Jazz Notes: Goings on in the jazz world

• Tweet

Today is April 19.

Jazz drummer Tommy Benford was born on this date in 1905.

On April 20:

Bandleader Tito Puente was born on this date in 1923 in Puerto Rico.

Nightclub singer Mabel Mercer died at age 84 in 1984.

On April 21:

Actor Dudley Moore, equally at home on the piano and composing, was born in 1935. He died last month.

Looking at today's hip happenings...

The world premiere of composer Todd Colburn's "A Sky of Basses" will be a highlight to the second annual T. Colburn Sideshow Mass Bass Choir, April 28 at Sideshow Gallery in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The performance will be recorded and videotaped in preparation for a CD release, according to JazzReview.com.

The Mass Bass Choir consists of 16 acoustic bassists. It first performed April 24, 2001, in a tribute concert to Charles Mingus.

Tenor saxophonist David Kenneth "Bubba" Brooks has died at the age of 79.

AllAboutJazz.com reports the old school swing musician passed away last Thursday at Harlem Hospital in New York. He was performing almost up until the end, subbing on March 28 for guitarist Al Casey at Chez Suzette, a French Bistro in New York.

Brooks spent eight years with Sonny Thompson's R&B unit, and then joined Bill Doggett for two decades. He was a member of Ruth Brown's band when they played for Bill Clinton's first Inaugural Ball.

A member of the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band since 1992, Brooks could be found at the Louisiana Bar & Grill every Saturday night for their entire run until 1998, then at Sullivan's on Broadway.

A soon-to-be released Barron recording titled "The Harlem Blues And Jazz Band Plays Public Domain," recorded last April 30, will features Bubba on tenor sax.

(By UPI's Penny Nelson Bartholomew, sitting in for Ken Franckling)