Nathan Davis born 15 February 1937

Nathan Davis (February 15, 1937 – April 8, 2018) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played the tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, and flute. He is known for his work with Eric Dolphy, Kenny Clarke, Ray Charles, Slide Hampton and Art Blakey. 

Born Nathan Tate Davis in Kansas City, he began to play trombone at the age of 17, but soon switched to reeds and became an accomplished player on flute, bass clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophones. His first noteworthy job was with the Jay McShann band, and a little later he became one of the few males who has ever played with the usually all-female International Sweethearts Of Rhythm. While studying at Kansas University, Davis lead a group with Carmell Jones; then army service in 1960 took him to Berlin. On leaving the army in 1963 he remained in Europe and was invited to Paris by Kenny "Klook" Clarke, with whom he played for most of the next six years. 

In 1964 Davis joined Eric Dolphy for a brief residency at the Chat Qui Pechˆ club and also played on the revolutionary reedsman's last recordings, made for the French radio station ORTF. The next year Davis toured Europe with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and was asked to join the band on a permanent basis; however, he declined, feeling that the touring life was too precarious. 

                  Here’s “While Children Sleep” from above album

                                   

After making a series of excellent (but long-deleted) albums for small European labels - featuring players such as Jones, Clarke, Woody Shaw, Larry Young, Mal Waldron and Hampton Hawes - Davis returned to the USA in 1969 to teach jazz at Pittsburgh University, where he has since remained. Davis holds a B.M.E. from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. from Wesleyan University, Connecticut. He was a full Professor of Music at the University of Pittsburgh where he founded the undergraduate Jazz Studies Program and helped establish a Ph.D. program in Ethnomusicology. 

He continued to record sporadically in the ‘60’s making two albums for the small Pittsburgh company Segue followed by three more for his own Tomorrow International label, on which he tried his hand at fusion: but, as with his European releases, these were never widely distributed. Davis has had bad luck with recordings: not only are most of his own albums unavailable, but his work with Blakey, Clarke and Dolphy remains largely unreleased. The situation began to change in the 80s: the London-based Hot House label reissued his 1967 John Coltrane homage, “Rules Of Freedom,” and later released the new “London By Night.” 

In 1985, Davis formed the neo-bebop Paris Reunion Band, comprising various USA musicians who had lived in Paris in the 60s, recording and touring with them in the late 80s: personnel, at different times, has included Johnny Griffin, Joe Henderson, Shaw, Nat Adderley, Dizzy Reece, Slide Hampton, Kenny Drew, Jimmy Woode and Idris Muhammad. He also toured and recorded with the post-bop ensemble Roots. Both of these ensembles he went on to direct and tour with in the early ‘90’s as well. 

Nevertheless, it is early albums such as “Hip Walk” (1966) and “The 6th Sense In The 11th House” (1972) that represent Davis' finest work. In particular, his superb tenor on the former's "While Children Sleep" and his glorious bass clarinet on the latter's "The Shadow Of Your Smile" suggest he is one of the great balladeers of modern jazz. His recordings are all considered highly collectable by aficionados and are available in reissues. 

Davis composed various pieces, including a 2004 opera entitled Just Above My Head. After 44 years, Davis retired from the University of Pittsburgh in June 2013. On October 5, 2013, Davis was awarded the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation's BNY Mellon Jazz Living Legacy Award at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. 

From 2013, he spent a large part of his retirement in Florida, where he died in 2018 of congestive heart failure at a hospital in Palm Beach on April 8, 2018 at the age of 81. 

(Edited from All About Jazz, Wikipedia & AllMusic) 

 

Dwike Mitchell born 14 February 1930

               

Dwike Mitchell (February 14, 1930 – April 7, 2013) was an American piano player and teacher. He began his career as pianist for the Lionel Hampton Orchestra before joining Willie Ruff to form The Mitchell-Ruff Duo jazz group. 

