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Friday, 31 December 2010
Monday, 27 December 2010
ELEPHANT SHELF GIGS
Saturday 15 January, The Mermaid, St Albans, FREE 9pm
Thursday 20 January, Limelight Theatre, Aylesbury Tel 01296 424332 £TBC 9pm
Saturday 29 January, Big Blues Weekend Butlins, Skegness, (no tel) £TBC 9pm
Saturday 5 February, Belle Vue, High Wycombe, (no tel), FREE 9pm
Saturday 12 February, The Salisbury Hotel, Harringay Tel 020 8800 9617, FREE 9pm
Saturday 12 March, New Inn, Witney Tel 01993 703807, FREE 9pm
Sunday 27 March, The Ranelagh, Brighton Tel 01273 681634, FREE 5pm
Friday 8 April, Ivy House Blues Bar, London, (no tel), FREE 9pm
Saturday 16 April, The Salisbury Hotel, Harringay Tel 020 8800 9617, FREE 9pm
Wednesday 11 May, The Malt Shovel, Northampton Tel 01604 234212, FREE 9pm
Thursday 26 May, The Farmers Boy, St Albans Tel 01727 860535, FREE 8.30pm
Friday 24 June, Scally’s, Weston-super-Mare Tel 01934 413412, FREE 9pm
Saturday 2 July, The Old Bell, Enfield Tel 020 8362 1365, FREE 9pm
Saturday 9 July, Blues at the Farm, Billericay Tel 01268 570642, FREE 3pm
Thursday 14 July, Cellar Bar Blues, Farnham Maltings
Bridge Square Farnham Surrey GU9 7QR Tickets £9 or £8 concessionary.
Presented by >>Boogaloo Promotions
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Monday, 29 November 2010
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Sunday, 14 November 2010
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Monday, 1 November 2010
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Monday, 25 October 2010
TODD SHARPVILLE
Todd Sharpville album launch
Todd Sharpville is launching his new album Porchlight at Charlotte Street Blues, 74 Charlotte Street London W1 on Friday 29th October 2010. Giles King is guesting on harmonica.
The double album was produced in Rhode Island by Duke Robillard and features Joe Louis Walker on guitar and Kim Wilson on harmonica.
Todd is featured on the front cover of issue 107 of Blues In Britain magazine.
Todd Sharpville is launching his new album Porchlight at Charlotte Street Blues, 74 Charlotte Street London W1 on Friday 29th October 2010. Giles King is guesting on harmonica.
The double album was produced in Rhode Island by Duke Robillard and features Joe Louis Walker on guitar and Kim Wilson on harmonica.
Todd is featured on the front cover of issue 107 of Blues In Britain magazine.
Blues in Britain gig for GEORGE MCFALL MEMORIAL SHOW
Sunday 31st October 2010
HALLOWEEN for GEORGE @ the Boom Boom Club 7pm -11pm
Below are some of the star musicians who will be appearing:
JOHNNY WARMAN & THE MODS
OTIS GRAND
CHANTEL MCGREGOR
RIETTA AUSTIN (Brilliant New Zealand vocalist worked with Kirk Pengilly INXS)
MARCUS MALONE (usa)
STEVIE SMITH (Ruthless Blues)
JOHNNY CASANOVA (American rock& roll pianist /Jerry Lee Lewis Show)
REV SWIFTY LAZARE slide gtr (Alice Cooper)
IAN ELLIS & THE BLUES IMPERIALS with ATLANTIC SOUL MACHINE HORNS
Featuring
IAN ELLIS vox/bass– (Savoy Brown/Pete Townsend)
TONY MORLEY gtr/voc (Jefferson Starship)
GARY SANFORD gtr/voc (Joe Jackson/Joan Armatrading/Aztec Camera /Kirsty McCall)
CHRIS HUNT dr (Joe Brown/Dana Gillespie/Meal ticket)
NEVER THE BRIDE tbc
JOHN O’LEARY
ROB BROWN (the voice of London Live /Capital Radio) with MICK MAHONEY (playing the song they wrote with George for the film ‘Disappearance of Finbar Flynn’ + DOM BROWN (guitarist Duran Duran)
Please note there may be more guests and not everyone is guaranteed to be there, but the response from individual musicians, bands, family, friends and has been magnificent.
All proceeds to George’s widow and a cancer charity of her choice
7pm – 11pm show starts very early
HALLOWEEN for GEORGE @ the Boom Boom Club 7pm -11pm
Below are some of the star musicians who will be appearing:
JOHNNY WARMAN & THE MODS
OTIS GRAND
CHANTEL MCGREGOR
RIETTA AUSTIN (Brilliant New Zealand vocalist worked with Kirk Pengilly INXS)
MARCUS MALONE (usa)
STEVIE SMITH (Ruthless Blues)
JOHNNY CASANOVA (American rock& roll pianist /Jerry Lee Lewis Show)
REV SWIFTY LAZARE slide gtr (Alice Cooper)
IAN ELLIS & THE BLUES IMPERIALS with ATLANTIC SOUL MACHINE HORNS
Featuring
IAN ELLIS vox/bass– (Savoy Brown/Pete Townsend)
TONY MORLEY gtr/voc (Jefferson Starship)
GARY SANFORD gtr/voc (Joe Jackson/Joan Armatrading/Aztec Camera /Kirsty McCall)
CHRIS HUNT dr (Joe Brown/Dana Gillespie/Meal ticket)
NEVER THE BRIDE tbc
JOHN O’LEARY
ROB BROWN (the voice of London Live /Capital Radio) with MICK MAHONEY (playing the song they wrote with George for the film ‘Disappearance of Finbar Flynn’ + DOM BROWN (guitarist Duran Duran)
Please note there may be more guests and not everyone is guaranteed to be there, but the response from individual musicians, bands, family, friends and has been magnificent.
All proceeds to George’s widow and a cancer charity of her choice
7pm – 11pm show starts very early
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Friday, 22 October 2010
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Daria
Daria has performed and recorded with legendary musicians such as Jose Neto, Alex Acuna, Abe Laboriel, Turtle Island String Quartet, Wayne Wallace, Frank Martin, Karl Perazzo, Harold Jones, Marcos Silva She has also shared the stage and recorded with renowned and amazing musicians Jonathan Alford, Deszon Claiborne, Sam Bevan, Marc Russo, Charles McNeal, Ian Dogole, Troy Lampkin, Gary Brown, Celso Alberti, Marc Van Wageningen, Paul Van Wageningen, Michael Spiro, Marcia Miget, Murray Low, Dave Belove, Jeff Chambers, Rich Kuhns, Saul Sierra, Robin Lewis, Mimi Fox, Carlos Oliveira, Harvey Wainapel, William Kennedy, Dmitry Matheny, Sheldon Brown, Bill Douglass, Andre Bush, Jean Michel Hure
Influences Diane Reeves, Annie Ross, Mark Murphy, Ursula Dudziak, Elis Regina, Dory Caymi, Djavan, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, Flora Purim, Airto, Shirley Horn, Boz Skaggs, Leny Andrade, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Carmen McCrae, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Jon Hendricks, Ivan Lins, Annie Lennox, Eva Cassidy, Joyce, Marisa Monte, Etta James, Kurt Elling, Cream, The Beatles, The Yellow Jackets, Carol King, Chaka Khan...and many more
Sounds Like D A R I A
Read more: http://www.myspace.com/dariajazz#ixzz130SfhXZF
Friday, 8 October 2010
Sandra Grants Concert dates and venues:
This is a new month, so here are some gigs for October;
Sunday 17th. The Colony Club. 9pm-12am. 24, Hertford street, London.
14th and 28th. 8pm-10.30pm. Performing at Little Venice Restaurant. ST NEOTS ROAD, CAXTON,CB23 3PD, Cambridge.
Wednesday 20th. 8.15pm-10.30pm. Jazz duo Featuring Sandra Grant on Tenor and Alto Saxophones, Flute with Vocals, and Nicholas Gilmore on Keys.
at The Peahen; 11 London Rd, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 1NQ.
Saturday 30th. 9pm. Performing as Miss Saxophone Lady at; Arch 1
ADDRESS Arch1, 1Cranberry Lane, West Ham, London E16 4PD
Sunday 17th. The Colony Club. 9pm-12am. 24, Hertford street, London.
14th and 28th. 8pm-10.30pm. Performing at Little Venice Restaurant. ST NEOTS ROAD, CAXTON,CB23 3PD, Cambridge.
Wednesday 20th. 8.15pm-10.30pm. Jazz duo Featuring Sandra Grant on Tenor and Alto Saxophones, Flute with Vocals, and Nicholas Gilmore on Keys.
at The Peahen; 11 London Rd, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 1NQ.
Saturday 30th. 9pm. Performing as Miss Saxophone Lady at; Arch 1
ADDRESS Arch1, 1Cranberry Lane, West Ham, London E16 4PD
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Stan Getz
Getz was born on February 2, 1927, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Ukrainian Jews who emigrated from the Kiev, Ukraine area in 1903. The family later moved to New York City for better employment opportunities. Getz worked hard in school, receiving straight As, and finished sixth grade close to the top of his class. Getz's major interest was in musical instruments, and he felt a need to play every instrument in sight. He played a number of them before his father bought him his first saxophone at the age of 13. Even though his father also got him a clarinet, Getz instantly fell in love with the saxophone and began practicing eight hours a day.
He attended James Monroe High School (New York) in the Bronx. In 1941, he was accepted into the All City High School Orchestra of New York City. This gave him a chance to receive private, free tutoring from the New York Philharmonic's Simon Kovar, a bassoon player. He also continued playing the saxophone. He eventually dropped out of school in order to pursue his musical career, but was later sent back to the classroom by the school system's truancy officers.[1]
In 1943 at the age of 16,[2] he was accepted into Jack Teagarden's band, and because of his youth he became Teagarden's ward. Getz also played along with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton. After playing for Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman, Getz was a soloist with Woody Herman from 1947 to 1949 in 'The Second Herd', and he first gained wide attention as one of the band's saxophonists, who were known collectively as 'The Four Brothers', the others being Serge Chaloff, Zoot Sims and Herbie Steward. With Herman, he had a hit with "Early Autumn" and after Getz left 'The Second Herd' he was able to launch his solo career. He would be the leader on almost all of his recording sessions after 1950.
In the mid to late 1950s working from Scandinavia, Getz became popular playing cool jazz with Horace Silver, Johnny Smith, Oscar Peterson, and many others. His first two quintets were notable for their personnel, including Charlie Parker's rhythm section of drummer Roy Haynes, pianist Al Haig and bassist Tommy Potter. A 1953 line-up of the Dizzy Gillespie/Stan Getz Sextet featured Gillespie, Getz, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Max Roach.[1]
Returning to the U.S. from Europe in 1961, Getz became a central figure in introducing bossa nova music to the American audience. Teaming with guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had just returned from a U.S. State Department tour of Brazil, Getz recorded Jazz Samba in 1962 and it became a hit. The title track was an adaptation of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba". Getz won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance of 1963 for "Desafinado," from the same album. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[3] As a follow-up, Getz recorded the album, Jazz Samba Encore!, with one of the originators of bossa nova, Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfa. It also sold more than a million copies by 1964, giving Getz his second gold disc.[3]
He then recorded the album Getz/Gilberto, in 1963,[4] with Tom Jobim, guitarist Charlie Byrd,[4] João Gilberto and his wife, Astrud Gilberto. Their "The Girl from Ipanema" won a Grammy Award. The piece became one of the most well-known latin jazz tracks. Getz/Gilberto won two Grammys (Best Album and Best Single). A live album, Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2, followed, as did Getz Au Go Go, a live recording at the Cafe Au Go Go. Getz's affair with Astrud Gilberto brought an end to his musical partnership with her and her husband, and he began to move away from bossa nova and back to cool jazz. Even while still working with the Gilbertos, he recorded Nobody Else But Me, an album of straightforward jazz with a new quartet including vibraphonist Gary Burton, but Verve Records, wishing to continue building the Getz brand with bossa nova, refused to release it. It eventually came out 30 years later, after Getz had died.
In 1972, Getz recorded in the fusion idiom with Chick Corea Tony Williams and Stanley Clarke. This group, without Getz, went on to become Return to Forever, and many of the pieces, including "La Fiesta", remained in their repertoire. In this period Getz experimented with an Echoplex on his saxophone. He had a cameo in the movie, The Exterminator (1980).
Towards the end of his life, the then drug-free Getz had another creative peak with a group including the pianist Kenny Barron, whom Getz described as "my musical other half." His tenor saxophone of choice was the Selmer Mark VI, whilst on early recordings he had used a White Plastic Brilhart Tonalin mouthpiece.
In the mid-1980s he worked regularly in the San Francisco Bay area and taught at Stanford University where he was artist-in-residence at the Stanford Jazz Workshop until 1988.[5] In 1986, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. During 1988, Getz worked with Huey Lewis and the News on their Small World album. He played the extended solo on the title track, which became a minor hit single.
[edit]Personal life
Getz married Beverly Byrne, a vocalist with the Gene Krupa band, on November 7, 1946; they had three children together: Steven, David, and Beverly.
Getz became involved with drugs and alcohol while a teenager. In 1954, he was arrested for attempting to rob a pharmacy to get a morphine fix. As he was being processed in the prison ward of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Beverly gave birth to their third child one floor below. Getz tried to escape his narcotics addiction by moving to Copenhagen. He married Swedish aristocrat Monica Silfverskiöld on November 3, 1956, and had two children with her: Pamela and Nicolas. Getz divorced Monica in 1987.
Zoot Sims, who had known Getz since their time with Herman, once described him as 'a nice bunch of guys', as a consequence of the wide behavioural range of which Getz was capable. In the final stages of his life Getz was able to end his addictions.
Getz died of liver cancer in 1991. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered at sea, off the coast of Malibu, California.
In 1998, the 'Stan Getz Media Center and Library' at the Berklee College of Music was dedicated through a donation from the Herb Alpert Foundation.
He attended James Monroe High School (New York) in the Bronx. In 1941, he was accepted into the All City High School Orchestra of New York City. This gave him a chance to receive private, free tutoring from the New York Philharmonic's Simon Kovar, a bassoon player. He also continued playing the saxophone. He eventually dropped out of school in order to pursue his musical career, but was later sent back to the classroom by the school system's truancy officers.[1]
In 1943 at the age of 16,[2] he was accepted into Jack Teagarden's band, and because of his youth he became Teagarden's ward. Getz also played along with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton. After playing for Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman, Getz was a soloist with Woody Herman from 1947 to 1949 in 'The Second Herd', and he first gained wide attention as one of the band's saxophonists, who were known collectively as 'The Four Brothers', the others being Serge Chaloff, Zoot Sims and Herbie Steward. With Herman, he had a hit with "Early Autumn" and after Getz left 'The Second Herd' he was able to launch his solo career. He would be the leader on almost all of his recording sessions after 1950.
In the mid to late 1950s working from Scandinavia, Getz became popular playing cool jazz with Horace Silver, Johnny Smith, Oscar Peterson, and many others. His first two quintets were notable for their personnel, including Charlie Parker's rhythm section of drummer Roy Haynes, pianist Al Haig and bassist Tommy Potter. A 1953 line-up of the Dizzy Gillespie/Stan Getz Sextet featured Gillespie, Getz, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Max Roach.[1]
Returning to the U.S. from Europe in 1961, Getz became a central figure in introducing bossa nova music to the American audience. Teaming with guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had just returned from a U.S. State Department tour of Brazil, Getz recorded Jazz Samba in 1962 and it became a hit. The title track was an adaptation of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba". Getz won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance of 1963 for "Desafinado," from the same album. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[3] As a follow-up, Getz recorded the album, Jazz Samba Encore!, with one of the originators of bossa nova, Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfa. It also sold more than a million copies by 1964, giving Getz his second gold disc.[3]
He then recorded the album Getz/Gilberto, in 1963,[4] with Tom Jobim, guitarist Charlie Byrd,[4] João Gilberto and his wife, Astrud Gilberto. Their "The Girl from Ipanema" won a Grammy Award. The piece became one of the most well-known latin jazz tracks. Getz/Gilberto won two Grammys (Best Album and Best Single). A live album, Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2, followed, as did Getz Au Go Go, a live recording at the Cafe Au Go Go. Getz's affair with Astrud Gilberto brought an end to his musical partnership with her and her husband, and he began to move away from bossa nova and back to cool jazz. Even while still working with the Gilbertos, he recorded Nobody Else But Me, an album of straightforward jazz with a new quartet including vibraphonist Gary Burton, but Verve Records, wishing to continue building the Getz brand with bossa nova, refused to release it. It eventually came out 30 years later, after Getz had died.
In 1972, Getz recorded in the fusion idiom with Chick Corea Tony Williams and Stanley Clarke. This group, without Getz, went on to become Return to Forever, and many of the pieces, including "La Fiesta", remained in their repertoire. In this period Getz experimented with an Echoplex on his saxophone. He had a cameo in the movie, The Exterminator (1980).
