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Bill Evans At The Montreux Jazz Festival
''Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival'' is a 1968 album by the American jazz pianist Bill Evans, recorded live at that year's Montreux Jazz Festival. The trio's performance on this album won them the 1969 Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group. Reception Writing for Allmusic, music critic Rovi Staff wrote the album "marks the beginning of stylistic changes for the legendary pianist. Only one year earlier, his At Town Hall release found his approach generally more introspective and brooding. In contrast, this set is more lively, playful, and experimental... He experiments more with harmonic dissonance and striking rhythmical contrasts, making this his most extroverted playing since his freshman release, New Jazz Conceptions." Track listing #"Spoken Introduction" – 0:57 #"One for Helen" (Bill Evans) – 4:22 #"A Sleepin' Bee" (Harold Arlen, Truman Capote) – 6:05 #"Mother of Earl" (Earl Zindars) – 5:14 #" Nardis" (Miles Davis) – 8:23 #"Quiet Now" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Evans
William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continues to influence jazz pianists today. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, he was classically trained at Southeastern Louisiana University and the Mannes School of Music, in New York City, where he majored in composition and received the Artist Diploma. In 1955, he moved to New York City, where he worked with bandleader and theorist George Russell. In 1958, Evans joined Miles Davis's sextet, which in 1959, then immersed in modal jazz, recorded '' Kind of Blue'', the best-selling jazz album ever. In late 1959, Evans left the Miles Davis band and began his career as a leader, with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, a group now regarded as a se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Sleepin' Bee
"A Sleepin' Bee" is a popular song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Arlen and Truman Capote. It was introduced in the musical '' House of Flowers'' (1954) and performed by Diahann Carroll. While ''House of Flowers'' was a flop, "A Sleepin' Bee" became a standard of the American songbook. Barbra Streisand referred to it as her favorite song, recorded it several times, and performed it in her national television debut in April 1961 on the "Jack Paar Show". Mel Tormé's performance of the song in ''Mel Tormé Swings Shubert Alley'' was called "definitive" in ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz''. Selected recordings * Ernestine Anderson - ''Ernestine Anderson'' (1958) * Julie Andrews - ''Broadway's Fair Julie'' (1962) * Tony Bennett - on the album '' Tony Sings for Two'' (1961) * June Christy - '' Off-Beat'' (1960) * Bill Evans - numerous versions including Trio 64 and Montreaux Jazz Festival * Johnny Hartman - '' I Just Dropped By to Say Hello'' (1963) * Carol Lawrence - on the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embraceable You
"Embraceable You" is a jazz standard song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song was written in 1928 for an unpublished operetta named ''East Is West''. It was published in 1930 and included in that year's Broadway musical ''Girl Crazy'', performed by Ginger Rogers in a song and dance routine choreographed by Fred Astaire. Billie Holiday's 1944 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005. Other versions * Nat King Cole – (1943) * Bing Crosby (recorded November 12, 1947) – included in the album ''Bing Crosby Sings Songs by George Gershwin''. * Ella Fitzgerald – ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook'' (1959) * Jane Froman – '' With a Song in My Heart'' * Judy Garland – ''Girl Crazy'', film (1943) * Erroll Garner * Herbie Hancock – ''Gershwin's World'' (1998) * Billie Holiday – 1944 * Billie Holiday – ''Body and Soul'' (1957) * Chet Baker – ''Embraceable You (album)'' (1957) * Charlie Parker â ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Noble (musician)
Raymond Stanley Noble (17 December 1903 – 2 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United States. Noble wrote both lyrics and music for many popular songs during the British dance band era, known as the "Golden Age of British music", notably for his longtime friend and associate Al Bowlly, including "Love Is the Sweetest Thing", "Cherokee", "The Touch of Your Lips", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", and his signature tune, "The Very Thought of You". Noble played a radio comedian opposite American ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's stage act of Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy, and American comedy duo Burns and Allen, later transferring these roles from radio to TV and popular films. Early life and career Noble was born at 1 Montpelier Terrace in the Montpelier area of Brighton, England. A blue plaque on the house commemorates him. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Touch Of Your Lips