Born Ivory Mitchell Jr. in Dunedin, Florida, he adopted the professional name "Dwike" from a blend of family names suggested by his mother, after beginning to play piano publicly at age five in his local church choir. Family dynamics in the 1940s shaped his access to education; following his parents' divorce around age eight in 1938, his mother relocated to Jacksonville, Florida, while Mitchell remained in Dunedin with his father, continuing his church and school-based training uninterrupted. 

By his high school years, local mentor Dr. Jack Mease recognized his potential and offered to fund studies at Juilliard, though his father declined, prompting Mitchell to enlist in the U.S. Army at seventeen in 1947 where he served at Lockbourne Air Force Base near Columbus, Ohio and gained crucial experience in both classical and jazz ensembles as a pianist in the base's renowned band. It was at the Air Force base that he first met Willie Ruff who played French Horn and double bass. 

                                   

After their military service, they pursued classical music studies under the G.I. Bill which included Mitchell at a Philadelphia conservatory and Ruff at Yale,before reuniting in 1954 as members of Lionel Hampton's orchestra. Leaving Hampton after a year, they established the duo as an independent act, the Mitchell-Ruff Duo who opened for jazz luminaries such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie. The duo's innovative sound blended classical precision with jazz improvisation, highlighted by the rare use of French horn in jazz, paired with Mitchell's virtuoso piano style rooted in gospel and swing influences. 

Key performances included a landmark 1961 appearance at Carnegie Hall alongside Dizzy Gillespie, as well as openings for artists like Miles Davis and Sarah Vaughan. The duo's international tours broke cultural barriers, notably in 1959 when they joined the Yale Russian Chorus in the Soviet Union and delivered an impromptu jazz set in Moscow, defying official prohibitions on "bourgeois" music during the Cold War. 

In addition to his central work with the Mitchell-Ruff Duo, Dwike Mitchell expanded his ensemble collaborations by incorporating percussion to enrich the group's rhythmic palette. The trio typically featured Mitchell on piano, Willie Ruff on bass or French horn, and rotating drummers such as Charlie Smith or Elcio Milito. By 1965, the trio with Milito performed at New York venues like the Hickory House, where they drew acclaim for their sophisticated arrangements of Brazilian-inflected jazz, reflecting Mitchell's interest in global rhythms during a period of brief but innovative activity through the 1970s. 

By the Great Wall of China

In 1981, they performed in China—the first jazz concerts there since the Cultural Revolution—culminating in a lecture-concert at the Shanghai Conservatory, where Ruff, having studied Mandarin, engaged deeply with local musicians. Additional tours spanned Europe and Asia, often in regions where jazz was restricted or unknown, fostering cross-cultural exchange through their accessible, narrative-driven shows. 

Mitchell & Ruff with Phyllis Curtin

Among their notable achievements, composer Billy Strayhorn created the "Suite for Horn and Piano" specifically for the duo in 1967, one of his few works outside the Duke Ellington orbit; they premiered revisions to the piece via a transatlantic phone call with Ellington himself. The partnership received critical acclaim, including a profile in William Zinsser's 1984 book Willie and Dwike: An American Profile. They were nominated for a Grammy in 1983 for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group, for their 1982 live album from the 1961 Carnegie Hall performance with Dizzy Gillespie. 

Their efforts in cultural diplomacy, particularly in politically sensitive locales, underscored jazz's role as a universal language, influencing global perceptions of American music. The partnership of Mitchell and Ruff endured for 56 years, from 1955 until Mitchell's death in 2013.. In his final years, Dwike Mitchell's health declined due to pancreatic disease, prompting him to return to his native South after becoming ill in 2012. He spent his last months in Jacksonville, Florida, where he passed away on April 7, 2013 of a pancreatic illness at the age of 83. That same year Willie Ruff was awarded the Sanford Medal. The Sanford Medal is the highest honor from Yale University's School of Music Willie died in Killen, Alabama on December 24, 2023, at the age of 92. 

