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Blood Count (novel)
"Blood Count'' is a 1967 jazz composition by Billy Strayhorn. It was originally meant for a three-piece work Strayhorn was writing for Duke Ellington and initially titled "Blue Cloud". However, Strayhorn was hospitalized in 1967 due to cancer and finished the composition while in the hospital. He died on 31 May and "Blood Count" was his last finished composition. The Ellington orchestra debuted "Blood Count" at a Carnegie Hall concert in March, this was later released as ''The Greatest Jazz Concert in the World''. In August 1967 Ellington recorded the tune on his tribute album for Strayhorn, '' ...And His Mother Called Him Bill''. Although Ellington never played the tune again after the recording session, many other artists have since recorded it, including Stan Getz, Jimmy Rowles, Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading Ame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Strayhorn, New York, N
Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a young male domestic goat Film * Billy (Black Christmas), Billy (''Black Christmas''), a character from ''Black Christmas'' * Billy (Saw), Billy (''Saw''), a puppet from ''Saw'' * ''Billy: The Early Years'', a 2008 biographical film about Billy Graham Literature * Billy (novel), ''Billy'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Whitley Strieber * ''Billy'', a 2002 biography of Billy Connolly by Pamela Stephenson Music Musicals * Billy (musical), ''Billy'' (musical), a musical based on Billy Liar * ''Billy'', a 1969 Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Gene Allen and Ron Dante Albums * Billy (Samiam album), ''Billy'' (Samiam album) (1992) * Billy (Feedtime album), ''Billy'' (Feedtime album) Songs * Billy (Kathy Linden song), "Billy" (Kathy Li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Strayhorn
William Thomas Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take the 'A' Train", "Chelsea Bridge", "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing", and " Lush Life". Early life Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio, United States. His family soon moved to the Homewood section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, his mother's family came from Hillsborough, North Carolina, and she sent him there to protect him from his father's drunken sprees. Strayhorn spent many months of his childhood at his grandparents' house in Hillsborough. In an interview, Strayhorn said that his grandmother was his primary influence during the first ten years of his life. He became interested in music while living with her, playing hymns on her piano, and playing records on her Victrola record player. Return to Pittsburgh and meeting Ellington S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's " Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed multipl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Greatest Jazz Concert In The World
''The Greatest Jazz Concert in the World'' is a 1967 live album featuring Duke Ellington and his orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, T-Bone Walker, Coleman Hawkins, Clark Terry and Zoot Sims. It was released in 1975. Billy Strayhorn's " Blood Count" was debuted at the Carnegie Hall concert featured on the album. It was Strayhorn's last composition; he died a few months after the piece was recorded. The album marked the last recorded collaboration between Fitzgerald and Ellington and his orchestra. The album contains the last recordings of Coleman Hawkins. During the opening of " Sweet Georgia Brown" Hawkins can be heard to say "I guess I've gotta go through with it". Then someone replies "That's right". Reception The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow noted: "In addition to having a somewhat immodest title, this three-CD set was not actually one single concert but two...the music on the reissue is often quite special...Maybe this really was 'the Greatest Jazz Concert' a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
And His Mother Called Him Bill
''...And His Mother Called Him Bill'' is a studio album by Duke Ellington recorded in the wake of the 1967 death of his long-time collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. It won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1968. Background Ellington recorded the album as a tribute to Billy Strayhorn, who died of cancer in May 1967. Strayhorn was a composer, arranger, and one of Ellington's closest friends. Recording and music The album was recorded in August and November 1967. The material is Strayhorn's compositions, including some that had not previously been recorded. Ellington chose the songs to demonstrate Strayhorn's versatility and range, as well as to pay homage to the qualities that he most admired in his late writing partner. "Blood Count" was Strayhorn's last composition, written for the Ellington Orchestra's 1967 concert at Carnegie Hall. Another piece with a medical-related title is "U.M.M.G.", short for 'Upper Manhattan Medical Group'. The 1951 composition "Rock ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott Yanow as "one of the all-time great tenor saxophonists". Getz performed in bebop and cool jazz groups. Influenced by João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim, he also helped popularize bossa nova in the United States with the hit 1964 single "The Girl from Ipanema". Early life Stan Getz was born on February 2, 1927, at St. Vincent's Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Getz's father Alexander ("Al") was a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant who was born in Mile End, London, in 1904, while his mother Goldie (née Yampolsky) was born in Philadelphia in 1907. His paternal grandparents Harris and Beckie Gaye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Rowles
