Joe Daley (musician)

Joe Daley (July 30, 1918 - March 5, 1994) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and music teacher. Daley was part of the Chicago jazz scene for 40 years. Musicians who studied with Daley include Grammy winners David Sanborn and Paul Winter, Emmy winner James DiPasquale, Richard Corpolongo, Chuck Domanico, and John Klemmer.

In Detroit

Joseph Albert Daley was born July 30, 1918, in Salem, Ohio. He moved to Detroit, Michigan as a child. At age 18, Daley got his first saxophone. He started with an alto sax but soon gravitated to a tenor sax.

Daley was drawn to the jazz bands of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Larry Clinton, Tommy Dorsey, and Artie Shaw, and Daley’s early models for playing were Coleman Hawkins, Georgie Auld, and Lester “Pres” Young. He studied with orchestral saxophonist Larry Teal and others, but wanting to expand beyond them into jazz, Daley was forced to become mostly self-taught. When he later began to professionally teach, Daley determined to do it more comprehensively.

In the late 1930s Daley played with small combos in Detroit and did some touring, including to New York. He especially appreciated that the New York and Detroit branches of the American Federation of Musicians were racially integrated (it would not be until 1974 that all locals would be so), which gave Daley the opportunity to experience a unique musical and cultural crossover, a rarity for the times.

When World War II began, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a pilot. He played sax in the Air Corps Band. After his discharge, he moved to Chicago.

In Chicago

After the war when Bebop music emerged and Charlie “Bird” Parker came on the scene, Daley, like many jazz musicians, was completely bowled over by Parker’s style. This took him in a new direction musically, which he explored in the jazz clubs he frequented. Wanting to expand his musicianship with a classical musical education, he used the GI Bill to attend Chicago Musical College (now Roosevelt University) to earn a Bachelors Degree in Music. He further pursued a Masters Degree in Composition.

In 1950-51 Daley took a leave of absence from college to tour with Woody Herman’s Third Herd band with Urbie Green on trombone, Sonny Igoe on drums, and Red Mitchell on bass. He also performed about 30 sides (uncredited) for Pat Boone on Dot Records, just for the paycheck. Daley worked as a jobbing musician and part-time music teacher at Chicago’s Rizzo School of Music while in college.

As early as 1955, he was inspired by Ornette Coleman’s work to take up what became known as “free” jazz, or playing outside the changes, pure atonal playing. Although not commercially viable at the time, he later committed himself to this style with his own bands, The Joe Daley Trio and The Joe Daley Quorum.

The Joe Daley Trio was formed in 1959 with percussionist Hal Russell and bassist Russell Thorne. In 1963 they played at the Newport Jazz Festival, and RCA Records later released The Joe Daley Trio At Newport ’63. At the Down Beat Jazz Festival in 1965, bassist Thorne had been replaced with Clyde Flowers. In 1972, The Joe Daley Quorum was formed with Richard Corpolongo on alto sax and piccolo, Bobby Lewis on trumpet, Bobby Roberts on electric bass (later Steve LaSpina), and Hal Russell (later Dan Martin) on percussion.

Daley played dates in nearly every Chicago club and hotel of the era, including Mr. Kelly’s, The Lemon Tree, The Playboy Club, The Happy Medium, The Downbeat, The London House, The BackRoom, and The Jazz Showcase, among many others.

In 1971-1974 he accepted a regular society music job in the house band at the Mill Run Playhouse, a renowned dinner theatre outside Chicago. He played behind such musical notables as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald.

Daley performed an original jazz composition in concert for The Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He occasionally played commercials and did some promos for Selmer Instruments.

From 1978 to 1987, he played a regular weekly session at Chicago’s Orphan’s nightclub, with a rotating cast of local jazz players and some of Daley’s own students. It was there he was free to blow his own way, which he loved. He willing paid the rhythm section out of his own pocket when nights were slow.

Early in his career, Daley played a Selmer saxophone. By the 1950's he played a vintage 1920’s Conn "New Wonder" sax. In the 1970's and 1980’s he played a King Super 20 sax, with a Burg-Larson 95/2 mouthpiece. Daley also doubled on clarinet, and in the 1960's he added flute to his instruments.

Teaching

Daley gave music lessons for 40 years. He trained saxophone students from the beginner level and up. For musicians who were already musically competent on saxophone or other instruments, including voice, he taught improvisation, composition, and how to expand their range. At the first lesson, Daley would ask beginning students to sing---usually Take Me Out to the Ball Game---to test their “ear” for pitch and melody. Typical sax pieces Daley assigned to novices were Billie’s Bounce and Now’s The Time, seminal Charlie Parker tunes.

Daley had a reputation as a fierce teacher who did not suffer fools or slackers gladly, and he demanded commitment to practice. Learning to play tunes in all 12 keys was mandatory. He had students write out their solos. His form of praise was usually the absence of criticism; he expected the best from those he taught, and he got it. When students had trouble paying, he occasionally exchanged lessons for chores.