(Edited from Grokipedia & Wikipedia)

  

Wardell Gray born 13 February 1921

Wardell Gray (February 13, 1921 – May 25, 1955) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Gray was born in Oklahoma and he lived in the “Deep Deuce” African-American neighborhood of Oklahoma City.  His family moved to Detroit when he was nine years old.  Gray was raised and came of age in the Motor City.  In early 1935, Gray began attending Northeastern High School, he was then transferred to Cass Technical High School. He left in 1936, before graduating. Advised by his brother-in-law Junior Warren, Gray as a teenager started learning the clarinet. However, after hearing Lester Young on record with Count Basie, he was inspired to switch to the tenor saxophone.

Gray's first musical job was in Isaac Goodwin's small band, a part-time band that played local dances. When auditioning for another job, he was heard by Dorothy Patton, a young pianist who was forming a band in the Fraternal Club in Flint, Michigan, she later hired him. After a year there, he moved to Jimmy Raschel's band, and then to the Benny Carew band in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Around this time, he met Jeanne Goings; they had a daughter, Anita, born in January 1941.

Earl Hines Orch., Gray far right

Near the Congo Club was the Three Sixes. A young dancer, Jeri Walker, knew Earl Hines, and when the Hines band came through Detroit in late 1943, she persuaded Hines to hire Gray on alto saxophone since there was no tenor saxophone job at the time. This was a break for the 21-year-old, as the Earl Hines Orchestra was not only nationally known but had nurtured the careers of emerging bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Although most of them had left when Gray joined, playing with the Hines band was a stimulating experience.

                                    

He left Hines late in 1946, settling in Los Angeles, California; soon after arriving, he recorded the first session under his name. This was a quartet session for Eddie Laguna's Sunset label, and on it Wardell was supported by Dodo Marmarosa on piano. The date produced "Easy Swing" and "The Man I Love". 

Wardell and Dexter Gordon

In Los Angeles, Wardell worked with Benny Carter, blues singer Ivory Joe Hunter, and the small group that supported singer Billy Eckstine on a tour of the West Coast. But the real focus in Los Angeles was in clubs along Central Avenue  where Wardell held tenor battles with Dexter Gordon.

Their fame began to spread, and Ross Russell managed to get them to simulate one of their battles on "The Chase", which became Wardell's first nationally known recording and has been called "one of the most exciting musical contests in the history of jazz". The success of "The Chase" was the break Wardell needed, and he became increasingly prominent in public sessions in and around Los Angeles.

Wardell with Benny Goodman

During1947 Benny Goodman hired Wardell for a small group that he was setting up as part of his flirtation with bebop. The group opened at Frank Palumbo's Click Club in Philadelphia in May 1948. It was not a financial success and Goodman eventually broke it up, but by now Wardell was established on the East Coast as an up-and-coming musician. For a while in late 1948/early 1949 he worked with the Count Basie Orchestra, while also managing to record with Tadd Dameron and in quartet and quintet sessions with Al Haig. 

Wardell with Billie Holiday

When Basie broke up his big band he formed a septet which included Clark Terry and Buddy DeFranco. Wardell was part of the Basie septet during 1950–51. Due to the constant travelling, Wardell eventually decided to leave so that he could enjoy more home life. However, there are increasing signs of a lack of engagement around 1951/52, notably in a further live session with Dexter Gordon from February 1952, and it seems that he may have been becoming disillusioned with the music business.

L-R:- Billy Ecstine, Conte Candoli,
Don Lamond, Wardell Gray & Dexter Gordon

Around this time, Gray became involved with drugs; friends reported that this was taking its toll. His playing was now less fluent, and a studio session in January 1955, which was to be his last, shows strong but (by his own standards) rather unsubtle playing. Benny Carter hired him to participate in a new band which would integrate the Las Vegas casino entertainment. However, on opening night in July 1955, Wardell Gray's body was found in the Nevada desert, his neck broken.

The official report claimed that he had died of a drug overdose, although no autopsy seems to have been performed. The Nevada officials didn't seem overly concerned about the cause of death of a visiting black musician. There were rumours at the time that Wardell had been the victim of a gang-style execution over gambling debts. Also according to sax player Teddy Edwards was that a few of Carter’s band members found his body in his hotel room. They wanted no police trouble, so they put his body in a car and brought it to the desert. Even so, the mysterious circumstances of his death, subject to various innuendos are yet to be solved.    