James George Hunter (August 19, 1918 – May 28, 1996), known professionally as Jimmy Rowles (sometimes spelled Jimmie Rowles), was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, and composer. As a bandleader and accompanist, he explored multiple styles including swing and cool jazz. Music career Rowles was born in Spokane, Washington, United States, and attended Gonzaga University in that city. After moving to Los Angeles, he joined Lester Young's group in 1942. He also worked with Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Tommy Dorsey, Tony Bennett, and as a studio musician. With female singers Rowles was praised as an accompanist by female singers. He recorded ''Sarah Vaughan with the Jimmy Rowles Quintet'' with Sarah Vaughan and accompanied Carmen McRae on her 1972 live album '' The Great American Songbook''. McRae described Rowles as "the guy every girl singer in her right mind would like to work with". In the 1950s and 1960s, he frequently played behind Billie Holiday and Peggy L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note, Milestone, and Verve. Biography Early life Born in Lima, Ohio, United States, Henderson was one of fourteen children. He was encouraged by his parents Dennis and Irene (née Farley) and older brother James T. to study music. He dedicated his first album to them "for being so understanding and tolerant" during his formative years. Early musical interests included drums, piano, saxophone and composition. According to Kenny Dorham, two local piano teachers who went to school with Henderson's brothers and sisters, Richard Patterson and Don Hurless, gave him a knowledge of the piano.Original liner notes to '' Page One'' by Kenny Dorham He was particularly enamored of his brother's record collection. It seems that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Watson
Robert Michael Watson Jr. (born August 23, 1953), known professionally as Bobby Watson, is an American saxophonist, composer, and educator. Music career Watson was born in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. He attended the University of Miami, at the same time as Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, and Bruce Hornsby. He graduated in 1975, moved to New York City, and became music director for the Jazz Messengers from 1977 to 1981. After leaving the band, he was productive as a session musician, recording with Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Max Roach, Joe Williams, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls, Betty Carter, and Carmen Lundy. He formed the band Bobby Watson & Horizon with bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Victor Lewis, with whom he played throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1991, they released the album ''Post Motown Bop'' on Blue Note Records, with John Fordham in Q Magazine describing it as "gleaming, glossy bebop". Watson also led a group known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Essentially Ellington
The Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival is an annual high school jazz festival and competition that takes place every May at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. The festival is aimed at encouraging young musicians to play music by Duke Ellington and other jazz musicians. Process Every year Jazz at Lincoln Center transcribes arrangements of Ellington's music and sends them to participating high school band directors in the U.S. and Canada. During the year, band directors are sent a newsletter and given access to online educational materials to help with the arrangements. Students can email Jazz at Lincoln Center for help and send recordings of their band's finished performances to the Center for evaluation. These recordings can also count as applications to the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival in New York City. Fifteen top bands are invited to the festival, which occurs every May at Frederick Rose Hall in Jazz at L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1967 Compositions
Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and commercial relations (not diplomatic ones). ** Charlie Chaplin launches his last film, ''A Countess from Hong Kong'', in the UK. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps, USMC and Army of the Republic of Vietnam, ARVN troops launch ''Operation Deckhouse Five'' in the Mekong Delta. * January 8 – Vietnam War: Operation Cedar Falls starts. * January 13 – A military coup occurs in Togo under the leadership of Étienne Eyadema. * January 14 – The Human Be-In takes place in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; the event sets the stage for the Summer of Love. * January 15 ** Louis Leakey announces the discovery of pre-human fossils in Kenya; he names the species ''Proconsul nyanzae, Kenyapithecus africanus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
