Jazziversaries March 23rd
Dave Frishberg (piano) - 1933 :: Birthday greetings to pianist Dave Frishberg. Frishberg resisted learning classical piano as a boy, developing an interest in blues and boogie-woogie by listening to recordings by Pete Johnson and Jay McShann. As a teenager he played in the house band at the Flame in St. Paul where Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, and Johnny Hodges appeared. After graduating from the University of Minnesota as a journalism major in 1955, Frishberg spent two years in the Air Force, then moved to New York where he played solo piano at the Duplex in Greenwich Village. Frishberg first became known for his work with Carmen McRae, Ben Webster, Gene Krupa, Bud Freeman, Eddie Condon, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims. Later he was celebrated for writing and performing his own, frequently humorous, songs, including favorites “I’m Hip” (co-written with Bob Dorough), “My Attorney Bernie,” “Do You Miss New York,” “Peel Me A Grape,” “Quality Time,” “Slappin’ the Cakes on Me,” and “Van Lingle Mungo,” the lyrics of which entirely consist of the names of old-time baseball players. Frishberg cites songwriter Frank Loesser as an influence, adding that Loesser’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is (along with Willie Nelson’s “Crazy”) one of the songs he wishes he’d written.
Many of his songs have been performed by artists such as Blossom Dearie, Rosemary Clooney, Anita O’Day, Michael Feinstein, Diana Krall, Stacey Kent, John Pizzarelli, and Mel Tormé.
Frishberg is also noted as having written the music and lyrics for “I’m Just a Bill,” the song about the forlorn legislative writ in the ABC Schoolhouse Rock! series, which was subsequently transformed into the popular revue “Schoolhouse Rock Live”. For “Schoolhouse Rock!,” he also wrote and performed “Walkin’ on Wall Street,” a song that describes how the stock market works, and “$7.50 Once a Week,” a song about saving and balancing a budget.
Dave Pike (vibraphone) - 1938 :: Many happy returns to vibes man Dave Pike. Dave is a jazz vibraphone and marimba player. He appears on many Herbie Mann albums as well as those by Bill Evans, Nick Brignola, Paul Bley and Kenny Clarke. He has also recorded extensively as leader, including a number of albums on MPS Records.
Pike made his recording debut with the Paul Bley Quartet in 1958. He began putting an amplifier on his vibes when working with flautist Herbie Mann in the early 1960s. By the late 1960s, Pike’s music became more exploratory, contributing a unique voice and new contexts that pushed the envelope in times remembered for their exploratory nature. Doors of Perception, released in 1970 for the Atlantic Records subsidiary Vortex Records and produced by former boss Herbie Mann, explored ballads, modal territory, musique concrète, with free and lyrical improvisation, and included musicians like alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, bassist Chuck Israels and pianist Don Friedman.
Pike’s move to Europe and tenure at MPS Records records produced some of the most original jazz of the period. With the collaboration of Volker Kriegel (guitar), J. A. Rettenbacher (acoustic and electric bass), and Peter Baumeister (drums), he formed the Dave Pike Set. The group recorded six records from 1969-1972 that ran the gamut from funky grooves to free, textural territory. The group, though short-lived, created a unique identity and textural palette. Kriegel’s compositional and instrumental (playing acoustic, classical, and electric guitar as well as sitar) contributions to the group helped set the Dave Pike Set’s sound apart, organically incorporating influences from jazz, soul jazz, psychedelia, avant-garde music, and World music.
Johnny Guarnieri - 1917-1985 :: Johnny Guarnieri was an American jazz and stride pianist, born in New York City, perhaps best known for his big band stints with Benny Goodman in 1939 and with Artie Shaw in 1940. Guarnieri is also noted for his embellishment and juxtaposition of jazz with classical piano, such as Scarlatti and Beethoven.
In the early 1980s, Johnny Guarnieri recorded “Johnny Guarnieri plays Duke Ellington” on a Bosendorfer Grand “SE” player piano, for the Live-Performance Jazz Series.
Throughout the 1940s Guarnieri was a busy sideman, recording with artists such as Charlie Christian, Cozy Cole, Ike Quebec, Charlie Kennedy, Hank D’Amico and Ben Webster. He also led his own group called the "Johnny Guarnieri Swing Men" and recorded with them on the Savoy label, a group that included Lester Young, Hank D’Amico, Billy Butterfield and Cozy Cole. He also led a trio in the 1940s composed of himself, Slam Stewart and Sammy Weiss, recording again for Savoy. During the 1940s he also recorded for the short-lived Majestic label playing solo piano and with his trio.