(Edited from Wikipedia) 

Here’s a clip of Count Basie, piano; Wardell Gray, tenor sax; Buddy DeFranco, clarinet; and Clark Terry, trumpet.

Gene McDaniels born 12 February 1935

Gene McDaniels (February 12, 1935 – July 29, 2011) was an American singer, producer and songwriter. He had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s, reaching number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" and number five with "Tower of Strength", both hits in 1961. He had continued success as a songwriter with "Compared to What". 

The Sultans . L-R: Richard Beasley,
Weeley Davereaus, Willie Barns,
Gene McDaniels & Jimmy Farmer. 

Born Eugene Booker McDaniels in Kansas City, Kansas, McDaniels grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. As well as singing gospel music in church, he developed a love of jazz learning to play the saxophone and trumpet. After forming a singing group, the Echoes of Joy, later known as the Sultans, in his teens, he studied at the University of  Omaha Conservatory of Music before joining the Mississippi Piney Woods Singers, with whom he toured in California. In California McDaniels began singing in jazz clubs, achieving recognition with the Les McCann Trio, and came to the attention of Sy Waronker of Liberty Records. 

After recording two unsuccessful singles and an album, McDaniels teamed with producer Snuff Garrett, with whom he recorded his first hit, "A Hundred Pounds of Clay", which reached number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1961 and sold over one million copies, earning gold disc status. Its follow-up, "A Tear", was less successful but his third single with Garrett, "Tower of Strength", co-written by Burt Bacharach, reached number 5 and won McDaniels his second gold record. "Tower of Strength" reached number 49 in the UK Singles Chart, losing out to Frankie Vaughan's chart-topping version. 

                                    

In 1962, McDaniels appeared performing "Another Tear Falls" in the movie It's Trad, Dad! directed by Richard Lester. He continued to have hit records, including "Chip Chip", "Point Of No Return", and "Spanish Lace". Each record was released in 1962, but his suave style of singing gradually became less fashionable, as the public started to favor British acts such as The Beatles. In 1965, "Point Of No Return" was recorded by the British R&B band Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames on their UK Columbia EP Fame At Last. Also in 1965, McDaniels moved to Columbia Records, with little success, and in 1968, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, he left the US to live in Denmark and Sweden where he concentrated on songwriting. 

After the late 1960s, McDaniels turned his attention to a more black consciousness form of music, and his best-known song in this genre was "Compared to What", a jazz-soul protest song made famous (and into a hit) by Les McCann and Eddie Harris on their album Swiss Movement. It was also covered by Roberta Flack, Ray Charles, Della Reese, John Legend, the Roots, Sweetwater, and others. He returned to the US in 1971 and recorded thereafter as Eugene McDaniels. 

In the early 1970s, McDaniels recorded on the Atlantic label, which released his albums Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse and Outlaw. McDaniels also attained the top spot on the chart as a songwriter. In 1974, Flack reached number 1 with his "Feel Like Makin' Love" (not to be confused with the Bad Company song of the same name), which received a Grammy Award nomination. McDaniels received a BMI award for outstanding radio airplay; at the time he was given the award, the song already had over five million plays. In 1972  he recorded an album under the name “Universal Jones” for MGM, then back under “Gene McDaniels” for Natural Juices on Ode in 1975. 

In the 1980s, McDaniels recorded an album with the percussionist Terry Silverlight, which was not released. In 2005, McDaniels released Screams & Whispers on his own record label. In 2009, it was announced that McDaniels was to release a new album, Evolution's Child, which featured his lyrics, and a number of songs composed or arranged with pianist Ted Brancato. Some of the songs featured jazz musician Ron Carter on concert bass and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums. McDaniel's "Jagger the Dagger" was featured on the Tribe Vibes breakbeat compilation album, after it had been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest. 