Towards the end of his life, the then drug-free Getz had another creative peak with a group including the pianist Kenny Barron, whom Getz described as "my musical other half." His tenor saxophone of choice was the Selmer Mark VI, whilst on early recordings he had used a White Plastic Brilhart Tonalin mouthpiece.
In the mid-1980s he worked regularly in the San Francisco Bay area and taught at Stanford University where he was artist-in-residence at the Stanford Jazz Workshop until 1988.[5] In 1986, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. During 1988, Getz worked with Huey Lewis and the News on their Small World album. He played the extended solo on the title track, which became a minor hit single.
[edit]Personal life
Getz married Beverly Byrne, a vocalist with the Gene Krupa band, on November 7, 1946; they had three children together: Steven, David, and Beverly.
Getz became involved with drugs and alcohol while a teenager. In 1954, he was arrested for attempting to rob a pharmacy to get a morphine fix. As he was being processed in the prison ward of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Beverly gave birth to their third child one floor below. Getz tried to escape his narcotics addiction by moving to Copenhagen. He married Swedish aristocrat Monica Silfverskiöld on November 3, 1956, and had two children with her: Pamela and Nicolas. Getz divorced Monica in 1987.
Zoot Sims, who had known Getz since their time with Herman, once described him as 'a nice bunch of guys', as a consequence of the wide behavioural range of which Getz was capable. In the final stages of his life Getz was able to end his addictions.
Getz died of liver cancer in 1991. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered at sea, off the coast of Malibu, California.
In 1998, the 'Stan Getz Media Center and Library' at the Berklee College of Music was dedicated through a donation from the Herb Alpert Foundation.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Stan Tracey is an outstanding figure in the jazz world. His distinguished career has spanned six decades of flourishing creativity. He has been a highly influential and stimulating musical voice, not only to his peers, but to each successive generation of musicians with whom he has worked.
Stan’s capricious piano playing combines the percussive melody of Thelonious Monk with the robust lyricism of Ellington in a highly idiosyncratic style. A master of harmony, he possesses a potent and compelling improviser’s intellect. Through Stan Tracey’s unflinching commitment and dedication has emerged a very rare artist who has sustained an output of highly exceptional music.
Throughout his career, Stan Tracey has been a prolific composer, writing over twenty commissions and the music for forty of his own albums. His first major work ‘Under Milk Wood’ inspired by Dylan Thomas’ radio play of the same title, is widely recognised as a masterpiece. A number of suites for big bands have followed, as well as works for his octet, sextet, and quartet.
Ignoring the lure of commercialism, Stan remains true to his musical roots, celebrating 30, 40 & 50 years in jazz at concerts in the Queen Elizabeth Hall (his 50th was recorded on Blue Note International in 1993), and also marked his 70th birthday there in 1996. Recently celebrating his 80th birthday in 2006 (and going from strength to strength!), Stan articulates: "Somewhere deep inside the crusty old cynicism is still the bright-eyed lad thinking, ‘Hey this is great!’ "
The Formative Years
Stan was born in Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London in 1926 and grew up an only child in Tooting in South London. Unwilling to be evacuated at the outbreak of war, his education came to an end at the age of 12 and he kept his mother company while his father worked in a West End Club. As his household had no radio or gramophone, his musical input came from listening to his neighbours' radio from the bottom of the stairs and his mother's 'black note' efforts on their upright piano. He fell in love with a shiny accordion in a nearby shop and Stan's musical career began, soon being adept enough to enter local talent competitions.
The Forties
1943 - Aged 16 he joined the variety troupe ENSA entertaining the country's workers as an accordionist.
First gig was at a factory in Cosham, Sussex.
He later joined a gypsy accordion band
1944 - Stan took up the piano, having heard recordings of boogie-woogie giants Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis.
1945 - Having successfully avoided the authorities for two years, Stan was eventually called up and enlisted in the RAF.
1946 - Joined the RAF Gang Show touring productions by Tony Hancock in Egypt & Palestine.
1948 - Left the RAF and, working in London, came across Ronnie Scott and Laurie Morgan who steered Stan towards taking up jazz full time.
The Fifties
1951 - Made his debut recording with Eddie Thompson's Quintet which featured a 16 year old Tubby Hayes.
Signed up for 'Geraldo's Navy', performing on the Queen Mary and Coronia, which took him to New York where he heard Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington amongst others.
1952 - Toured with the Roy Fox Band.
1952/54 - Worked and recorded with Kenny Baker and Victor Feldman.
1955 - Worked and recorded with the Malcolm Mitchell Orchestra
1956 - Stints with Ronnie Scott, Tony Crombie, Kenny Graham.
Joined Ivor & Basil Kirchin's group.
1957 - Short US tour with Ronnie Scott's band.
1957/59 - Joined the Ted heath Orchestra, a very popular 'jazzy' dance band which toured home and abroad extensively, playing piano and vibes and contributing arrangements.
1958 - Recorded his debut as a leader, 'Showcase'.
1959 - Formed his own group MJ6.
Recorded 'Little Klunk'
Began his seven year tenure at the brand new Ronnie Scott's Club.
The Sixties
From 1959 to 1966 Stan was resident pianist at the now world famous Ronnie Scott's Club in London's Soho, where he served an arduous but unique apprenticeship accompanying, often for several weeks at a time, the giants of American jazz. Amongst Stan's particular favourites were Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster, Roland Kirk, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. He also accompanied notoriously 'difficult' musicians such as Stan Getz, Don Byas and Lucky Thompson. Throughout these years Stan also recorded extensively as a sideman and topped the Melody Maker polls annually as best pianist, composer and arranger. In addition to this workload he managed to fit in the following:
1960 - Married his third wife, Jackie.
1961 - Had their son, Clark.
1962 - Had their daughter, Sarah.
Played in the stage show 'A Thurber Carnival'.
Formed his own quartet with Bobby Wellins.
1962/64 - Performed with New Departures, a jazz poetry vehicle with Michael Horovitz.
1964 - Recorded 'Just Friends' with Paul Gonsalvez & Tubby Hayes.
1965 - Wrote and recorded 'Under Milk Wood'.
1966 Recorded soundtrack of 'Alfie' with Sonny Rollins.
1966 - Recorded 'Alice In Jazz Land' with his first big band.
Left Ronnie Scott's due to poor health.
1967 - Toured and recorded with Ben Webster and Zoot Sims.
1968 - Recorded 3 'concept' albums for his contract with Columbia Records including his least favourite of all time - 'Latin American Caper'.
1969 - Formed new trio with Dave Green and Bryan Spring, the nucleus of most of Stan's groups over the following nine years.
Stan recorded many albums as a band leader during this decade which may be found under his discography.
The Seventies
Following Stan's departure from Ronnie Scott's there was an almost destitute period of very little activity, which his wife Jackie acted upon. She and Hazell Miller formed the Grass Roots Jazz Club in South London to provide work for friends and family. She also established the first London based Jazz Summer School, assisted with funding from the GLAA and ILEA. She also helped to set up the Musicians' Action Group with a steering commitee of new and established jazz musicians to lobby for better funding.
1970 - Recorded 'Webster's Dictionary' with Ben Webster, also contributing string arrangements. 1971 - Builds musical partnerships with younger musicians such as Mike Osborne, John Surman, Trevor Watts.
1972 - Stan forms 'Splinters' which included Kenny Wheeler, Tubby Hayes, Phil Seaman and John Stevens.
1973 - Stan celebrated 30 years in jazz with his first Queen Elizabeth Hall Concert, the first jazz concert ever to be staged there. It was a sell-out, and Stan was back on the map just when he thought his musical career had hit the bottom.
Stan forms 'Tentacles'.
1974 - Stan forms his Octet.
He teams up with virtuosic pianist Keith Tippett (TNT) for a series of dates and recordings.
1975 - Stan wrote a suite for string quartet based on Spike Milligan’s "Small Dreams of a Scorpion’ which was performed by the Delme Quartet.
His 'Under Milk Wood' recording topped the Melody Maker Best Jazz Album poll (the only British jazz record in the Top Ten).
Stan formed his own record company - Steam Records. He recorded his own work with British musicians but, with no distribution outside the UK, sales were always small. Steam Records are now a sought-after collectors item.
1976 - Stan made a new recording of Under Milk Wood with Donald Houston at the Wigmore Hall. This was followed by a very successful UK tour which further boosted his career.
1977 - BBC1 broadcast a documentary, 'Original' in their Omnibus series, about Stan's life. Worked with his Quartet and Octet.
1978 - Stan toured the UK with his Octet opposite Gil Evans' Orchestra.
Collaborated with John Surman, recording 'Sonatinas'.
Stan's son, Clark, joins Stan's groups on drums.
1979 - Worked around the country with his new Quartet (Art Themen, Roy Babbington, Clark Tracey), Octet (Qrt + Malcolm Griffiths, Harry Beckett, Jeff Daly & Don Weller) and newly formed Sextet (Qrt + Tony Coe & Alan Wakeman). 1979 Commissioned by Bolton Festival to write The Crompton Suite for a new sextet.
The Eighties
1980 - Toured South America and Mexico with his Quartet for the British Council.
1980 Worked in Europe with Dutch saxophonist Gijs Hendriks.
1982 - Toured The Middle East & Greece for the British Council.
1984 - Received from BASCA the Gold Badge Award for Services to the British Music Industry.
Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.
Premiered and toured 'The Poets Suite' in Northern Ireland.
1985 - Jazz Journal International award for Musician of the Year.
1985 Toured and recorded with Sal Nistico and own Quartet.
1986 OBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours.
He was a member of Rolling Stones drummer, Charlie Watts’ 32 piece big band.
Received Schlitz Award for Jazz Composition.
1987 - Jazz Journal International awards for Musician of the Year and Record of the Year.
1987 Toured with Charlie Rouse and own Quartet. 1988 - Toured and recorded with Thelonious Monk's tenor player Charlie Rouse.
The Nineties
1990 - Stan transcribes and performs excerpts from Duke Ellington's Sacred Music Concerts for Big Band and choir, premiereing at Durham Cathedral for its 900th anniversary celebrations. The music has been performed subsequently in cathedrals across the land.
1992 - British Jazz Awards - Best Pianist.
1993 - Awarded Fellowship of the City of Leeds College of Music.
Jazz Journal International - Album of the Year.
Guardian/Wire Awards - Best Composer of the Year.
BBC Radio 2 Jazz Awards - Composer/Arranger.
British Jazz Awards - Best Composer/Arranger & Best Album Release for Portraits Plus (also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize).
50th Anniversary Concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall, recorded and released on Blue Note International.
Stan composes for the classical ensemble The Ebony Quartet.
1994 - British Jazz Awards - Best re-issue CD for Under Milk Wood.
1995 - British Jazz Awards - Best Composer/Arranger & Best Small Group.
When Stan was invited to appear at The Jazz Club in Hong Kong, the club contacted Governor Chris Patten who arrived with the Head of Arts from the British Council. Thereafter, he commissioned Stan to write a suite which captured the colony's cultural vitality.
Stan forms new Quartet with Gerard Presencer, Andrew Cleyndert and Clark Tracey.
1996 - Stan's 70th Birthday Concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall which reunited Stan with his old partner Bobby Wellins.
1997 - British Jazz Awards - Best Composer/Arranger.
Received Hon.D. Lit. - University of Hertfordshire.
Received Silver Medal - Worshipful Company of Musicians.
'The Hong Kong Suite' for Stan's Octet was premiered in Beijing and Guangzhou in mainland China - the first British jazz musician to perform there. In Hong Kong they gave the last performance at Government House before the changeover.
1998 - Stan takes Under Milk Wood on the road again with Bobby Wellins back on board with narration by acclaimed actor Philip Madoc.
1999 - British Jazz Awards - Best Composer/Arranger.
Stan’s Big Band is one of the highlight of the Ellington Centennial celebrations on the South Bank at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Stan was Sue Lawley’s guest on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4.
Stan and his Quartet toured Canada, performing at six major Canadian jazz festivals including the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
His Quartet perform at the British Ambassador's residence in Washington D.C.
2000 - present
2001 - Stan's Big Band headlines at the Royal Festival Hall and is the first jazz band to perform at newly opened Tate Modern Museum in London
2002 - Lifetime Achievement Award at BBC Jazz Awards
Stan receives an Arts Council commission to write and perform 30 minutes of music with Clark Tracey in an 11-piece project called "Continental Shift"
Stan's Big Band perform Ellington's Sacred Music at Chelmsford Cathedral
Stan works in Vicenza with Evan Parker
2003 - Multi-screening of Channel 4's TV documentary on Stan: "The Godfather of British Jazz"
2004 - Stan's Big Band perform Ellington's Sacred Music at Rochester Cathedral
2005 - Stan's Quartet appear in concert on 'Jazz Britannia', a TV programme highlighting British Jazz Stan's Quartet performs at Rotterdam Festival with Benjamin Herman
Stan receives Parliamentary Awards Best Album of the Year for his Quartet album "The Last Time I Saw You"
2006 - Stan performs in Novara with Louis Moholo
Vicenza and Brecon Jazz Festivals make Stan their featured artist
Stan's Big Band perform Ellington's Sacred Music at St.Pauls Cathedral
Stan's Quartet performs in Roccella and his Trio perform opposite Wayne Shorter at The Barbican
Stan holds his 80th bithday concert at the Bull's Head, London
Dedication - Stan's website was originally designed and maintained by Chris Georgiou, Stan's son-in-law, who sadly passed away in 2006. His supreme effort and spirit lives on in these pages.
2007
Stan’s capricious piano playing combines the percussive melody of Thelonious Monk with the robust lyricism of Ellington in a highly idiosyncratic style. A master of harmony, he possesses a potent and compelling improviser’s intellect. Through Stan Tracey’s unflinching commitment and dedication has emerged a very rare artist who has sustained an output of highly exceptional music.
Throughout his career, Stan Tracey has been a prolific composer, writing over twenty commissions and the music for forty of his own albums. His first major work ‘Under Milk Wood’ inspired by Dylan Thomas’ radio play of the same title, is widely recognised as a masterpiece. A number of suites for big bands have followed, as well as works for his octet, sextet, and quartet.
Ignoring the lure of commercialism, Stan remains true to his musical roots, celebrating 30, 40 & 50 years in jazz at concerts in the Queen Elizabeth Hall (his 50th was recorded on Blue Note International in 1993), and also marked his 70th birthday there in 1996. Recently celebrating his 80th birthday in 2006 (and going from strength to strength!), Stan articulates: "Somewhere deep inside the crusty old cynicism is still the bright-eyed lad thinking, ‘Hey this is great!’ "
The Formative Years
Stan was born in Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London in 1926 and grew up an only child in Tooting in South London. Unwilling to be evacuated at the outbreak of war, his education came to an end at the age of 12 and he kept his mother company while his father worked in a West End Club. As his household had no radio or gramophone, his musical input came from listening to his neighbours' radio from the bottom of the stairs and his mother's 'black note' efforts on their upright piano. He fell in love with a shiny accordion in a nearby shop and Stan's musical career began, soon being adept enough to enter local talent competitions.
The Forties
1943 - Aged 16 he joined the variety troupe ENSA entertaining the country's workers as an accordionist.
First gig was at a factory in Cosham, Sussex.
He later joined a gypsy accordion band
1944 - Stan took up the piano, having heard recordings of boogie-woogie giants Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis.
1945 - Having successfully avoided the authorities for two years, Stan was eventually called up and enlisted in the RAF.
1946 - Joined the RAF Gang Show touring productions by Tony Hancock in Egypt & Palestine.
1948 - Left the RAF and, working in London, came across Ronnie Scott and Laurie Morgan who steered Stan towards taking up jazz full time.
The Fifties
1951 - Made his debut recording with Eddie Thompson's Quintet which featured a 16 year old Tubby Hayes.
Signed up for 'Geraldo's Navy', performing on the Queen Mary and Coronia, which took him to New York where he heard Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington amongst others.
1952 - Toured with the Roy Fox Band.
1952/54 - Worked and recorded with Kenny Baker and Victor Feldman.
1955 - Worked and recorded with the Malcolm Mitchell Orchestra
1956 - Stints with Ronnie Scott, Tony Crombie, Kenny Graham.
Joined Ivor & Basil Kirchin's group.
1957 - Short US tour with Ronnie Scott's band.
1957/59 - Joined the Ted heath Orchestra, a very popular 'jazzy' dance band which toured home and abroad extensively, playing piano and vibes and contributing arrangements.
1958 - Recorded his debut as a leader, 'Showcase'.
1959 - Formed his own group MJ6.
Recorded 'Little Klunk'
Began his seven year tenure at the brand new Ronnie Scott's Club.
