this album features a mix of original compositions and jazz standards, as well as a reimagined pop song by Stevie Wonder. With a lineup of talented musicians, including…

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[mostlymonk]

Rhythm A Ning

Jam Session -  Mt Fuji Jazz Fest

Don Braden – sax Terumasa Hino – cornet Mulgrew Miller – piano Ira Coleman – bass Ralph Peterson – drums

[dineva-silviya]

Jazz Teaches Us Team Effectiveness

Do you know the business definition of what a team is?

More that 2 people with a common goal, exchanging communication and dedicated to the same set of work principles and the same organizational culture.

So business theories talk a lot about team stricture, culture, effectiveness, motivation, measurement, evaluation etc. and that is great. I have read and remembered those. Implemented them in business too.

Until I came to realize that is not out of a business book but an universal truth of how people function together and what a magic is when they reach out bigger success than themselves individually. 1+1=3

And I see that pattern anywhere: in close-friends groups, in theater troupes, in music bands, in my high-school teacher’s program for dedicated physicists. Just anywhere!

Don Braden is an American jazz saxophonist. He talks about Jazz being nothing else but a team (Isn’t it actually the same in organizations?)

And how amazing it is that it turns out just as universal:

Bunch of people

Everybody has their own role

But compatible styles, close to each other

They listen to each other

It’s a community

They must be consistent in practice

Learn from masters in their field

Act together to “get into it”

Keep that going again and again

Get better over time

Have fun, joy and magic.

With everyone being in the right zone with the right team, the jazz band (Were we still talking about the jazz?) end up with something bigger than what separate musicians count. 1+1=3

The team success is about how much more you get out of the bare number equation.

Don Braden says 4 + 20 = 100, that is what you get out of it!

Don Braden at Groove Atelier, Sofia

[bookofdarrell]

NYC Memories: Shout Out to the Early Days: Don Braden, Cecil Brooks III & Joris Teepe

The best thing about the road is the stories.

They put the"oral" in the jazz oral tradition.  They are our badges of honor, our rites of passage, and the means by which so much about the music is passed on.  You know you are a jazz musician when you have road stories.

Many of my stories come from traveling in the company of these three distinguished musicians.  In retrospect, I have them to thank for much of what has become my story in this music.

Don Braden included me on his 3rd Criss Cross Records "After Dark,"  which led directly to my having the opportunity to record my own debut on that label-"Black Art."

Cecil Brooks III was a model of the musician/entrepreneur long before he opened his own jazz club "Cecil's.  He gave me the lowdown on publishing, performing rights royalties, as well as the piece of advice that changed my life and led me to leave New York and take a teaching position in Portland, Oregon.

"Don't worry about leaving the NY scene," he said, when I was debating whether or not to make the move.  "Wherever you are, that is where the scene is.  You are the scene."  Which was exactly what I needed to hear, and has been a mantra for me ever since.

Joris Teepe put the quartet together and booked the tours that brought us to Europe.  He opening his home in Amsterdam, and made that city feel like home to me.  He organized the studio session in Monster, Holland that became my third record "Twilight Stories."-the title tune of which was written a one in the morning after a quartet gig in Germany,  He started a noted jazz school at Groningen University in Holland (and he plays the upright bass left handed.)

The three of them gave me my most memorable road story:

We were on a tour in Northern Europe and our German tour van was stolen out of the parking lot of a Polish jazz club during a soundcheck, leaving us stranded 1000 kilometers away from our next night's gig.  The subsequent day involved, among other things: a trip in the back of a cargo truck to a closed train station, a dash for the East German border, hustling suitcases & a bass through the Berlin subway station while Joris tried to rent a new van to take us to the sold out gig in West Germany, and then sitting at a standstill for 3 hours on the ring-road out of Berlin waiting for them to clear construction, after which… we never made the gig.

Thanks for the miles & the milestones, gentlemen.  For many hours of wonderful music, life experience, road conversation & modelling how one makes it in this business.  Your scenes – which include successful jazz clubs, critically-acclaimed recordings, International music schools, recognized contributions to jazz education, and so much great music all along the way – continue to inspire me.

Here's to more stories.

The 'Twilight" Quartet- Germany 1995

[blewnotes]

Jazziversaries November 20th

Don Braden (sax, tenor) 1963 :: Birthday greetings to saxman Don Braden. He began playing tenor sax at age 13 and started playing professionally at 15. As a high schooler he played in the McDonald's All-American High School Jazz Band. He attended Harvard University from 1981 to 1984 and studied engineering there, but also played in the school's jazz ensemble.

