#lagrene

Ils sont venus !

ARTISTES DJANGO/ En scène Biréli Lagrène, Swingeneris, Gwen Cahue Quartet, Selmer #607, Hermann Quintet, Jazzy Strings Trio, Dorado Schmitt, Amatta Schmitt, Vipers Rythm Band, David Reinhardt, Les Frères Ferré, Tchavolo Schmitt, Trio Rosenberg, Yorgui & Gigi Loeffler, Serge Lopez, Wawau Adler Trio, Philip Catherine, Toots Thielemans, Philippe Aerts, Alexandre Cavalière, John Etheridge, Angelo…

Bireli Lagrene (guitar) - 1966 :: Joyeux anniversaire à Bireli Lagrene.

Bireli is a French guitarist and bassist. He came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt-influenced style on the guitar, as well as for being a jazz fusion virtuoso on the electric guitar. He often performs within the swing, jazz fusion and post bop mediums.

When, at the age of eight, he covered Django Reinhardt's repertoire, his relatives were already calling him a child prodigy. Winning a Romani music festival in Strasbourg at the age of twelve gave him the opportunity to tour in Germany and, later, to record his performance on the LP Routes To Django - live At The Krokodil.

Offered a chance to leave for the United States, Lagrène met some of the most distinguished jazz musicians on the international scene, such as Stéphane Grappelli, Benny Goodman, and Benny Carter. In 1984, he met Larry Coryell in New York. Later, he was introduced to bassist Jaco Pastorius and ventured with him into jazz fusion. Together, they toured Europe, which contributed a great deal to Lagrène's musical emancipation. Lagrène has also performed live with guitarist Al Di Meola.

Back to a more traditional style, Lagrène recorded Gipsy Project and Gipsy Project and Friends in 2002. Along with his usual cohorts Diego Imbert (double bass) and Hono Winterstein (rhythm guitar), the latter session featured Henri Salvador and Thomas Dutronc (son of legendary French pop pair Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc).

Dave Liebman (saxophone) - 1946 :: Happy birthday to flautist and sax player Dave Liebman.

In the early 1970s, after recording with Genya Ravan and Ten Wheel Drive, Liebman took the leading role (as President) in organizing several dozen musicians into a cooperative, Free Life Communication, which became an integral part of the fertile New York loft jazz scene in the early 1970s and was funded by The New York State Council of the Arts and the Space for Innovative Development.

After one year spent with Ten Wheel Drive, one of the early jazz fusion groups, Liebman secured the saxophone/flute position with the group of John Coltrane's drummer, Elvin Jones. Within two years, Liebman reached the zenith of his apprenticeship period when Miles Davis hired him.

In 1977, Liebman did a world tour with pianist Chick Corea, followed up the next year by the formation of the David Liebman Quintet with John Scofield, Kenny Kirkland and Terumasa Hino as featured sidemen. 

Liebman's present group, formed in 1991, includes guitarist Vic Juris, bassist Tony Marino and drummer Marko Marcinko. With these musicians, he has pursued an eclectic direction in recording projects that has ranged from jazz standards to Puccini arias, original adaptations from the John Coltrane and Miles Davis repertoires, original compositions in styles ranging from world music to fusion, always maintaining a repertoire that balances the past, present and future.

Currently, Liebman is the Artist In Residence at the Manhattan School of Music. In June 2010, Liebman received an NEA Jazz Masters lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Gerald Wilson (composer/conductor/leader) - 1918 :: Birthday greetings to trumpet playing band leader Gerald Wilson.

Wilson joined the Jimmie Lunceford orchestra in 1939, replacing its star trumpeter and arranger Sy Oliver. While with Lunceford, he contributed numbers to the band's book, including "Hi Spook" and "Yard-dog Mazurka," the latter being a big influence on Stan Kenton's recording "Intermission Riff."

Wilson formed his own band, with some success, in the mid-1940s. In 1960, Wilson formed a Los Angeles-based band that began a series of superb recordings for the Pacific Jazz label.