DePaul University’s School of Music pursued Daley for years to teach jazz in their esteemed program. In an effort to put the pleas to rest, he tried insisting that they would need to send students to his home for classes. To his utter shock, the directors accepted his requirements. He joined the faculty in 1984 until he left Chicago in 1987.

His students came from many different situations and encompassed a range of talent. Some were high school band kids, or fellow musicians who wanted to branch out, or even a few classicists from the Chicago Symphony. Several traveled many miles for weekly lessons. His students have gone on to become music professors at universities, jobbing musicians, and award-winning composers and performers.

Recordings

• The Joe Daley Trio at Newport, ’63, RCA Records LSP-2763, 1963
• Sonic Blast, Joe Daley and Richard Corpolongo, CODA#2001, Chicago, 1983
• Chicago Shouts, Dave Remington's Big Band (Author), et al, U-37596, Universal Records, 1968
• Charlie Parker Memorial Concert, Cadet 2CA-60002, the Kenny Dorham Sextet, with Daley’s fiery contributions on 'Just Friends', North Park Hotel, Chicago, 1970
• Jazz Inside Out, Guy Fricano, Forever Jazz Records, 1984
• In The Forefront, Bobby Lewis, Daley composer on 2 tracks, reissue of 1977 LP, S-SSD 0079 UPC: 700797007922: Southport Records, Chicago, August 2000

Notable students

• John Klemmer (sax)
• David Sanborn (sax)
• Richard Corpolongo (sax)
• James Di Pasquale (sax)
• Paul Winter (sax)
• Chuck Domanico (bass)
• Ray Neapolitan (bass)
• Mark Feldman (violin)
• Dan Hesler (sax) and author of Practicing The Jazz Vocabulary, based on Joe Daley’s teaching style
• Steve Duke (sax)
• Joseph Ott (sax)
• Eric Allison (sax)
• Jeff Newell (sax)
• James Sunseri (sax, clarinet)
• Chuck Wasekanes (sax)
• Mike Frost (sax)
• Nick Bisesi (sax)
• Rich Fudoli (sax)
• Scott Mason (bass)
• Paul Mertens (sax, flute)
• Bobby Baker (clarinet, flute, sax)
• Marlene Rosenberg (bass)
• Ike Levin (sax)
• Greg Fishman (sax)
• Herman Reyes (sax, flute)
• Diane Delin (violin)
• Jim Gailloreto (sax)
• Frank Portolese (bass)
• Kent Minor (sax)
• Tony Grasso (trumpet)
• Wo Romanowski (sax)
• Michael Kocour (piano)
• Jun (sax)
• Vince Salerno (sax)
• Russ Nolan (sax)
• Athanasios Zervas (sax)
• Abshalom Ben Shlomo (sax)
• Jack Grassel (guitar)
• Bob Kolb (sax, clarinet)
• Jim Peterson (trumpet)
• Chris Moravek (sax, guitar)
• Alfonso Pontecelli (guitar)
• Chuck Burdelik (sax)
• Terry Connell (trumpet, flugelhorn)
• Ray Herrmann (sax)
• Ron Friedman (flugelhorn and trumpet)
• Ed Kennedy (trumpet)
• Jeff Stitely (percussion)

Semi-regular players with Daley

• Bill Harrison (bass)
• Paul Wertico (percussion)
• Bobby Lewis (trumpet)
• Kelly Sill (bass)
• John Campbell (piano)
• Joel Spencer (percussion)
• Trumpters Cy Touff (trumpet) and Bobby Lewis' band Ears included a rotating cast drawn from the finest of Chicago’s jazz players that typically numbered around eight. Daley, Campbell, George Bean, Don Shelton, and a couple of guys from the Chicago Symphony were regulars.
• Drummer Jerry Coleman’s band Nine Burner included Daley and Ron Kolber, baritone and alto sax.
• Drummer Greg Cirgo’s band Ellington Dynasty, dedicated to Duke Ellington’s small group writing, included Daley and Ron Kolber.

References

Joe Daley Quorum: Tuesday, August 28, 1979 Chicago Jazz Festival 1979

• "Chicago Jazz Festival 1979-2004" (PDF). 21 August 2008. Retrieved 2014-06-12.

Joe Daley, saxophonist, Final Bar (obituary): Down Beat, June 1, 1994, John Corbett

Internet Archives:

• "Live Newport 1963 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". archive.org. Retrieved 2014-06-12.

Printed References

The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz Edited by Leonard Feather, Ira Gitler, Professor of Jazz History Manhattan School of Music, Lorraine Feather, Oxford University Press, 1999: biography, page 163

The Later Swing Era, 1942 to 1955 Lawrence McClellan, Greenwood Press, 2004: article, page 187

Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1 Todd S. Jenkins, Greenwood Press, 2004: article page 119

Adventures of an American Composer: An Autobiography Edited by Neal Colgrass, Ulla Colgrass, Meredith Music Publications, 2010: mention, page 43, Joe giving “the glare.”