The Sixties
From 1959 to 1966 Stan was resident pianist at the now world famous Ronnie Scott's Club in London's Soho, where he served an arduous but unique apprenticeship accompanying, often for several weeks at a time, the giants of American jazz. Amongst Stan's particular favourites were Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster, Roland Kirk, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. He also accompanied notoriously 'difficult' musicians such as Stan Getz, Don Byas and Lucky Thompson. Throughout these years Stan also recorded extensively as a sideman and topped the Melody Maker polls annually as best pianist, composer and arranger. In addition to this workload he managed to fit in the following:
1960 - Married his third wife, Jackie.
1961 - Had their son, Clark.
1962 - Had their daughter, Sarah.
Played in the stage show 'A Thurber Carnival'.
Formed his own quartet with Bobby Wellins.
1962/64 - Performed with New Departures, a jazz poetry vehicle with Michael Horovitz.
1964 - Recorded 'Just Friends' with Paul Gonsalvez & Tubby Hayes.
1965 - Wrote and recorded 'Under Milk Wood'.
1966 Recorded soundtrack of 'Alfie' with Sonny Rollins.
1966 - Recorded 'Alice In Jazz Land' with his first big band.
Left Ronnie Scott's due to poor health.
1967 - Toured and recorded with Ben Webster and Zoot Sims.
1968 - Recorded 3 'concept' albums for his contract with Columbia Records including his least favourite of all time - 'Latin American Caper'.
1969 - Formed new trio with Dave Green and Bryan Spring, the nucleus of most of Stan's groups over the following nine years.
Stan recorded many albums as a band leader during this decade which may be found under his discography.
The Seventies
Following Stan's departure from Ronnie Scott's there was an almost destitute period of very little activity, which his wife Jackie acted upon. She and Hazell Miller formed the Grass Roots Jazz Club in South London to provide work for friends and family. She also established the first London based Jazz Summer School, assisted with funding from the GLAA and ILEA. She also helped to set up the Musicians' Action Group with a steering commitee of new and established jazz musicians to lobby for better funding.
1970 - Recorded 'Webster's Dictionary' with Ben Webster, also contributing string arrangements. 1971 - Builds musical partnerships with younger musicians such as Mike Osborne, John Surman, Trevor Watts.
1972 - Stan forms 'Splinters' which included Kenny Wheeler, Tubby Hayes, Phil Seaman and John Stevens.
1973 - Stan celebrated 30 years in jazz with his first Queen Elizabeth Hall Concert, the first jazz concert ever to be staged there. It was a sell-out, and Stan was back on the map just when he thought his musical career had hit the bottom.
Stan forms 'Tentacles'.
1974 - Stan forms his Octet.
He teams up with virtuosic pianist Keith Tippett (TNT) for a series of dates and recordings.
1975 - Stan wrote a suite for string quartet based on Spike Milligan’s "Small Dreams of a Scorpion’ which was performed by the Delme Quartet.
His 'Under Milk Wood' recording topped the Melody Maker Best Jazz Album poll (the only British jazz record in the Top Ten).
Stan formed his own record company - Steam Records. He recorded his own work with British musicians but, with no distribution outside the UK, sales were always small. Steam Records are now a sought-after collectors item.
1976 - Stan made a new recording of Under Milk Wood with Donald Houston at the Wigmore Hall. This was followed by a very successful UK tour which further boosted his career.
1977 - BBC1 broadcast a documentary, 'Original' in their Omnibus series, about Stan's life. Worked with his Quartet and Octet.
1978 - Stan toured the UK with his Octet opposite Gil Evans' Orchestra.
Collaborated with John Surman, recording 'Sonatinas'.
Stan's son, Clark, joins Stan's groups on drums.
1979 - Worked around the country with his new Quartet (Art Themen, Roy Babbington, Clark Tracey), Octet (Qrt + Malcolm Griffiths, Harry Beckett, Jeff Daly & Don Weller) and newly formed Sextet (Qrt + Tony Coe & Alan Wakeman). 1979 Commissioned by Bolton Festival to write The Crompton Suite for a new sextet.
The Eighties
1980 - Toured South America and Mexico with his Quartet for the British Council.
1980 Worked in Europe with Dutch saxophonist Gijs Hendriks.
1982 - Toured The Middle East & Greece for the British Council.
1984 - Received from BASCA the Gold Badge Award for Services to the British Music Industry.
Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.
Premiered and toured 'The Poets Suite' in Northern Ireland.
1985 - Jazz Journal International award for Musician of the Year.
1985 Toured and recorded with Sal Nistico and own Quartet.
1986 OBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours.
He was a member of Rolling Stones drummer, Charlie Watts’ 32 piece big band.
Received Schlitz Award for Jazz Composition.
1987 - Jazz Journal International awards for Musician of the Year and Record of the Year.
1987 Toured with Charlie Rouse and own Quartet. 1988 - Toured and recorded with Thelonious Monk's tenor player Charlie Rouse.
The Nineties
1990 - Stan transcribes and performs excerpts from Duke Ellington's Sacred Music Concerts for Big Band and choir, premiereing at Durham Cathedral for its 900th anniversary celebrations. The music has been performed subsequently in cathedrals across the land.
1992 - British Jazz Awards - Best Pianist.
1993 - Awarded Fellowship of the City of Leeds College of Music.
Jazz Journal International - Album of the Year.
Guardian/Wire Awards - Best Composer of the Year.
BBC Radio 2 Jazz Awards - Composer/Arranger.
British Jazz Awards - Best Composer/Arranger & Best Album Release for Portraits Plus (also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize).
50th Anniversary Concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall, recorded and released on Blue Note International.
Stan composes for the classical ensemble The Ebony Quartet.
1994 - British Jazz Awards - Best re-issue CD for Under Milk Wood.
1995 - British Jazz Awards - Best Composer/Arranger & Best Small Group.
When Stan was invited to appear at The Jazz Club in Hong Kong, the club contacted Governor Chris Patten who arrived with the Head of Arts from the British Council. Thereafter, he commissioned Stan to write a suite which captured the colony's cultural vitality.
Stan forms new Quartet with Gerard Presencer, Andrew Cleyndert and Clark Tracey.
1996 - Stan's 70th Birthday Concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall which reunited Stan with his old partner Bobby Wellins.
1997 - British Jazz Awards - Best Composer/Arranger.
Received Hon.D. Lit. - University of Hertfordshire.
Received Silver Medal - Worshipful Company of Musicians.
'The Hong Kong Suite' for Stan's Octet was premiered in Beijing and Guangzhou in mainland China - the first British jazz musician to perform there. In Hong Kong they gave the last performance at Government House before the changeover.
1998 - Stan takes Under Milk Wood on the road again with Bobby Wellins back on board with narration by acclaimed actor Philip Madoc.
1999 - British Jazz Awards - Best Composer/Arranger.
Stan’s Big Band is one of the highlight of the Ellington Centennial celebrations on the South Bank at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Stan was Sue Lawley’s guest on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4.
Stan and his Quartet toured Canada, performing at six major Canadian jazz festivals including the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
His Quartet perform at the British Ambassador's residence in Washington D.C.
2000 - present
2001 - Stan's Big Band headlines at the Royal Festival Hall and is the first jazz band to perform at newly opened Tate Modern Museum in London
2002 - Lifetime Achievement Award at BBC Jazz Awards
Stan receives an Arts Council commission to write and perform 30 minutes of music with Clark Tracey in an 11-piece project called "Continental Shift"
Stan's Big Band perform Ellington's Sacred Music at Chelmsford Cathedral
Stan works in Vicenza with Evan Parker
2003 - Multi-screening of Channel 4's TV documentary on Stan: "The Godfather of British Jazz"
2004 - Stan's Big Band perform Ellington's Sacred Music at Rochester Cathedral
2005 - Stan's Quartet appear in concert on 'Jazz Britannia', a TV programme highlighting British Jazz Stan's Quartet performs at Rotterdam Festival with Benjamin Herman
Stan receives Parliamentary Awards Best Album of the Year for his Quartet album "The Last Time I Saw You"
2006 - Stan performs in Novara with Louis Moholo
Vicenza and Brecon Jazz Festivals make Stan their featured artist
Stan's Big Band perform Ellington's Sacred Music at St.Pauls Cathedral
Stan's Quartet performs in Roccella and his Trio perform opposite Wayne Shorter at The Barbican
Stan holds his 80th bithday concert at the Bull's Head, London
Dedication - Stan's website was originally designed and maintained by Chris Georgiou, Stan's son-in-law, who sadly passed away in 2006. His supreme effort and spirit lives on in these pages.
2007
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
A Note from Michael
Flora
In 1998 we adopted Flora, a two year old dachshund who had just been rescued from a puppy mill in Kansas by Hearts United for Animals, a no-kill shelter located in the mid-West. Flora had numbers crudely tattooed on her belly
in green ink, a primitive and painful form of identification often used by mill owners to keep track of their inmates. Despite the appalling circumstances of her first two years, which included food extended with sawdust, cages exposed to extreme weather (Flora’s mother, Bahnie, lost the tips of her ears to frostbite), and puppy production in dogs as young as six months, Flora was one happy little girl.
During the first few months of her housebreaking training (she was an A student), I kept her with me in my studio, where she reclined under the piano, usually resting her head on one of my feet, while I wrote the material for the album
which would eventually become “Barefoot on the Beach.”
That year I sent my friends a picture of us posed at the piano with the title “Rodgers and Wienerstein,” since she was my faithful collaborator on all those compositions, as she was for every record since then.
We've put together a slide show to remember her. As these pictures will attest, our time together was what you might call a montage of happiness. Sorely missed, our once-in-a-lifetime girl,
Flora Franks
1996-2010
Wishing all of you Health, Prosperity, Happiness, Peace
Flora
In 1998 we adopted Flora, a two year old dachshund who had just been rescued from a puppy mill in Kansas by Hearts United for Animals, a no-kill shelter located in the mid-West. Flora had numbers crudely tattooed on her belly
in green ink, a primitive and painful form of identification often used by mill owners to keep track of their inmates. Despite the appalling circumstances of her first two years, which included food extended with sawdust, cages exposed to extreme weather (Flora’s mother, Bahnie, lost the tips of her ears to frostbite), and puppy production in dogs as young as six months, Flora was one happy little girl.
During the first few months of her housebreaking training (she was an A student), I kept her with me in my studio, where she reclined under the piano, usually resting her head on one of my feet, while I wrote the material for the album
which would eventually become “Barefoot on the Beach.”
That year I sent my friends a picture of us posed at the piano with the title “Rodgers and Wienerstein,” since she was my faithful collaborator on all those compositions, as she was for every record since then.
We've put together a slide show to remember her. As these pictures will attest, our time together was what you might call a montage of happiness. Sorely missed, our once-in-a-lifetime girl,
Flora Franks
1996-2010
Wishing all of you Health, Prosperity, Happiness, Peace
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Sidney Arodin
Clarinetist Sidney Arodin is best remembered to today as the writer of the song Lazy River. Oddly enough, although he appeared on a great many recordings, he never recorded the tune himself. On the numerous versions which were recorded he usually shared credit for the composition with Hoagy Carmichael. Lazy River was based on a common Jazz chord progression that Arodin would use as a clarinet exercise to "warm up" before a gig. He simply slowed the pace of his warm up and added words (which were modified by Hoagy Carmichael) and the song was accepted for publication. He got his start in music working on the Mississippi River boats, he went on to play in New York with Johnny Stein's New Orleans Jazz Band between 1922 and 1925 with Jimmy Durante. Arodin returned to the south where he played with Wingy Manone, and Sharkey Bonano. In the 1930s Arodin played in Louis Prima's band and with Wingy Manone in a revival version of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. After 1941 he became seriously ill and made only occasional musical appearances.
For more informaion about Sidney Arodin please visit Wesley Charter's A Tribute to Sidney Arodin
For more informaion about Sidney Arodin please visit Wesley Charter's A Tribute to Sidney Arodin
Monday, 6 September 2010
The Milan Latin Jazz Quartet
Our Project is ambitious because at the same time to face two targets
The First , give to the Latin Jazz Style an Italian colour , making its sonorities more easy to understand and giving to it an harmonious and catchy form, emphasizing its expressions with characteristics and sonorities from our country, without to renounce to its improvisations and movements that are the main characteristic of Latin Jazz Style.
The second , bring near more people to the Latin Jazz Style and to bring near also the people that don’t know this great Style but they are attracted from our more easily musical forms .
Thank to
all the great Artists that through their music , let us to be a little drop in this sea
Of Music called “Latin Jazz “
Milan Latin Jazz Quartet
The First , give to the Latin Jazz Style an Italian colour , making its sonorities more easy to understand and giving to it an harmonious and catchy form, emphasizing its expressions with characteristics and sonorities from our country, without to renounce to its improvisations and movements that are the main characteristic of Latin Jazz Style.
The second , bring near more people to the Latin Jazz Style and to bring near also the people that don’t know this great Style but they are attracted from our more easily musical forms .
Thank to
all the great Artists that through their music , let us to be a little drop in this sea
Of Music called “Latin Jazz “
Milan Latin Jazz Quartet
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
A stunningly sensual and soulful performer whose delivery as a vocalist is as passionate as can be, wowing all who hear her. Already having appeared on numerous high-profile stages and won several awards, Rosie looks set to touch the hearts of millions.
mypleasure@brilltunes.com
CD " WHITE GIRL " £6
CD " DEFINITIVE BREAK UP " £6
mypleasure@brilltunes.com
CD " WHITE GIRL " £6
CD " DEFINITIVE BREAK UP " £6
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Stan Gregg
Stanley Mackay Greig (b. August 12, 1930, Joppa) is a Scottish pianist, drummer, and bandleader.
Greig's father was a drummer and piano tuner. Greig played with Sandy Brown while still in high school in 1945, then played piano and drums with him from 1948 to 1954. He moved to London and played with Ken Colyer (1954–55), Humphrey Lyttelton (1955–57), and Bruce Turner (1957), then with the Fairweather-Brown All-Stars (led by Brown and Al Fairweather) in 1958-59. He played with Turner again briefly before becoming a member of Acker Bilk's Paramount Jazz Band from 1960 to 1968.
After 1969 Greig made piano his primary instrument, leading his own small groups and playing boogie woogie and blues piano. He played with Dave Shepherd and Johnny Hawksworth as a sideman in the early 1970s, then formed the London Jazz Big Band in 1975. From 1977-80 he played with George Melly, then toured as a bandleader in Europe (1980–82). He worked again with Lyttelton from 1985 to 1995, and worked with Wally Fawkes later in the 1990s. The Stan Greig Trio played many gigs in and around London, with the Rolling Stones's Charlie Watts sometimes turning out on drums.
Greig's father was a drummer and piano tuner. Greig played with Sandy Brown while still in high school in 1945, then played piano and drums with him from 1948 to 1954. He moved to London and played with Ken Colyer (1954–55), Humphrey Lyttelton (1955–57), and Bruce Turner (1957), then with the Fairweather-Brown All-Stars (led by Brown and Al Fairweather) in 1958-59. He played with Turner again briefly before becoming a member of Acker Bilk's Paramount Jazz Band from 1960 to 1968.
After 1969 Greig made piano his primary instrument, leading his own small groups and playing boogie woogie and blues piano. He played with Dave Shepherd and Johnny Hawksworth as a sideman in the early 1970s, then formed the London Jazz Big Band in 1975. From 1977-80 he played with George Melly, then toured as a bandleader in Europe (1980–82). He worked again with Lyttelton from 1985 to 1995, and worked with Wally Fawkes later in the 1990s. The Stan Greig Trio played many gigs in and around London, with the Rolling Stones's Charlie Watts sometimes turning out on drums.
Saturday, 24 July 2010
The New Orleans Rhythm Kings Gennett recordings were a big influence on many of the white bands and musicians of the 1920s. In 1920, Paul Mares and George Brunies were working on the Mississippi riverboat S.S. Capitol when it stopped in Davenport, Iowa, where they teamed with Leon Roppolo on clarinet. They eventually added Elmer Schobel on piano, Frank Snyder on drums, Alfred Loyacano on bass and Louis Black played banjo. They got a gig at the Friar's Club in Chicago in 1922. At first they called themselves The Friar's Society Orchestra, after the club the Friars Inn at 1834 Wabash Street at Van Buren in Chicago, but they changed their name to The New Orleans Rhythm Kings in 1923 after losing that gig. Unlike Nick LaRocca, the leader of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Paul Mares did not try to deny the African-American roots of Jazz. The New Orleans Rhythm Kings were heavily influenced by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and became the first group to put out a "racially mixed" Jazz record in 1923 with "Sobbin' Blues", featuring Jelly Roll Morton. Morton went on to record five more tunes with the band. The New Orleans Rhythm Kings were in existence from 1922 to 1925 when Paul Mares left the music business and went back to New Orleans to work at the family fur business. In 1934 and 1935 two recording sessions took place that revived the New Orleans Rhythm Kings name, but George Brunies was the only original memeber of the band to take part in the sessions.
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Johnny Dodds
Johnny Dodds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johnny Dodds (April 12, 1892–August 8, 1940) was a New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds was also the older brother of drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds. The pair worked together in the New Orleans Bootblacks in 1926.
