All Discussions Tagged 'tenor' - Pittsburgh Jazz Network2024-03-28T09:58:09Zhttps://jazzburgher.ning.com/group/obituaries/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=tenor&feed=yes&xn_auth=noWARREN LUCKEY, PLAYED SAX WITH LEGENDS OF JAZZ (Father of member Paulette Luckey Silver)tag:jazzburgher.ning.com,2019-09-18:1992552:Topic:4537342019-09-18T20:50:12.351ZDr. Nelson Harrisonhttps://jazzburgher.ning.com/profile/NelsonHarrison
<blockquote class="ipsQuote"><div><p>WARREN LUCKEY, PLAYED SAX WITH LEGENDS OF JAZZ</p>
<p>By Christian Salazar, Staff Writer</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Warren Luckey, a saxophonist who was present at the birth of bebop,</p>
<p>toured with Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie in the 1940s, once</p>
<p>lent his tenor sax to Charlie Parker for a landmark performance, and</p>
<p>appeared on a recording with Aretha Franklin, has died. He was 85.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>The Uniondale resident died July 11…</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ipsQuote"><div><p>WARREN LUCKEY, PLAYED SAX WITH LEGENDS OF JAZZ</p>
<p>By Christian Salazar, Staff Writer</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Warren Luckey, a saxophonist who was present at the birth of bebop,</p>
<p>toured with Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie in the 1940s, once</p>
<p>lent his tenor sax to Charlie Parker for a landmark performance, and</p>
<p>appeared on a recording with Aretha Franklin, has died. He was 85.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>The Uniondale resident died July 11 of kidney failure, said his</p>
<p>son-in-law, Dan Silver, of Huntington.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Phil Schaap, a leading jazz historian, said Luckey flourished in the</p>
<p>bebop era. "There was a revolution in music 60 years ago, and Luckey</p>
<p>was there," said Schaap, the Grammy Award-winning host of the "Bird</p>
<p>Flight" jazz program on WKCR/89.9 FM.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Bebop was the name of the musical revolution, and Gillespie, along</p>
<p>with Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Kenny Clarke and others, had</p>
<p>developed the style beginning in the early 1940s.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Luckey's playing appeared on Gillespie's famed recordings on the</p>
<p>Musicraft label, including "Groovin' High" and "Things to Come" in</p>
<p>1946.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>In 1947, Charlie Parker, who played alto sax, asked to borrow Luckey's</p>
<p>tenor sax for a recording he was doing with an up-and-coming jazz</p>
<p>musician - Miles Davis.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Luckey was born in Dallas, on March 5, 1920, and began his musical</p>
<p>training in elementary school, on the piano.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>At age 14, he took up the saxophone, following the path of jazz</p>
<p>legends Lester Young and Chu Berry. Three years later, Luckey was</p>
<p>playing in local clubs.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School, Luckey</p>
<p>attended Sam Houston College and Alabama State Teachers College, with</p>
<p>the idea of becoming a music teacher.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>But in 1944, Fats Ford, a trumpet player also at Alabama State,</p>
<p>recommended Luckey to Louis Armstrong. Luckey dropped out of college</p>
<p>and joined the legendary trumpeter's band in Chicago that year for a</p>
<p>U.S. tour.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>In January 1945, Luckey was playing at the Zanzibar Club in Manhattan,</p>
<p>said his family. One night after a gig he went down to the Majestic</p>
<p>Ballroom on 49th Street where he met Myrtle Mae Medley, a vocalist.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>A few nights later, Luckey and Medley met at a subway platform in</p>
<p>Harlem, said Luckey's son, Warren Martin Luckey, the family historian.</p>
<p>"They walked up to each other and had a kiss before they started to</p>
<p>talk," he said.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>They were married in 1946, the same year Luckey left Armstrong's band</p>
<p>to join Gillespie's first big band.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>When Gillespie's band chose to tour Europe, Luckey decided to stay in</p>
<p>New York with his family, moving to Long Island.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>For 12 years, he was the bandleader at the Manhattan and Brooklyn Baby</p>
<p>Grand clubs and worked with comedians Redd Foxx and Nipsey Russell,</p>
<p>Silver said.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>By the '60s, Luckey was a studio musician for Capital, Victor and</p>
<p>Columbia labels.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Luckey appeared on Aretha Franklin's studio recording of "The Great</p>
<p>Aretha Franklin" made by Columbia between 1960 and 1961. But he didn't</p>
