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Alexander The Great (Monty Alexander Album)
''Alexander the Great'' is an album by pianist Monty Alexander (born 1944) recorded in 1964 for the Pacific Jazz label. accessed December 15, 2015 Reception rated the album with 4 stars and reviewer Scott Yanow noted: "Even at that early stage (age 20), Alexander had very impressive technique and his -influenced style was starting to become distinctive".Track listing # " |
Monty Alexander
Montgomery Bernard "Monty" Alexander (born 6 June 1944) is a Jamaican jazz pianist. His playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop jazz and blues rooted melodies. He was influenced by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner, Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, Les McCann, and Frank Sinatra. Alexander also sings and plays the melodica. He is known for his surprising musical twists, bright rhythmic sense, and intense dramatic musical climaxes. Monty's recording career has covered many of the well-known American songbook standards, jazz standards, pop hits, and Jamaican songs from his original homeland. Alexander has resided in New York City for many years and performs frequently throughout the world at jazz festivals and clubs. Biography Alexander was born on 6 June 1944 in Kingston, Jamaica. He discovered the piano when he was four years old and seemed to have a knack for picking melodies out by ear. His mot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Loesser
Frank Henry Loesser (; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', among others. He won a Tony Award for ''Guys and Dolls'' and shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for ''How to Succeed''. He also wrote songs for over 60 Hollywood films and Tin Pan Alley, many of which have become standards, and was nominated for five Academy Awards for best song, winning once for Baby, It's Cold Outside. Early years Frank Henry Loesser was born to a Jewish family in New York City to Henry Loesser, a pianist,Frank Loesser biography pbs.org, accessed December 5, 2008 and Julia Ehrlich. He grew up in a house on West 107th Street in M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1965 Albums
Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term as President of the United States. ** Indonesian President Sukarno announces the withdrawal of the Indonesian government from the United Nations. * January 30 – The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place in London with the largest assembly of dignitaries in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II. * February 4 – Trofim Lysenko is removed from his post as director of the Institute of Genetics at the Academy of Sciences in the Soviet Union. Lysenkoist theories are now treated as pseudoscience. * February 12 ** The African and Malagasy Common Organization ('; OCAM) is formed as successor to the Afro-Malagasy Union for Economic Cooperation ('; UAMCE), formerly the African and Malagasy Union ('; UAM). * Feb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drum Kit
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks, one in each hand, and uses their feet to operate a foot-controlled hi-hat and bass drum pedal. A standard kit may contain: * A snare drum, mounted on a stand * A bass drum, played with a beater moved by a foot-operated pedal * One or more tom-toms, including rack toms and/or floor toms * One or more cymbals, including a ride cymbal and crash cymbal * Hi-hat cymbals, a pair of cymbals that can be manipulated by a foot-operated pedal The drum kit is a part of the standard rhythm section and is used in many types of popular and traditional music styles, ranging from rock and pop to blues and jazz. __TOC__ History Early development Before the development of the drum set, drums and cymbals used in military and orchestral m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Humphrey
Paul Nelson Humphrey (October 12, 1935 – January 31, 2014) was an American jazz and R&B drummer. Biography Humphrey was born in Detroit and began playing drums at age 8, taking private lessons in Detroit. In high school he played baritone horn, trombone and drums in the school band. Upon graduation he entered the U.S. Navy and studied under Kenneth J. Abendschein, touring the world and playing with many jazz figures of 1950s.Paul Humphrey Sextet liner notes After discharge from the service, he worked as a session drummer in New York for Wes Montgomery, John Coltrane, Les McCann, Kai Winding, Jimmy Smith, Charles Mingus, Joe Williams, Lee Konitz, Blue Mitchell, Gene Ammons and the Harry James Band (replacing Buddy Rich). He later moved to Los Angeles and joined the Harry "Sweets" Edison group with Tommy Flanagan and Frank Delarossa. He recorded with Larry Williams and Johnny "Guitar" Watson and toured and recorded with Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, The Supremes, Tony Orlando, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double Bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar in structure to the cello, it has four, although occasionally five, strings. The bass is a standard member of the orchestra's string section, along with violins, viola, and cello, ''The Orchestra: A User's Manual'' , Andrew Hugill with the Philharmonia Orchestra as well as the concert band, and is featured in Double bass concerto, concertos, solo, and chamber music in European classical music, Western classical music.Alfred Planyavsky [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Gaskin
