Bob Denton born 31 May 1935

Bob Denton (born 31 May 1935) is a US Rockabilly singer. 

Shamrock valley Boys (Denton right)

Eddie Cochran's best friend, was born Robert Francis Bull in Moline, Illinois and lived on a farm until he was 10. In 1945 his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he became interested in country music and took up the guitar. The Dentons finally settled in Norwalk, California where Denton joined Richard Ray and the Shamrock Valley Boys, a local group which played neighbourhood dances and broadcasts on local radio. 

Denton met Eddie Cochran one night in 1954 when Eddie sat in with the Valley Boys. Denton and Eddie soon became best friends: 'We used to go hunting all the time. He loved to hunt. He was a fantastic shot. We were always together doing things we both enjoyed: hunting, camping, chasing women and a lot of drinking." Bob Denton subsequently introduced Eddie Cochran to an acquaintance of the band, Hank Cochran, a meeting which led to the two unrelated namesakes forming the Cochran Brothers, Eddie's first professional venture. 

Bob & Eddie

Denton was a spectator at a number of Cochran's sessions including 'Sittin' In The Balcony' and shared the same manager, Jerry Capehart. When Denton finally landed a record deal in his own right with Dot Records, in the spring of 1957, Eddie was "first in, closest to the mike". "He played guitar on my first Dot session", Denton recalled, "We recorded a tune called 'On My Mind Again' at Goldstar in 1957'. From the session 'On My Mind Again' was coupled with 'Always Late' and was issued as Dot single 15573. 

                     

In September 1957 Eddie Cochran again assisted Bob Denton on the recordings for a new single 'Love Me So I'll Know' b/w 'I'm Sending You This Record' (Dot 15622). 'Skinnie Minnie' and 'Playboy' were both recorded at Denton's fourth and final Dot session in March 1958 and featured West Coast session stalwart Joe Maphis and not, as is so often mentioned, Eddie Cochran. In April an informal session was held with Eddie again helping out on '24-hour Night' and 'Sick & Tired'. 

The following month Denton was conscripted into the US Army and spent the next two years in Hawaii. While on home leave in the summer of 1958, he duetted with Cochran on 'Thinkin' About You' for Crest Records though it was not released until 1961. Also recorded at the session was 'Pretty Little Devil'. Both songs were released on Crest 1086. 

Eddie Cochran offered to take him on another of his England tours but died before that in a tragic car accident. Denton said: "I heard about Eddie's death over the radio. I was stunned. He was truly a great friend of mine and I'll never forget him."  In 1962 Following his last release on Chancellor, Denton worked as a mechanic in a saw-mill.

Glen Glenn & Bob Denton 1982

Besides his day job Denton kept playing in honky-tonks and bars around South East California. Whenever he got the chance he went to see his old buddies at Eddie Cochran memorial meetings. In 1982 publisher Alan Clark gathered together some of Eddie Cochran’s recording musicians including Connie “Guybo” Smith, Glen Glenn, Scotty Moore, DJ Fontana and Bob Denton and recorded an album “She Just Tears Me Up.”

Unfortunately later on, due to an accident, Bob lost one of his legs and after that, playing became too painful. So he stopped making public performances in 2011. 

(Edited from rocky-52 & Klaus Ketner liner notes)

Jill Perryman born 30 May 1933

Jill Perryman AM, MBE (born 30 May 1933) is an Australian former stage and screen actress and singer. Combining both her stage acting and her singing, she featured in numerous musical theatre roles, over eight decades and spanning 70 years of performing, starting from the age of three in a local production of Austrian operetta White Horse Inn. 

Jill aged 3 years old

She toured twice with a production of Hello Dolly! firstly in 1965, as a member of the ensemble cast in 1as character Irene Molley and again almost thirty years later in 1994 in the leading role. Perryman although a staple of theatre, has appeared in numerous guest roles in television series and briefly in film making her debut in Maybe This Time in 1980. 