He moved to New York City in 1984, where he played with The Harper Brothers, Lonnie Smith, and Betty Carter. In 1986-87 he toured with Wynton Marsalis, and following this played with Out of the Blue, Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, Tom Harrell, Art Farmer, and the Mingus Big Band.

Jay Rosen (drums) 1961 :: Many happy returns to Jay Rosen. Jay  is an American jazz drummer. Rosen is a member of Trio X with trumpeter/saxophonist Joe McPhee and double bassist Dominic Duval, and performs in Cosmosomatics with saxophonist Sonny Simmons.

Around age 18, Rosen became a professional musician, and played in a variety of settings, such as studio work, weddings and cocktail lounges, as well as in various musical styles, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country, jazz, and Brazilian music. His recording career in improvised music began in the mid-1990s, when he recorded Split Personality (GM Records) with Mark Whitecage and Dominic Duval. He began an association with the CIMP label in 1996, and as of April 2011 has appeared on at least fifty CIMP albums (as well as seven albums from the related Cadence Jazz Records). Todd Jenkins describes Rosen and Duval as the "house rhythm section" for CIMP, given the number of recordings on which they have jointly appeared.

Since 1998, Rosen has performed with Joe McPhee and Dominic Duval in Trio X. In 2000, Rosen joined Cosmosomatics, a quartet including saxophonists Sonny Simmons and Michael Marcus and bassist William Parker.

June Christy (vocalist) 1925 -1990 ::  June Christy born Shirley Luster, was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued a solo career from 1954 and is best known for her debut album Something Cool. After her death, she was hailed as "one of the finest and most neglected singers of her time."

In 1945, after hearing that Anita O'Day had left Stan Kenton's Orchestra, she auditioned and was chosen for the role as a vocalist. During this time, she changed her name once again, becoming June Christy.

Her voice produced successful hits such as "Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy," the million-selling "Tampico" in 1945, and "How High the Moon". "Tampico" was Kenton's biggest-selling record. When the Kenton Band temporarily disbanded in 1948, she sang in nightclubs for a short time, and reunited with the band two years later.

Beginning Sept. 28, 1959, Christy began a five-week road tour of 38 performances called "Road Show". The all-star billing: Stan Kenton and his orchestra, June Christy, The Four Freshmen. Capitol recorded highlights on October 10 at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, for a two-disc LP, reissued in 1988 on CD.

From 1947, she started to work on her own records, primarily with arranger and bandleader Pete Rugolo. In 1954, she released a 10" LP entitled Something Cool, recorded with Rugolo and his orchestra, a gathering of notable Los Angeles jazz musicians that included her husband, multi-instrumentalist Bob Cooper and alto saxophonist Bud Shank. Something Cool was re-released as a 12" LP in 1955 with additional selections, and then entirely rerecorded in stereo in 1960 with a somewhat different personnel. Christy would later say that the album was "the only thing I've recorded that I'm not unhappy with." Something Cool was also important in launching the vocal cool movement of the 1950s, and it hit the Top 20 Charts, as did her third album, The Misty Miss Christy.

Christy embarked on dozens of concert tours, playing in Europe, South Africa, Australia and Japan. She toured to such an extent that eventually it began taking a toll on her marriage. She began to pull back from touring in the early 1960s.

Christy semi-retired from the music business in 1969, in part due to her battle with alcoholism.

In 1972, she sang at the Newport Jazz Festival in New York City, where she was reunited with the Kenton Orchestra. She also performed at a handful of jazz festivals during the late 1970s and 1980s, playing with a band of all-star West Coast jazz musicians led by Shorty Rogers, as well as taking part in a number of world tours.

Christy returned to the recording studio in 1977 to record her final solo LP, Impromptu. She recorded an interview for a Paul Cacia produced an album in 1987 called "The Alumni Tribute to Stan Kenton" on the Happy Hour label. A number of other Kenton the alumni-Shorty Rogers, Lee Konitz, Jack Sheldon, among them, plus Mort Sahl - interspersed their tunes with reminiscences of the man and the years on the road.

Christy toured one final time in 1988, again with Shorty Rogers. Her final performance was sharing the stage with Chet Baker.

Meredith Monk (vocalist) 1943 :: Birthday wishes to Meredith Monk. Meredith Jane Monk  is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. Since the 1960s, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recording extensively for ECM Records.