McDaniels also appeared in films. They included It's Trad, Dad! (1962, released in the United States as Ring-A-Ding Rhythm), which was directed by Richard Lester. McDaniels also appeared in The Young Swingers (1963). He is briefly seen singing in the choir in the 1974 film Uptown Saturday Night. He was the original voice actor for "Nasus", a champion in the computer game League of Legends. 

In 2010 he launched a series of YouTube videos on his website, featuring his music and thoughts on some of his creations. His later years were spent by the ocean in Kittery Point, Maine, as a self-described "hermit,” where he died peacefully on July 29, 2011, at his home, survived by his third wife and six children. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & The Second Disc)

 

Chad Morgan born 11 February 1933

 Chad Morgan (11 February 1933 – 1 January 2025) was an Australian country music singer and guitarist known for his vaudeville style of comic country and western and folk songs, his prominent teeth and goofy stage persona. In reference to his first recording, he was nicknamed as "The Sheik of Scrubby Creek". 

Chadwick William Morgan was born in Wondai, Queensland, as the eldest of 14 children, to Dave and Ivy Morgan. From an early age he was raised by his grandparents, Bill and Eva Hopkins. After his grandfather died in 1947, with his grandmother, he moved back to Scrubby Creek to live with his mother and siblings. Both parents were amateur musicians; his father played accordion and his mother accordion and mandolin, while Morgan learned guitar. He left school at age 14 and found work cutting timber. 

From 1948, he worked on cattle farms near Rockhampton and began composing music. Morgan's lyrics use Australian slang including sheilas, drongos, dills and geezers. He was discovered through Australia's Amateur Hour, a radio talent contest, where he sang his original song "The Sheik of Scrubby Creek" and became a national finalist. By November 1952 he had recorded that track together with "You Can Keep Your Wimmln and I'll Stick to My Beer". 

                                    

He signed with Regal Zonophone Records (a subsidiary of EMI), which issued his debut single, "The Sheik of Scrubby Creek" in 1952. He was described as a "Queensland hillbilly" with a "deadpan, bumpkin style". He also undertook national service with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at Amberley Base. Morgan was hospitalised for 14 months from December 1954 following a collision between his motorcycle and a car. His injuries included two broken ribs, broken hand and broken leg. 

Morgan's first wife was Pam Mitchell in 1957, with whom he had three children - Allan, Chad Jr. and Janelle. His heavy drinking caused the marriage to fail. Morgan married again on 14 September 1985 to Joanie, whom he had met the year before. After their marriage Morgan gave up drinking and smoking completely. Morgan toured extensively, including with the Slim Dusty Show, the All-Star Western Show and his own Chad Morgan Show. 

He released 18 studio albums and undertook regular live performances. At the 1987 Country Music Awards of Australia he was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown, and was awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) on Australia Day (26 January) in 2004 for "service to country music". Morgan appeared in three films, Newsfront (1978), Dimboola (1979), and the biographical documentary I'm Not Dead Yet (2011). 

Morgan contributed one verse to the Gordon Parsons song "Pub With No Beer". He was dubbed the "clown prince of comedy" by Slim Dusty. He recorded a duet with John Williamson, "A Country Balladeer". He has had platinum and gold album sales and is one of Australia's most popular country music artists. Morgan performed at Sydney Opera House with Slim Dusty in April 1978. An album of the concert was released three years later, as 'One & Off The Road'. It was released the same year as 'Sheilas Drongos Dills & Other Geezers' which contained 20 of Morgan’s hits from the 1950s and 1960s. 

In 2009, Morgan wrote a song about his Aboriginal heritage, dedicated to his grandparents who raised him as a child, titled "The Ballad of Bill and Eva". It was recorded with his granddaughter, Caitlin Morgan. Artists who have impersonated Morgan in their shows include Col Elliott and John Williamson. Barry Humphries used Morgan as his inspiration for Les Patterson's teeth. Tex Morton once described Morgan as the only original country music artist in Australia. False rumours of his death began to surface after an announcement on radio station 4GY. The radio station later apologised for the rumour. 