Roderick Victor Gaskin (November 23, 1934 – July 14, 2012) was an American jazz bassist. Gaskin was born in The Bronx, New York and moved to Los Angeles in 1962. He started playing with Paul Horn and Red Mitchell and went on to become one of many bass players for the Jazz Crusaders. He also recorded with Curtis Amy and Dupree Bolton, before becoming a part of the West Coast jazz scene, accompanying Buddy Collette, Shelly Manne, and Bud Shank. Between 1966 and 1970, he was a member of Cannonball Adderley's groups, and in 1970 recorded with Duke Ellington's octet, quintet, quartet and trio. He started playing with the Billy Taylor Trio in the late 1970s, continuing until 1993, as well as with Johnny Hartman and Hank Jones. Between 1994 and 2001 Victor Gaskin was in Singapore and performed regularly at The Four Seasons Hotel with Boni de Souza & Friends for the iconic Sunday Jazz Brunch. They were pioneers of the Sunday Jazz Brunch scene in Singapore, setting the trend for ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. It was invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700. Description The word "piano" is a shortened form of ''pianoforte'', the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from ''clavicembalo col piano e forte'' (key cimbalom with quiet and loud)Pollens (1995, 238) and ''fortepiano''. The Italian musical terms ''piano'' and ''forte'' indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively, in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys: the grea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I've Never Been In Love Before
"I've Never Been in Love Before" is a song written by Frank Loesser, published in 1950. Background The song is a duet from the 1950 musical ''Guys and Dolls'', and is sung by the characters Sky Masterson and Sister Sarah Brown. In the play it immediately follows the short solo song "My Time of Day", sung by Sky. Both songs were only used as background music in the 1955 film adaptation of the musical, being replaced by the duet "A Woman in Love". Other recordings It is now considered a standard, having been recorded by many artists, including: * Shirley Bassey recorded the song for her album '' The Fabulous Shirley Bassey'' (1959). *Jerry Bergonzi. * June Christy *Alma Cogan * Bing Crosby (recorded September 7, 1950) *Bobby Darin * Doris Day * Billy Eckstine (MGM recorded October 1950) *Vince Jones *Linda Ronstadt * Frank Sinatra (recorded for a special Reprise compilation album entitled '' Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre Presents 'Guys and Dolls) * Chet Baker recor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs. He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music, and was a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as songs written by others from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. Mercer's songs were among the most successful hits of the time, including " Moon River", " Days of Wine and Roses", " Autumn Leaves", and "Hooray for Hollywood". He wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Oscar nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars. Early life Mercer was born in Savannah, Georgia, where one of his first jobs, aged 10, was sweeping floors at the original 1919 location of Leopold's Ice Cream. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Kosma
Joseph Kosma (22 October 19057 August 1969) was a Hungarian-French composer. Biography Kosma was born József Kozma in Budapest, where his parents taught stenography and typing. He had a brother, Ákos. A maternal relative was the photographer László Moholy-Nagy, and another was the conductor Georg Solti. He started to play the piano at age five, and later took piano lessons. At the age of 11, he wrote his first opera, ''Christmas in the Trenches''. After completing his education at the Secondary Grammar School Franz-Josef, he attended the Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied with Leo Weiner. He also studied with Béla Bartók at the Liszt Academy, receiving diplomas in composition and conducting. He won a grant to study in Berlin in 1928, where he met Lilli Apel, another musician, whom he later married. Kosma also met and studied with Hanns Eisler in Berlin. He became acquainted with Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel. Kosma and his wife emigrated to Paris in 1933. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autumn Leaves (1945 Song)
"Autumn Leaves" is a popular song and jazz standard composed by Joseph Kosma in 1945 with original lyrics by Jacques Prévert in French (original French title: "Les Feuilles mortes"), and later by Johnny Mercer in English. An instrumental version by pianist Roger Williams was a number one best-seller in the US ''Billboard'' charts of 1955. Background Kosma was a native of Hungary who was introduced to Prévert in Paris. They collaborated on the song ' ("The Dead Leaves") for the 1946 film '' Les Portes de la nuit (Gates of the Night)'' where it was sung by Irène Joachim and Yves Montand. The poem was published, after the death of Jacques Prévert, in the book " Soleil de Nuit" in 1980. Kosma was influenced by a piece of ballet music, "Rendez-vous" written for Roland Petit, performed in Paris at the end of the Second World War, large parts of the melodies are exactly the same, which was itself borrowed partially from "Poème d'octobre" by Jules Massenet. The first commercial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
