bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...
jazz ensemble
A jazz band (jazz ensemble or jazz combo) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a ho ...
Philly Joe Jones
Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer.
Biography Early career
As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio station WIP. He was ...
in the 1980s that featured the original compositions and arrangements of
Tadd Dameron
Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist.
Biography
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dameron was the most influential arranger of the bebop era, but also wrote charts for swi ...
. They recorded three albums, two for
Uptown Records
Uptown Records is an American record label, based in New York City, founded in 1986 by onetime rapper Andre Harrell. From the late 1980s into the early 1990s, it was a leader in R&B and hip hop. During the 1990s, aided by its A&R worker Sean ...
and the other for
Soul Note Records
Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz.
History
Black S ...
, and continued to perform even after Jones' death in 1985. The nonet, which included several of the composer's colleagues, attempted to create an "historically accurate" representation of Dameron's music.
Personnel
The original line-up included:
*
Johnny Coles
John Coles (July 3, 1926 – December 21, 1997) was an American jazz trumpeter.
Early life
Coles was born in Trenton, New Jersey on July 3, 1926. He grew up in Philadelphia and was self-taught on trumpet.
Later life and career
Coles spent his ...
, fluegelhorn
*
Don Sickler
Don Sickler (January 6, 1944) is an American jazz trumpeter, arranger and producer.Britt Woodman
Britt Woodman (June 4, 1920 – October 13, 2000) was an American jazz trombonist.
Career
Woodman was a childhood friend of Charles Mingus, but first worked with Phil Moore and Les Hite. After service in World War II he played with Boyd Rae ...
Frank Wess
Frank Wellington Wess (January 4, 1922 – October 30, 2013) was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. In addition to his extensive solo work, Wess is remembered for his time in Count Basie's band from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Critic ...
and
Cecil Payne
Cecil Payne (December 14, 1922 – November 27, 2007) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn, New York. Payne also played the alto saxophone and flute. He played with other prominent jazz musicians, in particular Dizzy Gilles ...
, saxophones
*
Walter Davis Jr.
Walter Davis Jr. (September 2, 1932 – June 2, 1990) was an American bebop and hard bop pianist.
Davis once left the music world to be a tailor, but returned. A soloist, bandleader, and accompanist, he amassed a body of work while never be ...
, piano
*
Larry Ridley
Larry Ridley (born September 3, 1937) is an American jazz bassist and music educator. Allmusic Biography/ref>
Biography
Ridley was born and reared in Indianapolis, Indiana. He began performing professionally while still in high school in the 1950s ...
, bass
*
"Philly" Joe Jones
Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer.
Biography Early career
As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio station WIP. He was ...
, drums
*Don Sickler and
John Oddo
John Oddo (''Née'' John Frank Oddo; March 21, 1953 – April 2, 2019) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He is most notably associated as pianist and musical director for Woody Herman, Rosemary Clooney and Michael Feinstein.
...
, transcription
Later configurations included:
*
Virgil Jones
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
, trumpet
*
Benny Powell
Benny Powell (March 1, 1930 – June 26, 2010) was an American jazz trombonist. He played both standard (tenor) trombone and bass trombone.
Biography
Born Benjamin Gordon Powell Jr in New Orleans, Louisiana, he first played professionally ...
, trombone
*
Clifford Jordan
Clifford Laconia Jordan (September 2, 1931 – March 27, 1993) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after ...
Dameronia performed at various jazz clubs, concert halls and festivals,
debuting in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
at Lush Life in 1982. In 1988 Dameronia was featured in a concert at
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center in New York City. The organization was founded in 1987 and opened at Time Warner Center in October 2004. Wynton Marsalis is the artistic director and the leader of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orches ...
entitled "The Music of Tadd Dameron". The opening act was an all-star quartet featuring
Tommy Flanagan
Thomas Lee Flanagan (March 16, 1930 – November 16, 2001) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He grew up in Detroit, initially influenced by such pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole, and then by bebop musicians. ...
,
George Mraz
George Mraz (born Jiří Mráz; 9 September 1944 – 16 September 2021) was a Czech-born American jazz bassist and alto saxophonist. He was a member of Oscar Peterson's group, and worked with Pepper Adams, Stan Getz, Michel Petrucciani, Stephan ...
, Kenny Washington and
Charlie Rouse
Charlie Rouse (April 6, 1924 – November 30, 1988) was an American hard bop tenor saxophonist and flautist. His career is marked by his collaboration with Thelonious Monk, which lasted for more than ten years.
Biography
Rouse was born in Wash ...
.
Discography
*1982 ''
To Tadd with Love
''To Tadd with Love'' is an album by drummer Philly Joe Jones' Dameronia which was recorded and released on the Uptown label in 1982.
Biography
Ridley was born and reared in Indianapolis, Indiana. He began performing professionally while still i ...
'' (Uptown)
*1983 ''
Look Stop Listen
''Look Stop Listen'' (listed on label as ''Look Stop and Listen'') is an album by drummer Philly Joe Jones' Dameronia which was recorded and released on the Uptown label in 1983.
Biography
Ridley was born and reared in Indianapolis, Indiana. He ...
'' (Uptown) with
Johnny Griffin
John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin's career began in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of ...
*1989 ''Live at the Theatre Boulogne'' (Soul Note)