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Digital Duke
''Digital Duke'' is an album by Mercer Ellington and the Duke Ellington Orchestra that won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1988. Track listing Personnel * Mercer Ellington – conductor * Clark Terry – flugelhorn, trumpet * Lew Soloff – flugelhorn, trumpet * Barry Hall – flugelhorn, trumpet * Ron Tooley – flugelhorn, trumpet * Kamau Adilifu – flugelhorn, trumpet * Al Grey – trombone * Britt Woodman – trombone * Chuck Connors – bass trombone * Eddie Daniels – clarinet, tenor sax * Herman Riley – clarinet, tenor sax * Charles Owens – clarinet, bass clarinet, baritone sax * Norris Turney – alto sax * Branford Marsalis – tenor sax * Roland Hanna – piano * Gerald Wiggins – piano * Bucky Pizzarelli – guitar * J. J. Wiggins – bass * Louie Bellson – drums * Ricky White – drums Production * Dave Grusin – executive producer * Larry Rosen – executive producer * Mercer Ellington – producer * Michael Abene – producer ... [...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] |
Juan Tizol
Juan Tizol Martínez (22 January 1900 – 23 April 1984) was a Puerto Rican jazz trombonist and composer. He is best known as a member of Duke Ellington's big band, and as the writer of the jazz standards " Caravan", "Pyramid", and " Perdido". Biography Tizol was born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Music was a large part of his life from an early age. His first instrument was the violin, but he soon switched to valve trombone, the instrument he played throughout his career. His musical training came mostly from his uncle Manuel Tizol, who was the director of the municipal band and the symphony in San Juan. Throughout his youth, Tizol played in his uncle's band and also gained experience by playing in local operas, ballets and dance bands. In 1920, Tizol joined a band that was traveling to the United States to work in Washington, D.C. The group eventually made it to Washington (traveling as stowaways) and established residence at the Howard Theater, where they played for tour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Take The "A" Train
"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra. History The use of the Strayhorn composition as the signature tune was made necessary by a ruling in 1940 by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). When ASCAP raised its licensing fees for broadcast use, many ASCAP members, including Ellington, could no longer play their compositions over radio, as most music was played live on radio at the time. Ellington turned to Billy Strayhorn and son Mercer Ellington, who were registered with ASCAP's competitor BMI, to "write a whole new book for the band," Mercer recalled. "'A' Train" was one of many tunes written by Strayhorn, and was picked to replace "Sepia Panorama" as the band's signature song. Mercer recalled that he found the composition in a trash can after Strayhorn discarded a draft of it because it sounded too much like a Fletcher Henderson arrangement. The song was first recorded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitchell Parish
Mitchell Parish (born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky; July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist, notably as a writer of songs for stage and screen. Biography Parish was born to a Jewish family in Lithuania, Russian Empire in July 1900 His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901, aboard the '' SS Dresden'' when he was less than a year old. They settled first in Louisiana where his paternal grandmother had relatives, but later moved to New York City, where he grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and received his education in the public schools. He attended Columbia University and N.Y.U. and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He eventually abandoned the notion of practicing law to become a songwriter. He served his apprenticeship as a writer of special material for vaudeville acts, and later established himself as a writer of songs for stage, screen and numerous musical revues. By the late 1920s, Parish was a well-regarded Tin Pan Alley ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sophisticated Lady
"Sophisticated Lady" is a jazz standard, composed as an instrumental in 1932 by Duke Ellington. Background Additional credit is given to publisher Irving Mills whose words were added to the song by Mitchell Parish. The words met with approval from Ellington, who described them as "wonderful—but not entirely fitted to my original conception". That original conception was inspired by three of Ellington's grade school teachers. "They taught all winter and toured Europe in the summer. To me that spelled sophistication." Lawrence Brown, the trombone player in Ellington's band at the time, claimed that he was responsible for the main hook in the A section of the tune. Ellington paid him $15 for his contribution, but he was never officially credited. Duke Ellington and His Orchestra introduced "Sophisticated Lady" in 1933 with an instrumental recording of the song that featured solos by Toby Hardwick on alto sax, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Lawrence Brown on trombone and Ellingto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milt Gabler
Milton Gabler (May 20, 1911 – July 20, 2001) was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century. These included being the first person to deal in record reissues, the first to sell records by mail order, and the first to credit all the musicians on the recordings. He was also a successful songwriter, writing the lyrics for a number of standards, including "In a Mellow Tone," "Danke Schoen," and "L-O-V-E." Early life Gabler was born to a Jewish family in Harlem, New York, the son of Susie (née Kasindorf) and Julius Gabler. His father was an Austrian Jewish immigrant from Vienna, and his mother's family were Jewish immigrants from Russia, including Rostov. At 15, he began working in his father's business, the Commodore Radio Corporation, a radio shop located on East 42nd Street in New York City. Career 1930s By the mid-1930s, Gabler renamed the business the Commodore Music Shop, and it became a focal point for ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In A Mellow Tone
