|
Easy Like
''Easy Like, Volume 1'' is an album by jazz guitarist Barney Kessel that was released by Contemporary Records in 1956. Eight songs were released on the 10-inch album ''Barney Kessel'' which were recorded in 1953, while other songs were recorded in 1956.Contemporary Records discography accessed May 25, 2015 Reception In the review, Scott Yanow states that "the set features Kessel in boppish form".Track listing Personnel * Barney Kessel – guitar * |
Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups as well as a "first call" guitarist for studio, film, and television recording sessions. Kessel was a member of the group of session musicians informally known as the Wrecking Crew. Biography Kessel was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1923. Kessel's father was an immigrant from Hungary who owned a shoe shop. His only formal musical study was three months of guitar lessons at the age of 12. He began his career as a teenager touring with local dance bands. When he was 16, he started playing with the Oklahoma A&M band, Hal Price & the Varsitonians. The band members nicknamed him "Fruitcake" because he practiced up to 16 hours a day. Kessel gained attention because of his youth and being the only white musician playing in all African American ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
That's All (1952 Song)
"That's All" is a 1952 song written by Alan Brandt with music by Bob Haymes. It has been covered by many jazz and blues artists. The first recording, by Nat King Cole in 1953, achieved some popularity but was not among that year's top 20 songs. It was Bobby Darin's version from his 1959 album of the same title that introduced the song to a wider audience, and it has since become a jazz standard. The song is part of the Great American Songbook, and Alec Wilder included it in his book ''American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900–1950'', even though it was composed two years after that period. Wilder gave two reasons for making this exception: (1) “it is one of the last free-flowing, native, and natural melodies in the grand pop style”; (2) “it went through no initial hit phase but became an immediate standard”. Cover versions *Edie Adams on the final episode of ''The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour'' (1960) *Michael Bublé on ''Michael Bublé (2003) *Ceil Clayton on ''Ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Babasin
Yervant Harry Babasin, Jr. (19 March 1921 – 21 May 1988) was an American jazz bassist. His nickname was "The Bear". Biography Babasin was born in Dallas, Texas to an American mother and an Armenian father. He attended North Texas State University, one of many noted jazz alumni from the school. Among them were Jimmy Giuffre, with whom Babasin played in Bill Ware's orchestra around 1940, and Herb Ellis, who played with Babasin in the Charlie Fisk Orchestra starting in 1942. Fisk actually fired his rhythm section after hearing Ellis and Babasin play, and after he was admitted, Babasin quit school to go on tour with Fisk. He also toured in the 1940s with Jimmy Joy, Bob Strong, Billie Rogers, Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet, Boyd Raeburn, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Frank DeVol, and Jerry Gray. He also appeared in ''A Song Is Born'', one of many jazz stars to play roles in the film. On the set of the film, he met Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida, and the two began jamming together; a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claude Williamson
Claude Berkeley Williamson (November 18, 1926 – July 16, 2016) was an American jazz pianist. Williamson was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, United States. He studied at the New England Conservatory of Music before moving to jazz, influenced mainly by Teddy Wilson, then by Al Haig and Bud Powell. In 1947, he moved to California, working first with Teddy Edwards, then with Red Norvo in San Francisco, with Charlie Barnet in 1949, and with June Christy for two years. Later he worked with Max Roach, Art Pepper and others. Williamson was a longtime member of the Lighthouse All-Stars (substituting for pianist Russ Freeman), performing with Bud Shank, Stan Levey, Bob Cooper, Conte Candoli and Howard Rumsey. In 1956, he became the piano player in the Bud Shank quartet. In 1968, he started working as a pianist for NBC, first on ''The Andy Williams Show'', then for Sonny and Cher. In 1978, Williamson went back to the jazz world and released many albums, mainly for Japanese labels, of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arnold Ross (musician)
Arnold Ross (January 29, 1921, Boston - June 5, 2000, Culver City, California) was an American jazz pianist. Arnold learned clarinet, trumpet, and violin as a child before picking up piano when he was twelve years old. He played on a cruise ship before relocating to New York City, working there with Jack Jenney. He then joined Vaughn Monroe's backing band, and in 1943 was drafted and entered the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. From 1944 to 1947 he worked with Harry James; around the same time he played with Harry Edison, Charlie Ventura, and Charlie Parker. He moved to California in 1947, working with Lena Horne, Dizzy Gillespie, Bob Crosby, and Billy Eckstine, in addition to leading his own small group. By 1960 Ross had become addicted to heroin, and entered a Synanon treatment program; he became affiliated with the Synanon organization and appeared in the ''Synanon'' film in 1965.James M. Doran, "Arnold Ross". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bud Shank
Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first-call studio musician in Hollywood. In the 1970s and 1980s, he performed regularly with the L. A. Four. Shank ultimately abandoned the flute to focus exclusively on playing jazz on the alto saxophone. He also recorded on tenor and baritone sax. His most famous recording is probably the version of "Harlem Nocturne" used as the theme song in ''Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer''. He is also well known for the alto flute solo on the song "California Dreamin'" recorded by The Mamas & the Papas in 1965. Biography Bud Shank was born in Dayton, Ohio, United States. He began with clarinet in Vandalia, Ohio, but had switched to saxophone before attending the Universi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddy Collette
