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A Christmas Celebration Of Hope
''A Christmas Celebration of Hope'' is the thirty ninth studio album by American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter B.B. King released in November 2001 through MCA Records. It is a holiday album. In the United States, ''A Christmas Celebration of Hope'' reached peak positions of number 151 on the ''Billboard'' 200, number one on ''Billboard'' Top Blues Albums chart and number 21 on the Top Holiday Albums chart. The album earned King two Grammy Awards at the 45th Grammy Awards (2003): he, Anthony Daigle and John Holbrook were presented the award for Best Traditional Blues Album and the track "Auld Lang Syne" earned King the award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Composition ''A Christmas Celebration of Hope'' contains 13 tracks totaling approximately 48 minutes in length. Produced by B.B. King himself and recorded in Lafayette, Louisiana at Dockside Recording Studios in June 2001. Some of the songs, including "Merry Christmas, Baby" have roots in blues or rhythm and blues ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern (the blues scale and specific chord progressions) of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove. Blues as a genre is also characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper ''The Daily Pennsylvanian'' and in the early 1980s was a deejay on the Penn radio station, WXPN-FM. Just prior to graduating in late 1982, he started reviewing records for '' Op'' magazine, which marked the start of his career as a freelance writer. From 1985 to 1991, Unterberger was an editor for '' Option''. Since 1993, he has been a prolific contributor to AllMusic, the on-line database of music biographies and album reviews, for which he has written thousands of entries, and many of his on-line contributions have been printed in the AllMusic guide series. Unterberger contributes to various local and national publications, including ''Mojo'', ''Record Collector'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Oxford American'', and '' No Depression''. He has writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amos Milburn
Joseph Amos Milburn (April 1, 1927 – January 3, 1980) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Houston, Texas, and died there 52 years later. One commentator noted, "Milburn excelled at good-natured, upbeat romps about booze and partying, imbued with a vibrant sense of humour and double entendre, as well as vivid, down-home imagery in his lyrics." Life and career Milburn was born in Houston, one of thirteen children. By the age of five, he was playing tunes on the piano. He enlisted in the United States Navy when he was fifteen and earned thirteen battle stars in the Philippines. He returned to Houston and organized a sixteen-piece band playing in clubs in the city. He was managed by William and Geneva Church. Milburn was a polished pianist and performer and in 1946 attracted the attention of a woman who arranged a recording session with Aladdin Records in Los Angeles. Milburn's relationship with Aladdin lasted e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Gillespie
Jerry Wayne Gillespie (born Decatur, Alabama) is an American country songwriter. He co-wrote " Do You Love as Good as You Look", a #1 song in 1981 for The Bellamy Brothers and wrote " Heaven's Just a Sin Away", a #1 country hit in 1977 for The Kendalls. He co-wrote " Somebody's Knockin'", a Grammy Award finalist in 1982 for Terri Gibbs, and " I Just Can't Stay Married to You", a #5 hit for Christy Lane in 1979. He wrote or co-wrote a number of successful songs for Tommy Overstreet, including "Gwen (Congratulations)", co-written with Ricci Mareno, a #5 country hit in 1971, and "That's When My Woman Begins a #6 country hit in 1975. Gillespie also worked as a producer with Christy Lane, The Kendalls, and Micki Fuhrman. Gillespie's first music venture was with his cousin Gary in a Nashville-area teenaged rock band named "The Valiants". The band put out two singles in 1965-1966 with songs written by Gillespie. Other Gillespie songs that charted *"Catch the Wind" (Jerry Gillespie, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Smalley
Jack Smalley was an American composer, orchestrator, and teacher of film and television scoring. After working for years as a jazz bassist, Smalley began to get jobs writing music for television, notably Charlie's Angels and Murder, She Wrote. In the 1980s, he built a reputation as a teacher at the Grove School of Music and later the University of Southern California. He was also an instructor for the Henry Mancini Institute. Hundreds of composers working in film scoring today have studied with him over the years. He also worked as an orchestrator on television series (including HBO series Game of Thrones), feature films, and has written a book on film scoring. References External linksOfficial site {{DEFAULTSORT:Smalley, Jack American male composers 21st-century American composers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) University of Southern California faculty 21st-century American male musicians ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Page Cavanaugh
Walter Page Cavanaugh (January 26, 1922 in Cherokee, Kansas – December 19, 2008 in Los Angeles) was an American jazz and pop pianist, vocalist, and arranger. Career He began on piano at age nine and played with Ernie Williamson's band in 1938–39 before moving to Los Angeles and joining the Bobby Sherwood band at age 20. While serving in the military during World War II, he met guitarist Al Viola and bassist Lloyd Pratt, with whom he formed a trio. After the war's end they performed together in the style of the Nat King Cole Trio, scoring a number of hits in the late 1940s, including " The Three Bears", " Walkin' My Baby Back Home", and " All of Me".Scott Yanow, Page Cavanaughat AllMusic The trio appeared in the films ''A Song Is Born'', '' Big City'', '' Lullaby of Broadway'' (with Doris Day) and ''Romance on the High Seas'' (Doris Day's first film, in 1948). [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buck Ram