<p>think much about it at the time. "He took this stuff for granted</p>
<p>because he had played with Dizzy Gillespie," Silver said.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Through the '80s, Luckey played at clubs on the Island, including</p>
<p>Sonny's Place in Seaford.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>He also was a central, if taciturn, role model for his five children.</p>
<p>"My father was a quiet, introverted musical genius who thought in</p>
<p>melodies," said Warren Martin Luckey.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>In 1983, Luckey developed a neuromuscular disorder, which made</p>
<p>performing difficult.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>In the 1990s, audiences could still hear Luckey playing gigs on Long</p>
<p>Island with his daughter, Paulette Luckey Silver, who started singing</p>
<p>in 1991.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>"He was my mentor, and my musical teacher," she said. "He was</p>
<p>demanding of excellence."</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Luckey is survived by two daughters, Patricia Luckey Kennedy of North</p>
<p>Port, Fla., and Paulette Luckey Silver of Huntington; three sons,</p>
<p>David of Uniondale, Warren Martin of Long Beach, Calif., and Charles</p>
<p>of Dallas; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>He was buried next to his wife in the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in</p>
<p>Westbury.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><Note: He also recorded with Thelonious Monk, Jimmy Scott, Sonny</p>
<p>Sitt, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, Kenny Clarke, Budd Johnson, Charlie</p>
<p>Parker, Shelly Manne, Tommy Allison, Kenny Burrell, Cab Calloway, Milt</p>
<p>Hinton ... and was the sax player on several of the Mickey & Sylvia</p>
<p>recordings.></p>
<p></p>
<p>[/quote)</p>
<p></p>
<p>Luckey is often listed as Lucky in several discographies (the Lord, not Bruynick).</p>
<p>The session where Bird borrowed his tenor sax from Luckey must be the Miles Davis All Stars session from August 14, 1947 for Savoy. 'Milestones', 'Little Willie Leaps', 'Half Nelson' and 'Sippin' at Bells' - all with Parker on tenor - were recorded on this date.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p><span class="ipsType_reset ipsType_medium ipsType_light"><strong>Edited<span> </span>23 Jul 2005<span> </span>by brownie</strong></span></p> Fred Staton, Saxophonist with Peerless Perspective on Jazz History, Dies at 102 (Dakota's brother)tag:jazzburgher.ning.com,2017-10-26:1992552:Topic:4172542017-10-26T13:37:58.849ZDr. Nelson Harrisonhttps://jazzburgher.ning.com/profile/NelsonHarrison
<h1 class="post-title">Fred Staton, Saxophonist with Peerless Perspective on Jazz History, Dies at 102</h1>
<div class="by-date"><span class="submitted"><span><span class="submitted-label">By</span> <span class="name">Josh Landes</span></span></span> <i class="bullet">•</i> <span class="pub-date">10 hours ago…</span></div>
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<h1 class="post-title">Fred Staton, Saxophonist with Peerless Perspective on Jazz History, Dies at 102</h1>
<div class="by-date"><span class="submitted"><span><span class="submitted-label">By</span> <span class="name">Josh Landes</span></span></span> <i class="bullet">•</i> <span class="pub-date">10 hours ago</span></div>
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<li><a title="" href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wbgo/files/styles/x_large/public/201710/fred_staton_obit_0.png" class="noexit lightbox"><img src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wbgo/files/styles/medium/public/201710/fred_staton_obit_0.png"/></a>
<div class="image-meta"><div class="attribution"><span class="credit">Courtesy of the Jazz Foundation of America</span></div>
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</ul>
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<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Fred Staton, a saxophonist touted as "the world's oldest jazz musician," has died at the age of 102. His death was confirmed by his grandson, Richard Staton.</p>
<p>A member of the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band and the older brother of singer Dakota Staton, he was active as a performer even after his centennial, when WBGO profiled him in our program guide. We've reprinted that story below.</p>
<p><strong>“Jazz is a feeling.”</strong></p>
<p>On a gray, late winter day in the Bronx, Fred Staton sits beneath a painting of an orange sunset. He pauses and looks away to a distant somewhere. “The only way I can describe it as a feeling. With a feeling comes the intonations, the configurations, all the stuff that adds into one capsule. But it comes out through the feeling.”<br/> </p>
<div class="wysiwyg-asset-image-wrapper left"><div class="wysiwyg-asset-image"><a href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wbgo/files/styles/x_large/public/201710/fred_3.jpg" class="popup"><img class="pi_assets-image" src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wbgo/files/styles/large/public/201710/fred_3.jpg"/></a><div class="image-meta"><div class="credit">Credit Richard Corman</div>
