June Gardner

Albert "June" Gardner ( born 1930 in New Orleans, † November 19, 2010 New Orleans) was an American drummer, composer and band leader in the field of jazz and rhythm and blues.

Life and work

"Gentleman " June Gardner, as he called himself, was a member of many years in the music scene of his hometown of New Orleans and played in different styles of rhythm and blues, bebop to traditional jazz. His career as a musician, he began right after high school, took lessons with Professor Victor Valmont and went with the singer Lil Green on tour. After his return to New Orleans he played in the late 1940s in the Club Dew Drop Inn with Edgar Blanchard & The Gondoliers, with the also emerged first shots, then as a session and touring musician with many rhythm and blues artists, so nine years at Roy Brown and from 1960 until his death in 1964 with Sam Cooke. He can be heard on the albums Cooke At The Copa Live At The Harlem Square Club (1963). Gardner also worked with Red Tyler, Lionel Hampton ( in the band in 1956 he went on a European tour ) and Lou Rawls. Gardner can also be heard on recordings of the brothers Cecil and Bobby Womack, the song " It's All Over Now" grossed as Valentinos 1964, which was soon was covered by The Rolling Stones. He also acted in 1966 with Lee Dorsey hit single " Working in a Coal Mine " and performed regularly with Dave Bartholomew.

In 1965 he took under his own name his instrumental composition "Mustard Greens " and " 99 Plus One " for the label on Hot Line; In the following years he took in Nola Studio on other pieces, but was able to publish only a few. In these sessions George Davis had (guitar ), Walter Payton ( bass), James Booker ( piano / organ) and a ten- piece brass group, the Royal Dukes of Rhythm with. In 1966 the album Bustin 'Out.

Apart from the Rhythm and Blues Gardner played with its own formation, June Gardner & the Fellas, traditional jazz. So he had with his band, a seven-year engagement in Las Vegas, then to Bourbon Street, his hometown, where he played in the Famous Door, La Strada and the Maison Bourbon occurred and with trumpeter Wallace Davenport in the paddock. In 1980, he appeared with Davenport on the Nice Jazz Festival. Under his own name he provided some recordings, as the album published in 2000 99 Plus One, which he recorded with a big band under the direction of Wardell Quezergue. He was shortly to his death in November 2010 was active as a musician, most recently with the Preservation Hall band.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Bustin ' Out ( Emarcy, 1966)

Links / sources

• Obituary in Louisiana weekly
• June Gardner at Allmusic (English)
• Portrait at Home of the Groove
• Portrait at Per Oldaeus