Tag: Vibes

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 date in 1982, in my home state of New Jersey. He is a vibraphonist, who cites Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson, as the artist who inspired him to make a commitment to vibes. Since 2006, Behn had become a fixture on the New York jazz scene. In addition to playing at venues around New York and the Delaware Valley, Behn has performed at various festivals around the world including:North Sea, Montreux, Nice, Molde, Ghent, Montreal, and Toronto Top Shelf is his fourth album as co-leader with tenor saxophonist Ken Fowser, The album features their original music that they have performed the past few years throughout venues in NYC, NJ, and Philadelphia. Several of today’s top musicians, including Michael Dease on trombone, (Michael’s  2013 release Coming Home ended up as number 5 on JazzWeek’s Year end Chart for 2013),  Steve Einerson (piano), Dezron Douglas (bass), and Rodney Green (drums). also appear…

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Today among all out celebrations of the start of a New Year we also celebrate the birthday of one of my favorites jazz artists vibraphonist Milt Jackson.  (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999) From All About Jazz…..we read that Milt Jackson was….. born Jan. 1, 1923, in Detroit, Jackson’s musical beginnings were in the neighborhood gospel churches as a pianist, guitarist, violinist percussionist and singer. He took up the vibraphone in high school. He moved to New York, played with Earl Hines and in 1945, joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band rhythm section, which also included pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Kenny Clarke. He worked with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis and in 1951 recorded with Gillespie bandmates Lewis, Clarke and Brown. Inspired by that recording, they reformed asthe Modern Jazz Quartet in 1952 with Percy Heath replacing Ray Brown and Connie Kay taking the drum chair after the departure of Kenny Clarke in 1955. For the following 50 years the sound of Milton “Bags” Jackson’s vibraphone would signature the Modern Jazz Quartet and inspire generations of followers.  Continue Reading Write’s note: Wait a minute January 1, 1923 – that would also be the birthday of another favorite of mine my mother’s brother John Ashton -“We still miss you Uncle Johnny.. this year it’s gonna’ be the Phillies year!” AllMusic.com tells us that……. Before Milt Jackson, there were only two major vibraphonists: Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo. Jackson soon surpassed both of them in significance and, despite the rise of other players…

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