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Alexander The Great (Eric Alexander Album)
''Alexander the Great '' is an album by saxophonist Eric Alexander which was recorded in 1997 and released on the HighNote label in 2000. Reception In his review on Allmusic, Michael G. Nastos states "The combination of tenor saxophonist Alexander, trumpeter Jim Rotundi, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Joe Farnsworth has yielded great results, with the collective One for All and their own individual bands. Their longstanding association with organ master Charles Earland unfortunately ends with this CD, as Earland has passed away. So this is their last chance to cook with the Mighty Burner, and they do it up right. Although this is Alexander's date, all five take equal roles in this effort". On All About Jazz, David A. Orthmann said "In contrast to Alexander’s regular, straight-ahead fare as a leader for a number of record labels, ''Alexander the Great'' pretty much sticks to the formula of Earland’s popular recordings for Muse and HighNote, with an emphasis on funk and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Alexander (jazz Saxophonist)
Eric Alexander (born August 4, 1968) is an American jazz saxophonist. Early life and education Alexander was born in Illinois. He began as a classical musician, studying alto saxophone at Indiana University with Eugene Rousseau in 1986. He soon switched to jazz and the tenor saxophone, however, and transferred to William Paterson University, where he studied with Harold Mabern, Rufus Reid, Joe Lovano, Gary Smulyan, Norman Simmons, Steve Turre and others. Career Alexander finished second at the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. He was soon signed by a record label. Alexander has worked with many jazz musicians, including Chicago pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Idris Muhammad, and guitarist Pat Martino. He is part of Mike LeDonne's Groover Quartet with Peter Bernstein, and Joe Farnsworth. He has recorded and toured extensively with the sextet, One for All. Discography As leader As sideman With Steve Davis * ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Through The Fire (song)
"Through the Fire" is a song recorded by Chaka Khan from her sixth studio album, '' I Feel for You'' (1984). The David Foster-produced track was the third single from the album and reached number 60 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and number 15 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. It was one of the few Khan hits to cross to the Adult Contemporary chart. Foster revealed in his 2011 PBS concert ''The Hit Man Returns'' that this was the only melody that he ever wrote with someone in mind and that the working title of the piece was actually called "Chaka" because he was very confident that Khan would perform the song. Legacy The song was covered by Peabo Bryson in his 1994 album. It was sampled by Kanye West on "Through the Wire", the breakout single from his 2004 debut album, ''The College Dropout''. In 2010, Japanese-American singer Ai covered "Through the Fire" on her studio album ''The Last Ai'' with Khan. Alongside another song Khan was featured on, "One More Try", the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Bernstein (guitarist)
Peter Andrew Bernstein (born September 3, 1967) is an American jazz guitarist. Biography Born in New York City on September 3, 1967, Bernstein began playing piano when he was eight but switched to guitar when he was thirteen, learning the instrument primarily by ear. He studied jazz at Rutgers University with Ted Dunbar, and Kenny Barron. While a student at the New School in New York City, he met guitarist Jim Hall, who offered him a job performing at the JVC Jazz Festival in 1990. He then appeared on albums with Jesse Davis, Lou Donaldson, Larry Goldings, Michael Hashim, Geoff Keezer, and Melvin Rhyne. He released his first album as a leader with pianist Brad Mehldau. He has also worked with Jimmy Cobb, Tom Harrell, Diana Krall, Lee Konitz, Eric Alexander, Joshua Redman, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Walt Weiskopf. In 2008, Bernstein became part of the Blue Note 7, a septet formed that year in honor of the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records. The group recorded the album ''Mosai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hammond Organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated sound by creating an electric current from rotating a metal tonewheel near an electromagnetic pickup, and then strengthening the signal with an amplifier to drive a speaker cabinet. The organ is commonly used with the Leslie speaker. Around two million Hammond organs have been manufactured. The organ was originally marketed by the Hammond Organ Company to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, or instead of a piano. It quickly became popular with professional jazz musicians in organ trios—small groups centered on the Hammond organ. Jazz club owners found that organ trios were cheaper than hiring a big band. Jimmy Smith's use of the Hammond B-3, with its additional harmonic percussion feature, inspired a g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B or C trumpet. Trumpet-like instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or hunting, with examples dating back to at least 1500 BC. They began to be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th century. Trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing air through nearly-closed lips (called the player's embouchure), producing a "buzzing" sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century, trumpets have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular shape. There are many distinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Rotondi