Born in Waveland, Mississippi, he moved to New Orleans in his youth, and studied clarinet with Lorenzo Tio. He played with the bands of Frankie Duson, Kid Ory, and Joe "King" Oliver. Dodds went to Chicago and played with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, with which he first recorded in 1923. Dodds (pronounced "dots") also worked frequently with his good friend Natty Dominique during this period, a professional relationship that would last a lifetime. After the breakup of Oliver's band in 1924, Dodds replaced Alcide Nunez as the house clarinetist and bandleader of Kelly's Stables. He recorded with numerous small groups in Chicago, most notably Louis Armstrong's Hot 5 and Hot 7, and Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers.
Noted for his professionalism and virtuosity as a musician, and his heartfelt, heavily blues-laden style, Dodds was an important influence on later clarinetists, notably Benny Goodman.
Dodds did not record for most of the 1930s, affected by ill health. He died of a heart attack in Chicago in 1940.
In 1987, Dodds was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johnny Dodds (April 12, 1892–August 8, 1940) was a New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds was also the older brother of drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds. The pair worked together in the New Orleans Bootblacks in 1926.
Born in Waveland, Mississippi, he moved to New Orleans in his youth, and studied clarinet with Lorenzo Tio. He played with the bands of Frankie Duson, Kid Ory, and Joe "King" Oliver. Dodds went to Chicago and played with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, with which he first recorded in 1923. Dodds (pronounced "dots") also worked frequently with his good friend Natty Dominique during this period, a professional relationship that would last a lifetime. After the breakup of Oliver's band in 1924, Dodds replaced Alcide Nunez as the house clarinetist and bandleader of Kelly's Stables. He recorded with numerous small groups in Chicago, most notably Louis Armstrong's Hot 5 and Hot 7, and Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers.
Noted for his professionalism and virtuosity as a musician, and his heartfelt, heavily blues-laden style, Dodds was an important influence on later clarinetists, notably Benny Goodman.
Dodds did not record for most of the 1930s, affected by ill health. He died of a heart attack in Chicago in 1940.
In 1987, Dodds was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
re Imagination
Year: 2010
Record Label: Lungemusic.com
Style: Straight-Ahead / Classic
Musicians: Bob McHugh (piano, composer, leader), Ron Naspo (bass), David Humm (drums).
Review:
This is Bob McHugh and his trio at its finest. It is with pure enjoyment that I recommend this fine jazz CD collection for your listening pleasure, for Pure Imagination is precisely that! You can listen to this CD for hours and get some new musical insight each time you listen to it. Every song is innovative in performance!
With an excellent cover photograph by Ed McHugh to look at, the listener then slips out the CD and is ready for a warm and mellow approach as only Bob McHugh can deliver on his keyboards. With Ron Naspo on bass and David Humm on drums, the scene is set for a lovely time of jazz music!
There are nine songs on the CD. The collection features Bob McHugh original compositions as well as music composed by Bill Evans, Arlen & Harburg, Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish, Bricusse & Newley, Palmer & Williams, and Mandel & Francis. Among the songs are found "Pure Imagination," "The Lunge," "Offering," "I Walk With Music," "I've Found A New Baby," "A Time For Love," "Peri's Scope," "Last Night When We Were Young," and "One Morning In May." These song interpretations are a joy to listen to!
"I've Found A New Baby" has some nice piano touches reminiscent of the late stride pianist, Willard David Firestone. All in all, this is a perfect example of Bob McHugh at his best, and the same can be said about his trio as a unit.
This is good jazz. Fine, fine performances! Something to share with a loved one or friend any time of the day or night!
Highly recommended. Every song is a winner from this exciting and refreshing trio!
Tracks:
I found all of these selections enjoyable. The jazz listening audience will discover their own favorites! This is a collection to savor, treasure, and share with others.
Record Label Website: http://www.lungemusic.com
Reviewed by: Lee Prosser
Click here for printer-friendly version of review.
Send this page to a friend.
Year: 2010
Record Label: Lungemusic.com
Style: Straight-Ahead / Classic
Musicians: Bob McHugh (piano, composer, leader), Ron Naspo (bass), David Humm (drums).
Review:
This is Bob McHugh and his trio at its finest. It is with pure enjoyment that I recommend this fine jazz CD collection for your listening pleasure, for Pure Imagination is precisely that! You can listen to this CD for hours and get some new musical insight each time you listen to it. Every song is innovative in performance!
With an excellent cover photograph by Ed McHugh to look at, the listener then slips out the CD and is ready for a warm and mellow approach as only Bob McHugh can deliver on his keyboards. With Ron Naspo on bass and David Humm on drums, the scene is set for a lovely time of jazz music!
There are nine songs on the CD. The collection features Bob McHugh original compositions as well as music composed by Bill Evans, Arlen & Harburg, Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish, Bricusse & Newley, Palmer & Williams, and Mandel & Francis. Among the songs are found "Pure Imagination," "The Lunge," "Offering," "I Walk With Music," "I've Found A New Baby," "A Time For Love," "Peri's Scope," "Last Night When We Were Young," and "One Morning In May." These song interpretations are a joy to listen to!
"I've Found A New Baby" has some nice piano touches reminiscent of the late stride pianist, Willard David Firestone. All in all, this is a perfect example of Bob McHugh at his best, and the same can be said about his trio as a unit.
This is good jazz. Fine, fine performances! Something to share with a loved one or friend any time of the day or night!
Highly recommended. Every song is a winner from this exciting and refreshing trio!
Tracks:
I found all of these selections enjoyable. The jazz listening audience will discover their own favorites! This is a collection to savor, treasure, and share with others.
Record Label Website: http://www.lungemusic.com
Reviewed by: Lee Prosser
Click here for printer-friendly version of review.
Send this page to a friend.
Monday, 12 July 2010
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Local Gig.........
Freefall Jazz are playing at
the Farmers Boy pub in
St. Albans Monday July 19th
at 9PM free
the Farmers Boy pub in
St. Albans Monday July 19th
at 9PM free
Friday, 9 July 2010
The Rebirth Brass Band
Small group from the Rebirth playing for a parade, 2007The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1982 by tuba/sousaphone player Philip Frazier, his brother, bass drummer, Keith Frazier and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, and other school marching band members from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood. The band was discovered at the 1982 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and recorded its first studio album in 1984.
Rebirth is known for combining traditional New Orleans brass band music, including the New Orleans tradition of second line with funk, jazz, soul and hip hop influences. In 1992, Ruffins and Rebirth split amicably after Ruffins decided not to accompany the band on a trip to Africa.
Ruffins later formed his own Band, the Barbecue Swingers, who are signed to Basin Street Records and play a more traditional style of New Orleans jazz music. Rebirth's longstanding regular Tuesday night gig at the Maple Leaf Bar on Oak Street in the Carrollton neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans is one of the pillars of the New Orleans music scene, and has served as a reliable introduction to the city's nightlife for many newly arrived college students.
The band regularly tours in North America and Europe, second only to the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in popularity and acclaim among the brass bands of New Orleans.
Rebirth is known for combining traditional New Orleans brass band music, including the New Orleans tradition of second line with funk, jazz, soul and hip hop influences. In 1992, Ruffins and Rebirth split amicably after Ruffins decided not to accompany the band on a trip to Africa.
Ruffins later formed his own Band, the Barbecue Swingers, who are signed to Basin Street Records and play a more traditional style of New Orleans jazz music. Rebirth's longstanding regular Tuesday night gig at the Maple Leaf Bar on Oak Street in the Carrollton neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans is one of the pillars of the New Orleans music scene, and has served as a reliable introduction to the city's nightlife for many newly arrived college students.
The band regularly tours in North America and Europe, second only to the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in popularity and acclaim among the brass bands of New Orleans.
Monday, 5 July 2010
Jon Burr
Nice review by George Harris in Jazz Weekly
By Jon Burr
Jon Burr Band
Just Can’t Wait
jbQ cd and dvd
By George W. Harris
This cd/dvd combo features the steady bass of Jon Burr, who has played with such luminaries as Silver, Getz, Bennett, Baker and O’Day. This release emphasizes his work with singers, which on this disc include the black velvety Ty Stephens, original Transfer Laurel Massee and the smooth pop of Yaala Ballin and Hilary Kole. The tunes range from the good time shuffle of “Just Can’t Wait” (which features the bluesy Houston Person on tenor) to the late night film nourish “Rainbow Over Harlem” Kole is folksy with Bob Mintzer’s soprano on “Snowfall” and mixes with Masee’s rich voice on “Song Of the Broken Word. Stephens is a find, and is justifiably featur ed on the lion’s share of the tunes. All throughout, Burr provides leadership, guidance and a wide array of moods and grooves. The perfect example of servant/leadership. A find for vocal fans.
Tags: Bob Mintzer, Great review, Hilary Kole, Jon Burr, Jon Burr Band Reviews, Just Can't Wait, Laurel Massé, Ty Stephens, Yaala Ballin
By Jon Burr
Jon Burr Band
Just Can’t Wait
jbQ cd and dvd
By George W. Harris
This cd/dvd combo features the steady bass of Jon Burr, who has played with such luminaries as Silver, Getz, Bennett, Baker and O’Day. This release emphasizes his work with singers, which on this disc include the black velvety Ty Stephens, original Transfer Laurel Massee and the smooth pop of Yaala Ballin and Hilary Kole. The tunes range from the good time shuffle of “Just Can’t Wait” (which features the bluesy Houston Person on tenor) to the late night film nourish “Rainbow Over Harlem” Kole is folksy with Bob Mintzer’s soprano on “Snowfall” and mixes with Masee’s rich voice on “Song Of the Broken Word. Stephens is a find, and is justifiably featur ed on the lion’s share of the tunes. All throughout, Burr provides leadership, guidance and a wide array of moods and grooves. The perfect example of servant/leadership. A find for vocal fans.
Tags: Bob Mintzer, Great review, Hilary Kole, Jon Burr, Jon Burr Band Reviews, Just Can't Wait, Laurel Massé, Ty Stephens, Yaala Ballin
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
JERRY DONAHUE
Jerry Donahue (born September 24, 1946, Manhattan, New York City) is an American guitarist and producer primarily known for his work in the British folk rock scene as a member of Fotheringay and Fairport Convention as well as being a member of the rock guitar trio Hellecasters.
Jerry Donahue + Don Morter
Jerry Donahue + Don Morter
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
The Mississipi Mass Choir
Mississippi Mass Choir
Background information
Origin Jackson, Mississippi
Genres Gospel music
Years active 1988 - present
The Mississippi Mass Choir is an American gospel choir based in Jackson, Mississippi.
Musical career
Under the musical direction of David R. Curry Jr., and under the choir direction of Dorcus Curry Thigpen, the 250+-member choir developed a sound that made them a constant presence on Billboard's gospel charts. Each of their recordings have reached the top position on the charts. [citation needed] Their debut album, Live, recorded during a 1988 performance at the Jackson Municipal Auditorium, remained on the charts for 45 weeks and earned the group James Cleveland GMWA awards as Contemporary Choir of the Year and Best New Traditional Artist of the Year. [citation needed]
Their second album, God Gets the Glory, reached number one two weeks after it was released in 1990. [citation needed] The Mississippi Mass Choir's most successful album, It Remains to Be Seen, topped the charts for 12 months and received a Soul Train music award as best gospel album of 1993.[1] The album was the choir's last with founder Frank D. Williams, a member of the Jackson Southernaires and an executive in the gospel music division of the Malaco record label. Determined to bring together the best gospel voices in Mississippi, Williams had convinced Jerry Mannery, the head of Malaco's gospel division, to sign the choir to a record deal and serve as executive director.
With three albums released since Williams' passing, I'll See You in Rapture, Praise the Lord, and Emmanuel (God With Us), the Mississippi Mass Choir continues to dedicate itself to its self-described mission of "serving God through song."
The Mississippi Mass Choir is now featured in the popular Mississippi, Believe It! campaign.[2]
Background information
Origin Jackson, Mississippi
Genres Gospel music
Years active 1988 - present
The Mississippi Mass Choir is an American gospel choir based in Jackson, Mississippi.
Musical career
Under the musical direction of David R. Curry Jr., and under the choir direction of Dorcus Curry Thigpen, the 250+-member choir developed a sound that made them a constant presence on Billboard's gospel charts. Each of their recordings have reached the top position on the charts. [citation needed] Their debut album, Live, recorded during a 1988 performance at the Jackson Municipal Auditorium, remained on the charts for 45 weeks and earned the group James Cleveland GMWA awards as Contemporary Choir of the Year and Best New Traditional Artist of the Year. [citation needed]
Their second album, God Gets the Glory, reached number one two weeks after it was released in 1990. [citation needed] The Mississippi Mass Choir's most successful album, It Remains to Be Seen, topped the charts for 12 months and received a Soul Train music award as best gospel album of 1993.[1] The album was the choir's last with founder Frank D. Williams, a member of the Jackson Southernaires and an executive in the gospel music division of the Malaco record label. Determined to bring together the best gospel voices in Mississippi, Williams had convinced Jerry Mannery, the head of Malaco's gospel division, to sign the choir to a record deal and serve as executive director.
With three albums released since Williams' passing, I'll See You in Rapture, Praise the Lord, and Emmanuel (God With Us), the Mississippi Mass Choir continues to dedicate itself to its self-described mission of "serving God through song."
The Mississippi Mass Choir is now featured in the popular Mississippi, Believe It! campaign.[2]
Thursday, 17 June 2010
The BSV Band
We play for free or for a voluntary contribution to band running costs. We are an AMATEUR band, so we make no promises, but we love the music and playing for people and liven up any event.
We regularly do school summer fetes, grove house hospice fund raising events, and our biggie is at the Alban Arena on 21 June 2010 – a private function arranged by the Council – Retailer Of The Year Award ceremony.
The next gig coming up are
Hatfield BBQ Bowls Club – 17 July
We regularly do school summer fetes, grove house hospice fund raising events, and our biggie is at the Alban Arena on 21 June 2010 – a private function arranged by the Council – Retailer Of The Year Award ceremony.
The next gig coming up are
Hatfield BBQ Bowls Club – 17 July
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
HELEN KANE
Early life
Born as Helen Clare Schroeder, Kane attended St. Anselm’s Parochial School in the Bronx. She was the youngest of three children. Her father, Louis Schroeder, the son of a German immigrant, was employed intermittently; her Irish immigrant mother, Ellen (Dixon) Schroeder, worked in a laundry.[4]
Kane's mother reluctantly paid $3 for her daughter's costume as a queen in Kane's first theatrical role at school. By the time she was 15 years, Kane was onstage professionally, touring the Orpheum Circuit with the Marx Brothers in On the Balcony.[5]
She spent the early 1920s trouping in vaudeville as a singer and kickline dancer with a theater engagement called the 'All Jazz Revue.' She played the New York Palace for the first time in 1921. Her Broadway days started there as well with the Stars of the Future (1922-24, and a brief revival in early 1927). She also sang onstage with an early singing trio, the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce, later known as The Three X Sisters.
Kane's roommate in the early 1920's was Jessie Fordyce. The singing trio act might have become the Hamilton Sisters and Schroeder, however Pearl Hamilton chose Fordyce to tour as a trio act "just to see what happens" at the end of the theatrical season.
[edit]Music
Kane's career break came in 1927, when she appeared in a musical called A Night in Spain. It ran from May 3, 1927 through Nov 12, 1927 for a total of 174 performances, at the 44th Street Theatre in NYC. Subsequently, Paul Ash, a band conductor, put her name forward for a performance at New York's Paramount Theater).
Kane's first performance at the Paramount Theater in Times Square proved to be her career's launching point. She was singing "That's My Weakness Now", when she interpolated the scat lyrics “boop-boop-a-doop.” This resonated with the flapper culture, and four days later, Helen Kane’s name went up in lights.
Oscar Hammerstein’s 1928 show Good Boy, was where she first introduced the hit, "I Wanna Be Loved by You" . Then it was back to the Palace, as a headliner for $5,000 a week. She rejoined her friends from vaudeville, The Three X Sisters (formerly The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce) for one night. In a 1935 live stage performance, she harmonized with their unique banter to a novelty tune, "The Preacher and the Bear".
Kane had excellent diction, intonation and timing, learned during her apprenticeship in vaudeville. Her songs have a strong word focus, and capitalize on her coquettish voice. She blended several fashionable styles of the late 1920s. These included scat singing, a kind of vocal improvisation, and also blending singing and speech. Sprechgesang ("speech-song") was fashionable at this time in Germany's Weimar Republic in both nightclubs and in serious music.
Kane recorded 22 songs between 1928 and 1930. After 1930 and up to 1951, she recorded only five more, including a re-release of "I Wanna Be Loved by You"[6]
[edit]Cult following
As she took on the status of a singing sensation, there were Helen Kane dolls and Helen Kane look-alike contests, appearances on radio and in nightclubs. This cult following reached its peak in late 1928 and stayed there until early 1929.
