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Bird Song (Hampton Hawes Album)
''Bird Song'' is an album by American jazz pianist Hampton Hawes recorded at sessions in 1956 and 1958 but not released on the Contemporary label until 1999.Hampton Hawes discography accessed June 26, 2015 Reception The review by Jim Todd states "It's a mystery why these tracks from 1956 and 1958 went unreleased until 1999. They come from a key creative period in Hawes' career when he was enjoying new levels of commercial and critical acclaim. Regardless, the music has now been done justice in a well-mastered release that will please fans of Hawes and of bop piano in general". On[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hampton Hawes
Hampton Barnett Hawes Jr. (November 13, 1928 – May 22, 1977) was an American jazz pianist. He was the author of the memoir ''Raise Up Off Me'', which won the Deems-Taylor Award for music writing in 1975. Early life Hampton Hawes was born on November 13, 1928, in Los Angeles, California. His father, Hampton Hawes Sr., was minister of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. His mother, the former Gertrude Holman, was Westminster's church pianist. Hawes' first experience with the piano was as a toddler sitting on his mother's lap while she practiced. He was reportedly able to pick out fairly complex tunes by the age of three. Later life and career Hawes was self-taught; by his teens he was playing with the leading jazz musicians on the West Coast, including Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Art Pepper, Shorty Rogers, and Teddy Edwards. His second professional job, at 18, was playing for eight months with the Howard McGhee Quintet at the Hi De Ho Club, in a group that inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Cahn
Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He and his collaborators had a series of hit recordings with Frank Sinatra during the singer's tenure at Capitol Records, but also enjoyed hits with Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin, and won an Oscar four times for his songs, including the popular hit " Three Coins in the Fountain". Among his most enduring songs is "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", cowritten with Jule Styne in 1945. Life and career Cahn was born Samuel Cohen in the Lower East Side of New York City, the only son (he had four sisters) of Abraham and Elka Reiss Cohen, who were Jewish immigrants from Galicia, then ruled by Austria-Hungary. His sisters, Sadye, Pearl, Flor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene De Paul
Gene Vincent de Paul (June 17, 1919 – February 27, 1988) was an American pianist, composer and songwriter. Biography Born in New York City, he served in the United States Army during World War II. He was married to Billye Louise Files (November 23, 1924 – January 30, 1977) of Jack County, Texas. He joined the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1941, and went on to compose the music for many motion pictures. He was nominated (with Don Raye) for an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song in 1942 for the song "Pig Foot Pete" from the movie '' Hellzapoppin''. The song actually was not included in that movie, but in the 1941 feature, ''Keep 'Em Flying'', and was thus ineligible for the nomination and award. The award was given to " White Christmas". De Paul collaborated with Johnny Mercer, Don Raye, Carolyn Leigh, Charles Rinker and others at Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios and other Hollywood companies. De Paul composed the 1953 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I'll Remember April (song)
"I'll Remember April" is a popular song and jazz standard with music written in 1941 by Gene de Paul, and lyrics by Patricia Johnston and Don Raye. It made its debut in the 1942 Abbott and Costello comedy '' Ride 'Em Cowboy'', being sung by Dick Foran. The lyric uses the seasons of the year metaphorically to illustrate the growth and death of a romance. The lyric also uses the ideas of the hours in a day and the flames of a fire to illustrate a relationship growing stronger and subsequently losing strength. Another interpretation is the use of spring (the month of April) to express the loves that were had in youth and remember them when the autumn of life arrives with affection and nostalgia, smiling: "I'll remember April and I smile". The song has been described as one which makes use of nostalgia. Since then, a number of artists have covered the song as listed below. One of the most notable live renditions of the song is a radio performance by Judy Garland, on a broadcast of ''Lux ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, Porter defied his grandfather's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn to musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs. After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain, but he continued to work. His shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 1930s, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback with his most successful musical, ''Kiss Me, Kate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Just One Of Those Things (song)
"Just One of Those Things" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for the 1935 musical ''Jubilee''. Porter had written the score for ''Jubilee'' while on an extended sea cruise in the early part of 1935: however, in September 1935 while he was visiting a friend's farm in Ohio with ''Jubilees librettist Moss Hart, the latter mentioned that the play's second act required an additional song, and Porter had "Just One of Those Things" completed by the following morning (he had previously used the title for a song intended for but not featured in the 1930 musical ''The New Yorkers''—apart from the title the two songs are distinct). Porter's original lyric lacked an adjective for the line "a trip to the moon on '' gossamer'' wings": "gossamer" would be suggested by his friend, Ed Tauch. A recording by Richard Himber reached the charts of the day in 1935 and Peggy Lee's stylized arrangement of the song was a No. 14 hit in the Billboard charts in 1952. Other recordings The song has beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Burke (lyricist)
