Gus Bivona
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Gus Bivona
Gus Bivona (November 25, 1915 – January 5, 1996) was an American reed player — covering a range of clarinets, saxophones and flute — at the height of the big band era. Following World War II, he was a staff musician for the MGM Studio Orchestra, playing on countless soundtracks and sessions. He later became a well-known sidekick of pianist, composer, comedian, and television host Steve Allen. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Bivona began leading his own band, releasing albums under his own name for labels such as Mercury and Warner Bros. The 1930s - music upbringing Bivona got his musical start under the close eye of his parents, both of whom were also musicians. His mother was a pianist, and his father was a guitarist. Bivona's first instrument was violin, but he switched to a combination of alto saxophone and clarinet at the age of 16. His professional debut was in a band led by Spider Johnson, followed by dates all around New England in Leo Scalzi's Brunswick Orchestr ...
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New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades beginning in the early 19th century, along with Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts. The wealth that whaling brought into the city furnished the capital to fund much of the city's present architecture. The city subsequently became home to other shipping and manufacturing industries, but it has gradually lost most of its industrial heart. New London is home to the United States Coast Guard Academy, Connecticut College, Mitchell College, and The Williams School. The Coast Guard Station New London and New London Harbor is home port to the Coast Guard Cutter ''Coho'' and the Coast Guard's tall ship ''Eagle''. The city had a population of 27,367 at the 2020 census. The Norwich–New London metropolitan area includes 21 towns and 274,055 ...
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Bunny Berigan
Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan (November 2, 1908 – June 2, 1942) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era. His career and influence were shortened by alcoholism, and ended with his early demise at the age of 33 from cirrhosis. Although he composed some jazz instrumentals such as "Chicken and Waffles" and "Blues", Berigan was best known for his virtuoso jazz trumpeting. His 1937 classic recording "I Can't Get Started" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1975. Early life and career Berigan was born in Hilbert, Wisconsin, the son of William Patrick Berigan and Mary Catherine (Mayme) Schlitzberg, and raised in Fox Lake. Having learned the violin and trumpet, Berigan started his career playing with local bands as a teenager, including the University of Wisconsin's jazz ensemble (although he never actually went to college). After first trying out for the Hal Kemp Orchestra and being rejected he joined the band in late 1929. His fi ...
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Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and twenty Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. His works include the theme and soundtrack for the ''Peter Gunn'' television series as well as the music for ''The Pink Panther'' film series ("The Pink Panther Theme") and " Moon River" from '' Breakfast at Tiffany's''. ''The Music from Peter Gunn'' won the inaugural Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Mancini enjoyed a long collaboration in composing film scores for the film director Blake Edwards. Mancini also scored a No. 1 hit single during the rock era on the Hot 100: his arrangement and recording of the " Love Theme from ''Romeo and Juliet''" spent two weeks at the top, starting with the week ending June 28, 1969. Early ...
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Skip Martin
Lloyd Vernon "Skip" Martin (May 14, 1916, in Robinson, Illinois – February 12, 1976, in Los Angeles, California) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and music arranger. Background Martin was active principally as an arranger for some of the most popular swing jazz bands of the 1930s and 1940s. He worked with Count Basie, Charlie Barnet (1939–40), Benny Goodman (1941), and Glenn Miller (1941–42); doubling as a reedist with the last three. In the Goodman orchestra he played alto sax alongside Gus Bivona and recorded with the legendary trumpeter Cootie Williams in the early 1940s as well. Later in the 1940s he worked with Les Brown (memorably the big-band chart for ''I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm''), then moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s, where he did extensive work as a staff and freelance orchestrator, studio conductor (e.g. Astaire's ''Royal Wedding'', 1951) and popular song arranger (often for Tony Martin, The Pied Pipers, the Andrews and De Castro siste ...
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West Coast Jazz
West Coast jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music relied relatively more on composition and arrangement than on the individually improvised playing of other jazz styles. Although this style dominated, it was not the only form of jazz heard on the American West Coast. History Background Before World War II, the west coast of the U.S. hosted a bustling music scene, though its activity remained largely localized. In 1917, Jelly Roll Morton moved to California and remained in Los Angeles until 1922, when he left for Chicago. Kid Ory formed a band in Los Angeles after moving to California in 1919. In 1944, Norman Granz began staging Jazz at the Philharmonic shows at Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles. In 1946, Ross Russell established Dial Records in Hollywood to record Charlie Parker during his s ...
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Roundtable (jazz Club)
The Round Table ( cy, y Ford Gron; kw, an Moos Krenn; br, an Daol Grenn; la, Mensa Rotunda) is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status, unlike conventional rectangular tables where participants order themselves according to rank. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur's fabulous retinue. The symbolism of the Round Table developed over time; by the close of the 12th century it had come to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthur's court, the Knights of the Round Table. Origins Though the Round Table is not mentioned in the earliest accounts, tales of King Arthur having a marvellous court made up of many prominent warriors are ancient. Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' (composed c. 1136) says that, after establishing peace throughout Britain, Arth ...
