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I'm Beginning To See The Light
"I'm Beginning to See the Light" is a popular song and jazz standard, with music written by Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, and Harry James and lyrics by Don George and published in 1944. 1945 recordings *Duke Ellington recorded the song in New York City on December 1, 1944. Released as RCA Victor 20-1618 in early 1945, the record by Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra, featuring a vocal by Joya Sherrill, went to No. 4 on the Harlem Hit Parade chart in ''Billboard'' and reached No. 6 on the pop chart. *A competing recording by Harry James and his Orchestra, with lead vocals by Kitty Kallen, reached No. 1 for two weeks in January 1945. James' version also reached No. 7 on ''Billboards Second Annual High School Survey in 1945. *The Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald recorded a version for Decca Records, featuring singer Bill Kenny, that was on the pop song hits list for six weeks in 1945 and reached No. 5. * The Delta Rhythm Boys also recorded a version of the song in 1945. Oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become Standard (music), standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan (1937 song), Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty five-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Kenny (singer)
William Francis Kenny Jr. (June 12, 1914 – March 23, 1978) was an American vocalist with a wide vocal range spanning four octaves. Often regarded as one of the most influential high-tenor singers of all time, Kenny was noted for his "bell-like" vocal clarity and impeccable diction. Although he is most famous for his role as lead tenor with the Ink Spots, Kenny also led a successful solo career after disbanding the Ink Spots in 1954.Goldberg, Marv (1998). ''More Than Words Can Say: The Ink Spots And Their Music'', Scarecrow Press. Throughout the 1950s and 60s Kenny recorded, toured the world and appeared on many popular variety television shows. In 1966 Kenny became the star and host of his own musical variety show '' The Bill Kenny Show'' which aired on CBC.''Jet Magazine'', October 21, 1965, p. 56. In 1989, 11 years after his death, Bill Kenny was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kenny is often noted as being the "godfather" of R&B tenor vocalists. Early life an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joanie Sommers
Joanie Sommers (born Joan Drost, February 24, 1941) is an American singer and actress. Her career has focused on jazz, standards and popular song. Early in her career she was billed as "The Voice of the Sixties"; she also collaborated with prominent arrangers, songwriters and producers. Her most recognized song is " Johnny Get Angry", which although atypical of her work became a popular success. Career Sommers was born in Buffalo, New York, She began singing in church to deal with "a difficult childhood". In 1951, at the age of ten, she won an amateur talent contest on a Buffalo television program by singing the Hank Williams song, " Your Cheating Heart". She spent her youth living with her family in North Tonawanda and attended school there until the age of fourteen. In 1955, her family relocated to the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, where she won honors as a vocalist with her high school band at Venice High School. She subsequently earned additional distinctions at Santa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnnie Ray
John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music, and his animated stage personality. Tony Bennett called Ray the "father of rock and roll", and historians have noted him as a pioneering figure in the development of the genre. Born and raised in Dallas, Oregon, Ray, who was partially deaf, began singing professionally at age 15 on Portland radio stations. He gained a local following singing at small, predominantly African-American nightclubs in Detroit, where he was discovered in 1949. In 1951, he signed a contract with Okeh Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. On the ''Billboard'' charts, he rose quickly from obscurity with the release of his debut album '' Johnnie Ray'' (1952), as well as with a 78 rpm single, both of whose sides reached the ''Billboard' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Things Are Swingin'
''Things Are Swingin' '' is an album by singer Peggy Lee with music arranged and conducted by Jack Marshall. Track listing # "It's a Wonderful World" ( Harold Adamson, Jan Savitt, Johnny Watson) – 2:14 # "Things Are Swingin'" (Peggy Lee, Jack Marshall) – 2:12 # " Alright, Okay, You Win" (Mayme Watts, Sidney Wyche) – 2:53 # " Ridin' High" (Cole Porter) – 2:10 # " It's Been a Long, Long Time" ( Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) – 2:19 # "Lullaby in Rhythm" ( Benny Goodman, Walter Hirsch, Clarence Profit, Edgar Sampson) – 2:16 # " Alone Together" (Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz) – 2:07 # " I'm Beginning to See the Light" (Duke Ellington, Don George, Johnny Hodges, Harry James) – 1:48 # "It's a Good, Good Night" (Lee) – 1:56 # " You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me" ( Al Dubin, Harry Warren) – 2:42 # "You're Mine, You" ( Johnny Green, Edward Heyman) – 1:48 # "Life Is for Livin'" (Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 3:13 The 2004 CD re-release includes the non-album s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peggy Lee
Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, Lee created a sophisticated persona, writing music for films, acting, and recording conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Called the "Queen of American pop music", Lee recorded more than 1,100 mastering (audio), masters and co-wrote over 270 songs. Early life Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, United States, on May 26, 1920, the seventh of the eight children of Selma Emele (née Anderson) Egstrom and Marvin Olaf Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad. Her family were Lutheranism, Lutherans. Her father was Swedish-American and her mother was Norwegian-American. After her mother died when Lee was four, her father married Minnie Sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connie Francis
Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero ( ; born December 12, 1937), known as Connie Francis, is a retired American Pop music, pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. She is estimated to have sold more than 200 million records worldwide. In 1960, Francis was recognized as the most successful female artist in Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Australia, and in every other country where records were purchased. She was the first woman in history to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 when "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" topped the chart in 1960, she was also the first woman to have 3 No. 1 hits on the chart, just three of her 53 career hits. Biography 1937–1955: Early life and first appearances Francis was born to an Italian-American family (one of her grandfathers having immigrated from Reggio Calabria in 1905) in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey, the first child of George Franconero (191 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Tormé At The Crescendo (1957 Album)
''Gene Norman Presents Mel Tormé at the Crescendo'' is a 1957 live album by Mel Tormé, recorded at The Crescendo nightclub in Los Angeles. Track listing # "It's Only a Paper Moon" (Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg, Billy Rose) – 3:22 # " What Is This Thing Called Love?" (Cole Porter) – 3:55 # "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" (Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 4:47 # "Love Is Just a Bug" ( Specs Powell) – 2:32 # " A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" (Eric Maschwitz, Manning Sherwin) – 2:53 # " Autumn Leaves" (Joseph Kosma, Mercer, Jacques Prévert) – 1:32 # " Just One of Those Things" (Porter) – 2:29 # " The Girl Next Door" (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – 2:58 # "Lover, Come Back to Me" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Sigmund Romberg) – 2:43 # "Looking at You" (Porter) – 2:50 # " (Love Is) The Tender Trap" (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 3:26 # "I'm Beginning to See the Light" (Duke Ellington, Don George, Johnny Hodges, Harry James) – 2:23 Personnel * Mel Tor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "the Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arrangement, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Robert Wells (songwriter), Bob Wells. Tormé won two Grammy Awards and was nominated a total of 14 times. Early life and education Melvin Howard Tormé was born in Chicago, Illinois, to William David Tormé (born Wowe Torma, also spelled as Tarme or Tarmo), a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish immigrant from Brest, Belarus, Brest (now Belarus), and Sarah "Betty" Tormé (''née'' Sopkin), a New York City native. Named after the actor Melvyn Douglas, Tormé grew up in a home filled with music and entertainment. His father, whom he recalled as having the pure voice of a cantor, had been an amateur dancer in his youth. His aunt Faye Tormé had risen to local fame in Chicago, where, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards
''The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards'' is an album by vocalist Joe Williams and pianist/bandleader Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded in 1956 and released on the Verve label. accessed November 20, 2015 It was Williams' second album with Basie following '' Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings''. Reception awarded the album 3 stars.[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Williams (jazz Singer)
Joe Williams (born Joseph Goreed; December 12, 1918 – March 29, 1999) was an American jazz singer. He sang with big bands, such as the Count Basie Orchestra and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, and with small combos. He sang in two films with the Basie orchestra and sometimes worked as an actor. Early life Williams was born in Cordele, Georgia, the son of Willie Goreed and Anne Beatrice, ''née'' Gilbert. When he was about three, his mother and grandmother took him to Chicago; he grew up on the South Side, Chicago, South Side, where he attended Austin Otis Sexton Elementary School and Englewood Technical Prep Academy, Englewood High School. In the 1930s, as a teenager, he was a member of a gospel group, the Jubilee Boys, and performed in Chicago churches. Career Williams began singing professionally as a soloist in 1937. He sometimes sang with big bands: from 1937 he performed with Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra, and also toured with Les Hite in the Midwest. In 1941, he tour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, his minimalist piano style, and others. Many musicians came to prominence under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, the guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison, plunger trombonist Al Grey, and singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Dennis Rowland, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams (jazz singer), Joe Williams. As a composer, Basie is known for writing such jazz standards as "Blue and Sentimental", "Jumpin' at the Woodside" and "One O'Clock Jump" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