James Robert Rotondi (born 28 August 1962) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, educator, and conductor. The youngest of five siblings, Rotondi was born in Butte, Montana. He played in New York City for twenty years before moving to Austria. He has taught at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria. He has released over ten albums as a leader for Sharp Nine, Criss Cross, Posi-Tone, and Smoke Sessions Records. He has played on over eighty albums as a sideman. He has performed and recorded with Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, Lou Donaldson, Curtis Fuller, Benny Sharoni, Eric Alexander, and George Coleman. Rotondi has led a quintet, which features vibraphonist Joe Locke, and an electric band with David Hazeltine called Full House, which uses electronic sound on his trumpet and a variety of other electronic instruments. He is also a member of the group One for All. In 1984, while attending North Texas State ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenor Saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while the alto is pitched in the key of E), and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef, sounding an octave and a major second lower than the written pitch. Modern tenor saxophones which have a high F key have a range from A2 to E5 (concert) and are therefore pitched one octave below the soprano saxophone. People who play the tenor saxophone are known as "tenor saxophonists", "tenor sax players", or "saxophonists". The tenor saxophone uses a larger mouthpiece, reed and ligature than the alto and soprano saxophones. Visually, it is easily distinguished by the curve in its neck, or its crook, near the mouthpiece. The alto saxophone lacks this and its neck goes straight to the mouthpiece. The tenor saxophone is most recognized for it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells. Early life Melvin Howard Tormé was born in Chicago, Illinois, to William David Torme, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, and Betty Torme (née Sopkin), a New York City native. He graduated from Hyde Park High School. A child prodigy, he first performed professionally at age four with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra, singing "You're Driving Me Crazy" at Chicago's Blackhawk restaurant. He played drums in the drum-and-bugle corps at Shakespeare Elementary School. From 1933 to 1941, he acted in the radio programs ''The Romance of Helen Trent'' and ''Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy''. He wrote his first song at 13. Three years later his first published song, "Lament to Love", became a hit for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Wells (songwriter)
Robert Wells (born Robert Levinson, October 15, 1922 – September 23, 1998) was an American songwriter, composer, screenwriter, script writer and television producer. During his early career, he collaborated with singer and songwriter Mel Tormé, writing several hit songs, most notably "The Christmas Song" in 1945. Later, he became a prolific writer and producer for television, for such shows as ''The Dinah Shore Chevy Show'', as well as for numerous variety specials, such as ''If They Could See Me Now'', starring Shirley MacLaine. He was nominated for several Academy Awards and won six Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Peabody Award. Early life and career Robert Wells was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in 1922 in Raymond, Washington, the son of Edna Irene (Bradford) and Nathan Levinson. He attended a local business college and later the University of Southern California, where he majored in speech and drama. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Born To Be Blue (Mel Tormé Song)
"Born to Be Blue" is a 1946 traditional pop torch song written by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells. It was first recorded by Tormé and Sonny Burke in 1946. It was revived by both singers and instrumentalists starting in the mid-1950s, and is considered a jazz standard. Cover versions See also *List of jazz standards A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ... References 1940s jazz standards 1946 songs {{1940s-jazz-composition-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on January 16, 1938, is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music." Goodman's bands started the careers of many jazz musicians. During an era of racial segregation, he led one of the first integrated jazz groups, his quartet and quintet. He performed nearly to the end of his life while exploring an interest in classical music. Early years Goodman was the ninth of twelve children born to poor Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire. His father, David Goodman (1873–1926), came to the United States in 1892 from Warsaw in partitioned Poland and became a tailor. His mother, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soft Winds
"Soft Winds" is a 1940 jazz standard composed by Benny Goodman, with lyrics by Fred Royal. Charlie Parker performed it regularly in the 1940s. In 1961, jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby released an album of the same name with the song as the title track, recorded at the Plaza Sound Studios in New York City. Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson regularly performed the song in the 1970s and 1980s with the Oscar Peterson Quartet. Chet Baker, Dinah Washington and numerous others recorded it. The theme song to the British dating show ''Blind Date'' closely resembles the standard but Goodman is not credited. Covers * Herb Ellis - Nothing But the Blues (1958) *Dorothy Ashby Dorothy Jeanne Thompson (August 6, 1932 – April 13, 1986), better known as Dorothy Ashby, was an American jazz harpist, singer and composer. Hailed as one of the most "unjustly under loved jazz greats of the 1950s" and the "most accomplished ... - '' Soft Winds'' (1961) References {{1940s-jazz-composition-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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