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A Great Night In Harlem
A Great Night in Harlem Benefit Concert is an annual series of concerts organized by the Jazz Foundation of America (JFA), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, since 2001 to raise money for the Jazz Foundation's Musician Emergency Fund. Founding In August 2000, after being hired as executive director of the Jazz Foundation, Wendy Oxenhorn discovered the organization had only left in the fund. She suggested organizing a fundraising concert at the Apollo Theater. When she was told they could not afford to rent the Apollo, Oxenhorn asked board member Jarrett Lilien for advice. Lilien told Oxenhorn he would pay to rent the Apollo. Oxenhorn conceived of the idea for the concerts during her first year as executive director of the JFA in 2000, after watching a 1994 documentary called ''A Great Day in Harlem'' about jazz musicians. The first concert, which took place in September 2001, raised $350,000 for the foundation's Jazz Musicians Emergency Fund, and over 65 jazz artists perfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz Foundation Of America
The Jazz Foundation of America (JFA) is a non-profit organization based in Manhattan, New York that was founded in 1989. Its programs seek to help jazz and blues musicians in need of emergency funds and connect them with performance opportunities in schools and the community. The Jazz Musicians' Emergency Fund and Housing Fund, established with corporate help, assists freelance musicians who lack benefits, pensions, or health insurance to cover one-time expenses. Musicians can apply to the foundation's social workers for help with rent, housing, mortgage payments, and health care. The foundation created a volunteer network of professionals throughout the United States to provide free legal, dental, and other health services when needed. The foundation's Jazz in the Schools program occurs in eight states as educational outreach and an employment service. The program offers free performances by musicians which include information about instruments and the history of jazz. Musicia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career out of delivering deeply felt presentations of standards as well as writing and singing her own material. Musician Born in Chicago but raised in Calvin Center, Cass County, Michigan, Lincoln was one of many singers influenced by Billie Holiday. Her debut album, ''Abbey Lincoln's Affair – A Story of a Girl in Love'', was followed by a series of albums for Riverside Records. In 1960 she sang on Max Roach's landmark civil rights-themed recording, ''We Insist!'' Lincoln's lyrics were often connected to the civil rights movement in America. After a tour of Africa in the mid-1970s, she adopted the name Aminata Moseka. During the 1980s, Lincoln's creative output was smaller and she released only a few albums. Her song " For All We Know" is featured in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, ''The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' (1967), was based on his own French-language novel ' and was shot in France, as it was difficult for a black American director to get work at the time. The film won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival which gained him the interest of Hollywood studios, leading to his American feature debut '' Watermelon Man'', in 1970. Eschewing further overtures from Hollywood, he used the successes he had so far to bankroll his work as an independent filmmaker. In 1971, he released his best-known work, creating and starring in the film ''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'', considered one of the earliest and best-regarded examples of the blaxploitation genre. He followed this up with the musical, '' Don't Play Us Cheap'', based on hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mario Van Peebles
Mario Van Peebles (born January 15, 1957) is an American film director and actor best known for directing and starring in ''New Jack City'' in 1991 and '' USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage'' in 2016. He is the son of actor and filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, whom he portrayed in the 2003 biopic ''Baadasssss!'', which he also co-wrote and directed. Early life and education Mario Van Peebles was born in Mexico City, Mexico, the son of writer, director, actor and musician Melvin Van Peebles and Maria Marx. He travelled often with his parents between Europe and the USA. He majored in economics at Columbia College, the undergraduate division of Columbia University. He was invited to speak as the Class Day Speaker as part of the annual commencement exercises in 2021. Career 1968 to 1971: First roles Van Peebles' first screen appearance was in 1968, in the soap opera ''One Life to Live''. In 1971, he appeared in the film ''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'', Melvin Van Peebles direct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Heath
