|
Ben Allison
Ben Allison (born November 17, 1966) is an American double bassist, composer, producer, bandleader, educator. In addition to his work as a performer, he co-founded the non-profit Jazz Composers Collective and served as its Artistic Director for twelve years. Allison is an adjunct professor at New School University and serves on the board of the New York chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, where he serves as President. Early life Allison was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He began guitar lessons at the age of 9 at the Neighborhood Music School, in New Haven, Connecticut and privately with guitarist George Raccio. From 1983 to 1985, Allison studied West African, Haitian and Cuban drumming traditions with Richard Hill and attended the ACES Educational Center for the Arts (ECA), a performing arts school, and Wilbur Cross High School. In his senior year he studied briefly with bassist Steve Swallow and took classes in 20th-century music and early c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Connecticut after Bridgeport and Stamford and the principal municipality of Greater New Haven, which had a total 2020 population of 864,835. New Haven was one of the first planned cities in the U.S. A year after its founding by English Puritans in 1638, eight streets were laid out in a four-by-four grid, creating the "Nine Square Plan". The central common block is the New Haven Green, a square at the center of Downtown New Haven. The Green is now a National Historic Landmark, and the "Nine Square Plan" is recognized by the American Planning Association as a National Planning Landmark. New Haven is the home of Yale University, New Haven's biggest taxpayer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koch Records
MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had been acquired by the present-day Entertainment One (eOne) in 2005. In April 2021, after the acquisition of eOne by Hasbro, the company announced that it would sell eOne Music to The Blackstone Group. It owns the libraries of Artemis Records, Dualtone Records, and Last Gang Records. History eOne as a whole has its origins in the music distributor Records on Wheels, which was acquired by the Canadian retail chain CD Plus in 2001 to expand its wholesale business. Darren Throop joined the company after CD Plus acquired his record store chain Urban Sound Exchange. The combined company later became known as ROW Entertainment, with Throop as president and CEO. In June 2005, ROW acquired the American independent music distributor and home entert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meet The Composer
New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media programs originally created at the American Music Center: NewMusicBox and Counterstream Radio. American Music Center The American Music Center (AMC) was a non-profit organization which aimed to promote the creating, performing, and enjoying new American music. It was founded in 1939 as a membership organization by composers Marion Bauer, Aaron Copland, Howard Hanson, Harrison Kerr, Otto Luening, and Quincy Porter. For many years the main activity of the center was the accumulation of a library of American music which accepted score submissions from all composers who joined as members. The center's library, which eventually contained over 60,000 individual scores, featured published materials as well as unpublished manuscripts, many of which wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Composers Forum
The American Composers Forum is an American organization that works for the promotion and assistance of American composers and contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As of 2000 it was the largest composer-service organization in the country. The chief executive of the Forum is Vanessa Rose. History The Forum was founded as the Minnesota Composers Forum in 1973 by a group of University of Minnesota graduate students — including Libby Larsen and Stephen Paulus — with a $400 grant from the University’s Student Club Activities Fund. In 1996, the organization changed its name to the American Composers Forum, and established chapters in New York City, Boston, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, California. The group currently acts as a national umbrella organization for locally funded chapters in Minnesota (based in Saint Paul), Phila ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mamadou Diabaté
Mamadou Diabaté (born 1975) is a Malian musician known for his work with the kora. He began playing quite early in his life, became known as a musician in the area of Mali in which he lived, and has since moved to the United States, recording several albums. Life and career Diabaté was born in Kita, Mali, a town relatively near to Mali's capital of Bamako, known for its artistic and cultural prominence within the Manding community of West Africa.Gesret, Céline (2010)Mamadou Diabaté: "Si crees en tus decisiones, crees en tu destino", ''La Vanguardia'', July 30, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2013 He was born into a family of griots, with his father, Djelimory n'fa Diabaté, also a kora musician and a member of the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali. He began playing the kora, a 21-string instrument used extensively in West Africa, at a very young age, performing at various public events in his country and was becoming somewhat of a regional celebrity by that time as well.Fink, MattMa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kora (instrument)
The kora (Manding languages: ''köra'') is a stringed instrument used extensively in West Africa. A kora typically has 21 strings, which are played by plucking with the fingers. It combines features of the lute and harp. Description The kora is built from gourd, cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator with a long hardwood neck. The skin is supported by two handles that run underneath it. It has 21 strings, each of which plays a different note. These strings are supported by a notched, double free-standing bridge. The kora doesn't fit into any one category of musical instrument, but rather several, and must be classified as a "double-bridge-harp-lute." The strings run in two divided ranks, characteristic of a double harp. They do not end in a soundboard but are instead held in notches on a bridge, classifying it as a bridge harp. The strings originate from a string arm or neck and cross a bridge directly supported by a resonating chamber, also making it a lute ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strange City (album)