Perryman was born in Melbourne to a family notable for its achievements in theatre and entertainment. Her father, William Thomas Perryman, was an actor and performer, with notable credits from 1919 until 1938 and her mother Dorothy Eileen (formerly Duvall), born in Adelaide was an actress and singer, who appeared in a few productions from 1923 until 1932. Her older sister, Diana Perryman (1925–1979), was prominent in Australian theatre and also appeared in television roles and was posthumously awarded an MBE. 

Jill & Kevan

Perryman in 1952, then aged 19, joined the company of J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd as a member of the chorus and in the following year was understudying leading roles in stage musicals, under Evie Hayes in a local production of Call Me Madam. In 1959 she married Kevan Johnston, a dancer and choreographer. Their successful personal and professional partnership continues to this day. They have two children, Tod Andrew and Trudy Jane. 

Perryman was strong in voice and personality, and a long series of understudy and small roles eventually led her, through the recommendation of John McCallum (who was then joint managing director of J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd), to take the lead in the key Australian production of Funny Girl, a performance that won her an Erik Award for Best Actress and led to major roles in other productions. 

                              

      Here's "Send In The Clowns" from A Little Night Music

These included I Do! I Do! in 1969; The Two of Us in 1971. No, No, Nanette in 1972 won her another Erik Award for Best Actress for her role as Lucille Early, then in 1973 she starred in A Little Night Music. During this time, Jill made regular guest appearances on television variety programs and starred in her own series on ABC TV called Perryman On Parade (1973) for which she won a Penguin Award for Best Variety Performer. This was followed by Jill (1975) and An Evening With Jill Perryman (1977). She also recorded her first record with EMI entitled I Feel A Song Coming On in 1974 followed by Leading Lady in 1975. 

In 1976 she played Gladys Zilch in Leading Lady, a musical production created especially for her. She also toured during 1977 in Side by Side by Sondheim. She played Miss Hannigan in Annie in 1978. She toured in the musicals Chicago in 1988 and The Boy From Oz in 1998. These shows had extended national tours and Jill received a Green Room Award for each role, along with a Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for Best Musical Theatre Performer for the role of Dolly Levi. 

Among her many accolades she was awarded an MBE in 1979, the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1980, the Order Of Australia in 1992 and in October 2013 Jill and her husband Kevan Johnston jointly received the Australian Equity Foundation"s Lifetime Achievement Award at a presentation on the stage of Her Majesty"s Theatre in Melbourne. In 2018 Jill and Kevan both received honorary doctorates at an Edith Cowan University graduation. 

‘I’ve been blessed all along the way,’ says Jill. ‘I wouldn’t change anything. And I think it’s because I’ve been able to combine a career with my wonderful family.’ 

(Edited from Wikipedia, The Arts Centre & westpix)

Tommy Ladnier born 28 May 1900

Thomas James Ladnier (May 28, 1900 – June 4, 1939) was an American jazz trumpeter. With a full and rough intonation, greatly influenced by the playing of King Oliver, he was the first of the trumpeters of the second generation of New Orleans jazz to achieve his own rigorous and austere sound. A specialist in blues and in accompanying female vocalists, he was a highly regarded musician in his time. Hugues Panassié – an influential French critic, jazz historian, and renowned exponent of New Orleans jazz – rated Ladnier, sometime on or before 1956, second only to Louis Armstrong. 

Ladnier was born in Mandeville, Louisiana – located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, with New Orleans on the opposite shore. Beginning 1914, Ladnier performed in Mandeville's Independence Band at the Dew Drop Dance Hall, led by clarinetist Isidore Frick. Trumpeter Bunk Johnson sometimes played with this band and gave young Ladnier lessons. In 1917, Ladnier moved with his mother to Chicago and worked in the stock yards. 

