Jørgen Ingmann born 26 April 1925

Jørgen Ingmann (26 April 1925 – 21 March 2015) was a Danish jazz and pop guitarist from Copenhagen. He was popular in Europe and had a wider international hit in 1961 with his version of "Apache". He and his wife Grethe Ingmann won the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Dansevise". Although virtually unknown in Britain, he sold hundreds of thousands of records in mainland Europe, Scandinavia, the US, Canada, and the Far East. 

Jørgen Ingmann Pedersen was born in Copenhagen, and as a young man still in his teens he became a messenger saving his pay checks to buy his first guitar.  As a child he had learned to play the violin but his passion was the guitar.  His next job was as a printing house clerk where he remained for 4 years.  During that time he would learn to play the piano. One of his early influences was Charlie Christian – an American musician – who played the electric guitar – primarily designated to provide rhythm for jazz ensembles. 

Jorgen would finally get his first guitar in 1941 along with an amplifier.  He would next form his first group the “Ingmann Quintet”.  The group were regulars playing in downtown Copenhagen.  This was in the early 1940’s. In 1944 he would join the Roger Henriksen Orchestra playing in the village of Randers.  1945 would be a big turning point in his career when he became a member of Svend Asmussen’s  backing group,  Svend being crowned the “Fiddling Viking”.  Svend provided Jorgen with the opportunity to record his first record with “How I’m Doing, Hey Hey” b/w “That’s My Weakness Now”. 

Ingmann’s inspiration on the guitar came from America’s pioneer Les Paul.  Like Paul, Jorgen would experiment with multi-tracking techniques, echo and special effects.  He had his own 4-track recording machine at a time when 2-track mono was predominant.  Ingmann also used half speed recording extensively in the studio. In addition to the guitar, Jorgen would overdub the bass and drums playing all the instruments and manning the controls for his echo special effects and began recording under the name Jørgen Ingmann & His Guitar. 

                                   

He would cover the hugely popular Shadows’ UK hit “Apache” taking it to number 1 in Canada and number 2 in the United States.  “Apache” even resonated with R&B radio stations reaching number 9 on the R&B national charts. He remade Silvana Mangano's "Anna" with moderate US chart success. In the first half of the 1960s he had many hits in Germany, including "Pepe" (1961 #15), "Anna" (1961 #19), "Violetta" (1962 #16), "Drina Marsch" (1964 #5) and "Zorba le Grec" (1965 #14). Billboard magazine reported that he charted at no. 2 on the Denmark pop singles chart with his recording of "Marchen Til Drina" on 7 December 1963.  His recording reached no. 1 on 17 December 1963. Other recordings of his included "Tequila" (which he also recorded during the 60s, with the Champs) and a version of Pinetop Perkins' "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" (from 1962). 

He also worked as a member of the duet, Grethe og Jørgen Ingmann, together with his wife Grethe Ingmann. After winning the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix competition in 1963, they went on to represent Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 where they won with the song "Dansevise" (Dance Ballad), music by Otto Francker and lyrics by Sejr Volmer-Sørensen. His best jazz work is to be found on the LP Guitar in Hifi which, apart from "Margie", the first track, has many songs written by Hoagy Carmichael. It was issued in England on a 10-inch LP and in other places as a 12-inch LP. In the USA it was called Jorgan Ingmann Swings Softly. 

Besides releasing his own recordings, his orchestra Jørgen Ingmann's Orkester backed a number of contemporary Danish artists in the 1950s and early 1960s. He and Grethe met in 1955, married in 1956, and divorced in 1975. Jorgen continued to perform as a soloist. Ingmann was never fond of appearing live solo but much preferred working in the studio.  His final appearances were a disappointment for him, attending festivals in 1984 standing in the back of track and playing his familiar tunes from a tape recorder!  By 1985 he sold all of his guitars and equipment and would never record or perform again. 