The Touch of Your Lips" is a romantic ballad written by Ray Noble in 1936. The original version of the song, which has become a standard, was by Al Bowlly accompanied by Ray Noble and His Orchestra. Three versions of the song reached the charts of the day in the USA in 1936. They were by Hal Kemp (#3), Bing Crosby (#4) and Ray Noble (#12). The Crosby version was recorded on March 24, 1936 with Victor Young and his Orchestra. Versions "The Touch of Your Lips" has appeared on the following albums: * Chet Baker - '' The Touch of Your Lips '' (1979) * Tony Bennett – '' The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album'' (1975); duet with pianist Bill Evans * Pat Boone - ''The Touch of Your Lips'' (1964) * Nat King Cole – ''The Touch of Your Lips'' (1961) * Vic Damone - ''That Towering Feeling!'' (1956) * Bill Evans - ''Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival'' (1968) * Bill Evans – ''Alone (Again)'' (recorded in December 1975 but not released until 1977) * Art Farmer - ''Modern Art'' (1958) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 20th century. With George, he wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows, featuring songs such as "I Got Rhythm", "Embraceable You", " The Man I Love" and " Someone to Watch Over Me". He was also responsible, along with DuBose Heyward, for the libretto to George's opera ''Porgy and Bess''. The success the Gershwin brothers had with their collaborative works has often overshadowed the creative role that Ira played. His mastery of songwriting continued after George's early death in 1937. Ira wrote additional hit songs with composers Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, Harry Warren and Harold Arlen. His critically acclaimed 1959 book ''Lyrics on Several Occasions'', an amalgam of autobiography and annotated anthology, is an important source for studying t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ''Rhapsody in Blue'' (1924) and ''An American in Paris'' (1928), the songs " Swanee" (1919) and "Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the jazz standards "Embraceable You" (1928) and "I Got Rhythm" (1930), and the opera ''Porgy and Bess'' (1935), which included the hit " Summertime". Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark, Henry Cowell, and Joseph Brody. He began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris, intending to study with Nadia Boulanger, but she refused him, afraid that rigorous classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style; Maurice Ravel voiced similar objections when Gershwin inq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Loves You, Porgy
"I Loves You, Porgy" is a duet from the 1935 opera ''Porgy and Bess'' with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was performed in the opera's premiere in 1935 and on Broadway the same year by Anne Brown and Todd Duncan. They recorded the song on volume 2 of the album '' Selections from George Gershwin's Folk Opera Porgy and Bess'' in 1942. The duet occurs in act 2, scene 3, Catfish Row, where Porgy promises Bess that he will protect her. Bess has a lover, Crown, who is abusive and continually seduces her. The song was popularised by Nina Simone's adaptation from her first album, '' Little Girl Blue''. Analysis Lyrics In the lyrics Bess is asking Porgy to stop her from going with Crown, her abusive lover. During the early stages of the opera, Bess' opening stanza was cut out. The re-addition of this stanza into the opera proved crucial in demonstrating Bess' feelings towards Porgy and Crown, as well as showing the extent of Bess's self-understanding. In contrast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denny Zeitlin
Denny Zeitlin (born April 10, 1938) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and clinical professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco. Since 1963, he has recorded more than 100 compositions and was a first-place winner in the ''DownBeat'' International Jazz Critics' Poll in 1965 and 1974. He composed the soundtrack for the 1978 science-fiction horror film ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers''. Early life Zeitlin was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. He began improvising on the piano at the age of two. His father was a radiologist who played piano by ear. His mother was a speech pathologist and his first piano teacher. He began formal study in classical music at the age of six, switching to jazz in the eighth grade. In high school, he played professionally in and around Chicago, and by college at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, was playing with Ira Sullivan, Johnny Griffin, Wes Montgomery, Joe Farrell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz. Born in Alton, Illinois, and raised in East St. Louis, Davis left to study at Juilliard in New York City, before dropping out and making his professional debut as a member of saxophonist Charlie Parker's bebop quintet from 1944 to 1948. Shortly after, he recorded the ''Birth of the Cool'' sessions for Capitol Records, which were instrumental to the development of cool jazz. In the early 1950s, Davis recorded some of the earliest hard bop music while on Prestige Records but did so haphazardly due to a heroin addiction. After a widely acclaimed comeback performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, he signed a long-term contract wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nardis (composition)
"Nardis" is a composition by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It was written in 1958, during Davis's modal period, to be played by Cannonball Adderley for the album ''Portrait of Cannonball''. The piece has come to be associated with pianist Bill Evans, who performed and recorded it many times. Composition From 1955 to 1958, Miles Davis was leading what would come to be called his First Great Quintet. By 1958, the group consisted of John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums, Richard Cook. ''It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off Record.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. , pp. 44-45. and had just been expanded to a sextet with the addition of Cannonball Adderley on alto saxophone. Coltrane's return to Davis’s group in 1958 coincided with the "modal phase" albums: ''Milestones'' (1958) and ''Kind of Blue'' (1959) are both considered essential examples of 1950s modern jazz. Davis at this point ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