Kane's height (only 5 feet tall) and slightly plump figure attracted attention and fans. Her round face with big brown eyes was topped by black, curly hair; her voice was a baby squeak with a distinct Bronx dialect.
Born as Helen Clare Schroeder, Kane attended St. Anselm’s Parochial School in the Bronx. She was the youngest of three children. Her father, Louis Schroeder, the son of a German immigrant, was employed intermittently; her Irish immigrant mother, Ellen (Dixon) Schroeder, worked in a laundry.[4]
Kane's mother reluctantly paid $3 for her daughter's costume as a queen in Kane's first theatrical role at school. By the time she was 15 years, Kane was onstage professionally, touring the Orpheum Circuit with the Marx Brothers in On the Balcony.[5]
She spent the early 1920s trouping in vaudeville as a singer and kickline dancer with a theater engagement called the 'All Jazz Revue.' She played the New York Palace for the first time in 1921. Her Broadway days started there as well with the Stars of the Future (1922-24, and a brief revival in early 1927). She also sang onstage with an early singing trio, the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce, later known as The Three X Sisters.
Kane's roommate in the early 1920's was Jessie Fordyce. The singing trio act might have become the Hamilton Sisters and Schroeder, however Pearl Hamilton chose Fordyce to tour as a trio act "just to see what happens" at the end of the theatrical season.
[edit]Music
Kane's career break came in 1927, when she appeared in a musical called A Night in Spain. It ran from May 3, 1927 through Nov 12, 1927 for a total of 174 performances, at the 44th Street Theatre in NYC. Subsequently, Paul Ash, a band conductor, put her name forward for a performance at New York's Paramount Theater).
Kane's first performance at the Paramount Theater in Times Square proved to be her career's launching point. She was singing "That's My Weakness Now", when she interpolated the scat lyrics “boop-boop-a-doop.” This resonated with the flapper culture, and four days later, Helen Kane’s name went up in lights.
Oscar Hammerstein’s 1928 show Good Boy, was where she first introduced the hit, "I Wanna Be Loved by You" . Then it was back to the Palace, as a headliner for $5,000 a week. She rejoined her friends from vaudeville, The Three X Sisters (formerly The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce) for one night. In a 1935 live stage performance, she harmonized with their unique banter to a novelty tune, "The Preacher and the Bear".
Kane had excellent diction, intonation and timing, learned during her apprenticeship in vaudeville. Her songs have a strong word focus, and capitalize on her coquettish voice. She blended several fashionable styles of the late 1920s. These included scat singing, a kind of vocal improvisation, and also blending singing and speech. Sprechgesang ("speech-song") was fashionable at this time in Germany's Weimar Republic in both nightclubs and in serious music.
Kane recorded 22 songs between 1928 and 1930. After 1930 and up to 1951, she recorded only five more, including a re-release of "I Wanna Be Loved by You"[6]
[edit]Cult following
As she took on the status of a singing sensation, there were Helen Kane dolls and Helen Kane look-alike contests, appearances on radio and in nightclubs. This cult following reached its peak in late 1928 and stayed there until early 1929.
Kane's height (only 5 feet tall) and slightly plump figure attracted attention and fans. Her round face with big brown eyes was topped by black, curly hair; her voice was a baby squeak with a distinct Bronx dialect.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Friday, 21 May 2010
HANK JONES
Biography
Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Henry "Hank" Jones moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where his father, a Baptist deacon and lumber inspector, bought a three-story brick home. One of seven children, Jones was raised in a musical family. His mother sang; his two older sisters studied piano; and his two younger brothers—Thad, a trumpeter, and Elvin, a drummer—also became prominent jazz musicians.[5] He studied piano at an early age and came under the influence of Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, and Art Tatum. By the age of 13 Jones was performing locally in Michigan and Ohio. While playing with territory bands in Grand Rapids and Lansing in 1944 he met Lucky Thompson, who invited Jones to work in New York City at the Onyx Club with Hot Lips Page.[6]
In New York, Jones regularly listened to leading bop musicians, and was inspired to master the new style. While practicing and studying the music he worked with John Kirby, Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Andy Kirk, and Billy Eckstine. In autumn 1947, he began touring in Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic package, and from 1948 to 1953 he was accompanist for Ella Fitzgerald, and accompanying her in England in the Fall of 1948,[7] developed a harmonic facility of extraordinary taste and sophistication. During this period he also made several historically important recordings with Charlie Parker, which included "The Song Is You", from the Now's the Time album, recorded in December 1952, with Teddy Kotick on bass and Max Roach on drums.
Engagements with Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman followed, and recordings with artists such as Lester Young, Cannonball Adderley, and Wes Montgomery, in addition to being for a time, 'house pianist' on the Savoy label. From 1959 through 1975 Jones was staff pianist for CBS studios.[8] This included backing guests like Frank Sinatra on The Ed Sullivan Show.[9] With his rare combination of talents as a strong soloist, sensitive accompanist, and adept sight-reader, Jones was always in great demand for recording sessions of all kinds, and may be heard on thousands of albums. An anecdote of those years is that he was on stage at the piano behind Marilyn Monroe as she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962. By the late 1970s, his involvement as pianist and conductor with the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin' (based on the music of Fats Waller) had informed a wider audience of his unique qualities as a musician.
During the late 1970s and the 1980s, Jones continued to record prolifically, as an unaccompanied soloist, in duos with other pianists (including John Lewis and Tommy Flanagan), and with various small ensembles, most notably the Great Jazz Trio. The group took this name in 1976, by which time Jones had already begun working at the Village Vanguard with its original members, Ron Carter and Tony Williams (it was Buster Williams rather than Carter, however, who took part in the trio's first recording session in 1976); by 1980 Jones' sidemen were Eddie Gomez and Al Foster, and in 1982 Jimmy Cobb replaced Foster. The trio also recorded with other all-star personnel, such as Art Farmer, Benny Golson, and Nancy Wilson. In the early 1980s Jones held a residency as a solo pianist at the Cafe Ziegfeld and made a tour of Japan, where he performed and recorded with George Duvivier and Sonny Stitt. Jones' versatility was more in evidence with the passage of time. He collaborated on recordings of Afro-pop with an ensemble from Mali and on an album of spirituals, hymns and folksongs with Charlie Haden called Steal Away (1995).
Some of his later recordings are For My Father (2005) with bassist George Mraz and drummer Dennis Mackrel, a solo piano recording issued in Japan under the title Round Midnight (2006), and as a side man on Joe Lovano's Joyous Encounter (2005). Jones made his debut on Lineage records, recording with Frank Wess and with guitar player Eddie Diehl, but also appears on West of 5th (2006) with Jimmy Cobb and Christian McBride on Chesky Records. He also accompanied Diana Krall for "Dream a Little Dream of Me" on the album compilation, We all Love Ella (Verve 2007). He is one of the musicians who test and talk about the piano in the documentary Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037, released in November 2007.
In early 2000, the Hank Jones Quartet accompanied jazz singer Salena Jones at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho, and in 2006 at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival with both jazz singer Roberta Gambarini and the Oscar Peterson Trio.
Hank Jones lived in upstate New York and in Manhattan. He died at a hospice in Manhattan, New York, on May 16, 2010. He is survived by his wife Theodosia and several nieces and nephews.
Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Henry "Hank" Jones moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where his father, a Baptist deacon and lumber inspector, bought a three-story brick home. One of seven children, Jones was raised in a musical family. His mother sang; his two older sisters studied piano; and his two younger brothers—Thad, a trumpeter, and Elvin, a drummer—also became prominent jazz musicians.[5] He studied piano at an early age and came under the influence of Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, and Art Tatum. By the age of 13 Jones was performing locally in Michigan and Ohio. While playing with territory bands in Grand Rapids and Lansing in 1944 he met Lucky Thompson, who invited Jones to work in New York City at the Onyx Club with Hot Lips Page.[6]
In New York, Jones regularly listened to leading bop musicians, and was inspired to master the new style. While practicing and studying the music he worked with John Kirby, Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Andy Kirk, and Billy Eckstine. In autumn 1947, he began touring in Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic package, and from 1948 to 1953 he was accompanist for Ella Fitzgerald, and accompanying her in England in the Fall of 1948,[7] developed a harmonic facility of extraordinary taste and sophistication. During this period he also made several historically important recordings with Charlie Parker, which included "The Song Is You", from the Now's the Time album, recorded in December 1952, with Teddy Kotick on bass and Max Roach on drums.
Engagements with Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman followed, and recordings with artists such as Lester Young, Cannonball Adderley, and Wes Montgomery, in addition to being for a time, 'house pianist' on the Savoy label. From 1959 through 1975 Jones was staff pianist for CBS studios.[8] This included backing guests like Frank Sinatra on The Ed Sullivan Show.[9] With his rare combination of talents as a strong soloist, sensitive accompanist, and adept sight-reader, Jones was always in great demand for recording sessions of all kinds, and may be heard on thousands of albums. An anecdote of those years is that he was on stage at the piano behind Marilyn Monroe as she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962. By the late 1970s, his involvement as pianist and conductor with the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin' (based on the music of Fats Waller) had informed a wider audience of his unique qualities as a musician.
During the late 1970s and the 1980s, Jones continued to record prolifically, as an unaccompanied soloist, in duos with other pianists (including John Lewis and Tommy Flanagan), and with various small ensembles, most notably the Great Jazz Trio. The group took this name in 1976, by which time Jones had already begun working at the Village Vanguard with its original members, Ron Carter and Tony Williams (it was Buster Williams rather than Carter, however, who took part in the trio's first recording session in 1976); by 1980 Jones' sidemen were Eddie Gomez and Al Foster, and in 1982 Jimmy Cobb replaced Foster. The trio also recorded with other all-star personnel, such as Art Farmer, Benny Golson, and Nancy Wilson. In the early 1980s Jones held a residency as a solo pianist at the Cafe Ziegfeld and made a tour of Japan, where he performed and recorded with George Duvivier and Sonny Stitt. Jones' versatility was more in evidence with the passage of time. He collaborated on recordings of Afro-pop with an ensemble from Mali and on an album of spirituals, hymns and folksongs with Charlie Haden called Steal Away (1995).
Some of his later recordings are For My Father (2005) with bassist George Mraz and drummer Dennis Mackrel, a solo piano recording issued in Japan under the title Round Midnight (2006), and as a side man on Joe Lovano's Joyous Encounter (2005). Jones made his debut on Lineage records, recording with Frank Wess and with guitar player Eddie Diehl, but also appears on West of 5th (2006) with Jimmy Cobb and Christian McBride on Chesky Records. He also accompanied Diana Krall for "Dream a Little Dream of Me" on the album compilation, We all Love Ella (Verve 2007). He is one of the musicians who test and talk about the piano in the documentary Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037, released in November 2007.
In early 2000, the Hank Jones Quartet accompanied jazz singer Salena Jones at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho, and in 2006 at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival with both jazz singer Roberta Gambarini and the Oscar Peterson Trio.
Hank Jones lived in upstate New York and in Manhattan. He died at a hospice in Manhattan, New York, on May 16, 2010. He is survived by his wife Theodosia and several nieces and nephews.
KING OLIVER'S CREOLE JAZZ BAND
King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band was one of the best and most important bands in early Jazz. The Creole Jazz Band was made up of the cream of New Orleans Hot Jazz musicians, featuring Baby Dodds on drums, Honore Dutrey on trombone, Bill Johnson on bass, Louis Armstrong on second cornet, Johnny Dodds on clarinet, Lil Hardin-Armstrong on piano, and the band's leader, King Oliver on cornet. In 1922 Armstrong received a telegram from his mentor Joe Oliver, asking him to join the band in Chicago. He nervously accepted and went north to Chicago to play second cornet with the band at the Lincoln Gardens at 459 East 31st Street. The addition of Armstrong to this already powerful and popular band took the town by storm. Soon musicians and fans were flocking to hear Louis' amazing cornet playing with the Oliver band. Louis met his second wife Lil Hardin who was the pianist in the Creole Jazz Band. Eventually it was she who urged Louis to leave the band so that he might live up to his true potential and not get stuck playing second to Oliver.
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company
Alligator Hop
(King Oliver / Alphonse Picou) 10-3-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5274-B
Canal Street Blues
(King Oliver / Louis Armstrong) 4-5-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5133-B
Chimes Blues
(King Oliver) 4-5-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5135-B
Dipper Mouth Blues
(King Oliver / Louis Armstrong) 4-6-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5132-A
Froggie Moore
(Benjamin Spikes / John Spikes / Jelly Roll Morton) 4-6-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5135-A
I'm Going Away To Wear You Off My Mind
(Charlie Johnson / Warren Smith / Lloyd Smith) 4-5-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5134-B
Just Gone
(King Oliver / Bill Johnson) 4-5-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5133-A
Krooked Blues
(Benjamin Spikes / John Spikes / Bill Johnson) 10-3-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5274-A
Mandy Lee Blues
(M. Bloom / Walter Melrose) 4-5-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5134-A
Snake Rag
(King Oliver / A.J. Piron) 4-6-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5184-B
Sugar Foot Stomp
(King Oliver / Louis Armstrong) 4-6-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
3076-B
Weather Bird Rag
(Louis Armstrong) 4-6-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5132-B
Workingmans Blues
(King Oliver / Lil Hardin) 10-3-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5275-B
Zulu's Ball
(King Oliver / Robinson) 10-3-1923 Richmond, Indiana Gennett
5275-A
Artist Instrument
Lil Hardin-Armstrong Piano
Louis Armstrong Cornet
Baby Dodds Drums
Johnny Dodds Clarinet
Honore Dutrey Trombone
Stump Evans C-Melody Saxophone
Bill Johnson Bass
King Oliver Cornet, Leader
Johnny St. Cyr Banjo, Guitar
Thursday, 20 May 2010
le Quintette du Hot Club de France
Quintette du Hot Club de France
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quintette du Hot Club de France was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, and active in one form or another until 1948.
One of the earliest and most significant continental jazz groups in Europe, the Quintette was described by critic Thom Jurek[1] as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Their most famous lineup featured Reinhardt, Grappelli, bassist Louis Vola, and rhythm guitarists Roger Chaput and Joseph Reinhardt (Django's brother) who filled out the ensemble's sound and added occasional percussive effects.
[edit]History
There are several versions of how the band was formed. The most generally accepted version amongst modern jazz historians is that the group evolved from a series of backstage jams led by Django Reinhardt, with Stephane Grappelli. However, bassist Louis Vola said in an interview that he found the Reinhardt brothers playing on a beach at Toulon.[2] He invited them to jam with his own band, which included Grappelli and guitarist Roger Chaput.
After a series of informal jam sessions at the Hotel Claridge, concert promoters Pierre Nourry and Charles Delaunay (leaders of the "Hot Club de France", a society chaired by Hugues Panassié devoted to the appreciation of jazz) urged the formation of a full time group.[3] With the addition of Reinhardt's brother Joseph on second rhythm guitar, the quintet popularized the gypsy jazz style. A series of European tours were very successful, with the group enjoying particular popularity in the UK. Several bassists and rhythm guitarists rotated in and out of the group, with Django and Grappelli remaining the sole constants.
As World War II broke out in September 1939, the Quintette was on a concert tour of England. Reinhardt, who spoke virtually no English, immediately returned to France, where he thought he would feel safer than in the UK. Grappelli, meanwhile, stayed in England.
Django continued using the Quintette name with a different group, featuring Hubert Rostaing as the first of several clarinetists backed by a more conventional rhythm section with drums, bass and a rhythm guitar played by Django's son Lousson Reinhardt, or his brother Joseph. This version of the Quintette often featured six, not five, players, and was usually billed as "Django et le Quintette du Hot Club de France", or sometimes as Django's "Nouveau Quintette". Due to wartime shortages of material, this version of the Quintette did not issue many recordings, although they did issue the first recording of the Django Reinhardt composition Nuages, later to become a jazz standard.
In 1946, after the war, Grappelli and Django re-teamed under the Quintette banner in an all-string format. As before, they cycled through a number of rhythm guitarists and bassists. This last iteration of the Quintette performed and recorded intermittently until about 1948.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quintette du Hot Club de France was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, and active in one form or another until 1948.
One of the earliest and most significant continental jazz groups in Europe, the Quintette was described by critic Thom Jurek[1] as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Their most famous lineup featured Reinhardt, Grappelli, bassist Louis Vola, and rhythm guitarists Roger Chaput and Joseph Reinhardt (Django's brother) who filled out the ensemble's sound and added occasional percussive effects.
[edit]History
There are several versions of how the band was formed. The most generally accepted version amongst modern jazz historians is that the group evolved from a series of backstage jams led by Django Reinhardt, with Stephane Grappelli. However, bassist Louis Vola said in an interview that he found the Reinhardt brothers playing on a beach at Toulon.[2] He invited them to jam with his own band, which included Grappelli and guitarist Roger Chaput.