Musicians in the band at various times included lead trumpeter Snooky Young, trumpeter Carmell Jones, saxophonists Harold Land, Don Raffell and Teddy Edwards, guitarist Joe Pass, Richard Holmes (organist), vibists Roy Ayers and Bobby Hutcherson, and drummers Mel Lewis and Mel Lee.

In addition to leading his band, Wilson has written arrangements for others including Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Julie London, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Nancy Wilson to name a few.

In February 2006, Wynton Marsalis and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra performed his music with Mr. Wilson conducting.

In June 2007, Wilson returned to the studio with producer Al Pryor and an all-star big band to record a special album of compositions originally commissioned and premiered at the Monterey Jazz Festival for the festival's 50th anniversary.

Wilson had helped lead celebrations of the Monterey Jazz Festival's 20th and 40th anniversary with his specially commissioned works (1998's grammy nominated album Theme for Monterey).

The album, Monterey Moods was released on Mack Avenue Records in September 2007. In September 2009, Wilson conducted his eight movement suite "Detroit" commissioned by the Detroit Jazz Festival in honor of its 30th anniversary. The work includes a movement entitled "Cass Tech" in honor of his high school alma mater.

Lonnie Plaxico (bass) - 1960 :: Many happy returns to jazz bass player Lonnie Plaxico.

Lonnie grew up in Chicago but moved to New York City, where he had stints playing with Chet Baker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Junior Cook, and Hank Jones. He won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award in 1978.

Plaxico first came to public attention through his work with the Wynton Marsalis group in 1982, though his first regular attachment was with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1983–1986), with whom he recorded twelve albums.

In 1986 Plaxico joined Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, and stayed with them until 1993. He is now the musical director and featured bassist for Cassandra Wilson, with whom he has been playing for fifteen years.

He has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, including David Murray, Alice Coltrane, Stanley Turrentine, Andrew Hill, Joe Sample, Abbey Lincoln, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Cosby, Lonnie Liston Smith, Ravi Coltrane, Scott Tixier, Barbara Dennerlein, Kenny Grohowski, Helen Sung, Trebeka, Nina Vidal

Meade Lux Lewis (piano) - 1905 - 1964  was an American pianist and composer, noted for his work in the boogie-woogie style.

A 1927 rendition of "Honky Tonk Train Blues" on the Paramount Records label marked his recording debut.He remade it for Parlophone in 1935 and for Victor in 1937 and a recording exists of a Camel Caravan broadcast, including "Honky Tonk Train Blues" from New York City in 1939.

His performance at John Hammond's historic From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938 brought Lewis to public attention. Following the event, Lewis and two other performers from that concert, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson often appeared as a trio and became the leading boogie-woogie pianists of the day.

They performed an extended engagement at Café Society, toured as a trio, and inspired the formation of Blue Note Records in 1939. Their success led to a decade long boogie-woogie craze.with big band swing treatments by Tommy Dorsey, Will Bradley, and others; and numerous country boogie and early rock and roll songs.

He became the first jazz pianist to double on celeste (starting in 1936) and was featured on that instrument on a Blue Note quartet date with Edmond Hall and Charlie Christian. Lewis also played harpsichord on a few records in 1941.After the boogie-woogie craze ended, Lewis continued working in Chicago and California. His best known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues", has been recorded in various contexts, often in a big band arrangement. Early recordings of the piece by artists other than Lewis include performances by Adrian Rollini, Frankie Trumbauer, classical harpsichordist Sylvia Marlowe, theater organist George Wright (with drummer Cozy Cole, under the title "Organ Boogie"), and Bob Zurke with Bob Crosby's orchestra. Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer often included it in his repertoire and recorded it in 1972.

If today is your birthday have a really great day and make it a blueprint for the year to come!

Thanks as usual to the folks at AAJ & JBC

Respect to the YouTube uploaders

Thnaks to all who follow this blog

and thanks to You for passin' thru'

Walk tall go placidly

Geo