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Gus Bivona 3
Gus is a masculine name, often a diminutive for Angus, August, Augustine, or Augustus, and other names (e.g. Aengus, Argus, Fergus, Ghassan, Gustav, Gustave, Gustafson, Gustavo, Gussie). It can also be used as the adaptation into English of the popular Greek name (of Latin origin) Kostas or Konstantinos (Constantin), especially amongst Greek immigrants in English-speaking countries, probably due to similarity in the sound. Gus may refer to: People Given name * Gus Arnheim (1897–1955), American pianist, bandleader and songwriter * Gus Edwards (vaudeville) (1878–1945), German-born American songwriter, vaudevillian and music producer, born Gustave Schmelowsky * Gus Edwards (American football) (born 1995), American football player * Gus Hall (1910–2000), longtime leader of the Communist Party USA, born Arvo Kustaa Halberg * Gus Johnson (basketball) (1938–1987), American National Basketball Association player * Gus Johnson (jazz musician) (1913–2000), American jazz drum ...
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Bob Crosby
George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the younger brother of famed singer and actor Bing Crosby. On TV, Bob Crosby guest-starred in ''The Gisele MacKenzie Show''. He was also a regular cast member of ''The Jack Benny Program,'' on both radio and television, taking over the role of bandleader after Phil Harris' departure. Crosby hosted his own afternoon TV variety show on CBS, '' The Bob Crosby Show'' (1953–1957). Crosby received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for television and radio. Early years Crosby was born in Spokane, Washington, to bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Catherine "Kate" Harrigan, the daughter of a builder from County Mayo in Ireland. The couple had seven children: Larry, Everett, Ted, Harry (popularly known as Bing Crosby), Catherine, Mary Rose, and ...
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Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombone playing. His theme song was "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You". His technical skill on the trombone gave him renown among other musicians. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid-1930s, he led an extremely successful band from the late 1930s into the 1950s. He is best remembered for standards such as "Opus No. 1, Opus One", "Song of India (song), Song of India", "Marie", "On Treasure Island", and his biggest hit single, "I'll Never Smile Again". Early life Born in Mahanoy Plane, Pennsylvania, Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. was the second of four children born to Thomas Francis Dorsey Sr., a bandleader, and Theresa (née Langton) Dorsey. He and Jimmy, his older brother by slightly ...
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Les Brown (bandleader)
Lester Raymond Brown (March 14, 1912 – January 4, 2001) was an American jazz musician who led the big band Les Brown and His Band of Renown for nearly seven decades from 1938 to 2000. Biography Brown was born in Reinerton, Pennsylvania. He enrolled in the Conway Military Band School (later part of Ithaca College) in 1926, studying with famous bandleader Patrick Conway for three years before receiving a music scholarship to the New York Military Academy, where he graduated in 1932. Brown attended college at Duke University from 1932 to 1936. There he led the group Les Brown and His Blue Devils, who performed regularly on Duke's campus and up and down the east coast. Brown took the band on an extensive summer tour in 1936. At the end of the tour, while some of the band members returned to Duke to continue their education, others stayed on with Brown and continued to tour, becoming in 1938 the Band of Renown. The band's original drummer, Don Kramer, became the acting manager and ...
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Jan Savitt
Jan Savitt (born Jacob Savetnick; September 4, 1907 – October 4, 1948), known as "The Stokowski of Swing", from having played violin in Leopold Stokowski's orchestra, was an American bandleader, musical arranger, and violinist. Early life and education Savitt was born in Shumsk, then part of the Russian Empire (now part of Ukraine) and reared in Philadelphia. He evidenced musical ability an early age and began winning conservatory scholarships in the study of the violin. He was offered the position of concert master in Leopold Stokowski's Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, but turned it down, preferring to continue his studies at Curtis Institute. About a year later, believing himself ready, he joined Stokowski and the association continued for seven years, during which time Savitt gained further laurels as a concert soloist and leader of a string quartet. Family Savitt was married to model Barbara Ann Stillwell from 1940 until his death in 1948, and had two daughters with her ...
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Charlie Christian
Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. For this, he is often credited with leading to the development of the lead guitar role in musical ensembles and bands. John Hammond and George T. Simon called Christian the best improvisational talent of the swing era. In the liner notes to the album '' Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian'' (Columbia, 1972), Gene Lees wrote that "Many critics and musicians consider that Christian was one of the founding fathers of bebop, or if not that, at least a precursor to it."Liner notes. '' ...
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