After a series of informal jam sessions at the Hotel Claridge, concert promoters Pierre Nourry and Charles Delaunay (leaders of the "Hot Club de France", a society chaired by Hugues Panassié devoted to the appreciation of jazz) urged the formation of a full time group.[3] With the addition of Reinhardt's brother Joseph on second rhythm guitar, the quintet popularized the gypsy jazz style. A series of European tours were very successful, with the group enjoying particular popularity in the UK. Several bassists and rhythm guitarists rotated in and out of the group, with Django and Grappelli remaining the sole constants.
As World War II broke out in September 1939, the Quintette was on a concert tour of England. Reinhardt, who spoke virtually no English, immediately returned to France, where he thought he would feel safer than in the UK. Grappelli, meanwhile, stayed in England.
Django continued using the Quintette name with a different group, featuring Hubert Rostaing as the first of several clarinetists backed by a more conventional rhythm section with drums, bass and a rhythm guitar played by Django's son Lousson Reinhardt, or his brother Joseph. This version of the Quintette often featured six, not five, players, and was usually billed as "Django et le Quintette du Hot Club de France", or sometimes as Django's "Nouveau Quintette". Due to wartime shortages of material, this version of the Quintette did not issue many recordings, although they did issue the first recording of the Django Reinhardt composition Nuages, later to become a jazz standard.
In 1946, after the war, Grappelli and Django re-teamed under the Quintette banner in an all-string format. As before, they cycled through a number of rhythm guitarists and bassists. This last iteration of the Quintette performed and recorded intermittently until about 1948.
THE LES DEMERLE BIG BAND
The Dynamic Les DeMerle 17 Piece Orch. featuring Bonnie Eisele is sheer joy, rockin' the house with Big Band classics, show tunes, Motown, Latin and rock 'n' roll.The sound quality is impeccable,very big band,very happenin',hip,and swingin'." FolioMag
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Singer Cesaria Evora has undergone open heart surgery in Paris following an emergency "coronary problem" this weekend. She is recovering in hospital and has cancelled the remainder of her 2010 concert dates.
Evora, Cape Verde's most famous musician, was in the middle of a world tour – her first major performances since suffering a stroke in 2008. She performed in Lisbon on Saturday night, but was rushed to a Paris hospital's emergency department the following day. Surgery took place on Monday night, lasting about six hours. "Everything went as well as could be expected, according to the surgeons," her record label, Lusafrica, said. "She was placed in intensive care following the surgery and she regained consciousness [on Tuesday] morning."
Sixty-eight year-old Evora is the world's best-known singer of morna, a Cape Verdean song and dance tradition that is often compared to the blues. Celebrated as the "Barefoot Diva", she has released 11 albums since 1988. The most recent of these, Nha Sentimento, was issued late last year. Recorded as Evora recovered from her stroke, it explored the Middle Eastern influence on Cape Verdean music, including a collaboration with Egyptian musician Fathy Salama. The reissue of Nha Sentimento, featuring a bonus duet with rising Cape Verde star Lura, is due shortly.
Evora appeared in London just last week with European dates scheduled for May. She has also cancelled a North American tour, and late summer visits to China, Brazil and Tunisia. was barefoot, as always, and wandered on stage wearing a brown dress and cardigan, looking as disinterested as if she were on her way to the shops. Cesaria Evora has always been an anti-star, matching simple stagecraft with exquisite vocal work, and this London comeback – the first since she had a stroke two years ago – showed she remains a powerful, distinctive singer.
Evora, who will be 69 this summer, didn't became an international star until her 50s, when she was hailed as the queen of morna, the emotional, gently melancholic songs of loss and longing for home that are the Cape Verde answer to the blues. Much earlier in her career, singing in local bars, she had specialised in more upbeat coladera dance songs, and it was this style that dominated tonight. In short bursts, on songs such as Zinha from her most recent album, her compelling, sad-edged vocals matched successfully against furious violin, cavaquinho and saxophone work from an impressive (if relentlessly cheerful) eight-piece band.
All that was lacking was variety. The musicians calmed down a little to allow a more soulful treatment of the standard Bésame Mucho, but thoughtful mornas such as Sodade would have sounded better with minimal backing. The audience were ecstatic and clapped along, but Evora wandered off stage looking bemused.
Ballaké Sissoko, the Malian kora player, opened the show with a far more delicate and unexpected set. He may have been eclipsed by the success of his friend Toumani Diabaté, but he is an adventurous virtuoso, as he proved with this collaboration with the classically trained French cellist Vincent Segal, mixing African and western themes in exquisite, trance-like improvisations.
Evora, Cape Verde's most famous musician, was in the middle of a world tour – her first major performances since suffering a stroke in 2008. She performed in Lisbon on Saturday night, but was rushed to a Paris hospital's emergency department the following day. Surgery took place on Monday night, lasting about six hours. "Everything went as well as could be expected, according to the surgeons," her record label, Lusafrica, said. "She was placed in intensive care following the surgery and she regained consciousness [on Tuesday] morning."
Sixty-eight year-old Evora is the world's best-known singer of morna, a Cape Verdean song and dance tradition that is often compared to the blues. Celebrated as the "Barefoot Diva", she has released 11 albums since 1988. The most recent of these, Nha Sentimento, was issued late last year. Recorded as Evora recovered from her stroke, it explored the Middle Eastern influence on Cape Verdean music, including a collaboration with Egyptian musician Fathy Salama. The reissue of Nha Sentimento, featuring a bonus duet with rising Cape Verde star Lura, is due shortly.
Evora appeared in London just last week with European dates scheduled for May. She has also cancelled a North American tour, and late summer visits to China, Brazil and Tunisia. was barefoot, as always, and wandered on stage wearing a brown dress and cardigan, looking as disinterested as if she were on her way to the shops. Cesaria Evora has always been an anti-star, matching simple stagecraft with exquisite vocal work, and this London comeback – the first since she had a stroke two years ago – showed she remains a powerful, distinctive singer.
Evora, who will be 69 this summer, didn't became an international star until her 50s, when she was hailed as the queen of morna, the emotional, gently melancholic songs of loss and longing for home that are the Cape Verde answer to the blues. Much earlier in her career, singing in local bars, she had specialised in more upbeat coladera dance songs, and it was this style that dominated tonight. In short bursts, on songs such as Zinha from her most recent album, her compelling, sad-edged vocals matched successfully against furious violin, cavaquinho and saxophone work from an impressive (if relentlessly cheerful) eight-piece band.
All that was lacking was variety. The musicians calmed down a little to allow a more soulful treatment of the standard Bésame Mucho, but thoughtful mornas such as Sodade would have sounded better with minimal backing. The audience were ecstatic and clapped along, but Evora wandered off stage looking bemused.
Ballaké Sissoko, the Malian kora player, opened the show with a far more delicate and unexpected set. He may have been eclipsed by the success of his friend Toumani Diabaté, but he is an adventurous virtuoso, as he proved with this collaboration with the classically trained French cellist Vincent Segal, mixing African and western themes in exquisite, trance-like improvisations.
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
LENA HORNE
Lena Horne passed away Sunday at the age of 92, leaving behind legacies in civil rights activism, television, film, theatre but, in all of it, song, beauty, and dignity. Born in Brooklyn, 1917, Horne already starred in a ...b>The Black American Jazz singer, Actress and Dancer who became famous after she replaced Dinah Shore from NBC’s popular jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street passed away yesterday at the age of 92 at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York, NY.
Coming from a family with a mixture of African, European, and Native American descent she joined the Cotton Club at the age of 16 and later toured with Noble Sissle’s Orchestra and Bandleader Charlie Barnet. Later she went on to replace Dinah Shore as the featured vocalist on NBC’s popular jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street.
After that she went on to work in Hollywood in films like Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather but her political views got her into trouble and she found herself in the blacklist of Hollywood. After this she went back to work in nightclubs but came back well in the main stream show business after she participated in March on Washington.
After that there was no looking back as she kept on working well in the main stream business as she performed in the night clubs and also released her albums that received favorable reviews. In 1980 she announced her retirement but came back next year to feature in Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music that won her numerous awards and also made her a household name. She even kept working in the 1990’s.
On her personal frontier she married twice, firstly to Louis Jordan Jones and then to Lennie Hayton who was a well-known musical conductor. Years later she revealed in her biography that she married Hayton to boost her showbiz career.
She also had two children’s from her first marriage daughter Gail Lumet Buckley and Son Edwin Jones who died in 1970 of a Kidney disease. Gail who became a well-known author was married to Director Sidney Lumet. Lena Horne also has a granddaughter from Gail and Lumet’s marriage Jenny Lumet who wrote the screenplay of Jonathan Demme’s Rachael Getting Married.
Lena Horne was also known as a Civil Rights activist who fought tooth and nail against racial discrimination in American Soil.
Coming from a family with a mixture of African, European, and Native American descent she joined the Cotton Club at the age of 16 and later toured with Noble Sissle’s Orchestra and Bandleader Charlie Barnet. Later she went on to replace Dinah Shore as the featured vocalist on NBC’s popular jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street.
After that she went on to work in Hollywood in films like Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather but her political views got her into trouble and she found herself in the blacklist of Hollywood. After this she went back to work in nightclubs but came back well in the main stream show business after she participated in March on Washington.
After that there was no looking back as she kept on working well in the main stream business as she performed in the night clubs and also released her albums that received favorable reviews. In 1980 she announced her retirement but came back next year to feature in Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music that won her numerous awards and also made her a household name. She even kept working in the 1990’s.
On her personal frontier she married twice, firstly to Louis Jordan Jones and then to Lennie Hayton who was a well-known musical conductor. Years later she revealed in her biography that she married Hayton to boost her showbiz career.
She also had two children’s from her first marriage daughter Gail Lumet Buckley and Son Edwin Jones who died in 1970 of a Kidney disease. Gail who became a well-known author was married to Director Sidney Lumet. Lena Horne also has a granddaughter from Gail and Lumet’s marriage Jenny Lumet who wrote the screenplay of Jonathan Demme’s Rachael Getting Married.
Lena Horne was also known as a Civil Rights activist who fought tooth and nail against racial discrimination in American Soil.
Saturday, 8 May 2010
CAREFUSION JAZZ FESTIVAL NEW YORK
Here are the performances you and a guest will see:
Thursday, June 17 – Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette
Saturday, June 19 – An Evening with Chris Botti
Tuesday, June 22 – The Genius of João Gilberto
Thursday, June 24 – Herbie Hancock Seven Decades: The Birthday Celebration with special guests Terence Blanchard, Ron Carter, Bill Cosby, Joe Lovano, Wallace Roney, Wayne Shorter, and more
Friday, June 25 – Cesaria Evora with special guest Lura
Gigs
Next Last
1. Priory Jazz Club and Restaurant - 233 West Market St., Newark, NJ 973 242-8012
2. 46 Lounge - 300 Rt. 46 East, Totowa, NJ 973-890-9699
3. 55 Bar - 55 Christopher St. New York NY (212) 929-9883
4. Alor Cafe Bar & Lounge - 2110 Richmond Rd., Staten Isalnd, NY 10306 718-351-1101
5. Arts Factory - 280 Avenue E, Bayonne, NJ 201-436-6700
6. B.B. King Blues Club - 247 W. 42nd St. New York NY
7. Bar 4 - 444 7th Avenue at 15th St., Brooklyn (718) 832-9800
8. Bar Next Door - 129 MacDougal St. (between W. 3rd & W. 4th St.), New York, NY (212) 529-5945
9. Barge Music - Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn (718) 624-2083
10. Barron Arts Center - 582 Rahway Ave. Woodbridge, NJ 07095 732-634-0413
11. BeanRunner Cafe - 201 S. Division Street, Peekskill, NY 914-737-1701
12. BergenPac - 30 North Van Brundt Street, Englewood, NJ 201-816-8160
13. Big Apple Jazz Center - 2236 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. (131st & 132nd Sts.), Harlem, NY 10027
14. Bill's Place - 148 W 13rd Street in Harlem, between Lenox & 7th Avenues 212-281-0777
15. Birdland - 315 W. 44th St. between 8th & 9th Ave. New York NY (212) 581-3080
16. Black Workers Pub - 883 Sanford Avenue, Irvington, NJ (201)320-8689
17. Blue Moon Mexican Cafe - 216 Old Tappan Road, Bi-State Plaza, Old Tappan, NJ 07675 201.263.0244
18. Blue Note - 131 W. 3rd St. between 6th Ave and MacDougal St. New York NY (212) 475-8592
19. Bluewoods Music Space - 10 Jay Street (at John Street) 5th Floor, on the water in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (718) 797-3150
20. BRICstudio - 647 Fulton St., 2nd Fl. Brooklyn 718-855-7882
21. Cachaca Jazz 'n' Samba Club - 35 West 8th Street, Greenwich Village, NYC (212) 388-9099
22. Cecil's - 364 Valley Rd, West Orange (973) 736-4800
23. Cent'Anni Restaurant - 5 Highland Place, Maplewood, NJ 07040 973-763-3083
24. Centenary College - 400 Jefferson Street, Hackettstown, NJ 07840 (908) 979-0900
25. Chakra Restaurant - W. 144 Rt. 4 East, Paramus, NJ 201) 556-1530
Next Last
1. Priory Jazz Club and Restaurant - 233 West Market St., Newark, NJ 973 242-8012
2. 46 Lounge - 300 Rt. 46 East, Totowa, NJ 973-890-9699
3. 55 Bar - 55 Christopher St. New York NY (212) 929-9883
4. Alor Cafe Bar & Lounge - 2110 Richmond Rd., Staten Isalnd, NY 10306 718-351-1101
5. Arts Factory - 280 Avenue E, Bayonne, NJ 201-436-6700
6. B.B. King Blues Club - 247 W. 42nd St. New York NY
7. Bar 4 - 444 7th Avenue at 15th St., Brooklyn (718) 832-9800
8. Bar Next Door - 129 MacDougal St. (between W. 3rd & W. 4th St.), New York, NY (212) 529-5945
9. Barge Music - Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn (718) 624-2083
10. Barron Arts Center - 582 Rahway Ave. Woodbridge, NJ 07095 732-634-0413
11. BeanRunner Cafe - 201 S. Division Street, Peekskill, NY 914-737-1701
12. BergenPac - 30 North Van Brundt Street, Englewood, NJ 201-816-8160
13. Big Apple Jazz Center - 2236 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. (131st & 132nd Sts.), Harlem, NY 10027
14. Bill's Place - 148 W 13rd Street in Harlem, between Lenox & 7th Avenues 212-281-0777
15. Birdland - 315 W. 44th St. between 8th & 9th Ave. New York NY (212) 581-3080
16. Black Workers Pub - 883 Sanford Avenue, Irvington, NJ (201)320-8689
17. Blue Moon Mexican Cafe - 216 Old Tappan Road, Bi-State Plaza, Old Tappan, NJ 07675 201.263.0244
18. Blue Note - 131 W. 3rd St. between 6th Ave and MacDougal St. New York NY (212) 475-8592
19. Bluewoods Music Space - 10 Jay Street (at John Street) 5th Floor, on the water in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (718) 797-3150
20. BRICstudio - 647 Fulton St., 2nd Fl. Brooklyn 718-855-7882
21. Cachaca Jazz 'n' Samba Club - 35 West 8th Street, Greenwich Village, NYC (212) 388-9099
22. Cecil's - 364 Valley Rd, West Orange (973) 736-4800
23. Cent'Anni Restaurant - 5 Highland Place, Maplewood, NJ 07040 973-763-3083
24. Centenary College - 400 Jefferson Street, Hackettstown, NJ 07840 (908) 979-0900
25. Chakra Restaurant - W. 144 Rt. 4 East, Paramus, NJ 201) 556-1530
Next Last
Thursday, 6 May 2010
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER
Born in Memphis and raised in the Midwest, host Dee Dee Bridgewater moved to New York and – as Glinda the Witch in The Wiz on Broadway – won a 1975 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. Monday nights, she sang jazz with the popular Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra downtown at the Village Vanguard. He' LP's from that era include Dee Dee Bridgewater, Just Family, and Bad for Me, about which a consumer reviewer wrote thirty years lat"r, "This upbeat disco album encapsulates all that was right about the Disco "ra."
In the 1980s, Bridgewater settled in Paris to perform in Sophisticated Ladies and Lady Day, a one-woman portrayal of Billie Holiday in French, which earned her a Sir Laurence Olivier Award nomination.
In 1995, her self-produced CD Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver brought Bridgewater's voice back to the United States. Dear Ella, dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald, won two Grammy Awards in 1998. Subsequently, Bridgewater has produced This Is New with music of Kurt Weill, and J'ai Deux Amours/Two Loves Have I. Her current self-produced, Grammy-nominated album, Red Earth – A Malian Journey, features Bridgewater with her trio, guest vocalists and a balaphon/kora/flute/percussion/vocal ensemble from the small west African nation she embraces as her ancestral home.
Bridgewater became the host of JazzSet in October 2001, on the retirement of the original host, saxophonist Branford Marsalis.