In 1949 Guarnieri recorded an album with June Christy titled June Christy & The Johnny Guarnieri Quintet. In his later years Guarnieri shifted more toward jazz education. In commemoration of his reputation as a teacher, Guarnieri’s students financed a label for him called Taz Jazz Records. In 1961the 1970s Guarnieri recorded numerous albums on his new label, and until 1982 worked at the “Tail of the Cock” nightclub in Studio City, California. He died onstage during a performance with Dick Sudhalter.
Louisiana Red - 1936-2012 :: Iverson Minter known as Louisiana Red, was an African American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who recorded more than 50 albums. He was best known for his song “Sweet Blood Call”.
Minter lost his parents early in life; His mother died of pneumonia shortly after his birth, and his father was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan when he was five. He was brought up by a series of relatives in various towns and cities. Red recorded for Chess in 1949, before joining the Army. After leaving the Army, he spent two years in the late 1950s playing with John Lee Hooker in Detroit. He recorded for Checker Records in 1952, billed as Rocky Fuller.
His first album, Lowdown Back Porch Blues, was recorded in New York with Tommy Tucker and released in 1963, with second album Seventh Son released later the same year. Louisiana Red released the single “I’m Too Poor To Die” for the Glover label in 1964. It peaked at number 117 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 30 on the Cashbox chart. Billboard did not print a standard R&B chart during 1964.
He maintained a busy recording and performing schedule through the 1960s and 1970s, having done sessions for Chess, Checker, Atlas, Glover, Roulette, L&R and Tomato amongst others. In 1983 he won a W.C. Handy Award for Best Traditional Blues Male Artist. He lived in Hanover, Germany since 1981.
In 1994, Louisiana Red fused the blues with the urban Greek music of the bouzouki player, Stelios Vamvakaris, on the album, Blues Meets Rembetika.
In 2011, Louisiana Red released Memphis Mojo to broad public acclaim.
Sticks McGhee (guitar) 1917-1961 :: Granville Henry McGhee, also known as Stick (or Sticks) McGhee was an African-American jump blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his blues song, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee".
Granville received his nickname during the early years, when he was pushing his older brother, Brownie McGhee, who was stricken with polio, in a wagon with a stick. Granville began playing the guitar when he was thirteen years old. After his freshmen year, Granville dropped out of high school and worked with his father at Eastman Kodak. In 1940, Granville quit his job and moved to Portsmouth, Virginia, and then he relocated to New York. There he entered the military in 1942 and served in the Army during World War II. In 1946, Granville was discharged and settled in New York.
In the military, Granville often played his guitar. One of the songs, that McGhee was best known for, was "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee".
This song was one of the earliest prototypical rock and roll songs, and was covered by Jerry Lee Lewis and Mike Bloomfield's Electric Flag (as "Wine"). The song lent its name to the alcoholic fruit drink, spodi. In 1946, Granville and Brownie McGhee collaborated and modified the song for Harlem Records. The song did not get much airplay time until two years later, when Granville recreated the song for Atlantic Records. As a result, it rose to Number 2 on the Billboard R&B chart, where it stayed for 4 weeks, spending almost half a year on the charts overall.
His song "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" maintained its popularity throughout the 1950s by various artists, including Malcolm Yelvington in 1954, Johnny Burnette in 1957, and Jerry Lee Lewis in 1959.
McGhee continued to make records for Atlantic and created popular songs such as "Tennessee Waltz Blues", "Drank Up All the Wine Last Night", "Venus Blues", "Let's Do It", and "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" but his music career overall was not successful. McGhee moved from Atlantic to Essex to create a record called "My Little Rose". The record failed so he moved to King in 1953. There he recorded a number of rock and roll songs such a "Whiskey, Women and Loaded Dice", "Head Happy With Wine", "Jungle Juice", "Six to Eight", "Double Crossin' Liquor", "Dealin' from the Bottom", and "Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter". However, he was unable to make money out of his records so he left King to record for Savoy in 1955, but retired from the music industry in 1960 because he lost his passion for music.
Happy birthday to all the March 23rd Jazzlings. Heres hoping the day showers you with love and affection and leads you into a year that will bring you closer to your dreams!
Thanks to AAJ & JBC for the uploads,
Hugs, cuddles and shoulder bumps with the Inspiration Crew, thanks for the follows and all the stuff you do, you all are pretty amazing!
And thanks to YOU for jus' passin' thru' don't be a stranger, come back this way again sometime y'hear?
Until whenever, Go placidly, be water, walk tall, speak low and always Keep your head to the sky!