Samuel "Buck" Ram (November 21, 1907 – January 1, 1991) was an American songwriter, and popular music producer and arranger. He was one of BMI's top five songwriters/air play in its first 50 years, alongside Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson, Jimmy Webb, and Paul McCartney. He is best known for his long association with The Platters and also wrote, produced and arranged for the Penguins, the Coasters, the Drifters, Ike and Tina Turner, Ike Cole, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others. He was also known as Ande Rand, Lynn Paul or Jean Miles. Biography He was born Samuel Ram in Chicago, Illinois in 1907, to Jewish parents. Ram was a talent manager with his own firm, Personality Productions and an A&R man when Tony Williams, the brother of singer Linda Hayes, auditioned for him. Ram was looking for a group to sing the songs he wrote and found the voice he was looking for in Williams. He transformed the Platters and changed their rhythm and blues style, buil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Kent
Walter Kent (born Walter Maurice Kaufman, November 29, 1911 – March 2, 1994) was an American composer and conductor. Some notable compositions are: "I'll Be Home for Christmas", "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die" and " (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover". Early life Walter Kent was born to a Jewish family on November 29, 1911 in New York City. He graduated from Townsend Harris Hall High School. Kent received a scholarship to attend the Juilliard School of Music in New York where he chose to pursue advanced study of the violin. Kent was also involved in private music study with Leopold Auer and Samuel Gardner. He also received more formal education at City College of New York. After completion of his university education, Kent conducted his own orchestra in New York, performing in theatres and on the radio. Additionally, Kent became a freelance architect following his education, continuing to write music in his spare time. Career Following his completion of h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kim Gannon
James Kimball "Kim" Gannon (November 18, 1900 – April 29, 1974) was an American songwriter, more commonly a lyricist than a composer. Biography Gannon was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Irish-American family from Fort Ann in upstate New York, but grew up in New Jersey where he attended Montclair High School and was a member of The Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity. He graduated from St. Lawrence University and, intending to become a lawyer, attended the Albany Law School, passing the bar examination in New York State in 1934. In 1939 he wrote his first song, "For Tonight". His 1942 song, "Moonlight Cocktail", was recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra and was the best-selling record in the United States for 10 weeks. In 1942 he began writing songs for films, beginning with the lyrics of the title song for '' Always in My Heart.'' He subsequently contributed songs to other films, including ''The Powers Girl'' and ''If Winter Comes''. In 1951 he turned to the Broadway stage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I'll Be Home For Christmas
"I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent and recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longed to be home at Christmas time, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" has since gone on to become a Christmas standard. Theme The song is sung from the point of view of a soldier stationed overseas during World War II, writing a letter to his family. In the message, he tells his family he will be coming home and to prepare the holiday for him, and requests snow, mistletoe, and presents under the tree. The song ends on a melancholy note, with the soldier saying, "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams". The flip side of the original recording (Decca 18570B) was "Danny Boy." Writing and copyright The song was written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent. Songwriter and later producer and manager for The Platters, Buck Ram, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clarence Carter
Clarence George Carter (born January 14, 1936) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. His most successful songs include " Slip Away", " Back Door Santa" (both released 1968), " Patches" (1970) and "Strokin" (1986). Early life Born blind in Montgomery, Alabama on January 14, 1936, Carter attended the Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega, Alabama, and Alabama State University in Montgomery, graduating in August 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in music. Career His professional music career began with friend Calvin Scott, signing to the Fairlane label to release "I Wanna Dance But I Don't Know How", as Clarence & Calvin, the following year. After the 1962 release of "I Don't Know (School Girl)," the pair joined Duke Records, renaming themselves the C & C Boys and releasing four singles for the label, though none were commercially successful. In 1965, the duo recorded "Step by Step" at Rick Hall's FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals; it was releas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Back Door Santa
"Back Door Santa" is a funk-style song recorded by Clarence Carter, which Atlantic Records released as a single in 1968. In an artist biography, it is described as "a superbly funky Christmas single" and "raunchy". The song was included on an Atco various artists compilation album ''Soul Christmas'' (1968). "Back Door Santa" has been recorded by several artists and Run-D.M.C. sampled it for "Christmas in Hollis "Christmas in Hollis" is a single by Run-DMC that was included on two 1987 Christmas compilation albums featuring various artists: '' A Very Special Christmas'' (A&M 3911) and ''Christmas Rap'' (Profile 1247). When Bill Adler first asked Run-DMC t ...". The lyrics include: References 1968 songs 1968 singles 2005 singles American Christmas songs Atlantic Records singles Songs written by Clarence Carter Songs about Santa Claus Clarence Carter songs {{Blues-song-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