In the 1980s, Bridgewater settled in Paris to perform in Sophisticated Ladies and Lady Day, a one-woman portrayal of Billie Holiday in French, which earned her a Sir Laurence Olivier Award nomination.
In 1995, her self-produced CD Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver brought Bridgewater's voice back to the United States. Dear Ella, dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald, won two Grammy Awards in 1998. Subsequently, Bridgewater has produced This Is New with music of Kurt Weill, and J'ai Deux Amours/Two Loves Have I. Her current self-produced, Grammy-nominated album, Red Earth – A Malian Journey, features Bridgewater with her trio, guest vocalists and a balaphon/kora/flute/percussion/vocal ensemble from the small west African nation she embraces as her ancestral home.
Bridgewater became the host of JazzSet in October 2001, on the retirement of the original host, saxophonist Branford Marsalis.
Monday, 3 May 2010
BUDE JAZZ FESTIVAL
Saturday, 1 May 2010
The one and only Gil Evans
Born Ian Ernest Gilmore Green, his name was changed early on to Evans, the name of his stepfather. His family moved to Stockton, California where he spent most of his youth. After 1946, he lived and worked primarily in New York City, living for many years at Westbeth Artists Community. [1]
Between 1941 and 1948, he worked as an arranger for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. Evans' modest basement apartment behind a New York City Chinese laundry soon became a meeting place for musicians looking to develop new musical styles outside of the dominant bebop style of the day. Those present included the leading bebop performer Charlie Parker himself. In 1948, Evans, with Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, and others, collaborated on a band book for a nonet. The group was booked for a week at the "Royal Roost" as an intermission group on the bill with the Count Basie Orchestra. Capitol Records recorded 12 numbers by the nonet at three sessions in 1949 and 1950. These recordings were reissued on a 1959 Miles Davis LP titled Birth of the Cool.
Later, while Davis was under contract to Columbia Records, producer George Avakian suggested that Davis work with any of several arrangers. Davis immediately chose Evans. The three albums that resulted from the resulting collaboration are Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy and Bess (1958), and Sketches of Spain (1960). Another collaboration from this period, Quiet Nights (1962) was issued later, against the wishes of Davis, who broke with his then-producer Teo Macero for a time as a result. Although these four records were marketed primarily under Davis's name (and credited to Miles Davis and the Gil Evans Big Band), Evans's contribution was as important as Davis's. Their work coupled Evans's classic big band jazz stylings and arrangements with Davis's solo playing. Evans also contributed behind the scenes to Davis' classic quintet albums of the 1960s.
From 1957 onwards Evans recorded, under his own name, Big Stuff (1957, aka Gil Evans & Ten), New Bottle Old Wine and Great Jazz Standards (a.k.a. "Pacific Standard Time", 1957-58), Out of the Cool (1960), and The Individualism Of Gil Evans (1964). Among the featured soloists on these records were Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Johnny Coles and Cannonball Adderley. In 1965 he arranged the big band tracks on Kenny Burrell's Guitar Forms album. Evans was quite warm to Latin and Brazilian music. 1966 he recorded a 'special' Latin album with his orchestra, Look To The Rainbow, for the Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto. Evans toured extensively during 1972-87, performing frequently in European concerts and festivals, and traveling twice to Japan, once with Jaco Pastorius.
In the 1970s, following Davis and many other jazz musicians, Evans worked in the free jazz and jazz-rock idioms, gaining a new generation of admirers. Evans had a particular interest in the work of rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix's 1970 death made impossible a scheduled meeting with Evans to discuss having Hendrix front a big band led by Evans. In 1974, he released an album of his arrangements of music by Hendrix. In 1986, Evans produced and arranged the soundtrack to the film of the Colin MacInnes book Absolute Beginners, thereby working with such contemporary artists as Sade Adu, Patsy Kensit's Eight Wonder, The Style Council, Jerry Dammers, Smiley Culture, Edward Tudor-Pole, and, notably, David Bowie. In 1987, Evans recorded a live CD with Sting, featuring big band arrangements of songs by and with The Police.
In April 1983, the Gil Evans Orchestra was booked into the Sweet Basil jazz club (Greenwich Village, New York) by jazz producer and Sweet Basil owner Horst Liepolt. This turned out to be a regular Monday night engagement for Evans for nearly five years and also resulted in the release of a number of successful albums by Gil Evans and the Monday Night Orchestra (produced by Horst Liepolt). One of these albums, Bud and Bird, won the Grammy award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band in 1989.
In 1986, Evans was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
Evans died in the same Mexican city as Charles Mingus, Cuernavaca.[1]
[edit]Discography
1957: Gil Evans & Ten
1958: New Bottle Old Wine
1959: Great Jazz Standards
1960: Out of the Cool
1961: Into the Hot
1964: The Individualism of Gil Evans
1965: Guitar Forms (with Kenny Burrell)
1966: Look to the Rainbow (with Astrud Gilberto)
1971: Blues in Orbit
1971: Where Flamingos Fly (Artists House)
1973: Svengali
1975: Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix
1975: There Comes a Time
1977: Priestess (Antilles Records)
1978: Little Wing (Circle Records (Germany))
1980: Live at the Public Theater Volume 1 & 2
1986: Live at Sweet Basil
1986: Farewell
1986: Bud and Bird (Grammy award winner 1989)
1986: Absolute Beginners Soundtrack
1987: Live at Umbria Jazz: Volume 1 & 2
1987: 75th Birthday Concert
1987: Paris Blues (duo with Steve Lacy)
1987: Last Session (with Sting)
1988: A Tribute to Gil
1990: Gil Evans with RMS - Take Me To The Sun
[edit]Filmography
2005: RMS Live With Gil Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1983
2007: Gil Evans and His Orchestra[2]
2007: Strange Fruit with String
2009: Miles Davis The Cool Jazz Sound
Between 1941 and 1948, he worked as an arranger for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. Evans' modest basement apartment behind a New York City Chinese laundry soon became a meeting place for musicians looking to develop new musical styles outside of the dominant bebop style of the day. Those present included the leading bebop performer Charlie Parker himself. In 1948, Evans, with Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, and others, collaborated on a band book for a nonet. The group was booked for a week at the "Royal Roost" as an intermission group on the bill with the Count Basie Orchestra. Capitol Records recorded 12 numbers by the nonet at three sessions in 1949 and 1950. These recordings were reissued on a 1959 Miles Davis LP titled Birth of the Cool.
Later, while Davis was under contract to Columbia Records, producer George Avakian suggested that Davis work with any of several arrangers. Davis immediately chose Evans. The three albums that resulted from the resulting collaboration are Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy and Bess (1958), and Sketches of Spain (1960). Another collaboration from this period, Quiet Nights (1962) was issued later, against the wishes of Davis, who broke with his then-producer Teo Macero for a time as a result. Although these four records were marketed primarily under Davis's name (and credited to Miles Davis and the Gil Evans Big Band), Evans's contribution was as important as Davis's. Their work coupled Evans's classic big band jazz stylings and arrangements with Davis's solo playing. Evans also contributed behind the scenes to Davis' classic quintet albums of the 1960s.
From 1957 onwards Evans recorded, under his own name, Big Stuff (1957, aka Gil Evans & Ten), New Bottle Old Wine and Great Jazz Standards (a.k.a. "Pacific Standard Time", 1957-58), Out of the Cool (1960), and The Individualism Of Gil Evans (1964). Among the featured soloists on these records were Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Johnny Coles and Cannonball Adderley. In 1965 he arranged the big band tracks on Kenny Burrell's Guitar Forms album. Evans was quite warm to Latin and Brazilian music. 1966 he recorded a 'special' Latin album with his orchestra, Look To The Rainbow, for the Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto. Evans toured extensively during 1972-87, performing frequently in European concerts and festivals, and traveling twice to Japan, once with Jaco Pastorius.
In the 1970s, following Davis and many other jazz musicians, Evans worked in the free jazz and jazz-rock idioms, gaining a new generation of admirers. Evans had a particular interest in the work of rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix's 1970 death made impossible a scheduled meeting with Evans to discuss having Hendrix front a big band led by Evans. In 1974, he released an album of his arrangements of music by Hendrix. In 1986, Evans produced and arranged the soundtrack to the film of the Colin MacInnes book Absolute Beginners, thereby working with such contemporary artists as Sade Adu, Patsy Kensit's Eight Wonder, The Style Council, Jerry Dammers, Smiley Culture, Edward Tudor-Pole, and, notably, David Bowie. In 1987, Evans recorded a live CD with Sting, featuring big band arrangements of songs by and with The Police.
In April 1983, the Gil Evans Orchestra was booked into the Sweet Basil jazz club (Greenwich Village, New York) by jazz producer and Sweet Basil owner Horst Liepolt. This turned out to be a regular Monday night engagement for Evans for nearly five years and also resulted in the release of a number of successful albums by Gil Evans and the Monday Night Orchestra (produced by Horst Liepolt). One of these albums, Bud and Bird, won the Grammy award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band in 1989.
In 1986, Evans was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
Evans died in the same Mexican city as Charles Mingus, Cuernavaca.[1]
[edit]Discography
1957: Gil Evans & Ten
1958: New Bottle Old Wine
1959: Great Jazz Standards
1960: Out of the Cool
1961: Into the Hot
1964: The Individualism of Gil Evans
1965: Guitar Forms (with Kenny Burrell)
1966: Look to the Rainbow (with Astrud Gilberto)
1971: Blues in Orbit
1971: Where Flamingos Fly (Artists House)
1973: Svengali
1975: Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix
1975: There Comes a Time
1977: Priestess (Antilles Records)
1978: Little Wing (Circle Records (Germany))
1980: Live at the Public Theater Volume 1 & 2
1986: Live at Sweet Basil
1986: Farewell
1986: Bud and Bird (Grammy award winner 1989)
1986: Absolute Beginners Soundtrack
1987: Live at Umbria Jazz: Volume 1 & 2
1987: 75th Birthday Concert
1987: Paris Blues (duo with Steve Lacy)
1987: Last Session (with Sting)
1988: A Tribute to Gil
1990: Gil Evans with RMS - Take Me To The Sun
[edit]Filmography
2005: RMS Live With Gil Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1983
2007: Gil Evans and His Orchestra[2]
2007: Strange Fruit with String
2009: Miles Davis The Cool Jazz Sound
Monday, 26 April 2010
Here are the details of the bank holiday gig.
SPARKY'S LATIN ALL STARS will also be performing on bank holiday
Monday
at ; The Cock Inn, Sarratt, Herts WD3 6HH from 2.30pm-5.30 out in the open air
(weather depending) food is available & children are welcome, there is a play area,
good clean fun for all the family. Tunes such as 'Girl from Iponema', through to 'Hawaii 50'
& 'Night In Tunisia' .
SPARKY'S LATIN ALL STARS will also be performing on bank holiday
Monday
at ; The Cock Inn, Sarratt, Herts WD3 6HH from 2.30pm-5.30 out in the open air
(weather depending) food is available & children are welcome, there is a play area,
good clean fun for all the family. Tunes such as 'Girl from Iponema', through to 'Hawaii 50'
& 'Night In Tunisia' .
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Jazz Journal International
Latest magazine
Judy Carmichael: Peter Vacher meets the one-woman piano whirlwind who brings new meaning to the term self-starter
Monk and murder: Crime novelist and jazz enthusiast John Harvey talks to Mark Gardner
Milt Jackson: Richard Palmer asks: seminal musical mind or man fettered by the bars of his instrument?
Judy Carmichael: Peter Vacher meets the one-woman piano whirlwind who brings new meaning to the term self-starter
Monk and murder: Crime novelist and jazz enthusiast John Harvey talks to Mark Gardner
Milt Jackson: Richard Palmer asks: seminal musical mind or man fettered by the bars of his instrument?
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Be Bop Big Band
Sea Breeze Jazz © 2002
Featuring trumpeter Carl Saunders with an all-star LA big band.
Arrangements by Herbie Phillips, Mike Barone, Bill Rogers, John Boice, John Hall, and Jackson Stock.
"Awesome. Spectacular. Breathtaking. Sublime. Simply put, one of the most memorable big-band albums in recent memory."
Jack Bowers, all about jazz
"Highly recommended, this is one of the best big band albums of the early 21st century. " 4 1/2 stars
Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
BE BOP BIG BAND
Carl Saunders has been leading big bands on a part-time basis ever since he was a youth, originally using arrangements given him by his uncle Bobby Sherwood. He had an occasional orchestra during his Las Vegas years and in Los Angeles ever since settling there in 1984. In 1999 Saunders finally recorded his big band, and the CD is on the Sea Breeze label.
Although several writers contributed charts for Be Bop Big Band, (Larry Dominello, Bill Rogers, John Boice, John Hall and Mike Barone plus two from Jackson Stock), it is the five arrangements by Herbie Phillips that set the mood for this rewarding project. The late Phillips, a close friend of Saunders from his Las Vegas years, was a talented trumpeter and arranger-composer who loved bebop. One of Saunders’ main motivations in recording his orchestra (in addition to being justifiably proud of the band) was the opportunity to showcase Phillips’ work.
The set gets off to a blazing start with Herbie Phillips’ “Compilation,” an exciting romp based on the chords of “I Got Rhythm.” There are rewarding solos from five of the band’s top improvisers: Saunders, the great altoist Lanny Morgan, trombonist Bob McChesney, tenor-saxophonist Jerry Pinter and pianist Christian Jacob. Ivan Lins’ most famous composition, “Love Dance,” is a particularly appealing arrangement by Larry Dominello that spotlights Saunders’ solo talents. Johnny Mandel’s “Emily” is usually taken as a slow ballad but Bill Rogers recasts it as a medium-fast jam, featuring the very fluent trombone playing of Andy Martin.
“I’m All For You” is a Carl Saunders original based on the chords of a familiar jazz standard for which its title is part of the lyrics. Jackson Stock’s chart swings hard and has superior solos from altoist Morgan and Saunders. Phillips’ “Perceptive Hindsight” has attractive chord changes and spots for three of Los Angeles’ better soloists (tenor-saxophonist Doug Webb, trumpeter Ron Stout and pianist Christian Jacob) to stretch out. As with the other selections, the ensembles are outstanding, very clean and swinging.
Quite a few of the sidemen in Carl Saunders’ orchestra have opportunities to solo, including four different trumpeters (which is quite unusual for a group that has a trumpeter as its leader). Saunders’ “Never Always,” arranged by Jackson Stock, has spots for Ron Stout and altoist Brian Scanlon. Phillips’ “Some Bones Of Contention” matches together two of the finest trombonists around. Andy Martin and Bob McChesney display their distinctive but complementary styles in solos and tradeoffs.
Herbie Phillips’ “Strike Out The Band” is not the same as Gershwin’s “Strike Up The Band!” Jerry Pinter and Bobby Shew (who played trumpet next to Saunders in the 1966 Buddy Rich Big Band) are the solo stars although it is the driving ensembles that set the intense mood for the piece. “Autumn In New York” (arranged by John Boice) is a ballad feature for Saunders, who has long had the ability to make every note count. John Hall’s “Dearly Befuddled” (no relation to “Dearly Beloved”) has some worthwhile Doug Webb tenor and a heated piano solo from Christian Jacob. The last of the Phillips pieces is “An Apple For Christa,” which lets one hear veteran trumpeter Bob Summers, Lanny Morgan and Andy Martin play speedy improvisations over the tricky chord changes.
Be Bop Big Band ends in the same way as Carl Saunders’ first two recordings as a leader, with a blues. His “Baby Blues” (arranged by Mike Barone) extensively features the leader, who shows once again that he is one of the major trumpeters around today.
Sea Breeze Jazz © 2002
Featuring trumpeter Carl Saunders with an all-star LA big band.
Arrangements by Herbie Phillips, Mike Barone, Bill Rogers, John Boice, John Hall, and Jackson Stock.
"Awesome. Spectacular. Breathtaking. Sublime. Simply put, one of the most memorable big-band albums in recent memory."
Jack Bowers, all about jazz
"Highly recommended, this is one of the best big band albums of the early 21st century. " 4 1/2 stars
Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
BE BOP BIG BAND
Carl Saunders has been leading big bands on a part-time basis ever since he was a youth, originally using arrangements given him by his uncle Bobby Sherwood. He had an occasional orchestra during his Las Vegas years and in Los Angeles ever since settling there in 1984. In 1999 Saunders finally recorded his big band, and the CD is on the Sea Breeze label.
Although several writers contributed charts for Be Bop Big Band, (Larry Dominello, Bill Rogers, John Boice, John Hall and Mike Barone plus two from Jackson Stock), it is the five arrangements by Herbie Phillips that set the mood for this rewarding project. The late Phillips, a close friend of Saunders from his Las Vegas years, was a talented trumpeter and arranger-composer who loved bebop. One of Saunders’ main motivations in recording his orchestra (in addition to being justifiably proud of the band) was the opportunity to showcase Phillips’ work.
