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Alan Raph
Alan Raph (born July 3, 1933, in New York City ) is a bass trombonist, composer, arranger, and conductor who founded and conducts the Danbury Brass Band. He has recorded with many popular musicians and for television, movies, and ballet. He was for many years on first call with most New York City recording studios. Life Raph was born in New York City to Marion McGuire and Ted Raph. His father was a jazz trombonist in the 1920s and 1930s. Raph married Theresa Capp on October 5, 1957. They had two children. In 1978 he married musician Mary Ann O'Connor, with whom he had a son. Education Raph graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education. He then studied at Teachers College Columbia University where he received a Masters of Arts degree. He has studied privately with Nadia Boulanger, John Mehegan, Simon Karasick, and Gabriel Masson. Professional career He was a charter member of the American Symphony Orchestra for which he pla ...
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Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisationa ...
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American Symphony Orchestra
The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski whose mission is to demystify orchestral music and make it accessible and affordable for all audiences. Leon Botstein is the orchestra's music director and principal conductor. They perform regularly at Carnegie Hall and Symphony Space in New York City. History Stokowski was 80 years old when he founded the orchestra. He served as music director together with assistant Amos Meller until May 1972 when, at the age of 90, he returned to England. Following Maestro Stokowski's departure, Kazuyoshi Akiyama was appointed music director from 1973 to 1978. Music directors during the early 1980s included as principal conductors, Moshe Atzmon and Giuseppe Patanè. In 1985, John Mauceri assumed the post as music director. In 1991, Catherine Comet left her post at the end of her tenure with the orchestra and was succeeded by Bard College president Leon Botstein. Present day Under mu ...
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Hamburger Hill
''Hamburger Hill'' is a 1987 American war film set during the Battle of Hamburger Hill, a May 1969 assault during the Vietnam War by the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) "Screaming Eagles" on a ridge of Dong Ap Bia (Ap Bia Mountain) near the Laotian border in central Vietnam. The ridge was a well-fortified position, including trenchworks and bunkers, of the North Vietnamese Army. U.S. military records of the battle refer to the mountain as "Hill 937," its map designation having been derived from the high elevation of the hill at . Written by James Carabatsos and directed by John Irvin, the film starred Dylan McDermott (his film debut), Steven Weber, Courtney B. Vance, Don Cheadle and Michael Boatman. It was produced by RKO Pictures and distributed by Paramount Pictures, and was shot in the Philippines. The novelization was written by William Pelfrey. Plot In 1969, a platoon of soldiers fight in Vietnam, ending with a soldier dy ...
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Midnight Cowboy
''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama (film and television), drama film, based on the 1965 Midnight Cowboy (novel), novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with notable smaller roles being filled by Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Salt, and Barnard Hughes. Set in New York City, ''Midnight Cowboy'' depicts the unlikely friendship between two hustlers: naïve Male prostitution, sex worker Joe Buck (Voight), and ailing Confidence trickster, con man Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Hoffman). At the 42nd Academy Awards, the film won three awards: Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Director, Best Director and Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay. ''Midnight Cowboy'' is the only X rating, X-rated film ever to win Best Picture. It has since been placed 36th on the American Film Instit ...
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The Producers (1968 Film)
''The Producers'' is a 1967 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Mel Brooks in his directorial debut and starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, and Kenneth Mars. The film is about a theater producer and his accountant who, as part of a scam, decide to stage the worst stage musical they can create. They find a script centering on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and bring it to the stage. Because of this theme, ''The Producers'' was controversial from the start and received mixed reviews. It became a cult film and found a more positive critical reception later. ''The Producers'' was Brooks's directorial debut. For the film, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry and placed eleventh on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list. It was later adapted by Brooks and Thomas Meehan as a stage musical, which itself was adapted into a film. Plot Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) i ...
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The Godfather
''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, and Diane Keaton. It is the first installment in ''The Godfather'' trilogy, chronicling the Corleone family under patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando) from 1945 to 1955. It focuses on the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss. Paramount Pictures obtained the rights to the novel for $80,000, before it gained popularity. Studio executives had trouble finding a director; the first few candidates turned down the position before Coppola signed on to direct the film but disagreement followed over casting several characters, in particular, Vito (Marlon Brando) and Michael (Al Pacino). Filmi ...
