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Jack Washington
Ronald "Jack" Washington (July 17, 1910 – November 28, 1964) was an American jazz saxophonist who was a member of the Count Basie orchestra in the 1930s and 1940s. Life and career Born in Kansas City, Kansas, he started playing soprano saxophone in his teens before switching to baritone. He began his professional career with the pianist Paul Banks and then toured the Midwest with Jesse Stone's Blues Serenaders. He joined Bennie Moten's Orchestra in summer 1927.Driggs, Frank; Chuck Haddix (2005)''Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop-A History'', p. 55. Oxford University Press, ISBN 019536435X, 9780195364354.''Google Books''. Retrieved 10 December 2022. After Moten's death in 1935, he joined Count Basie's band and remained with Basie until 1950 except for a short period in the U.S. Army. He performed with the Basie band at the ''From Spirituals to Swing'' concerts in New York City in 1938 and 1939.''From Spirituals to Swing'', liner notes, Definitive Records CD reissu ... [...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, 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, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams. Biography Early life and education William Basie was born to Lillian and Harvey Lee Basie in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father worked as a coachman and caretaker for a wealthy judge. After automobiles replaced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 156,607, making it one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is situated at Kaw Point, the junction of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. It is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified Government". It is the location of the University of Kansas Medical Center and Kansas City Kansas Community College. History In October 1872, "old" Kansas City, Kansas, was incorporated. The first city election was held on October 22 of that year, by order of Judge Hiram Stevens of the Tenth Judicial District, and resulted in the election of Mayor James Boyle. The mayors of the city after its organization were James Boyle, C. A. Eidemiller, A. S. Orbison, Eli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soprano Saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass saxophone and tubax. Soprano saxophones are the smallest and thus highest-pitched saxophone in common use. The instrument A transposing instrument pitched in the key of B, modern soprano saxophones with a high F key have a range from concert A3 to E6 (written low B to high F) and are therefore pitched one octave above the tenor saxophone. There is also a soprano saxophone pitched in C, which is uncommon; most examples were produced in America in the 1920s. The soprano has all the keys of other saxophone models (with the exception of the low A on some baritones and altos). Soprano saxophones were originally keyed from low B to high E, but a low B mechanism was patented in 1887 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baritone Sax
The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contrabass and subcontrabass saxophones are relatively uncommon. Like all saxophones, it is a single-reed instrument. It is commonly used in concert bands, chamber music, military bands, big bands, and jazz combos. It can also be found in other ensembles such as rock bands and marching bands. Modern baritone saxophones are pitched in E. History The baritone saxophone was created in 1846 by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax as one of a family of 14 instruments. Sax believed these instruments would provide a useful tonal link between the woodwinds and brasses. The family was divided into two groups of seven saxophones each, from the soprano to the contrabass. Though a design for an F baritone saxophone is included in the C and F family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Banks (jazz Pianist)
Paul Banks was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer and lyricist. In September 1923, Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra recorded four of Banks's compositions for OKeh Records.''Discography of American Historical Recordings''Paul".University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Library. Retrieved 10 December 2022. Based in Kansas City in the mid-1920s, Banks's bands were contemporaneous with those of the more successful Bennie Moten, and several of the musicians in Banks's bands would move on to join Moten. Considered to have a "sweeter sound", Banks's band was more popular with the white downtown audiences. According to the '' Kansas City Call'', at a November 1926 "battle of the bands" at the Newman Theater, Banks's and Moten's bands "played to equal honors". Biography Banks started out as a drummer for the Western Imperial Brass Band and then played with the pianist Andy Miller's orchestra at Eammon Hall, Kansas City. He then switched to piano and toured the Midwest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jesse Stone
Jesse Albert Stone (November 16, 1901 – April 1, 1999) was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres. He also used the pseudonyms Charles Calhoun and Chuck Calhoun. His best-known composition as Calhoun was "Shake, Rattle and Roll". Ahmet Ertegun once stated that "Jesse Stone did more to develop the basic rock 'n' roll sound than anybody else." Early life Stone was born in Atchison, Kansas, United States, and raised in Kansas. His grandparents were formerly enslaved in Tennessee. Stone was influenced by a wide array of styles. He came from a musical family who put on minstrel shows, and performed with them by age of five. He was part of a trained dog act at the age of four. Career By 1926, Stone had formed a group, the Blue Serenaders, and cut his first record, "Starvation Blues", for Okeh Records in 1927. For the next few years he worked as a pianist and arranger in Kansas City, recording with Julia Lee amon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bennie Moten