Jørgen had a short two year marriage to Gitte Heide from 1979, but according to close friend and musician Laif Møller Lauridsen, the divorce from Grethe was devastating for him and he turned to drink for solace. Eventually they both reunited in 1984 but as close friends, as Gerthe had married advertising executive Bo Augustinusin in 1977. She died 18 August 1990 from cancer, age 52. In 2003 a biography about Jørgen Ingmann by Henrik Kristoffersen was published. 

Jørgen Ingmann died in Holte, Denmark, on 21 March 2015, aged 89. 

(Edited from Wikipedia. AllMusic, kimsloans & Eurovisionary) 

 

Vassar Clements born 25 April 1928

Vassar Carlton Clements (April 25, 1928 – August 16, 2005) was an American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and bluegrass along with roots also in country and other musical traditions. 

Clements was born in Kinard, Florida and grew up in Kissimmee. He taught himself to play the fiddle at age 7, learning "There's an Old Spinning Wheel in the Parlor" as his first song. Soon, he joined with two first cousins, Red and Gerald, to form a local string band. In his early teens Clements met Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys when they came to Florida to visit Clements' stepfather, a friend of fiddler Chubby Wise. Clements was impressed with his playing. 

In late 1949, Wise left Monroe's group, and the 21 year-old Clements traveled by bus to ask for an audition. When told he would have to return the next day, Clements was crestfallen, lacking the money for either a hotel room or return bus trip. Monroe gave him some money to a night's lodging, and the next day Clements auditioned and was hired. He remained with Monroe for seven years, recording with the band in 1950 and 1951. 

Between 1957 and 1962, he was a member of the bluegrass band Jim and Jesse & the Virginia Boys. He also gained recognition joining with the popular bluegrass duo of Flatt and Scruggs on the popular theme to the hit television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. Earl Scruggs' path-breaking banjo style had premiered with Bill Monroe in the late 1940s, and thereafter gained widespread renown with Lester Flatt and the Foggy Mountain Boys. 

By the mid-1960s, however, his struggles with alcohol left him making his living in blue-collar trades, being employed briefly at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as a plumber, in a Georgia paper mill, and as switchman for Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. He even sold insurance and once operated a convenience store while owning a potato chip franchise in Huntsville, Alabama. Sobering up, he returned to Nashville in 1967, where he became a much sought-after studio musician. 

                                  

After a brief touring stint with Faron Young he joined John Hartford's Dobrolic Plectral Society in 1971, when he met guitarist Norman Blake and Dobro player Tut Taylor, and recorded Aereo-Plain, a widely acclaimed "newgrass" album that helped broaden the bluegrass market and sound. After less than a year he joined up with Earl Scruggs. His 1972 work with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their album Will the Circle be Unbroken earned even wider acclaim, and he later worked on the Grateful Dead's Wake of the Flood and Jimmy Buffett's A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean. 

Within the next two years, Clements would cut his first solo album, (although an album was released under his name in 1970 of some session tracks with country band). In 1973, he joined and toured with the bluegrass supergroup Old & In the Way with Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, and John Kahn; their self-titled live album Old & In the Way was released in 1975. In 1974 he lent his talents to Highway Call, a solo album by former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts. 

In his 50-year career he played with artists ranging from Woody Herman and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to the Grateful Dead, Linda Ronstadt, and Paul McCartney, and earned at least five Grammy Award nominations and numerous professional accolades. He once recorded with the pop group the Monkees by happenstance, when he stayed behind after an earlier recording session. He also appeared in Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville and Alan Rudolph's 1976 film, Welcome to L.A.. He made a duet album with Stéphane Grappelli Together at Last in 1987. 

In 2004, he performed in concert with jazz quartet Third Stream – in which a video documentary of the concert was done with Jim Easton (guitar), Tom Strohman (sax), Jim Miller (bass), and John Peifer (drums). His 2005 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance was for "Earl's Breakdown," by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and featured Clements, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, and Jerry Douglas. 