Ladnier married Daisy Mathews on February 1, 1920, in Chicago. Around 1921, he became a professional musician. He played for some time in St. Louis with Charlie Creath. Beginning in 1923, he played in Chicago and made many recordings for Paramount Records with pianist Lovie Austin, accompanying blues singers Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, and Alberta Hunter. 

For some time, Ladnier played with his inspiration, King Oliver. He emulated Oliver's freak style on the solo in "Play that Thing" with Ollie Power's Harmony Syncopators in September 1923. On March 13, 1923, in Chicago, Ladnier's mother, Willie Ladnier died from a gunshot at a party quarrel. 

                              

Ladnier joined pianist Sam Wooding in 1925 for an extensive tour of Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Russia. This orchestra recorded in Berlin. He returned to New York and became the hot soloist for the Fletcher Henderson orchestra from 1926–1927. He returned to the Sam Wooding Orchestra for another tour of Germany, Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy, and France, then left in January 1929 to work freelance in Paris. 

Ladnier in white suit with Sam Wooding's Orchestra

A short tour with dancer Harry Fleming brought him to Spain, where he met dancer Louis Douglas and joined him in November 1929 in Paris, acting as orchestra leader. He again free-lanced in Paris until summer 1930 when he joined the Noble Sissle dance band, performing in Paris and London. 

Tommy Ladnier’s recordings with Paramount Records earned him the name “The Praying Cornet.” During this period, he developed a more direct style inspired by Louis Armstrong, which he later refined into a forerunner of the swing style. Ladnier’s use of syncopations was outstanding and his intensity sometimes overwhelming. In his last recordings his playing is more simplified. Ladnier was a true jazz improviser whose varied playing can be heard in the many alternate take recordings. Tommy Ladnier also learned during his European years that skin colour was not so important there and he loved the “colour-blind” Frenchmen. 

He returned to U.S. at the end of 1930 and stayed with Sissle until January 1932. The Sissle orchestra made some recordings in London and New York. Back in America in 1932, Ladnier and Sidney Bechet formed the New Orleans Feetwarmers. During the Depression, they tried to run a tailor shop in Harlem, but neither was interested in business. Ladnier left New York and played in the east, sometimes giving trumpet lessons. For a year, he lived in Stamford, Connecticut.  

In 1938, Hugues Panassié, a French critic and record producer who met Ladnier in Paris in 1930, visited New York. He found Ladnier and recorded the Panassié Sessions with Sidney Bechet and Mezz Mezzrow. Ladnier and Bechet participated in the first From Spirituals to Swing concert arranged by John Hammond in December 1938. Ladnier's last studio recording was on February 1, 1939, in New York as a sideman with singer Rosetta Crawford  accompanied by James P. Johnson's Hep Cats. 

Mezzrow, Panassie & Laddnier

At age 39, Ladnier, died unexpectedly of a heart attack June 4, 1939, while staying at Mezz Mezzrow's apartment at 1 West 126th Street, which was a six-story, 48-unit residential building in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. It fell upon Mezzrow to take care of Ladnier's belongings and bury him. The memorial service was on Friday, June 9, 1939. Ladnier was buried at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Staten Island, an African American cemetery.

Despite efforts by Mezzrow and friends, the grave remained unmarked for nearly 69 years until a marker carved from Nero Granite was engraved by Bob Sprauge and was placed on site by Bob Lang in 2008. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & blackpast org.)

Bud Shank born 27 May 1926

Bud Shank (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first-call studio musician in Hollywood. In the 1970s and 1980s, he performed regularly with the L. A. Four. 

Shank ultimately abandoned the flute to focus exclusively on playing jazz on the alto saxophone. He also recorded on tenor and baritone sax. His most famous recording is probably the version of "Harlem Nocturne" used as the theme song in Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. He is also well known for the alto flute solo on the song "California Dreamin'" recorded by The Mamas & the Papas in 1965. 

Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. was born in Dayton, Ohio, United States. He began with clarinet in Vandalia, Ohio, but had switched to saxophone before attending the University of North Carolina. While at UNC, Shank was initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. In 1946, he worked with Charlie Barnet before moving on to Kenton and the West coast jazz scene.