</div>
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<p>Staton is well acquainted with the feeling of jazz. Over the course of his century on earth, he’s been steeped in it. Born on Valentine’s Day, 1915, Staton’s musical life began with the strains of his mother’s player piano and 78 discs of Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson. He cites a Johnny Hodges cut on an Ellington big band record played off the family’s Victrola as the inspiration for his life-long infatuation with the saxophone.</p>
<p>A singer in his church’s gospel choir, Staton’s introduction to playing jazz came when the group’s sponsor brought in a full band’s worth of equipment, along with charts of popular music. First gravitating towards to the drums, he admits it was the frustration of having to a pack up his kit while his bandmates left to flirt with women after gigs that led him to commit to the saxophone.</p>
<p>Staton came up in Pittsburgh during a time that defined the city as a great source of jazz talent. He played in the first ensemble Art Blakey ever formed, alongside legendary pianist Erroll Garner. Staton recalls the anxiety of watching the young Garner casually risk his gifted hands as he indulged his other great love, high school football. The lack of opportunity for a young black man in segregated Pittsburgh—as well as the persistent lack of venues for jazz groups—lead Staton to leave the Steel City and find his fortune gigging on the East Coast. Along the way, he encountered a recent high school graduate with magnetic talent in Connecticut—one Horace Silver—and watched fellow Westinghouse High School graduates Billy Strayhorn and Ahmad Jamal pen iconic compositions.</p>
<p>Staton is still playing. He is a ten-year veteran of the esteemed Harlem Blues & Jazz Band, with whom he’s toured Europe and Russia to much acclaim. He happily recalls being billed in St. Petersburg on a sign just as large as the Eric Clapton billboard next to it, and the standing ovations the group received at Shostakovich Hall. He’s received commendations from numerous groups—from churches to congressmen— for his considerable contributions to the jazz world, and awards proudly line the walls of his apartment.</p>
<p>A member of WBGO, Staton supports the station because it “plays the music I can relate to. Music that I have performed over the years myself. I can feel it, I can pat my feet to it, and I can completely enjoy it.” His devotion to jazz is one of deep connection, to a “flow” he attributes to the spirituals of the cotton fields of Mississippi, a straight ahead beat that unites gospel, blues, and jazz. “If you can play one, you can play the other,” he says. “They all interact.”</p>
<p>Staton speaks deliberately and with great seriousness about the craft that’s defined his life. The connection he feels is apparent, and that flow, that continuity he draws from the music is as clear in his eyes now as it must have been all those decades ago. In a home surrounded by tablature, CDs, a PA system for his gospel band, and all the other evidence of his achievements and passions, he quietly captures the essence of what music means to him: “Jazz helps to put me in a comfort zone. It’s a feeling.”</p>
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</div>
</div> Ron "George" Hall affectionately known to musicians as Rev. Ron passes at 87.tag:jazzburgher.ning.com,2012-08-03:1992552:Topic:2637372012-08-03T15:22:17.290ZDr. Nelson Harrisonhttps://jazzburgher.ning.com/profile/NelsonHarrison
<p>RONALD "GEORGE" HALL</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044977026?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044977026?profile=original" width="100"></img></a> <br></br>Age 87, of the Hill District. Passed away suddenly on July 23, 2012. Son of the late Anna Margarite and <strong>Sellars Hall</strong>; brother of Doris Curry, Wanda Jackson, Nedra Miller, Marilyn Austin (Joseph), Elizabeth Waters (Harry), David Hall, Darryl Hall and the late Malcolm Hall; also a host of nieces, nephews, and friends. A Memorial…</p>
<p>RONALD "GEORGE" HALL</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044977026?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044977026?profile=original" width="100"/></a><br/>Age 87, of the Hill District. Passed away suddenly on July 23, 2012. Son of the late Anna Margarite and <strong>Sellars Hall</strong>; brother of Doris Curry, Wanda Jackson, Nedra Miller, Marilyn Austin (Joseph), Elizabeth Waters (Harry), David Hall, Darryl Hall and the late Malcolm Hall; also a host of nieces, nephews, and friends. A Memorial Service to celebrate his life will be held on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 at 1 p.m. SAMUEL J. JONES FUNERAL HOME. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service from 12 p.m. until time of service at 1 p.m. <br/>Send condolences at post-gazette.com/gb<br/><br/></p>