Basie count biography of alberta

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from author Adriana A. Davies’ new book, From Sojourners to Citizens: Alberta’s Italian History. You can purchase this book, along with her first memoir, My Theatre of Memory: A Life in Words, at Guernicaeditions.com.

Written by: Adriana A. Davies

Restaurateurs and Chefs

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Italian food was considered alien in Alberta. While local pasta manufacturers and grocers helped to introduce Italian products to the general public, it would be pioneer restaurateurs who would build the popularity of Italian cuisine. While individuals worked as cooks in commercial kitchens likely from the earliest days of immigration, Italian restaurants would not emerge as a culinary force until the post-Second World War wave of immigration. Soldiers who fought in Italy acquired a taste for Italian food and looked for it in Italian neighbourhoods back home. Historian John Gilchrist observed in a 2011 article that new immigrants settle near each other and, “Quickly, entrepreneurs open shops that sell foods and materials from the homeland. And soon, a restaurant or two opens to serve the needs of the community.” He continues:

Adventurous diners from across the city venture into the cultural enclave to sample the wares. They report back to their friends and more ‘outsiders’ arrive, bumping up business. In time, entrepreneurs may move or open a second location in the city’s business centre or ‘outsider’ community, expanding the clientele, and helping connect their community to the broader population…. In Calgary, this pattern applies to the two cultural enclaves – Chinatown and Bridgeland – that date to the early 1900s and to the development of many local Chinese and Italian restaurants.

Gilchrist refers specifically to Gene Cioni whose daughter Mary authored Spaghetti Western: How My Father Brought Italian Food to the West. Her claim that her father brought It

American jazz drummer (1944–2023)

Musical artist

Charles J. Thornton, Jr. (July 4, 1944 – February 2, 2023), known professionally as Butch Miles, was an American jazz drummer. He played with the Count Basie Orchestra, Dave Brubeck, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, and Tony Bennett.

Career

Miles, who cited Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and Jo Jones as favorite drummers, began playing snare drum at the age of nine and majored in music at West Virginia State University (1962–1966). After receiving his degree, he went on tour with the Iris Bell Trio. He was Mel Torme's drummer for 3 1/2 years and it was Torme and Buddy Rich who recommended Miles to Count Basie when a drummer was needed. Miles was with the Count Basie Orchestra from 1975 to 1979 and then returned for ten years from 1997 to 2007.

From Count Basie’s autobiography (published in 1985): “Butch came to us from Mel Torme’s outfit. He was a real crowd pleaser, like Buddy Rich and Sonny Payne, and he picked up on things very nicely, and he was also interested in sticking around for a while, which he did, for about four years.”

Miles was leader of the group Jazz Express in the 1980s and 1990s. He performed at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival. He was a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame 2011 class of inductees. He retired from the School of Music at Texas State University-San Marcos.

Death

In March 2014, Miles was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. which has no treatment other than a lun

Generally speaking, the ol’ City of Champs hasn’t been known as an international hub of art and culture as say, Montreal, New York City or Los Angeles. Artists of all stripes – musicians, dancers, visual artists – tend to get their feet wet in Edmonton then head off for the greener pastures of large international centres of creativity. So to hear stories of popular artists choosing to do the opposite and actually move to Edmonton to pursue creative endeavours (in the 1970s no less!), well, that’s something worth exploring.

Jazz music has a long history in Edmonton; incredible venues like the Yardbird Suite are recognized as important institutions in the city and former events, like the Jazz City Festival are recognized for their historical role in promoting the genre in the city and province. This week is the 2018 Edmonton International Jazz Festival. Since 2006 this festival has brought some of the world’s finest jazz musicians and acts to Alberta and has promoted local musicians at an internationally recognized venue. This week’s blog post is about one of those unique Edmonton transplants, one that may not be as well-known as jazz contemporaries Tommy Banks and PJ Perry, but one who certainly deserves to be recognized in the same ranks – the great trombonist and Kansas City Blues singer Clarence Horatius “Big” Miller.

Trombonist and 6’3’’, 250 lb former football player, Miller grew up in Topeka, Kansas. Due to its proximity to Kansas City, he was likely highly influenced by the “Kansas City style” of jazz (simple arrangements, loose and relaxed rhythmic feelings) and by some of the cities’ most prolific artists including Count Basie, Charlie Parker and bandleader Jay McShann. Very early on in his career, Miller was known as a “blues shouter,” a singer whose voice needed no amplification to be heard, even over top of a big band or orchestra.

He also worked with Count Basie and Duke Ellington and began to appear at such storied clubs as New York’s Birdla