My all time favourite jazz pianist is Teddy Wilson. Theodore Shaw ‘Teddy’ Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in 1912, he had a sophisticated, elegant style of piano playing and played with some of the greatest musicians and singers of the age.

He made some of the best jazz numbers ever recorded with such luminaries as  Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman. Here is an interesting video from the TV series ‘Ken Burns Jazz’ that tells of the racial predujice of an age gone by and how supreme talent won the day.

Buddy Rich (1917-1987) drummer and bandleader was born in Brooklyn, New York. He could be an abrasive character and was definitely his own man with strong opinions and caustic humour. He played in most of the big bands during their heydays in the 30′s and 40′s. He started with Bunny Berigan and then proceeded to play in the great bands of Harry James, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and then his own before the decliine of the big bands started in 1945.

My favourite jazz band of all time is the Count Basie Orchestra. Formed in Kansas City in 1935 by Bill ‘Count’ Basie, it featured in it’s life span of nearly 50 years some of the best jazz musicians that ever played. The orchestra were considered the very best of the swing bands which dominated the music charts in the 40′s.

Although I am a great fan of the orchestra in full flow some of the best music came from the small combo of Basie on piano and his rhythm section of Joe Jones on drums, Walter Page on bass and Freddie Green on guitar.

The Best Selling Jazz Record Of All Time

I would have been about 16 years old when I first heard the recording of ‘Take Five’ and it was this tune that got me interested in jazz. Written by Brubeck’s peerless alto sax player Paul Desmond, ‘Take Five’ became the best selling jazz recording of all time and there can’t be many people who have not heard it, although they may not recognise the title.

Piano Man

Earl Hines, universally known as Earl “Fatha” Hines was born in 1903 in Duquesne, Pennsylvania. The young Hines took classical piano lessons and at eleven he was playing organ in his local Baptist church. He also had a good ear and a good memory for popular tunes and could re-play songs and numbers he heard in theatres, even before the sheet music came out.

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday, without doubt the greatest ever jazz singer, was born Eleanora Fagan in Baltimore on 7th April 1915. She suffered a very difficult childhood and was confined to an institution as the victim of childhood rape. In her early teens she became a prostitute turning tricks for $5 a time.

She started singing in clubs at 15 years of age and her reputation quickly grew. Within a few years she was singing with the big bands, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Artie Shaw. Holiday suffered from heroin and alcohol problems and seemed attracted to men who treated her badly.

An All Time Great

The best cornetist that ever blew was Bobby Hackett (1915-1976). He was an accomplished exponent of the guitar, ukele, banjo and of course the trumpet. A member of the Glen Miller orchestra in the early 1940′s, he also played with Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman amongst others. In the 1960′s he was the the official accompanist to Tony Bennett and the track ‘The Very Thought Of You’ was the first time I ever heard him and I immediately became a fan.

A Real Ivory Tickler

Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller was a jazz pianist who couldn’t take himself or life seriously. His playing had exraordinary appeal for the general public who loved his riotous sense of comedy which involved sending up the lyrics he sang, even his own compositions were not immune from this treatment.

One of my favourite pastimes is listening to jazz, a genre that doesn’t appeal to most people as their experience of it is limited to blaring trumpets and trombones.

Paul Desmond was noted for his ability to play melodies in a gentle pure tone that in his own words “sound like a dry martini”. He was famous as the alto sax player in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and his most famous creation was the best selling jazz record of all time ‘Take Five’. It was the first instrumental number to sell a million copies. With his suit and tie, receding hairline and horn rimmed glasses Desmond looked more like a bank manager than a late night jazz man. He had a sophisticated wit, was widely read and was probably the most literate jazz musician ever. He was a heavy smoker who liked his scotch and was very popular with the ladies.