William Marcel "Buddy" Collette (August 6, 1921 – September 19, 2010) was an American jazz flutist, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He was a founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Early life William Marcel Collette was born in Los Angeles on August 6, 1921. He was raised in Watts, surrounded by people of all different ethnicities. He lived in a house built by his father in an area with cheap, plentiful land. The neighborhood in which he grew up was called Central Gardens area. For elementary school, he attended Ninety-sixth Street School because it allowed black students. Other schools in the area, such as South Gate Junior High School, did not and Collette often felt odd entering areas primarily inhabited by whites. Collette's family did not have a lot of money, but his childhood gave him the chance to mix with all sorts of different people. The “melting pot” of Watts framed the way he saw his position as a black man in the future. Buddy Collette bega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
April In Paris (song)
"April in Paris" is a popular song composed by Vernon Duke with lyrics by Yip Harburg in 1932 for the Broadway musical '' Walk a Little Faster''. The original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin, and the 1952 remake (inspired by the movie of the same name) was by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, whose version made the Cashbox Top 50. Composer Alec Wilder writes, "There are no two ways about it: this is a perfect theater song. If that sounds too reverent, then I'll reduce the praise to 'perfectly wonderful,' or else say that if it's not perfect, show me why it isn't." Recordings Count Basie version Count Basie's 1955 recording on the album of the same name is the most famous, and that particular performance was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The arrangement was by Wild Bill Davis. On this recording, trumpeter Thad Jones played his famous "Pop Goes the Weasel" solo, trombonist Benny Powell performed his much noted bridge, and Basie directs the band to play the shout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Gaines
Otho Lee Gaines (April 21, 1914 – July 15, 1987) was an American jazz singer and lyricist. Gaines wrote the lyrics for "Take the "A" Train" and "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'", two jazz standards by Billy Strayhorn. Lee Gaines was from Buena Vista, in Mississippi, and began singing as a bass in high school, he formed a vocal quartet at Langston University in 1933, and returned to the United States in 1937 having toured South America. Gaines was a founding member of the Delta Rhythm Boys who achieved their peak popularity in the 1940s and 50's, having recorded with Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Jimmy Lunceford, Charlie Barnet, Fred Astaire, Ruth Brown and Les Paul. The Delta Rhythm Boys moved to Europe in the 1950s. Gaines had lived in Finland for a year at the time of his death from cancer in 1987 and he is buried in Maunulan uurnalehto, an urn cemetery at Helsinki (section 39, lot 109). Gaines was married to Muriel Gaines, a calypso singer and former Cotton Club The Cot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)
"Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)" is a 1941 popular song composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics by Lee Gaines. The song has been recorded numerous times by a number of artists in the years since, having become a jazz standard. Hit recordings have been by Paul Weston & His Orchestra (vocal by Matt Dennis) (reached No. 21 in the '' Billboard'' charts in 1947) and by The Four Aces (No. 20 in 1952). Other notable recordings * Louis Armstrong – originally recorded with Duke Ellington in 1961 for an album called ''The Great Reunion'' and later included in the compilation CD ''The Great Summit'' (2001) * Dave Brubeck * Clark Terry – '' Duke with a Difference'' (1957) * Chris Connor – ''A Jazz Date With Chris Connor'' (1956) *Miles Davis – '' Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet'' (1955) *Ella Fitzgerald – ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook'' (1957) * Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells – ''Together'' (Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells album) (1964) *Joni James ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Nemo
Henry Nemo (June 8, 1909 – November 26, 1999) was a musician, songwriter, and actor in Hollywood films who had a reputation as a hipster. Band leading In 1941, Nemo formed his own 19-piece band. The group featured four Chinese women as singers. Playing on his nickname, "The Neme," the band's slogan was "Hit the Beam with the Neme." Musical compositions Nemo's first hit composition was "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart." He also composed the song standards "Don't Take Your Love From Me" and " 'Tis Autumn", both published in 1941. He also composed the incidental music and lyrics for the 1959 Broadway production of Saul Levitt's play ''The Andersonville Trial'' directed by José Ferrer and starring George C. Scott. Nemo worked with Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Mildred Bailey, Tommy Dorsey. Artie Shaw recorded his song "Don't Take Your Love from Me" in 1941 with a band of mostly African-American musicians accompanying African-American vocalist Lena Horne. During his seven-decade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irving Mills
Irving Harold Mills (born Isadore Minsky; January 16, 1894 – April 21, 1985) was an American music publisher, musician, lyricist, and jazz artist promoter. He sometimes used the pseudonyms Goody Goodwin and Joe Primrose. Personal Mills was born to a Jewish family in Odessa, Russian Empire, although some biographies state that he was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. His father, Hyman Minsky (1868–1905), was a hat maker who had immigrated from Odessa to the United States with his wife Sofia ''(née'' Sophia Dudis; born 1870). Hyman died in 1905, forcing Irving and his brother, Jacob ''(aka'' "Jack"; 1891–1979), to work odd jobs including bussing at restaurants, selling wallpaper, and working in the garment industry. By 1910, Mills was listed as a telephone operator. Mills married Beatrice ("Bessie") Wilensky (1896–1976) in 1911 and they subsequently moved to Philadelphia. By 1918, Mills was working for publisher Leo Feist. His brother, Jack, was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