Vassar Clements played on over 200 albums, including nearly 40 on which he starred or was featured. His albums often featured newgrass style music and what Clements called "Hillbilly Jazz". His last album, Livin' With the Blues, released in 2004, was his only blues recording; it featured guest appearances by Elvin Bishop, Norton Buffalo, Maria Muldaur, and others. 

Clements last performance was on February 4, 2005 in Jamestown, New York., On March 11, 2005 he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died at his home August 16th, 2005. He was 77. (He was posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

( Edited from Wikipedia & Discogs)

 

Ross Kettle (24 April 1943- 12 October 2007) was co-founder of the The Singing Kettles, who were a country music trio from Tasmania consisting of three brothers. 

In their early days, Bill (William), Ross and Max (Maxwell) Kettle were typical Australian country boys. They were all born in Launceston Hospital. The family lived at Retreat then moved to the small town of Lilydale, Tasmania. Their singing career began at church socials and school functions. It was their local minister who christened them. One night in his introduction he said “You have all heard whistling kettles, but here now are the Singing Kettles”, and the name stuck. The Singing Kettles became one of the most well loved country and western groups that Australia has known. 

In their first few years after leaving school, the Kettles worked as timber cutters on Tasmania’s north east coast. Every day, their guitars would go with them, and during their lunch break the sounds of country harmonies would soar through the Tasmanian bush land. 1952: Bill and Ross won a talent quest on Radio 7LA Launceston. The station’s Clive Windmill made a tape of the Singing Kettles and played it on his western show every afternoon. 

                                   

By 1955 the boys became well known and made acetate recordings for Radio 7LA. Their first commercial recording was released in 1961. Bill and Ross were working as a duo at that time, because Max was only about 11 years old. That first record was “Judy” and it was not only the first recording by the Singing Kettles, but it was also the first release for the brand new Hadley record label, which was then based in Launceston, Tasmania. 

A string of singles, extended play and album releases followed with Max joining his brothers in 1963. The Kettles were the support act for Lorne Greene (of Bonanza fame) in 1965, and also supported prominent mainland acts visiting Tasmania. They recorded the album Country Harmony. More singles followed including the successful Toy Telephone, single and album. 

During June 1969, the trio went to Vietnam as part of an all-Tasmanian concert party. These entertainers were sent to remote locations in the Mekong Delta to entertain American troops – 9th Infantry Division and also Army of the Republic of Vietnam troops. During one of these performances the Viet Cong attacked and troops watching the show were killed. The entertainers had to jump off an area that was two storeys high, resulting in Max breaking his ankle. It was reported back to family in Tasmania that the three boys were missing in action. It took three days for the news they were found safe and well filtered through. 

After returning home, they heard of a place called Tamworth, NSW where they wanted to start up a Country Music Capital for Australia, similar to Nashville, TN. The three brothers said goodbye to their parents, packed up their families and moved to Tamworth. The Singing Kettles and Slim Dusty performed outdoors on their first show in Tamworth. After this they were offered a great deal of work to move to Sydney and perform out of Col Joye’s office at ATA. In 1969, the Singing Kettles made their big step moving to Sydney to enter the hurly burley of the club scene and by 1970 were voted #1 of the Top 10 Australian acts. 

On the 22nd January, 1971, tragedy struck the trio with the sudden death after a show in Sydney of young Max Kettle. He suffered a massive attack of asthma, an affliction which had plgued him since birth. He had celebrated his 21st birthday only a fortnight before. To a lesser act, this would have meant the end of the road, but knowing their brother’s wishes, Bill and Ross continued, and made the drastic changes necessary to turn their act into the professional duo that toured Australia for the next 17 years as well as being support acts for American and English artists which include Slim Whitman, Dave Allen and others.

The end of the Singing Kettles came in 1988. The act broke up, Ross became a solo singer, and Bill and his later wife, Kathy Thompson, worked as a duo. In 2005 The Singing Kettles were elevated to the Roll of Renown. They performed at the Roll of Renown Concert for the first time in 20 years, and were joined by Max’s son, Grady. 