He also had a strong interest in what might now be termed world music, playing Brazilian-influenced jazz with Laurindo Almeida in 1953 and 1954. Shank also joined the Lighthouse All-Stars in August 1953 and stayed with them until early January 1956.  In 1958, he is the first American jazz musician to record in Italy, with an Italian jazz orchestra conducted by Ezio Leoni (aka Len Mercer). 

His world music collaborations continued in 1962, fusing jazz with Indian traditions in collaboration with Indian composer and sitar player Ravi Shankar. Shank ensconced himself in the L.A. studios during the '60s, emerging occasionally to record jazz and bossa nova albums with the likes of Chet Baker and Sergio Mendes. Shank's 1966 album with Baker, Michelle, was something of a popular success, reaching number 56 on the charts. Film scores on which Shank can be heard include The Thomas Crown Affair and The Barefoot Adventure. 

                             

In 1974, Shank joined with Ray Brown, Shelly Manne (replaced by Jeff Hamilton after 1977), and Laurindo Almeida to form the group the L.A. Four, who recorded and toured extensively through 1982. Shank helped to popularize both Latin-flavored and chamber jazz music, and as a musician's musician also performed with orchestras as diverse as the Royal Philharmonic, the New American Orchestra, the Gerald Wilson Big Band, Stan Kenton's Neophonic Orchestra, and Duke Ellington. Shank had been one of the earliest jazz flutists, but in the mid-'80s he dropped the instrument in order to concentrate on alto full-time. 

During the last two decades of the 20th century, he recorded small-group albums at a modestly steady pace for the Contemporary, Concord, and Candid labels. Shank's 1997 Milestone album, By Request: Bud Shank Meets the Rhythm Section, presented the altoist in top form, burning down the house with a band of relative youngsters who included neo-bopper pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Three years later, Silver Storm was released. 

Shank continued performing and recording after the turn of the millennium, undertaking the challenging task of forming the Los Angeles-based Bud Shank Big Band in 2005 and making his recording debut as a big-band leader with Taking the Long Way Home, released the following year by the Jazzed Media label. In 2007 Jazzed Media issued Beyond the Red Door, a duet recording by Shank and pianist Bill Mays. A documentary film about Bud Shank, Bud Shank "Against the Tide" Portrait of a Jazz Legend, was produced and directed by Graham Carter of Jazzed Media and released by Jazzed Media as a DVD (with a companion CD) in 2008. The film has been awarded four indie film awards including an Aurora Awards Gold. 

His last gig in the Los Angeles area was at the Jazz Bakery in January 2009. Shank's passion for jazz remained strong to the very last days of his life; he died at his home in Tucson, AZ on April 2, 2009 of a pulmonary embolism shortly after returning from a recording session in San Diego. Shank's doctors had reportedly warned the saxophonist -- who had moved to Tucson for health reasons -- that playing the session could be life-threatening. Bud Shank was 82 years old. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)

Catherine Sauvage born 26 May 1929

Catherine Sauvage (26 May 1929 – 20 March 1998) was a French singer and actress. 

Born Marcelle Jeanine Saunier in Nancy, France, she moved with her family in 1940 to the Free Zone in Annecy. After high school, she turned to the theater, performing under the name Janine Saulnier. After eight years of studying piano, singing and drama, in 1950 she met Léo Ferré and fell in love with his songs. In 1952 she sang his "Paris canaille", which became a hit. In 1954, she won the "Grand Prix du Disque", a famous French award, for the song "L'Homme", again by Ferré. On tour in Canada, she made the acquaintance of Gilles Vigneault, who wrote "Mon Pays, Le Corbeau, la Manikoutai" for her. 