"In a Mellow Tone", also known as "In a Mellotone", is a 1939 jazz standard composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics written by Milt Gabler. The song was based on the 1917 standard "Rose Room" by Art Hickman and Harry Williams, which Ellington himself had recorded in 1932. Howard Stern used a recording of this song (from Ellington's '' Blues in Orbit'' album) as the opening theme to ''The Howard Stern Show'' from 1987 to 1994. Notable recordings *Red Norvo (1943) *Erroll Garner - '' Contrasts'' (1954) *Clark Terry - '' Duke with a Difference'' (1957) *Chico Hamilton with Eric Dolphy - ''The Original Ellington Suite'' (1958) *Ella Fitzgerald - ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook'' (1958) *Ben Webster (with Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge) - '' Ben Webster and Associates'' (1959) *Count Basie - '' Breakfast Dance and Barbecue'' (1959) * Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross - ''The Hottest New Group in Jazz'' (1960) *Billy May - '' Cha Cha! Billy May'' (1960) *Coleman Hawkins wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie DeLange
Eddie DeLange (''né'' Edgar DeLange Moss; 15 January 1904 – 15 July 1949) was an American bandleader and lyricist. Famous artists who recorded some of DeLange's songs include Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. Biography DeLange was born in Long Island City, Queens, New York. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1926. He became a stunt man in twenty-four comedies produced by Universal Studios, often for Reginald Denny. DeLange went back to New York City in 1932, earning a contract with Irving Mills. He had several hits in his first year, including " Moonglow." He and composer Will Hudson ''(né'' Arthur Murray Hainer; 1908–1981) formed the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra in 1935. The Orchestra recorded many of their collaborative songs and did many road shows as well. Hudson and DeLange's partnership dissolved in 1938, but DeLange created a new band that played on several tours. He formed a new part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In My Solitude
"(In My) Solitude" is a 1934 composition by Duke Ellington, with lyrics by Eddie DeLange and Irving Mills. It has been recorded numerous times and is considered a jazz standard. Ellington reported that he composed it in a recording studio in 20 minutes, as his orchestra had arrived with three pieces to record and required another. It is in D major and has an AABA form (although "the IV chord in measure 3 is replaced by a II7 the second time"). According to Ellington, the title was suggested by trumpeter Arthur Whetsel. An AllMusic writer describes the composition as "at once optimistic in its tone but somber in its pace, conflicted with the emotions of bitter loneliness and fond remembrance". The mood is set "in the very first phrase of the melody, with its ascent to the leading tone of the scale falling just short of the tonic, and in the seemingly unremarkable chord progressions that nevertheless manage to transform harmonic resolution into wistful resignation". The first recor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Hodges
Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano saxophone, but refused to play soprano after 1946. Along with Benny Carter, Hodges is considered to be one of the definitive alto saxophone players of the big band era. After beginning his career as a teenager in Boston, Hodges began to travel to New York and played with Lloyd Scott, Sidney Bechet, Luckey Roberts and Chick Webb. When Ellington wanted to expand his band in 1928, Ellington's clarinet player Barney Bigard recommended Hodges. His playing became one of the identifying voices of the Ellington orchestra. From 1951 to 1955, Hodges left the Duke to lead his own band, but returned shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence – the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Biography Early life Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Russell (songwriter)
Bob Russell (April 25, 1914 – February 18, 1970) was an American songwriter (mainly lyricist) born Sidney Keith Rosenthal in Passaic, New Jersey. Career Russell attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He worked as an advertising copywriter in New York; for a time, his roommate there was Sidney Sheldon, later a novelist. He turned to writing material for vaudeville acts, and then for film studios, ultimately writing complete scores for two movies: ''Jack and the Beanstalk (1952 film), Jack and the Beanstalk'' and ''Reach for Glory''. The latter film received the Locarno International Film Festival prize in 1962. A number of other movies featured compositions by Russell, including ''Affair in Trinidad'' (1952), ''The Blue Gardenia, Blue Gardenia'' (1953), ''The Girl Can't Help It'' (1956), ''The Girl Most Likely'' (1957), ''A Matter of WHO'' (1961), ''Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd'' (1952), ''Sound Off (film), Sound Off'' (1952), ''That Midnight Kiss'' (1949 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
"Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" (also written as "Do Nothin' Til You Hear from Me") is a song with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell. It originated as a 1940 instrumental ("Concerto for Cootie") that was designed to highlight the playing of Ellington's lead trumpeter, Cootie Williams. Russell's words were added later. In 1944, Ellington's own recording of the song was a number one hit R&B chart for eight non-consecutive weeks and number six on the pop chart. Other recordings to reach the ''Billboard'' charts in 1944 were by Woody Herman and by Stan Kenton (vocal: Red Dorris). Other versions "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" has since been performed by many other famous musical artists, including: *Nat King Cole, 1944, with The King Cole Trio *Billie Holiday, 1944 - Live, 1955, Studio, '' Stay With Me'' *Lena Horne, 1944, appears on her 2002 compilation album ''The Young Star'' *Patti Page, 1949, released in 1986 on ''The Uncollected Patti Page (1949): Patti P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