James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ... leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath. Biography Heath was born in Philadelphia on October 25, 1926.[ Allmusic biography] His father, an auto mechanic, played the clarinet, performing on the weekends. His mother sang in a church choir. The family frequently played recordings of big band jazz groups around the house. Heath's sister was a pianist, while his brothers were bassist Percy Heath (older) and drummer Albert Heath (his youngest sibling). During World War II, Heath was rejected for the draft for being below the minimum weight. Heath origin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award nominations, 28 Grammys, and a Grammy Legend Award in 1992. Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor before working on pop music and film scores. He moved easily between musical genres, producing pop hit records for Lesley Gore in the early 1960s (including " It's My Party") and serving as an arranger and conductor for several collaborations between the jazz artists Frank Sinatra and Count Basie in the same time period. In 1968, Jones became the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "The Eyes of Love" from the film '' Banning''. Jones was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work on the 1967 film ''In Cold Blood'', making him the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Wein
George Wein (October 3, 1925 – September 13, 2021) was an American jazz promoter, pianist, and producer."George Wein: Dinosaur Walks the Earth" AllAboutJazz.com interview, June 2000, Retrieved on April 1, 2007. He was the founder of the , which is held every summer in . He also co-founded the with |
Billy Phipps
Billy Phipps (25 December 1931 – 3 December 2011) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist and composer who contributed to the development of a wide range of jazz styles including hard bop, soul jazz, Latin jazz, and primitive. Career Phipps was born on December 25, 1931, in Newark, New Jersey, United States into a jazz family. Billy's cousin, Eugene Phipps, Sr. traveled with Billie Holiday, Joe Guy, Max Roach and Ike Quebec on a national tour. Cousin Ernie Phipps led the big band The Monarchs of Rhythm with Eugene Phipps, Sr. at the Savoy Ballroom along with The Sultans of Swing, Poncho Diggs, and other big bands. During the 1950s Eugene Phipps co-led the house band at Newark's legendary Washington Bar, which featured performers such as Babs Gonzales, Lew-Rew Jordan, and Ike Quebec. In the 1950s Billy Phipps along with brother Nat Phipps formed a band whose members included Wayne Shorter, Grachan Moncur, Chris White, Charlie Mason, Harold Phipps and Robert Thomas. Phipp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Randy Johnston (musician)
Randy Barksdale Johnston (born December 5, 1956) is an American jazz guitarist. Career The Beatles's performance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' inspired Johnston to start playing guitar in childhood. He heard jazz for the first time on the album ''The Smithsonian Collection of Jazz'' and was influenced by guitarists Kenny Burrell and Grant Green. Johnston's family moved to Richmond, Virginia, when he was thirteen. He was a member of rock bands that performed at parties and school dances. In the late 1970s he attended the University of Miami, occasionally involved in jam sessions at a Unitarian Church with Ira Sullivan. In the early 1980s he moved to New York City and worked with Warne Marsh, then as a sideman with Houston Person and Etta Jones. Person produced his first album, ''Walk On'', which was engineered by Rudy Van Gelder. He has worked with Joey DeFrancesco, Lou Donaldson, Lee Konitz, and Lonnie Smith. Discography * '' Walk On'' (Muse, 1991) * '' Jubilation'' (Muse, 199 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irene Reid
Irene Reid (September 23, 1930 – January 5, 2008) was an American jazz singer. Early life Reid was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia. She sang in church and in high school in Georgia, and moved to New York City in 1947 after her mother died. Career Toward the end of 1947, she tried out for an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and won the competition for five straight weeks. Soon after she was offered a slot as the featured vocalist with Dick Vance at the Savoy Ballroom, which she held from 1948 to 1950. In 1961–62, Reid sang with Count Basie's orchestra, and recorded for Verve Records. Her debut for Verve, ''Room for One More'' (1965), arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder, featured many of the leading musicians of the day: Charlie Mariano, Jerome Richardson, Phil Woods, Jerry Dodgion, Thad Jones, Joe Newman, Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green, J.J. Johnson, Kenny Burrell, Bob Cranshaw, Roger Kellaway and Grady Tate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ..., composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque. From 1992 to 1995 he led the Tonight Show Band. Early life Marsalis was born on August 26, 1960, in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, and raised in New Orleans. He is the son of Dolores (née Ferdinand), a jazz singer and substitute teacher, and Ellis Marsalis, Jr., Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr., a pianist and music professor.Stated on ''Finding Your Roots'', PBS, March 25, 2012 His brothers Jason Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, and Delfeayo Marsalis are also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ''The Fremont News-Messenger''. November 29, 1984. Retrieved January 22, 2021. "I'm an actor. That's what I do. I'm not a stand-up comic ... I do characters. I'm very good. I'll be better. But right now I'm a very good actor." A recipient of numerous accolades, she is one of 17 entertainers to win the EGOT, which includes an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award ("Oscar"), and a Tony Award. In 2001, she received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Goldberg began her career on stage in 1983 with her one-woman show, ''Spook Show'', which transferred to Broadway theatre, Broadway under the title ''Whoopi Goldberg'', running from 1984 to 1985. She won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for the recording of the show. Her film bre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