Ross had a long struggle with health problems. He had bravely battled several different forms of cancer for many years and recently had a double hip replacement. He managed to record his final album, Waltz of Life before his death in Sydney on 12 September 2007. He was 64.

 

In 2017, The Singing Kettles were inducted into the Tasmanian Independent Music Awards Hall of Fame. Bill, Kathy and Will (their son) were able to attend. 

(Edited from liner notes by Eric Scott  & eHive.com)

 

Candido Camero born 22 April 1921

Cándido Camero Guerra (22 April 1921 – 7 November 2020), known simply as Cándido, was a Cuban conga and bongo player. He is considered a pioneer of Afro-Cuban jazz and an innovator in conga drumming. He was responsible for the embracing of the tuneable conga drum, the first to play multiple congas developing the techniques that all players use today, as well as the combination of congas, bongos, and other instruments such as the foot-operated cowbell, an attached guiro, all played by just one person. Thus he is the creator of the multiple percussion set-up. 

Cándido Camero Guerra was born near Havana. His father worked in a bottle factory, and his mother worked at home. Encouraged by an uncle who taught him (at the age of four) to play “bongos” on two old cans of condensed milk, he quickly progressed to the bass, piano and tres, the latter the small Cuban guitar, but he never learned to read music. Listening on the radio to American jazz, he was impressed by drummers Kenny Clarke and Max Roach, but was mainly influenced by Spanish and Yoruba music. 

Early in his career, Camero played as conguero and bongosero for the Cuban radio stations Radio Progresso and Radio CMQ (for 6 years) and for the Tropicana Club (also for 6 years). As a tresero, he was also a member of Chano Pozo's Conjunto Azul, where he met Mongo Santamaría, who then played bongos. Encouraged by Dizzy Gillespie, he first visited the US on a tour in 1946, and appeared at a Broadway theatre in the musical revue Tidbits, performing with the Cuban dance team of Carmen and Rolando while he played (and introduced) the quinto, a drum with a higher pitch than the standard conga. In 1948, he made his first U.S. recording with Machito and His Afro-Cubans on the tune "El Rey del Mambo", but he did not become a member of the band, since they already had Carlos Vidal Bolado on congas. 

Candido, Dizzy Gillespie & Charlie Parker

When Chano Pozo was murdered in 1948 (he arrived in New York shortly after Cándido), Dizzy Gillespie contacted Camero and they began a fruitful collaboration that culminated in the 1954 recording of Afro. Camero was also a member of the Billy Taylor Trio, with whom he recorded in 1953–54. Taylor asserted “I’ve not heard anyone who even approaches the wonderful balance between jazz and Cuban elements that Cándido demonstrates.” Camero was the first to play multiple congas was quickly adapted by several of his fellow countryman like Carlos "Patato" Valdés and became the norm giving rise to the standard set of tuneable congas that are commonly used today. 

                                   

Also in 1954 he performed and recorded with Stan Kenton. As one of the best known congueros in the U.S., Camero performed on variety shows such as The Jackie Gleason Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1957 Camero was also the first to champion the use of the fiberglass conga drum when he began playing publicly fiberglass drums made for him by New York City based Puerto Rican artisan and boat builder Frank Mesa. 

Over the years Cándido recorded with such luminaries as Al Cohn (Cándido Featuring Al Cohn, 1956), Art Blakey (Drum Suite, 1957), Ray Bryant (Ray Bryant Trio, 1956), Kenny Burrell (Introducing Kenny Burrell, 1956), Duke Ellington (A Drum Is A Woman, 1956), Erroll Garner (Mambo Moves Garner, 1954), Dizzy Gillespie (Gillespiana, 1960), Coleman Hawkins (The Hawk Talks, 1955), Stan Kenton (Kenton Showcase, 1954), and Wes Montgomery (Bumpin’, 1965). He also made regular TV appearances, on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jackie Gleason Show. 

