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Cool Nights
''Cool Nights'' is a 1991 studio album by American jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton. Burton is featured with tenor saxophonist Bob Berg, guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, bassist Will Lee and drummer Peter Erskine. Background The album was recorded in the Studio A of the Power Station in New York City. In the accompanying booklet the record label explains that Burton's music in this album changed direction. This time Burton wanted to play something closer to music of such famous jazz names as Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae. Burton's friend Pat Metheny did not play for this album but wrote four of the eleven songs. Track listing Personnel *Gary Burton – vibraphone *Will Lee – bass, percussion *Peter Erskine – drums, percussion *Wolfgang Muthspiel – guitar * Bob James – keyboards *Bob Berg Robert Berg (April 7, 1951 – December 5, 2002) was an American jazz saxophonist. Biography Berg was born in Bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Burton
Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be heralded as an innovator, and his sound and technique are widely imitated.Corley, Cheryl (May 8, 2004)"Gary Burton Steps Down, Out: Jazz Vibraphonist Moves On After Three Decades at Berklee". ''NPR''. He is also known for pioneering fusion jazz and popularizing the duet format in jazz, as well as being a major figure in music education from his 30 years at the Berklee College of Music. Biography Burton was born in Anderson, Indiana, United States. Beginning music at six years old, he mostly taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone. He began studying piano at age sixteen while finishing high school at Princeton Community High School in Princeton, Indiana (1956–60). He has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as the inspiration for his approa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued for the remainder of his life. He found great popular success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts. His trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Cole also acted in films and on television and performed on Broadway. He was the first African-American man to host an American television series. He was the father of singer Natalie Cole (1950–2015). Biography Early life Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919. He had three brothers: Eddie (1910–1970), Ike (1927–2001), and Freddy (1931–2020), and a half-sister, Joyce Coles. Each of the Coles brothers pursued careers in music. When Nat King Cole was four years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vince Mendoza
Vince Mendoza (born November 17, 1961) is an American composer, music arranger and conductor, and six-time Grammy Award winner. He debuted as a solo artist in 1989, and is known for his work conducting the Metropole Orkest and WDR Big Band Köln, as well as arranging music for musicians such as Joni Mitchell, Michael Brecker and Björk. Early life Mendoza was born in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1961, He began studying music on the piano and classical guitar at an early age, before changing his focus to playing the trumpet and composing in high school, due to his love of jazz and soul music. Mendoza wrote music for his high school jazz ensemble, later continuing studies in music at Ohio State University. Intending to become a film composer, Mendoza moved to Los Angeles in 1983, where he completed a master's degree in composition at USC Thornton School of Music. Career In Los Angeles, Mendoza began to make connections in the music industry, arranging music for television and rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob James (musician)
Robert McElhiney James (born December 25, 1939) is an American jazz keyboardist, arranger, and record producer. He founded the band Fourplay and wrote "Angela", the theme song for the TV show ''Taxi.'' According to VICE (magazine), music from his first seven albums has often been sampled and believed to have contributed to the formation of hip hop. Among his most well known recordings are "Nautilus", "Westchester Lady", "Tappan Zee", and his version of "Take Me to The Mardi Gras". Early life and family James was born on Christmas Day of 1939 in Marshall, Missouri, United States. He started playing the piano at age four. His first piano teacher, Sister Mary Elizabeth, who taught at Mercy Academy, discovered that he had perfect pitch. At age seven, James began to study with R. T. Dufford, a teacher at Missouri Valley College. At age 15, James continued his studies with Franklin Launer, a teacher at Christian College in Columbia, Missouri, with more music instruction during high ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progressive and contemporary jazz, latin jazz, and jazz fusion. Metheny has three gold albums and 20 Grammy Awards and is the only person to win Grammys in 10 categories. He is the younger brother of jazz flugelhornist Mike Metheny. Biography Early years and education Metheny was born in Lee's Summit, Missouri. His father Dave played trumpet, his mother Lois sang, and his maternal grandfather Delmar was a professional trumpeter. Metheny's first instrument was trumpet, which he was taught by his brother, Mike. His brother, father, and grandfather played trios together at home. His parents were fans of Glenn Miller and swing music. They took Metheny to concerts to hear Clark Terry and Doc Severinsen, but they had little respect for guitar. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitchel Forman