Meredith Monk is primarily known for her vocal innovations, including a wide range of extended techniques, which she first developed in her solo performances prior to forming her own ensemble. In December 1961, she appeared at the "Actor's Playhouse" in Greenwich Village (NYC) as a solo dancer in an Off Broadway children's musical theater adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," entitled "Scrooge" (music and lyrics by Norman Curtis; directed and choreographed by Patricia Taylor Curtis). In 1964, Monk graduated from Sarah Lawrence College after studying with Beverly Schmidt Blossom, and in 1968 she founded The House, a company dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to performance.

Monk's performances have influenced many artists, including Bruce Nauman, whom she met in San Francisco in 1968. In 1978 Monk formed Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble (modelled after similar ensembles of musical colleagues, such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass), to explore new and wider vocal textures and forms, which often were contrasted with minimal instrumental textures. Monk began a long-standing relationship with the Walker Art Center of Minneapolis, which continues to showcase her work to this day. Pieces from this time include Dolmen Music (1979), which also was recorded for her first album released at Manfred Eicher's record label ECM in 1981.

In the 1980s, Monk wrote and directed two films, Ellis Island (1981), and Book of Days (1988), which developed from a single idea; "One day during summer of 1984, as I was sweeping the floor of my house in the country, the image of a young girl (in black and white) and a medieval street in the Jewish community (also in black and white) came to me." Monk tells this account in the liner notes of the ECM-recording. Apart from the film, different versions exist of this piece. Two are for the concert hall, and an album, produced by Meredith Monk and Manfred Eicher, is "a film for the ears."

In the early 1990s, Monk composed an opera called Atlas, which premiered in Houston, Texas in 1991. She has also written pieces for instrumental ensembles and symphony orchestras. Her first symphonic work was Possible Sky (2003). It was followed by Stringsongs (2004) for string quartet, which was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. In 2005, events were held all over the world in celebration of the 40th anniversary of her career, including a concert in Carnegie Hall featuring Björk, Terry Riley, DJ Spooky (who sampled Monk on his album Drums of Death), Ursula Oppens, Bruce Brubaker, John Zorn, and the new music ensembles Alarm Will Sound and Bang on a Can All-Stars, along with the Pacific Mozart Ensemble.

Duane Allman (guitar) 1946-1971 :: Howard Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician, and the co-founder and primary leader of the The Allman Brothers Band until his death in a motorcycle accident in 1971 at the age of 24.

The Allman Brothers Band was formed in 1969 and based in the Southeastern United States. In the early 1970s, the band was hugely successful. Allman is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in the band and in particular for his expressive slide guitar playing and inventive improvisational skills. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Allman at #2 in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, second only to Jimi Hendrix and in 2011 he was ranked #9. His tone (achieved with a Gibson Les Paul and two 50-watt bass Marshall amplifiers) was named one of the greatest guitar tones of all time by Guitar Player.

A sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with the band, Duane Allman performed with such established stars as King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Herbie Mann. He also contributed heavily to the 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos.

Duane Allman’s skills as a guitarist were complemented by personal qualities such as his intensity, drive and ability to draw the best out of others in making music. He is still referred to by his nickname "Skydog

Skeeter Best (guitar) 1914 -1985 :: Clifton "Skeeter" Best was an American jazz guitarist.

Best played in Philadelphia from 1935 to 1940, recording with Slim Marshall and Erskine Hawkins. In 1940 he joined Earl Hines's orchestra, playing with him until he joined the U.S. Navy in 1942. After the war he played with Bill Johnson from 1945 to 1949. He toured East Asia with Oscar Pettiford in 1951 and 1952, and formed his own trio in the 1950s. He did a critically acclaimed session with Ray Charles and Milt Jackson in 1957 called Soul Brothers. In 1958 he recorded with Mercer Ellington. He also recorded with Harry Belafonte, Etta Jones, Nellie Lutcher, Milt Hinton, Osie Johnson, Paul Quinichette, Jimmy Rushing, Sonny Stitt, Lucky Thompson and Sir Charles Thompson. Later in his life he taught in New York City.

Hey all you November 20th Jazzerlings out there, happy bornday to you all, may your day be swell and the coming year one that leads you towards your dreams!

Thanks to AAJ & JBC for the guidance,

Respect to the YouTube Massive for the uploads,

Hugs and Cuddles Inspiration crew, thanskfor the follows and doing as you do

and thanks to You for jus' passin' thru'

Be water, my friends,

Walk tall,

Speak low,

Go placidly,

Geo

[jazzandmovies]

Wynton Marsalis playing the title tune from the album 'J Mood' I mentioned before. This version also features Don Braden on Tenor Sax

[johnnykskim]

Visit Original Link

Don Braden - Moonglow (Organic, 1994)