Camero recorded several albums as a leader for ABC-Paramount in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the early 1970s, he recorded for the independent jazz label Blue Note Records, before joining the dance music record company Salsoul. With the latter, Camero recorded two albums which were relatively successful and remain in rotation by DJs in the U.S. In 1979, he released Jingo, a disco-oriented track, which was also released as a 12" single in June, 1981 in the UK, running for over 9 minutes, itreached #55 in the BBC Top 75 chart. 

In the 2000s, Camero was a member of the Conga Kings alongside Patato and Giovanni Hidalgo. They recorded two albums for Chesky. He recorded another album for Chesky in 2004, Inolvidable, with Graciela, the long-time lead singer for Machito. This album earned a Grammy Award nomination. He received a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. In 2014, Camero recorded his last album, The Master, also for Chesky. He continued to perform in jazz clubs in New York until the late 2010s. 

Camero died in his sleep on 7 November 2020, at his home in New York. He was 99. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & Jazz Journal) 

 

Issy Bonn born 21 April 1903

Issy Bonn (born Benjamin Levin; 21 April 1903 – 21 April 1977) was a British comedian, singer, actor, and theatrical agent. His signature song was "My Yiddishe Momme". 

Benjamin Levin was born into a Jewish family in Whitechapel, London, the son of a butcher. He spent part of the First World War working as a delivery boy. The job may not have paid well, but at least it brought some money into the home, thereby enabling him to devote his spare time to his real love- singing, but his family disapproved of his interest in the music hall and he was sent to Canada to live with relatives. When he returned, he joined an existing comedy and singing group, the Three Rascals, and used the stage name Benny Levine, which featured a rather bizarre mixture of ragtime music and vocal comedy in its act. 

He performed in theatres and cinemas on a semi-professional basis, creating a comic character named Finklefeffer who became involved in all manner of humorous situations. He went solo in the early 1920s. He took the stage name Issy Bonn at the suggestion of BBC Radio producer John Sharman, who produced a popular programme, John Sharman's Music Hall and made his first radio appearance on the show in 1935, billed as "The Hebrew Vocal Raconteur". He combined sentimental songs such as "My Yiddish Momme" and "Let Bygones Be Bygones", with Jewish humour and sketches, many featuring the fictitious Finkelfeffer family. 

                                    

Issy Bonn made over a thousand radio broadcasts on programmes such as Variety Bandbox, and reputedly had a repertoire of over 500 songs. He also regularly toured South Africa. He appeared in the films I Thank You in 1941, and Discoveries in 1939, where he played Mr. Schwitzer. He made his first recordings in 1942, for the Rex label, and later recorded for Decca and Columbia. He toured Europe with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), entertaining the forces, broadcasting on the highly-popular Variety Bandbox programme and playing variety engagements at all the major theatres in Britain. 

After the war Issy continued to capitalize on his burgeoning fame with a new touring road shows including The Big Broadcasts and The Melody Lingers On, in which he appeared himself, as well as using to introduce many new, young artists who he discovered himself. This was typical of him. He was always interested in fostering previously unknown performers, encouraging, developing and helping them to make their way in the highly competitive world of show business. 

Much as he enjoyed performing, Issy Bonn was still very much a realist. He knew that, no matter how popular he was, any celebrity’s time at the very top of the tree was likely to be limited. With a view to having something to fall back on when his days on stage were finished, he formed his own management agency, which he ran in tandem with his continuing live work for many years. He continued to appear on radio, television, and in pantomimes, and toured, often with the popular trumpeter Eddie Calvert. 

In the event Issy’s career went on for a good deal longer than he might have anticipated. In fact he carried on performing until the Seventies, after which he became manager of a provincial theatre, thereby keeping his links with the profession he loved so much. His image appears on the cover of The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. 

He died in London on his 74th birthday on 21 April 1977. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & CD liner notes by Tony Watts)

 

Hylo Brown born 20 April 1922

Hylo Brown (April 20, 1922 – January 17, 2003) was an American singer, guitarist and bass player who played a significant role in the development of bluegrass and country music and was one of the first artists to appeal to both sets of fans. 