This is a comprehensive discography of the Japanese noise musician Masami Akita, best known for his project Merzbow. Since 1980 he has released hundreds of recordings, collaborated with dozens of musicians, contributed over two hundred exclusive tracks to compilations, and made numerous guest appearances on recordings by other artists. Akita has released recordings on over a hundred independent labels all over the world. Some of the labels which have made multiple releases include: Alchemy, Alien8, Blossoming Noise, Cold Spring, Cuneiform, Dirter Promotions, Extreme, Hydra Head, Important, Mego, Release Entertainment (a sublabel of Relapse), RRRecords, Rustblade, Soleilmoon, Tzadik, and Vivo. In the 1980s, he released five LPs and dozens of homemade cassettes on his own labels Lowest Music & Arts and ZSF Produkt. Note: Release reissues and compilation tracks taken from albums are not listed. The infobox count includes all aliases. As Merzbow Studio albums Live album ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Love Is Proximity
''Love Is Proximity'' is the debut album by the Herbie Nichols Project, an American jazz ensemble dedicated to performing the music of composer and pianist Herbie Nichols. It was recorded during 1995 and 1996 at Acoustic Recording in Brooklyn, New York, and was released in 1997 by the Soul Note label. Led by pianist Frank Kimbrough and double bassist Ben Allison, the group also features saxophonist Ted Nash, trumpeter Ron Horton, and drummer Jeff Ballard. Reception In a review for AllMusic, Ken Dryden noted that "Wildflower" is "richly voiced," but expressed surprise that "one of Nichols' best-known (but still relatively obscure) pieces, 'House Party Starting,' is omitted." The authors of '' The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings'' called the album "arresting," and stated that "Love, Gloom, Cash, Love" is "particularly effective." In an article for '' MusicHound Jazz'', Garaud MacTaggart and David Prince described the recording as "spectacular," and wrote: "The album is an at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbie Nichols
Herbert Horatio Nichols (January 3, 1919 – April 12, 1963) was an American jazz pianist and composer who wrote the jazz standard " Lady Sings the Blues". Obscure during his lifetime, he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics. Life He was born in San Juan Hill, Manhattan, New York, United States, to parents from St. Kitts and Trinidad, and grew up in Harlem. During much of his career, he took work as a Dixieland musician while also pursuing the more adventurous kind of jazz he preferred. He is best known today for program music that combines bop, Dixieland, and music from the Caribbean with harmonies from Erik Satie and Béla Bartók. His first known work as a musician was with the Royal Barons in 1937, but he did not find performing at Minton's Playhouse a few years later a very happy experience, as the competitive environment did not suit him. However, he did become friends with pianist Thelonious Monk. Nichols was drafted into the Army in 1941. After the war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Herbie Nichols Project
The Herbie Nichols Project was an American jazz ensemble dedicated to performing the music of composer and pianist Herbie Nichols. History The group was co-founded in 1992 by pianist Frank Kimbrough and double bassist Ben Allison, both members of the Jazz Composers Collective. However, the origins of the project dated back to 1985, when Kimbrough began to research and transcribe Nichols' piano trio recordings. In 1991, Allison began assisting him, and the two continued their work until they had produced transcriptions for 38 recorded compositions, later adding 32 additional works transcribed from scores housed at the Library of Congress. Between 1995 and 2001, the group recorded three albums of music written by Nichols, with expanded arrangements that included instruments not featured on Nichols' original recordings. Legacy Critic and author Ben Ratliff described the HNP as "a jazz repertory band that's done great work digging up the least-known, most fragmentary compositions o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Konitz
Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz movement of the 1940s and 1950s includes participation in Miles Davis's ''Birth of the Cool'' sessions and his work with pianist Lennie Tristano. He was one of relatively few alto saxophonists of this era to retain a distinctive style, when Charlie Parker exerted a massive influence. Like other students of Tristano, Konitz improvised long, melodic lines with the rhythmic interest coming from odd accents, or odd note groupings suggestive of the imposition of one time signature over another. Other saxophonists were strongly influenced by Konitz, such as Paul Desmond and Art Pepper. He died during the COVID-19 pandemic from complications brought on by the disease. Biography Early life Konitz was born on October 13, 1927, in Chicago. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Blake (musician)
Michael Blake (born May 19, 1964) is a Canadian-born American saxophonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. Over the course of his career he formed the bands Blake Tartare, Hellbent, Mr Carefree, Elevated Quartet, The Eulipion Orchestra, The Variety Hour, Red Hook Soul, Blake & Brass XL, Chroma Nova and co-lead the groups Made in China and Slow Poke. As a sideman Michael has performed with Charlie Hunter, The Lounge Lizards, Steven Bernstein/Henry Butler and the Hot 9, Ben Allison, Nicole Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Oliver Lake Big Band, Dafnis Prieto Big Band, Ricki Lee Jones and Ray LaMontagne. Early life Michael Blake was born in Montreal, Canada. His mother Merle Stevens was a professional dancer in Montreal when she met his father Francis Patrick Blake. Michael's father moved the family to Vancouver and Toronto before taking a Public Relations job with the San Francisco Opera. In 1973, after his parents divorced, they resettled in Vancouver, Canada, where Michael briefly t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