Mitchel Forman (born January 24, 1956) is a jazz and fusion keyboard player. Biography and music career Mitchel Forman began studying classical piano at the age of seven. At 17 he entered the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) for three years of study and began working with bands in New York. Shortly after graduating from MSM he began touring and recording with Gerry Mulligan, playing in both Mulligan's big band and quartet, and work with Stan Getz followed. In 1980 Forman's solo career began with a piano performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. This recording became his first album, ''Live at Newport''. In subsequent years he worked on the road with Phil Woods, Carla Bley, Mel Tormé, and Astrud Gilberto. Forman also recorded two solo piano albums for Soul Note and toured in Europe regularly. He joined guitarist John McLaughlin for a year and a half on the road, recording and contributing to two of the band's recordings - the seminal ''Mahavishnu'' and ''Adventures in Radioland''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics. Early life and education McRae was born in Harlem, New York City, United States. Her father, Osmond, and mother, Evadne (Gayle) McRae, were immigrants from Jamaica. She began studying piano when she was eight, and the music of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington filled her home. When she was 17 years old, she met singer Billie Holiday. As a teenager McRae came to the attention of Teddy Wilson and his wife, the composer Irene Kitchings. One of McRae's early songs, "Dream of Life", was, through their influence, recorded in 1939 by Wilson’s long-time collaborator Billie Holiday.Brian Berger"Carmen McRae" HiLobrow, April 8, 2015. McRae considered Holiday to be her primary influence. Early career In her l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine Grammy Awards. She was given an NEA Jazz Masters Award in 1989. Critic Scott Yanow wrote that she had "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century". Early life Vaughan was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Asbury "Jake" Vaughan, a carpenter by trade who played guitar and piano, and Ada Vaughan, a laundress who sang in the church choir, migrants from Virginia. The Vaughans lived in a house on Brunswick Street in Newark for Vaughan's entire childhood. Jake was deeply religious. The family was active in New Mount Zion Baptist Church at 186 Thomas Street. Vaughan began piano lessons at the age of seven, sang in the church choir, and played piano for rehearsals and services. She developed an early love for popular music on records and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. After a tumultuous adolescence, Fitzgerald found stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" helped boost both her and Webb to national fame. After taking over the band when Webb died, Fitzgerald left it behind in 1942 to start her solo career. Her manager was Moe Gale, co-founder of the Savoy, until she turned the rest of her career over to Norman Granz, who founded Verve Records to produce new records by Fitzgerald. With Verve she recorded some of her more widely noted works, particularly he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills. After a turbulent childhood, Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem, where she was heard by producer John Hammond, who liked her voice. She signed a recording contract with Brunswick in 1935. Collaborations with Teddy Wilson produced the hit "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which became a jazz standard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia and Decca. By the late 1940s, however, she was beset with legal troubles and drug abuse. After a short prison sentence, she performed at a sold-out conce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of jazz. Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an inventive trumpet and cornet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance. Around 1922, he followed his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver, to Chicago to play in the . In Chicago, he spent time with other popular jazz musicians, reconnecting with his friend Bix Beiderbecke and spending time with Hoagy Carmichael and Lil Hardin. He earned a reputation at "cutting contests", and his fame reached band leader Fletcher Henderson. Henderson persuaded Armstrong to come to New York City, where he became a featured and musically influential band soloist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avatar Studios
Power Station at BerkleeNYC, formerly known as Avatar Studios (1996–2017) and Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The building contains 5 studio spaces: A, B, C, G, and E, as well as a black box theater. History The building was originally a Consolidated Edison power plant. In 1977, it was rebuilt as a recording studio by producer Tony Bongiovi and his partner Bob Walters. The complex was renamed Avatar Studios (under the Avatar Entertainment Corporation) in May 1996. In 2017, the studios were renamed back to Power Station, by special arrangement with Berklee NYC. The studio reopened in 2020 after a full renovation, while maintaining the studio spaces. In 1995, Sonalysts, which had begun as an underwater acoustics research company, licensed the Power Station's design and naming rights from Bongiovi and Walters. The company built a perfect replica of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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