Frank "Hylo" Brown Jr. was born in River, Johnson County, Kentucky, United States. Trying to make his way as a musician and avoid factory work, Frank signed on at WCMI in Ashland, Kentucky in 1939 and began his career as a performer. Soon, he moved to WLOG in Logan, West Virginia and their "Saturday Jamboree". During the war he moved to Springfield, Ohio and worked in a defense plant. 

After the war, Brown worked in a factory and began composing songs and performing on local radio stations in Ohio. During an appearance at WPFB in Middletown, Ohio he received his nickname "Hylo" because Smoky Ward, who was on the show, could not remember his name and started calling him "Hi-Lo". That nickname was a humorous indication of Brown's presumed vocal range. 

In 1950, he recorded with Bradley Kincaid at WWSO studio in Springfield. Four years later, Brown wrote a song, "Lost To A Stranger", that was sent to Ken Nelson, the A & R man of Capitol Records. The song was meant to be recorded by Kitty Wells but instead, Nelson offered Brown a recording contract if he recorded it himself. On November 7, 1954, he cut his first recordings for Capitol Records. "Lost To A Stranger" became his first hit. In early 1955, he formed the Buckskin Boys performing on the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia. 

                                   

In 1957, Brown joined Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, becoming a featured vocalist with the duo's Foggy Mountain Boys. The group's increasing popularity prompted Flatt and Scruggs to form a second Foggy Mountain band, called the Timberliners, with Brown as the unit's frontman; the Timberliners were fleshed out by mandolin player Red Rector, fiddler Clarence "Tater" Tate, Jim Smoak on the banjo, and bassist Joe Phillips. 

At their inception, the Timberliners performed on a circuit of television stations in Tennessee and Mississippi, later swapping schedules with Flatt & Scruggs in order to appear on West Virginia airwaves as well. In 1958, the group released Hylo Brown and the Timberliners, an LP that remains a traditional bluegrass classic. However, the advent of syndication and videotape allowed the original Flatt & Scruggs band to appear on any number of TV stations, effectively ending the Timberliners' career soon after, although Brown soldiered on for a time with a group including Norman Blake on Dobro and Billy Edwards on banjo. After the Timberliners' demise, Brown rejoined Flatt & Scruggs as a featured singer. Brown was inducted into the Opry in 1959. 

After his Capitol contract had expired, Brown signed with Starday Records in 1961, and cut a handful of solo albums including Bluegrass Balladeer, 1962's Bluegrass Goes to College, and in 1963 Hylo Brown Meets the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers. Although Brown's stature was slowly diminishing, he continued recording extensively for the smaller bluegrass-oriented Rural Rhythm label, turning out six albums over the next five years of roughly twenty songs each, some of which were atypically short. He seldom carried a full band in that era, and used local bands for backup. Roy Ross and his Blue Ridge Mountain Boys from Pike County, Ohio was one of them. 

By the 1970s, Hylo usually worked primarily in clubs and played a few bluegrass festivals. He also experienced some voice problems, finding it more difficult to sing in natural highs although he could still do his trademark falsetto on "The Prisoner's Song." Singing in low keys became increasingly common and had lesser appeal for a bluegrass audience that was his natural fan base. He did some later recording for labels like Jessup and Attieram, but they failed to revive his career and suffering a stroke in 1990 sidelined him further, resulting in Brown's eventual retirement in 1991 when he moved to Mechanicsburg, Ohio. 

Few interviewers called, and those that did found an often disillusioned man who'd given his life to keeping bluegrass alive, only to see his contribution ignored. He died from cancer in Mercy Medical Center on January 17, 2003. He is interred in Rose Hill Burial Park, Springfield, Clark County, Ohio.  Hylo Brown has received several honors posthumously: In 2003, just weeks after his death, he was inducted into the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America's Preservation Hall of Greats. In 2009, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic, Hillbilly Music.com, Bear Family notes & Country Music Highway)