Bob Astor
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Bob Astor
Bob Astor (born Robert E. Dade, October 5, 1915, New Orleans) was an American jazz and dance bandleader and songwriter, principally active in the 1940s. Astor led groups in New Orleans and east Texas before moving to the Los Angeles area at the end of the 1930s. He put together a new ensemble in 1940 in Hermosa Beach, which was, according to big band historian Leo Walker, "perhaps the first West Coast band to feature black musicians". The group toured nationwide and was perhaps more successful in the Eastern US; it also played on radio, including on the program ''The Fitch Bandwagon''. Astor's sidemen included Shelly Manne, Zoot Sims, Les Elgart, Larry Elgart, Illinois Jacquet, Dave Pell, Marty Napoleon, Neal Hefti, Irv Levin, Irv Kluger, and others; Jo Napoleon was a vocalist. He also wrote songs, often as a team with his pianist, George Williams. Astor was in negotiations to record with Decca Records in 1942 when the AFM Musicians' Strike was called; as a result, he never cut any ...
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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 ...
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Neal Hefti
Neal Paul Hefti (October 29, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He wrote music for ''The Odd Couple'' movie and TV series and for the ''Batman'' TV series. He began arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts for Nat Towles. He composed and arranged while working as a trumpeter for Woody Herman providing the bandleader with versions of "Woodchopper's Ball" and "Blowin' Up a Storm" and composing "The Good Earth" and "Wild Root". He left Herman's band in 1946. Now concentrating on writing music only, he began an association with Count Basie in 1950. Hefti occasionally led his own bands. Beginnings Neal Paul Hefti was born October 29, 1922, to an impoverished family in Hastings, Nebraska, United States. As a young child, he remembered his family relying on charity during the holidays. He started playing the trumpet in school at the age of eleven, and by high school was spending his summer vacations playing in local terr ...
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The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of all time and were integral to the development of counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture and popular music's recognition as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat music, beat and 1950s rock and roll, rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways; the band also explored music styles ranging from folk music, folk and Music of India, Indian music to Psychedelic music, psychedelia and hard rock. As Recording practices of the Beatles, pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's Baby boomers, youth and sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwriter ...
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Disc Jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile DJs (who are hired to work at public and private events such as weddings, parties, or festivals), and turntablism, turntablists (who use record players, usually turntables, to manipulate sounds on phonograph records). Originally, the "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to shellac and later vinyl records, but nowadays DJ is used as an all-encompassing term to also describe persons who DJ mix, mix music from other recording media such as compact cassette, cassettes, CDs or digital audio files on a CDJ, controller, or even a laptop. DJs may adopt the title "DJ" in front of their real names, adopted pseudonyms, or stage names. DJs commonly use audio equipment that can play at least two sources of recorded music simultaneously. Th ...
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1942–44 Musicians' Strike
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 194 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus and Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Caesar become Roman Consuls. * Battle of Issus: Septimius Severus marches with his army (12 legions) to Cilicia, and defeats Pescennius Niger, Roman governor of Syria. Pescennius retreats to Antioch, and is executed by Severus' troops. * Septimius Severus besieges Byzantium (194–196); the city walls suffer extensive damage. Asia * Battle of Yan Province: Warlords Cao Cao and Lü Bu fight for control over Yan Province; the battle lasts for over 100 days ...
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Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. In 1937, anticipating Nazi Germany, Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca and the link between the U.K. and U.S. Decca labels was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group. The U.S. Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG (Universal Music Group). Label name The name dates back to a portable phonograph, gramophone called the "Decca Dulcephone" patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel and Sons. The name "Decca" was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the w ...
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George Williams (musician)
George Dale "The Fox" Williams (November 5, 1917 – April 17, 1988) was a musician, composer, and an arranger for a number of major big bands, including Jimmie Lunceford, Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, Sonny Dunham, and Ray Anthony. Career He wrote hit songs, including "Whamboogie" and " It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake like That)" for Glenn Miller, "Hamp's Boogie" for Lionel Hampton, "Gene's Boogie" for Krupa, as well as Anthony's hit songs "Lackawanna Local", "The Fox", and "The Bunny Hop" and most of Anthony's recorded arrangements. He wrote arrangements for Harry James, Vaughan Monroe, Charlie Ventura, and his recording band, for which he produced two LPs and an EP in the late 1950s as a leader. In addition, he arranged and conducted the music for Barbra Streisand's first commercial single, "Happy Days Are Here Again". Williams was a ghostwriter for the arrangements on Jackie Gleason's television show and arranged Gleason's albums in the 1950s and 1960s. Discography * '' ...
