Viola Smith Day
November 29, 1912 – October 21, 2020
A tribute to the pioneering female jazz drummer
She was born as Viola Schmitz on Nov. 29, 1912 in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin, taking up the drums to play in an all-girl orchestra with her six sisters that was organized by her father.
In the 1920s and ‘30s she played in the Schmitz Sisters Family Orchestra, performing in vaudeville and at movie theaters in addition to appearing on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour on radio.
In 1938 she started the Coquettes with her sister Mildred (who played reeds), an all-female orchestra that lasted until 1942.
In 1942 Viola Smith attended Juilliard and became a long-time member of Phil Spitalny’s Hour Of Charm Orchestra (staying until 1954 and being billed as “the female Gene Krupa”), also working with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, performing at Harry Truman’s inauguration in 1949, and leading Viola and her Seventeen Drums in the 1950s and ‘60s
During 1966-70 she played as part of the Broadway production of Cabaret and then continued working with various local bands even as she passed her 100th birthday.
Despite her long career, Viola Smith does not seem to have made any recordings in a jazz setting, however this impressive 1939 short with Frances Carroll & The Coquettes displays her technique, power, swing, and her unusual drum set which includes two large tom toms and 13 drums in all."
-Scott Yanow
Billy Strayhorn Day
November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn - Take the "A" Train
Strayhorn grew up in Pittsburgh and North Carolina, playing piano from an early age.
He studied classical music at the Pittsburgh Music Institute, performing on the radio and, while still a teenager, composing “Lush Life,” “My Little Brown Book” and “Something To Live For.”
Strayhorn worked around Pittsburgh with a combo called the Mad Hatters and wrote arrangements for Buddy Malone’s dance band.
After meeting and impressing Duke Ellington in December 1938, Strayhorn became an invaluable part of the Ellington Orchestra as an arranger-composer, soon contributing Ellington’s new theme song “Take The ‘A’ Train.”
Strayhorn wrote such classic for Ellington as “Lotus Blossom,” “Chelsea Bridge,” “Rain Check,” “Day Dream,” “Satin Doll,” and “Isfahan” and he collaborated with Duke on many songs and suites.
Billy Strayhorn, who never led a fulltime band of his own and only headed a handful of record dates, was an important part of Ellington’s musical world until his death from cancer in 1967.
Here is a rare filmed appearance of Billy Strayhorn playing his “Take The ‘A’ Train” with the Duke Ellington Orchestra."
-Scott Yanow
Chuck Mangione Day
November 29, 1940 – July 22, 2025
He was born on Nov. 29, 1940 in Rochester, New York, having piano lessons but switching to the trumpet after seeing the Kirk Douglas film Young Man With A Horn.
His parents were jazz enthusiasts and many notables were invited to the family house including Dizzy Gillespie who gave Mangione a trumpet in the early 1950s.
He played in a group with his older brother pianist Gap Mangione which became the bebop group the Jazz Brothers; they recorded three albums for the Riverside label during 1960-61.
Chuck Mangione led his first solo album in 1962 (Recuerdo) and graduated from the Eastman School the following year.
After moving to New York, Mangione worked briefly with the Woody Herman Orchestra, Kai Winding, and the Maynard Ferguson Big Band before becoming a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers during 1965-67, a period in which Keith Jarrett was the group’s pianist.
While Dizzy Gillespie was a formative influence on his playing, in 1968 Mangione largely switched to flugelhorn, forming a quartet with altoist Gerry Niewood.
He wrote compositions for large ensembles and guest conducted the Rochester Philharmonic in 1970, resulting in the album Friends and Love.
Mangione had his first hit with “Hill Where the Lord Hides,” toured with his quartet, and performed with orchestras, often featuring the vocals of Esther Satterfield.
His melodic music became very popular including “Land Of Make Believe,” “Legend Of The One-Eyed Sailor,” “Chase the Clouds Away” and “Bellavia.”
In 1977, Mangione’s recording of “Feels So Good” (which featured guitarist Grant Geissman) reached #2 on the pop charts and made him a household name.
In 1980, Mangione looked back to his bebop roots on the two-Lp set Tarantella which had Dizzy Gillespie as a guest.
The flugelhornist did not have any further hits and, after a reunion of the Jazz Brothers in 1986 and the release of a few albums on his Feels So Good label, he largely retired, coming back briefly in the late 1990s.
From 1979, Chuck Mangione plays “Feels So Good,” his greatest hit."
-Scott Yanow
Happy Birthday Billy Hart
November 29, 1940
Billy Hart Quartet (2013)
The self-taught drummer was in the bands of Wes Montgomery, Herbie Hancock, and McCoy Tyner, and appeared on Miles’ funk-fusion classic On the Corner.
Over the course of his five-decade career drummer Bill Hart’s sonic adventures read like a Who’s Who’s in American music:
Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Buck Hill, Shirley Horn, the Montgomery Brothers, Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Eddie Harris, Pharoah Sanders, and Marian McPartland.
Having been a part of the Herbie Hancock sextet, as a freelancer he appeared in Miles Davis’ legendary “On the Corner” sessions.
Now he divides his time between playing and being an educator.
Personnel:
Billy Hart, drums
Ethan Iverson, piano
Mark Turner, sax
Ben Street, bass"
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