That PI Day in Music 3.14.34 – “The Queen of the Organ” – Shirley Scott was born!!

So the other morning, after I woke up from the crash that was a result of having had virtually no sleep the night before, as we waited for the birth of grandson,Oliver, I was looking at the jazz birthdays. Now if you remember, the night before I had posted about saxophonist Jeff Hackworth, and how his sax sounds like Stanley Turrentine and how like Stanley, Jeff often plays in an organ trio setting and how I thought that was neat because Stanley had played so often with Jimmy Smith. Well what the un-jazz educated Edward didn’t know was that in…

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This Day in Music Happy Birthday to Austria’s “Chet Baker” Michaela Rabitsch!!

Today March 8th Austria’s only and top female jazz trumpet player Michaela Rabitsch celebrates her ?????? birthday, Michaela is a singer, composer and is called a modern-day female Chet Baker by the US magazine Jazzscene!! She calls Weyer, Oberosterreich, Austria her hometown and currently Vienna is home. She has started her musical journey at 7 studying classical violin, at 14 she moved to Vienna to continue her studies. She switched to trumpet and studies for jazz- and popular music at the Bruckner conservatory Linz (now Anton Bruckner private University) with Ingrid Jensen, Peter Tuscher and classical trumpet with Fritz Handlbaue….

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New Jazz from Saxophonist Vincent Herring – The Uptown Shuffle!!

Vincent Herring – The Uptown Shuffle So the other day I wrote about the great Dexter Gordon, today I’ll move to a contemporary  saxophonist, but still a great one – Vincent Herring. I’ve been listening to Herring’s latest release The Uptown Shuffle for a couple of weeks now and I think I like it more and more each time I listen. Herring is considered to be one of the premier sax players of his generation. He was born in Kentucky in 1964 and raised in California. His musical journey began when he started touring with Lionel Hampton’s Big Band in 1980…

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Dexter Gordon aka “Sophisticated Giant” born Feb.27,1923!!

   Dexter Gordon – Saxophone (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990)   Dexter Gordon was born on this day February 27 in 1923.Aside from the facts that he was jazz tenor saxophonist and starred in Round Midnight I don’t know much about Dexter’s music, so I figured his birthday is a good day to go exploring.. At Wikipedia I read….. He was among the earliest tenor players to adapt the bebop musical language of people such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell to the instrument. His studio and live performance career spanned over 40 years. Gordon’s height was 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm), so he was…

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The Safari Explores the World Fusion Music of Get Tribal – God of Drum!!

This morning the Safari decided it was a World Music kinda day, so  checked out the Zone Music Reporter’s Top 100 Radio Airplay Chart.. The first album that caught my eye was at number 3 – the self released album God of Drum by Get Tribal. The title of the album brought to mind the music of David and Steve Gordon, and the name of the band John Densmore’s Tribal Jazz. So I loaded the album onto the iPhone and listened to it while I was doing some shopping, The music was, in a word, mesmerizing! I found my feet…

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Yesterday in Music – Feb 21, 1980 – Trumpeter Takuya Kuroda was born!!

About the same time that the Safari discovered Aynsley Lister, I also discovered the music of Japanese-born trumpet player Takuya Kuroda.That was several days ago, and yesterday Takuya celebrated his 34th birthday. While I had listened to a little of his latest album Rising Son, when I first heard about his music, but today I listened to the full album and it was a treat!! Kuroda grew up in Kobe, Japan and arrived in the US in 2000. While living in Kobe he played in various high school jazz bands, but he didn’t receive his first formal jazz training until…

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2014 Jazz from New York native, Jersey City resident Tim Hegarty – Tribute!!

Tim Hegarty’s new album is titled Tribute which was released by Miles High Records on in January of 2014. the album is Tim’s way to say thanks to those who taught him and influenced his playing. Tributees include: Dexter Gordon; Frank Foster ; George Coleman; Jimmy Heath; Joe Henderson; John Coltrane; Sonny Rollins; and Thelonious Monk. After listening to the album, I’d say he done them proud. Currently, the album is lucky #13 on the JazzWeek Jazz Chart this week and rising! On the album, Hegarty plays both tenor and soprano saxophone and his fine sax is accompanied by the piano…

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Today in Music – Feb 10, 1961 – Jazz Trumpet Player Paolo Fresu was Born!! (Video)

This morning the name that caught my attention on the list of birthdays at All About Jazz was Paolo Fresu,a trumpet player. Paolo is in fact not only a trumpet and flugelhorn player, but he is also an arranger and composer. And an award-winning  one at that!!  Paolo was born in Berchidda, Sardina on February 10, 1961 and he his musical career has spanned the last 30 years in which he has performed on over 300 albums.many as a sideman and lots as a leader of his quintet.But wait there’s more…(if you call now – just joking) He is also  according…

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Today in Music – Feb 9, 1982 – Vibraphonist Behn Gillece is born in New Jersey! (with video)

One of the reasons that I explore the daily birthdays at All About Jazz is that it gives me names of musicians that I don’t know, like yesterday, when I discovered  Pawel Kaczmarczyk the great young Polish jazz pianist. The odds of coming across his name elsewhere are pretty low. Anyway, the first name on the birthday list is actually someone I already knew, but only because when I was checking the birthdays at All About Jazz, I  saw his latest album on the same page! That artist is  Behn Gillece and the album is Top Shelf. Behn Gillece was born on this…

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Today in Music – The Safari wishes a Happy 30th Birthday to Polish jazz pianist – Pawel Kaczmarczyk!

Today Polish jazz pianist, Pawel Kaczmarczyk celebrates his 30 birthday. Pawel was born in Krakow of Feb 8, 1984. By the time he was in high school Pawel and his band, began to participate in jazz festivals, winning first prizes and awards and he hasn’t stopped since! In 2001 he founded the KBD trio with Michael Barański and Paul Dobrowolski. Were inspired music in the style of Bill Evans , Herbie Hancock andWayne Shorter . A year later, the trio took first place at the 26th International Competition for Young and Debuting Jazz “Jazz Juniors”, and he was recognized as the best instrumentalist of the competition. Trio won the Grand…

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