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Jo Napoleon
Jo, jo, JO, or J.O. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jo'' (film), a 1972 French comedy * ''Jo'' (TV series), a French TV series *"Jo", a song by Goldfrapp from '' Tales of Us'' *"Jo", a song by Mr. Oizo from '' Lambs Anger'' * Jo a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise People * Jo (given name) * Jô, Brazilian footballer João Alves de Assis Silva (born 1987) * Josiel Alves de Oliveira (born 1988), Brazilian footballer also known as Jô * Jō (surname), a Japanese surname * Cho (Korean name), a common Korean surname which can be romanized as Jo Codes * JO, ISO 3166 country code for Jordan * .jo, the Internet country code top-level domain for Jordan * JO, IATA code for JALways, a subsidiary of Japan Airlines Other uses * '' jō'' (), a wooden staff used in some Japanese martial arts * ''jō'' (), a Japanese unit of length equivalent to the Chinese zhang * ''jō'' (), a Japanese unit of area corresponding to the area of a standard tatami mat (1×½ ken o ...
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Irv Kluger
Irv Kluger (July 9, 1921 – February 28, 2006) was an American jazz drummer. Career He was born in New York, United States. Kluger played violin early in life before settling on drums; his first professional gigs came at age 15. He played with Georgie Auld in 1942-43, then with Bob Chester, Freddie Slack, Dizzy Gillespie (1945), Boyd Raeburn (1945–47), Bobby Byrne and Herbie Fields (1947). Following this he played with Stan Kenton (1947–48), Artie Shaw (1949–50), then for a short time in 1950 with Tex Beneke. He played less jazz after 1950, working in the pit orchestras of Broadway shows such as ''Guys and Dolls'' (1950–53). He returned to play with Artie Shaw again in 1953–54 as a member of the Gramercy Five. In the middle of the 1950s he moved to California and played at the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood as the house drummer. He played with Dave Pell in 1956, and with Benny Goodman and Woody Herman later in life, doing much freelance work through the 1960s and 1970s. ...
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Irv Levin
Irving H. Levin (September 8, 1921 – March 20, 1996) was an American film producer and business executive with the National General Corporation. He was also the owner of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics and San Diego Clippers. Biography Levin was raised in Chicago. He is of Jewish descent. He served as a bombardier during World War II stationed in California. He later moved to California where his father-in-law helped him to get a job in the film industry. Levin began his film career as the president of Filmmakers Releasing Organization, a film distribution company founded by independent producers Collier Young and Ida Lupino. When American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc. decided to expand to film production in 1956, Levin was named the first president of the Am-Par Picture Corporation. AB-PT sold Levin and Harry L. Mandell AB-PT Pictures and AB-PT Distribution Corporation in May 1958 and reformed the company as Atlas Pictures Corporation. Levin and ...
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Marty Napoleon
Marty Napoleon (June 2, 1921 – April 27, 2015) was an American jazz pianist. He replaced Earl Hines in Louis Armstrong's All Stars band in 1952. In 1946 he worked with Gene Krupa and went on to work with his uncle Phil Napoleon, a trumpeter, in Phil's Original Memphis Five. In the 1950s he also worked with his brother Teddy Napoleon, a pianist, and from 1966 to 1971 he performed with Armstrong again. One highlight of his work with Armstrong was a swing version of "Sunrise, Sunset", from the musical ''Fiddler on the Roof''. Napoleon was born Matthew Napoli in Brooklyn to Sicilian immigrants; he later legally changed his name. Discography As leader * ''Marty Napoleon Swings and Sings'' (Bethlehem, 1955) * ''Marty Napoleon and His Music'' (Stere-o-Craft, 1958) * ''The Napoleon Brothers: A Rare Musical Vintage'' (Herald, 1958) * ''Lionel Hampton Presents: Who's Who In Jazz Louis Armstrong Alumni'' (Who's Who in Jazz, 1977) As sideman * Louis Armstrong, ''Louis'' (Mercury, 1966) * ...
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New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nueva Orleans) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 according to the 2020 U.S. census, it is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, most populous city in Louisiana and the twelfth-most populous city in the southeastern United States. Serving as a List of ports in the United States, major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast region of the United States. New Orleans is world-renowned for its Music of New Orleans, distinctive music, Louisiana Creole cuisine, Creole cuisine, New Orleans English, uniq ...
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