Benjamin Moten (November 13, 1893 – April 2, 1935) was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. He led his Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of the 1930s big bands. The jazz standard "Moten Swing" bears his name. Career Moten started making music from an early age and developed as a pianist, pulling together other musicians in a band. His first recordings were made (for OKeh Records) on September 23, 1923, and were rather typical interpretations of the New Orleans style of King Oliver and others. They also showed the influence of the ragtime that was still popular in the area, as well as the stomping beat for which his band was famous. These OKeh sides (recorded 1923–1925) are some of the more valuable acoustic jazz 78s of the era; they are treasured records in many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
From Spirituals To Swing
''From Spirituals to Swing'' was the title of two concerts presented by John Hammond in Carnegie Hall on 23 December 1938 and 24 December 1939. The concerts included performances by Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson, Helen Humes, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Mitchell's Christian Singers, the Golden Gate Quartet, James P. Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and Sonny Terry. Concert The idea was a history, starting with spirituals and leading up to big swing bands, involving African American performers. Hammond had difficulty gaining sponsorship for the event because it involved African American artists and an integrated audience. However, ''The New Masses'', the journal of the American Communist Party, agreed to finance it. Hammond, according to the liner notes of the boxed set, " 1938... conceived a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City to showcase African-American music from its raw beginnings to the most current jazz. Hammond... was one of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and is the 8th largest city in the Southern United States. The population grew following the 2010 census and reached 687,725 in the 2020 census. The Oklahoma City metropolitan area had a population of 1,396,445, and the Oklahoma City–Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,469,124, making it Oklahoma's largest municipality and metropolitan area by population. Oklahoma City's city limits extend somewhat into Canadian, Cleveland, and Pottawatomie counties, though much of those areas outside the core Oklahoma County area are suburban tracts or protected rural zones ( watershed). The city is the eighth-largest in the United States by area including consolidated city-counties; it is the second-largest, after Houston, not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Original American Decca Recordings
''The Original American Decca Recordings'' (also released as ''The Complete Decca Recordings'') is a 1992 compilation 3-CD set of sessions led by jazz bandleader Count Basie recorded for the Decca label between 1937 and 1939. Reception For Allmusic Scott Yanow wrote "This magnificent three-disc set has the first 63 recordings by Count Basie's Orchestra, all of his Deccas. The consistency is remarkable (with not more than two or three turkeys) and the music is the epitome of swing... This is the first Count Basie collection to acquire and should be in every jazz collection".Yanow, S.Allmusic Review accessed February 24, 2014 ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' identified this set as part of their suggested "Core Collection" of essential jazz albums and awarded the compilation a "Crown" signifying a recording that the authors "feel a special admiration or affection for". [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Quinichette
Paul Quinichette (May 17, 1916 – May 25, 1983) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was known as the "Vice President" or "Vice Prez" for his emulation of the breathy style of Lester Young, whose nickname was "The President", or simply "Prez". Young called Quinichette "Lady Q". Early life Quinichette was born in Denver, Colorado, United States. He had clarinet and alto saxophone lessons as a child, before switching to tenor saxophone. Around the age of 13, he had informal lessons from Lester Young. Quinichette attended Denver University, transferred to Tennessee State College, and then returned to Denver University, from which he graduated in music. While in college he played with local bands, and during summer vacations he toured with Nat Towles and the trumpeter Lloyd Hunter. Later life and career Quinichette worked with Shorty Sherock in the late 1930s, and was then with Ernie Fields (1942), and Jay McShann (1942–43). He was with Johnny Otis on the West Coast from 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basie Reunion
''Basie Reunion'' is an album by Count Basie Orchestra members led by jazz saxophonist Paul Quinichette featuring tracks recorded in 1958 and released on the Prestige label. The first two tracks are correctly identified on the CD reissue; the original LP issue has the titles reversed (although Ira Gitler correctly identifies the titles in his liner notes). In 1982, Prestige issued this session as a gatefold LP paired with ''For Basie'' as ''Basie Reunions''; this issue also has the track titles reversed. Reception Allmusic awarded the album 4½ stars and reviewer Ken Dryden stated, "While this session isn't meant to substitute for the original recordings by Count Basie, the consistently swinging performances make this meeting of mostly Basie alumni worth purchasing". On All About Jazz, Derek Taylor wrote "Brimming with talent from bands past and present the one-shot aggregation places a premium on expansive individual solos and relaxed first-rate swing ... This disc a winner on a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