John Francis Burke (October 3, 1908 – February 25, 1964) was an American lyricist, successful and prolific between the 1920s and 1950s. His work is considered part of the Great American Songbook. His song "Swinging on a Star", from the Bing Crosby film ''Going My Way'', won an Academy Award for Best Song in 1944. Early life Burke was born in Antioch, California, United States, the son of Mary Agnes (Mungovan), a schoolteacher, and William Earl Burke, a structural engineer. When he was still young, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Burke's father founded a construction business. As a youth, Burke studied piano and drama. He attended Crane College and then the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he played piano in the orchestra. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1927, Burke joined the Chicago office of the Irving Berlin Publishing Company in 1926 as a pianist and song salesman. He also played piano in dance bands and vaudeville. Car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Haggart
Robert Sherwood Haggart (March 13, 1914 – December 2, 1998) was an American dixieland jazz double bass player, composer, and arranger. Although he is associated with dixieland, he was one of the finest rhythm bassists of the Swing Era. Music career In 1935, Haggart became a member of the Bob Crosby Band. He arranged and composed "Big Noise from Winnetka", "My Inspiration", "What's New?", and "South Rampart Street Parade". He remained with the band until it dissolved in 1942, then began working as session musician, with much of his time spent at Decca Records. He recorded with Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Ella Fitzgerald; his arrangements can be heard on Fitzgerald's album ''Lullabies of Birdland''. Haggart also starred in several commercials for L&M cigarettes on the radio program "Gunsmoke", including the March 4, 1956 episode, "The Hunter". He and Yank Lawson formed the Lawson-Haggart Band, and they also led the World's Greatest Jazz Band from 1968 unti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
What's New?
What's New?" is a 1939 popular song composed by Bob Haggart, with lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was originally an instrumental tune titled "I'm Free" by Haggart in 1938, when Haggart was a member of Bob Crosby and His Orchestra. The tune was written with a trumpet solo, meant to showcase the talents of band-mate Billy Butterfield. Crosby's orchestra recorded "I'm Free" the same day it was written. The following year, the music publishers hired Johnny Burke to write lyrics for the tune. Burke's telling of the torch song is unique, using one side of a casual conversation between former lovers. Thus the song was retitled using the song's first line, "What's New?". The song was recorded with the new title in 1939 by Bob Crosby and His Orchestra with vocalist Teddy Grace. The song reached a peak chart position of #10. Bing Crosby recorded the song on June 30, 1939 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and this was the biggest hit recording of the song, peaking at #2 during a 10-we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Harbach
Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach (August 18, 1873 – January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading Broadway composers of the early 20th century, including Jerome Kern, Louis Hirsch, Herbert Stothart, Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin, and Sigmund Romberg. Harbach believed that music, lyrics, and story should be closely connected, and, as Oscar Hammerstein II's mentor, he encouraged Hammerstein to write musicals in this manner. Harbach is considered one of the first great Broadway lyricists, and he helped raise the status of the lyricist in an age more concerned with music, spectacle, and stars. Some of his more famous lyrics are "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Indian Love Call" and "Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine". Early life and education Otto Abels Hauerbach was born on August 18, 1873, in Salt Lake City, Utah to Danish immigrant parent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as " Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", " A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Song Is You", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Long Ago (and Far Away)". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg. A native New Yorker, Kern created dozens of Broadway musicals and Hollywood films in a career that lasted for more than four decades. His musical innovations, such as 4/4 dance rhythms and the employment of syncopation and jazz progressions, built on, rather than rejec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yesterdays (1933 Song)
"Yesterdays" is a 1933 song about nostalgia composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Otto Harbach. They wrote the song for ''Roberta'', a musical based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller. "Yesterdays" was overshadowed by the musical's more popular song, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", which was a number one hit for the Paul Whiteman orchestra. Other recordings *Billie Holiday - 1939 and 1952 recordings *Larry Coryell – ''Shining Hour'' (1989) * Lee Konitz and Miles Davis -- ''1949'' * Dorothy Donegan * Clifford Brown -- ''Clifford Brown with Strings'' (1955) * Ella Fitzgerald -- '' Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book'' (1963) * Erroll Garner – ''Magician'' (1973) * Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band – '' Act Your Age'' (2008) * Stevie Holland (''More Than Words Can Say'', 2006) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