Arriving in Paris, she adopted the surname Sauvage, borrowed from a childhood friend, and, began studying drama: “I did my apprenticeship with Jean-Louis Barrault, John Vilar, Roger Blin, AND Marcel Marceau. The chance of life allowed me to be presented to Moyses, who was the director of the cabaret Le Boeuf sur le Toit. I sang him some stuff like that, recited two or three poems. As a result, Moyses hired me the next day. I used a directory with songs including Marianne Oswald. I stayed two months at the Boeuf sur le Toit --- afterwards, I sang at the Quod Libet, a nightclub on 3 rue des Prés-At-Clerics.”She also performed at the cabarets L'Arlequin in Saint-Germain, then at L'Écluse in the 6th arrondissement. 

Sauvage with Leo Ferre & Lino Ventura

She met Léo Ferré, whom she helped in bringing recognition to his music: "It was the meeting of my life. As a happiness never comes alone, they say, Jacques Canetti came to hear me a beautiful evening. He was always looking for artists for the record company of which he was the artistic director, as well as for the concert hall Les Trois Baudets that he had established." She has always given preference to poetry set to music. Léo Ferré and Gilles Vigneault have said they considered Sauvage their best performer. Aragon, one of her favourite poets, wrote about her: "And suddenly with her voice, like a gift, every word makes complete sense." 

Jacques Canetti hired her in 1953 and 1954 to work at Les Trois Baudets. "So I visited that cabaret on Rue Coustou for two years. Later I was featured at the Olympia, and received a grand prize for record L'Homme with Léo Ferré." After the Trois-Baudets in 1953, she became a star in 1954 at the Olympia . Her interpretation of Léo Ferré's L'Homme earned her, the same year, a Grand Prix du Disque awarded by the Charles-Cros Academy . In 1955, she was still at L'Olympia then in 1960 at Bobino for a long singing tour. 

                              

Politically she always remained far to the left, and defiantly non- cooperative with official sources. She was banned by French radio and television for having signed the Manifesto of 121 intellectuals against war in Algeria. She performed Boris Vian's adaptation of Brecht's Nana's Lied and other Brecht-Weil classics. 

In 1968, during the summer of student rebellions, she supported their struggles singing for them at the Bobino. Her interpretations of The Threepenny Opera songs were deliciously, diabolically wicked. Her devotion to Brecht led her to act in his Caucasian Chalk Circle (1966-67) and Mother Courage (1969). Recognized and appreciated abroad, she brought French song to the stages of Beirut , Mexico City and Tokyo. 

She was taken up again by the ORTF in their radio "trial club" emissions in which she sang many of her own musical settings of contemporary and classical poetry. She was the first singer to record Leo Ferre's last heart-breaking success, "Avec le temps" in 1970. In 1974, she made Chants et poemes de la Resistance with Sylvia Monfort and Marcel Mouloudji. But she gradually retired from the public scene, her intelligence and beauty swept away by wave after wave of what the French still call "le yeye" - fake Beatling. 

In the 80s, Catherine Sauvage lived in semi-retirement and made a few appearances on television in dramas, and in the cinema. In 1991, she recorded an album entirely devoted to Jacques Prévert . Her last appearance on stage was for the Francofolies de La Rochelle , in July 1994. But in 1997, she made a double CD, Catherine Sauvage chante les poetes, which gives the essence of her style and her fine artistry. It tells us how she changed the whole art of the French chanson. 

Sauvage's intelligence and wide culture made her prefer the company of painters, writers and actors, one of whom, Pierre Brasseur, became her companion until his death in 1972. She then became friends with Gérard Paris, whom she married in 1997. She died from cancer in 1998, aged 68, in Bry-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne. 

(edited from Wikipedia & The Independent) 

Jerry Woodard born 25 May 1941

Jerry Woodard (May 25, 1941 - August 9, 1980) was a rockabilly singer and guitarist.

Jerry Eugene Woodard was born in Anniston, Alabama. His father was a minister who did not approve of rock ‘n roll and tried to steer the kids away from the devil’s music. Jerry’s friend and fellow performer, Jerry Grammer, said that Woodard always had religion inside him and it reminded him of Elvis and his convictions.