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Name That Tune
''Name That Tune'' is an American television music game show. Originally created and produced by orchestra conductor Harry Salter and his wife Roberta Semple Salter, the series features contestants competing to correctly identify songs being played by an on-stage orchestra or band. ''Name That Tune'' premiered on the NBC Radio Network in 1952, where it aired until 1954, and made the move to television in 1953 on the same network. CBS picked up the television series in the summer of 1953 and carried it through 1959. A short-lived revival for syndication followed in 1970 with Richard Hayes as host, but a second revival in 1974 was much more successful. Airing weekly, the 1974 syndicated offering used a new show format and, beginning in 1976, offered a top prize of $100,000 to a lucky champion (after which the show became known as ''The $100,000 Name That Tune''). Tom Kennedy hosted this series, which ran until 1981 and began airing twice weekly during its final season. During ...
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The Cosby Show
''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York. ''The Cosby Show'' spent five consecutive seasons as the number-one rated show on television. ''The Cosby Show'' and ''All in the Family'' are the only sitcoms in the history of the Nielsen ratings to be the number-one show for five seasons. It spent all eight of its seasons in the top 20. According to ''TV Guide'', the show "was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s, and almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC's ratings fortunes." ''TV Guide'' also ranked it 28th on their list of 50 Greatest Shows. In addition, Cliff Huxtable was named as the "Greatest Television Dad". In May 1992, ''Entertainment Weekly'' stated that ''The Cosby Show'' helped to make possible a larger variety of sho ...
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Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) and was created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. It is known for its images communicated through the use of Jim Henson's Muppets, and includes short films, with humor and cultural references. It premiered on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high viewership. It has aired on the United States national public television provider PBS since its debut, with its first run moving to premium channel HBO on January 16, 2016, then its sister streaming service HBO Max in 2020. ''Sesame Street'' is one of the longest-running shows in the world. The show's format consists of a combination of commercial television production elements and techniques which have evolved to reflect changes in American culture and audien ...
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Mel Torme
Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including a list of people with the name) * Mel (surname) * Manuel Zelaya, former president of Honduras, nicknamed "Mel" Places * Mel, Veneto, an ex-comune in Italy * Mel Moraine, a moraine in Antarctica * Melbourne Airport (IATA airport code) * Mels, a municipality in Switzerland *Métropole Européenne de Lille (MEL), the intercommunality of Lille in France Technology and engineering * Maya Embedded Language, a scripting language used in the 3D graphics program Maya * Michigan eLibrary, an online service of the Library of Michigan * Ford MEL engine, a "Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln" engine series * Minimum equipment list, a categorized list of instruments and equipment on an aircraft * Miscellaneous electric load, the electricity use of appliances, el ...
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Moscow Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and opera performances. Before the October Revolution it was a part of the Imperial Theatres of the Russian Empire along with Maly Theatre (''Small Theatre'') in Moscow and a few theatres in Saint Petersburg (Hermitage Theatre, Bolshoi (Kamenny) Theatre, later Mariinsky Theatre and others). The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are among the oldest and best known ballet and opera companies in the world. It is by far the world's biggest ballet company, with more than 200 dancers. The theatre is the parent company of The Bolshoi Ballet Academy, a leading school of ballet. It has a branch at the Bolshoi Theater School in Joinville, Brazil. The main building of the theatre, rebuilt and renovated several times during its history, is a landmark of Mo ...
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Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with the orchestra is one of the longest enjoyed by any conductor with any American orchestra. Ormandy made numerous recordings with the orchestra, and as guest conductor with European orchestras, and achieved three gold records and two Grammy Awards. His reputation was as a skilled technician and expert orchestral builder. Early life Ormandy was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, as Jenő Blau, the son of Jewish parents Benjamin Blau, a dentist and amateur violinist, and Rozália Berger.Birth Record of Jenő Blau (translated). Budapest, Kerület VII, Születtek, 1899, No. 3873: Reported November 22, 1899, born November 18, 1899, Jenő, male, Israelite, son of Benjamin Blau, Israelite, 29, occupation fogmüves (dentist), b. Pósaháza (Bereg ...
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