Morgan was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2010 CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia, the first person to be honoured with this award. In January 2023, Morgan was touring rural Victoria, his career having spanned over 70 years. Morgan’s last-ever live show – dubbed his ''Farewell To Australia'' was on April 21, 2024 at the Twin Towns theatre in Tweed Heads. Chad Morgan died in a hospital at Gin Gin in Queensland on January 1, 2025, aged 91. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & The History Of Aussie Music) 

George York born 10 February 1910

George (February 10, 1910 – July 1974) and Leslie York (August 23, 1917 - February 21, 1984), known professionally as The York Brothers, were an American country music duo, popular from the late 1930s through the 1950s, known for their close harmony singing. Their country boogie style, a precursor to rockabilly, combined elements of hillbilly, jazz, and blues music. Originally from Kentucky, they are often associated with the city of Detroit, where they were based for several years, and which they paid tribute to in songs such as "Hamtramck Mama", "Detroit Hula Girl", and "Motor City Boogie". 

George and Leslie York  were both born in Louisa, Kentucky, United States. They were raised in a musical family. After finishing 8th grade George worked as a miner in Kentucky, but eventually moved to Denver, Colorado to pursue a career as a professional musician. After singing and playing guitar with various Denver bands, George moved to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he found work at radio station WPAY. Meanwhile, Leslie (who was seven years younger than George) finished 9th grade, and won a talent contest in Lexington, Kentucky. He joined his older brother in Portsmouth, and the two soon relocated to Detroit, Michigan. 

                                    

Detroit's auto industry in the late 1930s employed thousands of Southerners. Also at this time, sibling country music acts such as the Delmore Brothers and the Monroe Brothers were enjoying great popularity. Adopting "The York Brothers" as a stage name, they quickly found success as a live act in Detroit's country music taverns. In 1939 they recorded their first single, "Hamtramck Mama," which became a hit on the Detroit-based Universal label, selling some 300,000 copies in the Detroit area alone. The song's bawdy lyrics raised some protest among the politicians of the city of Hamtramck (within Detroit's borders). More successful singles followed, and in 1941 the brothers signed with Decca Records. Originally recording with just the two of them singing and playing acoustic guitars (with Leslie usually playing lead), they gradually added new instrumentation as they updated their sound. 

The start of the Second World War and the resultant shortage of shellac for production of records led to most labels cutting back on releases. The York Brothers were trimmed from the Decca roster after releasing six sides, although their popularity in the Midwest and South remained strong. They began performing with an expanded group and released several records on the Detroit-based Mellow label. By the start of 1944, however, both brothers were in the Navy, with George serving in the Pacific and Leslie in Europe. 

In 1946, with the war over, the brothers reunited and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. One of the few 'hillbilly acts' to successfully adapt to post-war tastes, they joined the Grand Ole Opry and signed with the new Bullet label. They released a new version of their earlier hit, "Hamtramck Mama," as well as originals and covers of popular songs. They survived the 1948 AFM recording ban with steady live work, including a six-week stint with the Louisiana Hayride, and remained with the Opry until 1950, when they returned to Detroit. 

While still in Nashville, George and Leslie had begun recording a long series of sides for Syd Nathan's Cincinnati-based King label, using top-notch studio musicians such as steel guitarist Jerry Byrd, guitarist Zeb Turner, and bassist Louis Innis. Many of their King efforts showed Western Swing, Latin, and R&B influences, and were consistently strong sellers. Some originals, such as "Mountain Rosa Lee", later came to be considered classics (in this case, within the bluegrass field). 

The York Brothers moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1953, along with their families. There they were regularly featured on the Big D Jamboree television show, and the WFAA Shindig radio program. They continued recording, including another session for Decca in 1957. Around this time, George began having problems with his voice, so Leslie took over the lead parts. Leslie recorded some solo material for Sage Records that year. In 1963 the brothers started their own label, York Bros. Records, and released several regionally popular singles, including "Monday Morning Blues." 

They eventually retired from performing, with George running a night club, and Leslie working various jobs. Both died in Dallas – George in 1974, and Leslie in 1984. 

(Edited from Wikipedia)