Jerry (as well as his siblings) inherited his talent and lust for music from his father who played guitar and banjo and his mother who played guitar and piano. Jerry’s mother taught young Jerry the first chords he learned on guitar before he went on to become a music superstar. Jerry with siblings Lee Wayne, Larry Dale, Roger, and Sherree and his parents moved from Anniston, Alabama to Yerington, Nevada when Jerry was 11. Winning a talent contest performing with brother Lee Wayne and another friend in 1952, Jerry did lead vocals on “Mansion in the Sky”. After this, brother Roger says, “Dad brought the family back to Alabama hoping to get the boys out of secular music, but to no avail”.

In 1955 they were living in Tuscumbia where Jerry met his future wife Margie who he married in 1958. Shortly after this, Jerry and Wayne got a daily 50-minute radio show on WHTB in Talladega doing rock ‘n roll. The show was very popular. Here at WHTB, Jerry met another musician who also had a show that was successful as well. His name was Bobby Mizzell. Because of their common love for rock ‘n roll, boogie woogie, and rockabilly music, they hit it off as friends and musical partners where they cut their first records together at the station – “You Are My Sunshine” and “You Don’t Love Me”.

Woodard and Mizzell relocated to Birmingham in 1956 to work on the "Country Boy Eddie Show" and "The Tom York Morning Show". Woodard also hosted the "Live from Big Hearted Eddie's" show for WBRC sponsor Eddie Perry. He also founded the Fad record label, on which he recorded several singles. Woodard's records with Jerry Reed garnered attention from Chet Atkins at RCA Victor. Jerry split with the Mizzell in 1959 and formed The Esquires with Dinky Harris, Doc Watson, Barry Beckett, Ronnie Eads and Johnny Carter, playing popular "sweet" music on live radio programs and in regular bookings at Pappy's Club and the Allstate Club on U.S. Highway 78.

                              

Record labels Reed, Fad, Heart, Colvin, Dial, Chant, Chantain, Century Limited, Argo, and even RCA Victor gave Jerry Woodard a chance at the big time. Jerry was a singer who could sing every kind of music - from rockabilly to sad ballads to novelty to sweet soul to country to blues to spiritual. Everyone who ever worked with Jerry was simply amazed at his ability to sing "Who’s Gonna Rock My Baby" and then immediately switch and sing "She’s a Housewife, That’s All". 

Jerry had hits with all of these labels, but just never got promoted to the top. He had been voted the #1 entertainment band in the nation, had had song #8 on American Bandstand, and saw many of his 45’s on the charts. Jerry was destined to make it, but did not live long enough to see it happen.

Woodard moved his young family to Pensacola, Florida in 1961 and played a standing gig at the Sahara Club for two years. Following this success, he then started Jerry Woodard’s Cock Rouge club which burned to the ground devastating Jerry financially. Friends helped him start another club two weeks later and the Flaming Cock Rouge club flourished with Jerry performing to huge crowds until an IRS audit left Jerry in financial ruin once again. At this point, in 1967 Jerry and his family moved back to Birmingham and with help from brother Wayne released a few records on the Chantain and Chant record label.

Also in 1968, while working at the Domino Club in Atlanta, he was offered a gig at the Golden Isles Club in St. Simon’s Island on the Atlantic coast of Georgia. He moved his family there where, after this gig, he opened a new club called the Gilded Cage that he operated and played in until 1977 when the nearby Navy base began closing down. Whilst in Atlanta Jerry purchased a Wah Wah peddle and would use it as often as he could which made his friends call him “Wah Wah Woodard.”

Jerry and Margie stayed at Simon’s Island until his untimely death. Plagued by alcoholism throughout his career, Woodard's level of activity waned through the 1970s, until he finally succumbed to the disease in 1980, aged 39.

(Edited from Birmingham Record Collectors & Alabama Music Office)