The set gets off to a blazing start with Herbie Phillips’ “Compilation,” an exciting romp based on the chords of “I Got Rhythm.” There are rewarding solos from five of the band’s top improvisers: Saunders, the great altoist Lanny Morgan, trombonist Bob McChesney, tenor-saxophonist Jerry Pinter and pianist Christian Jacob. Ivan Lins’ most famous composition, “Love Dance,” is a particularly appealing arrangement by Larry Dominello that spotlights Saunders’ solo talents. Johnny Mandel’s “Emily” is usually taken as a slow ballad but Bill Rogers recasts it as a medium-fast jam, featuring the very fluent trombone playing of Andy Martin.
“I’m All For You” is a Carl Saunders original based on the chords of a familiar jazz standard for which its title is part of the lyrics. Jackson Stock’s chart swings hard and has superior solos from altoist Morgan and Saunders. Phillips’ “Perceptive Hindsight” has attractive chord changes and spots for three of Los Angeles’ better soloists (tenor-saxophonist Doug Webb, trumpeter Ron Stout and pianist Christian Jacob) to stretch out. As with the other selections, the ensembles are outstanding, very clean and swinging.
Quite a few of the sidemen in Carl Saunders’ orchestra have opportunities to solo, including four different trumpeters (which is quite unusual for a group that has a trumpeter as its leader). Saunders’ “Never Always,” arranged by Jackson Stock, has spots for Ron Stout and altoist Brian Scanlon. Phillips’ “Some Bones Of Contention” matches together two of the finest trombonists around. Andy Martin and Bob McChesney display their distinctive but complementary styles in solos and tradeoffs.
Herbie Phillips’ “Strike Out The Band” is not the same as Gershwin’s “Strike Up The Band!” Jerry Pinter and Bobby Shew (who played trumpet next to Saunders in the 1966 Buddy Rich Big Band) are the solo stars although it is the driving ensembles that set the intense mood for the piece. “Autumn In New York” (arranged by John Boice) is a ballad feature for Saunders, who has long had the ability to make every note count. John Hall’s “Dearly Befuddled” (no relation to “Dearly Beloved”) has some worthwhile Doug Webb tenor and a heated piano solo from Christian Jacob. The last of the Phillips pieces is “An Apple For Christa,” which lets one hear veteran trumpeter Bob Summers, Lanny Morgan and Andy Martin play speedy improvisations over the tricky chord changes.
Be Bop Big Band ends in the same way as Carl Saunders’ first two recordings as a leader, with a blues. His “Baby Blues” (arranged by Mike Barone) extensively features the leader, who shows once again that he is one of the major trumpeters around today.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
FAT CATS BIG BAND
NEW VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE! For the next best thing to the live show, visit the Fat Cat Big Band's YouTube. http://www.fatcatbigband.com/
THE GARY ERWIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA
The Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra.
We’re an eighteen-piece “big band” jazz group based in Los Angeles. First organized in 1997, the band is comprised of players with whom leader Gary Urwin had been associated over the years as an arranger and trumpet player. Gary's role is to arrange or compose all the music we do, and to lead the band when we perform or record.
With the active supprt of Business Manager and co-producer Pat Longo, we began work on our first CD ("Perspectives"), which debuted on Sea Breeze Records in 2000. Word of mouth spread quickly, and the band’s activities grew into enthusiastically-received live appearances, a follow-up Sea Breeze CD ("Living in the Moment") in 2003 reflecting the band’s development and growth, and our latest CD on Summit Records, "Kindred Spirits."
The band is committed to using familiar tools in a fresh way to stretch the idiom, while always swinging and remaining true to the jazz roots of the music.
The band has been referred to as “A veritable who’s who among the Los Angeles area’s most accomplished studio and big-band artists.” It enjoys the talents of well known Los Angeles jazz personalities Pete Christlieb, Wayne Bergeron, Bobby Shew, Carl Saunders, Rick Baptist, Kim Richmond, Dan Higgins, Charlie Loper, Alex Iles, Pete De Siena, Ron King, Christian Jacob, Trey Henry, Ralph Razze and many others.
We’re an eighteen-piece “big band” jazz group based in Los Angeles. First organized in 1997, the band is comprised of players with whom leader Gary Urwin had been associated over the years as an arranger and trumpet player. Gary's role is to arrange or compose all the music we do, and to lead the band when we perform or record.
With the active supprt of Business Manager and co-producer Pat Longo, we began work on our first CD ("Perspectives"), which debuted on Sea Breeze Records in 2000. Word of mouth spread quickly, and the band’s activities grew into enthusiastically-received live appearances, a follow-up Sea Breeze CD ("Living in the Moment") in 2003 reflecting the band’s development and growth, and our latest CD on Summit Records, "Kindred Spirits."
The band is committed to using familiar tools in a fresh way to stretch the idiom, while always swinging and remaining true to the jazz roots of the music.
The band has been referred to as “A veritable who’s who among the Los Angeles area’s most accomplished studio and big-band artists.” It enjoys the talents of well known Los Angeles jazz personalities Pete Christlieb, Wayne Bergeron, Bobby Shew, Carl Saunders, Rick Baptist, Kim Richmond, Dan Higgins, Charlie Loper, Alex Iles, Pete De Siena, Ron King, Christian Jacob, Trey Henry, Ralph Razze and many others.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
RAMSEY LEWIS
Biography
Ramsey Lewis was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ramsey Lewis, Sr. and Pauline Lewis.[2] Lewis began taking piano lessons at the age of four. At 15 he joined his first jazz band, The Cleffs. The seven-piece group provided Lewis his first involvement with jazz; he would later join Cleffs drummer Isaac "Redd" Holt and bassist Eldee Young to form the Ramsey Lewis Trio.
The trio started as primarily a jazz unit and released their first album, Ramsey Lewis And The Gentlemen of Swing, in 1956. Following their 1965 hit "The In Crowd" (the single reached #5 on the pop charts, and the album #2) they concentrated more on pop material. Young and Holt left in 1966 to form the Young-Holt Trio and were replaced by Cleveland Eaton and Maurice White. White was replaced by Maurice Jennings in 1970. Later, Franky Donaldson and Bill Dickens replaced Jennings and Eaton; Felton Crews also appeared on many 1980's releases.
By 1966, Lewis was one of the nation’s most successful jazz pianists, topping the charts with "The In Crowd", "Hang On Sloopy", and "Wade in the Water". All three singles each sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs.[3] Many of his recordings attracted a large non-jazz audience. In the 1970s, Lewis often played electric piano, although by later in the decade he was sticking to acoustic and using an additional keyboardist in his groups.[4]
In addition to recording and performing, Lewis hosted a morning show on Chicago "smooth jazz" radio station WNUA (95.5 FM) until May 22, 2009. His weekly syndicated radio program Legends of Jazz, created in 1990, features recordings from artists such as David Sanborn, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Kurt Elling, Al Jarreau and Miles Davis. The show can be heard in 60 U.S. cities and overseas.[5] On December 4, 2006, the Ramsey Lewis Morning Show became part of Broadcast Architecture's Smooth Jazz Network, simulcasting on other Smooth Jazz stations across the country for the first time. However, the show was still based in Chicago until it was cancelled when WNUA switched over to a Spanish format.[6]
In 2006, a well-received 13-episode Legends of Jazz television series hosted by Lewis was broadcast on public TV nationwide and featured live performances by a variety of jazz artists including Larry Gray, Lonnie Smith, Joey Defrancesco, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Kurt Elling, Benny Golson, Pat Metheny and Tony Bennett.[7]
Lewis is artistic director of Jazz at Ravinia (an annual feature at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois) and helped organize Ravinia's Jazz Mentor Program.[8] Ramsey also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Merit School of Music, a Chicago inner-city music program and The Chicago High School for the Arts, the new public arts high school in Chicago. Early in 2005, the Ramsey Lewis Foundation was created to help connect at-risk children to the world of music. As an offshoot of that foundation, Lewis plans to form a Youth Choir and Youth Orchestra. In January 2007, the Dave Brubeck Institute invited Lewis to join its Honorary Board of Friends at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Lewis is an Honorary Board member of the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. Lewis is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. In May 2008, Lewis received an honorary doctorate from Loyola University Chicago upon delivering the keynote address at the undergraduate commencement ceremony.
Lewis still lives in Chicago, Illinois, the city of his musical roots. He has seven children, fourteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
[edit]Discography
Album Date
Gentlemen of Swing 1956
Gentlemen of Jazz 1958
Lem Winchester with the Ramsey Lewis Trio 1958
Down to Earth (Music from the Soil) 1959
An Hour with the Ramsey Lewis Trio 1959
Stretching Out 1960
More From Soil 1961
Never on Sunday 1961
Sounds of Christmas 1961
Bossa Nova 1962
The Sound of Spring 1962
The In Crowd Live at the Bohemian Cavern 1962
Pot Luck 1963
Barefoot Sunday Blues 1963
Bach to the Blues 1964
More Sounds of Christmas 1964
At the Bohemian Caverns 1964
Country Meets the Blues 1964
The In Crowd 1965
Choice! The Best of the Ramsey Lewis Trio 1962-64
Hang on Ramsey (Live) 1965
Wade in the Water 1966
The Movie Album 1966
The Groover (Live) 1966
Hang on Sloopy 1966
Goin' Latin 1967
Dancing in the Street 1967
Up Pops Ramsey 1967
Greatest Sides, Vol. 1 1964-67
Maiden Voyage 1968
Mother Nature's Son 1968
Live in Tokyo 1968
Solid Ivory (His Greatest Hits) 1963-68
Another Voyage 1969
The Piano Player 1969
The Best of Ramsey Lewis 1970
Them Changes 1970
Back to the Roots 1971
Upendo Ni Pamoja 1972
Funky Serenity 1973
Newly Recorded . . . Golden Hits 1973
Solar Wind 1974
Sun Goddess 1974
Don't It Feel Good 1975
Salongo 1976
Love Notes 1977
Tequila Mockingbird 1977
Legacy 1978
Ramsey 1979
Routes 1980
Best of Ramsey Lewis 1981
Blues for the Night Owl 1981
Three Piece Suite 1981
Live At The Savoy 1982
Chance Encounter 1982
Les Fleurs 1983
Reunion 1983
The Two of Us (with Nancy Wilson) 1984
Fantasy 1985
Keys To The City 1987
A Classic Encounter 1988
We Meet Again (with Billy Taylor) 1989
Urban Renewal 1989
Electric Collection 1991
This is Jazz #27 1991
Ivory Pyramid 1992
Sky Islands 1993
Urban Knights I 1995
Between the Keys 1996
Urban Knights II 1997
Dance of the Soul 1998
Appassionata 1999
Urban Knights III 2000
Ramsey Lewis's Finest Hour 2000
Urban Knights IV 2001
Meant To Be (with Nancy Wilson) 2002
20th Century Masters - The Millennium
Collection: The Best of Ramsey Lewis 2002
Urban Knights V 2003
Simple Pleasures 2003
Time Flies 2004
Urban Knights VI 2005
With One Voice 2005
The Best of Urban Knights 2005
The Very Best of Ramsey Lewis 2006
Mother Nature's Son 2007
Songs from the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey 2009
[edit]Awards and recognitions
Ramsey Lewis was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ramsey Lewis, Sr. and Pauline Lewis.[2] Lewis began taking piano lessons at the age of four. At 15 he joined his first jazz band, The Cleffs. The seven-piece group provided Lewis his first involvement with jazz; he would later join Cleffs drummer Isaac "Redd" Holt and bassist Eldee Young to form the Ramsey Lewis Trio.
The trio started as primarily a jazz unit and released their first album, Ramsey Lewis And The Gentlemen of Swing, in 1956. Following their 1965 hit "The In Crowd" (the single reached #5 on the pop charts, and the album #2) they concentrated more on pop material. Young and Holt left in 1966 to form the Young-Holt Trio and were replaced by Cleveland Eaton and Maurice White. White was replaced by Maurice Jennings in 1970. Later, Franky Donaldson and Bill Dickens replaced Jennings and Eaton; Felton Crews also appeared on many 1980's releases.
By 1966, Lewis was one of the nation’s most successful jazz pianists, topping the charts with "The In Crowd", "Hang On Sloopy", and "Wade in the Water". All three singles each sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs.[3] Many of his recordings attracted a large non-jazz audience. In the 1970s, Lewis often played electric piano, although by later in the decade he was sticking to acoustic and using an additional keyboardist in his groups.[4]
In addition to recording and performing, Lewis hosted a morning show on Chicago "smooth jazz" radio station WNUA (95.5 FM) until May 22, 2009. His weekly syndicated radio program Legends of Jazz, created in 1990, features recordings from artists such as David Sanborn, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Kurt Elling, Al Jarreau and Miles Davis. The show can be heard in 60 U.S. cities and overseas.[5] On December 4, 2006, the Ramsey Lewis Morning Show became part of Broadcast Architecture's Smooth Jazz Network, simulcasting on other Smooth Jazz stations across the country for the first time. However, the show was still based in Chicago until it was cancelled when WNUA switched over to a Spanish format.[6]
In 2006, a well-received 13-episode Legends of Jazz television series hosted by Lewis was broadcast on public TV nationwide and featured live performances by a variety of jazz artists including Larry Gray, Lonnie Smith, Joey Defrancesco, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Kurt Elling, Benny Golson, Pat Metheny and Tony Bennett.[7]
Lewis is artistic director of Jazz at Ravinia (an annual feature at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois) and helped organize Ravinia's Jazz Mentor Program.[8] Ramsey also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Merit School of Music, a Chicago inner-city music program and The Chicago High School for the Arts, the new public arts high school in Chicago. Early in 2005, the Ramsey Lewis Foundation was created to help connect at-risk children to the world of music. As an offshoot of that foundation, Lewis plans to form a Youth Choir and Youth Orchestra. In January 2007, the Dave Brubeck Institute invited Lewis to join its Honorary Board of Friends at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Lewis is an Honorary Board member of the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. Lewis is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. In May 2008, Lewis received an honorary doctorate from Loyola University Chicago upon delivering the keynote address at the undergraduate commencement ceremony.
Lewis still lives in Chicago, Illinois, the city of his musical roots. He has seven children, fourteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
[edit]Discography
Album Date
Gentlemen of Swing 1956
Gentlemen of Jazz 1958
Lem Winchester with the Ramsey Lewis Trio 1958
Down to Earth (Music from the Soil) 1959
An Hour with the Ramsey Lewis Trio 1959
Stretching Out 1960
More From Soil 1961
Never on Sunday 1961
Sounds of Christmas 1961
Bossa Nova 1962
The Sound of Spring 1962
The In Crowd Live at the Bohemian Cavern 1962
Pot Luck 1963
Barefoot Sunday Blues 1963
Bach to the Blues 1964
More Sounds of Christmas 1964
At the Bohemian Caverns 1964
Country Meets the Blues 1964
The In Crowd 1965
Choice! The Best of the Ramsey Lewis Trio 1962-64
Hang on Ramsey (Live) 1965
Wade in the Water 1966
The Movie Album 1966
The Groover (Live) 1966
Hang on Sloopy 1966
Goin' Latin 1967
Dancing in the Street 1967
Up Pops Ramsey 1967
Greatest Sides, Vol. 1 1964-67
Maiden Voyage 1968
Mother Nature's Son 1968
Live in Tokyo 1968
Solid Ivory (His Greatest Hits) 1963-68
Another Voyage 1969
The Piano Player 1969
The Best of Ramsey Lewis 1970
Them Changes 1970
Back to the Roots 1971
Upendo Ni Pamoja 1972
Funky Serenity 1973
Newly Recorded . . . Golden Hits 1973
Solar Wind 1974
Sun Goddess 1974
Don't It Feel Good 1975
Salongo 1976
Love Notes 1977
Tequila Mockingbird 1977
Legacy 1978
Ramsey 1979
Routes 1980
Best of Ramsey Lewis 1981
Blues for the Night Owl 1981
Three Piece Suite 1981
Live At The Savoy 1982
Chance Encounter 1982
Les Fleurs 1983
Reunion 1983
The Two of Us (with Nancy Wilson) 1984
Fantasy 1985
Keys To The City 1987
A Classic Encounter 1988
We Meet Again (with Billy Taylor) 1989
Urban Renewal 1989
Electric Collection 1991
This is Jazz #27 1991
Ivory Pyramid 1992
Sky Islands 1993
Urban Knights I 1995
Between the Keys 1996
Urban Knights II 1997
Dance of the Soul 1998
Appassionata 1999
Urban Knights III 2000
Ramsey Lewis's Finest Hour 2000
Urban Knights IV 2001
Meant To Be (with Nancy Wilson) 2002
20th Century Masters - The Millennium
Collection: The Best of Ramsey Lewis 2002
Urban Knights V 2003
Simple Pleasures 2003
Time Flies 2004
Urban Knights VI 2005
With One Voice 2005
The Best of Urban Knights 2005
The Very Best of Ramsey Lewis 2006
Mother Nature's Son 2007
Songs from the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey 2009
[edit]Awards and recognitions
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