John Lewis (pianist)
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John Lewis (pianist)
John Aaron Lewis (May 3, 1920 – March 29, 2001) was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger, best known as the founder and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Early life John Lewis was born in La Grange, Illinois, and after his parents' divorce moved with his mother, a trained singer, to Albuquerque, New Mexico when he was two months old. She died from peritonitis when he was four and he was raised by his grandmother and great-grandmother. He began learning classical music and piano at the age of seven. His family was musical and had a family band that allowed him to play frequently and he also played in a Boy Scout music group.Lyons, p. 77. Even though he learned piano by playing the classics, he was exposed to jazz from an early age because his aunt loved to dance and he would listen to the music she played. He attended the University of New Mexico, where he led a small dance band that he formed Giddins, p. 378. and double majored in Anthropology and Music. H ...
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La Grange, Illinois
''(the barn)'' , nickname = , motto = ''Tradition & Pride – Moving Forward'' , anthem = ''My La Grange'' by Jimmy Dunne , image_map = File:Cook County Illinois Incorporated and Unincorporated areas La Grange Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 260px , map_alt = , map_caption = Location of La Grange in Cook County, Illinois , pushpin_map = Chicago#Illinois#USA#North America , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_label = La Grange , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_mapsize = , pushpin_relief = , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , grid_name = , grid_position = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = County , subdivision_name2 = Cook , subdivision_type3 = Township , subdivision_name3 = Lyons Township , subdivision_type4 = , subdivision_name4 = , established_title = Settled , established_date = 1830 , established_title1 = ...
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Manhattan School Of Music
The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in musical theatre. Founded in 1917, the school is located on Claremont Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City, adjacent to Broadway and West 122nd Street (Seminary Row). The MSM campus was originally the home to The Institute of Musical Art (which later became Juilliard) until Juilliard migrated to the Lincoln Center area of Midtown Manhattan. The property was originally owned by the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum until The Institute of Musical Art purchased it in 1910. The campus of Columbia University is close by, where it has been since 1895. Many of the students live in the school's residence hall, Andersen Hall. History Manhattan School of Music was founded between 1917 and 1918 by the pianist and philanthrop ...
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Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on January 16, 1938, is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music." Goodman's bands started the careers of many jazz musicians. During an era of racial segregation, he led one of the first integrated jazz groups, his quartet and quintet. He performed nearly to the end of his life while exploring an interest in classical music. Early years Goodman was the ninth of twelve children born to poor Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire. His father, David Goodman (1873–1926), came to the United States in 1892 from Warsaw in partitioned Poland and became a tailor. His mother, Dor ...
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Ray Brown (musician)
Raymond Matthews Brown (October 13, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American jazz double bassist, known for his extensive work with Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald. He was also a founding member of the group that would later develop into the Modern Jazz Quartet. Biography Early life Ray Brown was born October 13, 1926, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and took piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one. With a vacancy in the high school jazz orchestra, he took up the upright bass. Career A major early influence on Brown's bass playing was Jimmy Blanton, the bassist in the Duke Ellington band. As a young man Brown became increasingly well known in the Pittsburgh jazz scene, with his first experiences playing in bands with the Jimmy Hinsley Sextet and the Snookum Russell band. After graduating high school, having heard stories about the burgeoning jazz ...
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Milt Jackson
Milton Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999), nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with hard bop and post-bop players. A very expressive player, Jackson differentiated himself from other vibraphonists in his attention to variations on harmonics and rhythm. He was particularly fond of the twelve-bar blues at slow tempos. On occasion, Jackson also sang and played piano. Biography Jackson was born on January 1, 1923, in Detroit, Michigan, United States, the son of Manley Jackson and Lillie Beaty Jackson. Like many of his contemporaries, he was surrounded by music from an early age, particularly that of religious meetings: "Everyone wants to know where I got that funky style. Well, it came from church. The music I heard was open, relaxed, impro ...
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Davis
Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community * Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Greenland * Mount Davis (British Columbia) United States * Davis, California, the largest city with the name * Davis, Illinois, a village * Davis, Massachusetts, an abandoned mining village * Davis, Maryland, a ghost town * Davis, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Davis, North Carolina, an unincorporated community and census-designated place * Davis, Oklahoma, a city * Davis, South Dakota, a town * Davis, West Virginia, a town * Davis, Logan County, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Davis Island (Connecticut) * Davis Island (Mississippi) * Davis Island (Pennsylvania) * Davis Peak (Washington) * Fort Davis, Oklahoma * Mount Davis (California) * Mount Davis (New Hampshire) * Mount Davis (Pennsylvania) Other * Than Ky ...
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Birth Of The Cool
''Birth of the Cool'' is a compilation album by American jazz trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis, released in February 1957 by Capitol Records. It compiles eleven tracks recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950. Featuring unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consisted of innovative arrangements influenced by classical music techniques such as polyphony, and marked a major development in post-bebop jazz. As the title suggests, these recordings are considered seminal in the history of cool jazz. Most of them were originally released in the 10-inch 78-rpm format and are all approximately three minutes long. Background From 1944 to 1948, Miles Davis played in Charlie Parker's quintet. Davis recorded several albums worth of material with Parker during this period, including Parker's Sessions for the Savoy and Dial labels. Davis' first records released under his own name were recorded with Par ...
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Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz. Born in Alton, Illinois, and raised in East St. Louis, Davis left to study at Juilliard in New York City, before dropping out and making his professional debut as a member of saxophonist Charlie Parker's bebop quintet from 1944 to 1948. Shortly after, he recorded the ''Birth of the Cool'' sessions for Capitol Records, which were instrumental to the development of cool jazz. In the early 1950s, Davis recorded some of the earliest hard bop music while on Prestige Records but did so haphazardly due to a heroin addiction. After a widely acclaimed comeback performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, he signed a long-term contrac ...
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Illinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet (October 30, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on " Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo. Although he was a pioneer of the honking tenor saxophone that became a regular feature of jazz playing and a hallmark of early rock and roll, Jacquet was a skilled and melodic improviser, both on up-tempo tunes and ballads. He doubled on the bassoon, one of only a few jazz musicians to use the instrument. Early life Jacquet's parents were Creoles of color, named Marguerite Trahan and Gilbert Jacquet,The Sons and Daughters of Jean Baptiste Jacquet (1995) When he was an infant, his family moved from Louisiana to Houston, Texas, and he was raised there as one of six siblings. His father was a part-time bandleader. As a child he performed in his father's band, primarily on the alto saxophone. His older brother Russell Jacquet played trumpet and his other brother Linton pl ...
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Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. After a tumultuous adolescence, Fitzgerald found stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" helped boost both her and Webb to national fame. After taking over the band when Webb died, Fitzgerald left it behind in 1942 to start her solo career. Her manager was Moe Gale, co-founder of the Savoy, until she turned the rest of her career over to Norman Granz, who founded Verve Records to produce new records by Fitzgerald. With Verve she recorded some of her more widely noted works, particularly ...
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Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Known for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music. Early life and career Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on August 27, 1909. to Lizetta Young (née Johnson), and Willis Handy Young, originally from Louisiana. Lester had two siblings – a brother, Leonidas Raymond, known as Lee Young, who became a drummer, and a sister, Irm ...
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Parker's Mood
"Parker's Mood" is a piece of music originally performed by Charlie Parker as an improvised blues in 1948. Vocalese lyrics were later written and recorded by King Pleasure and Eddie Jefferson. Original recording Alto saxophonist Charlie Parker recorded "Parker's Mood" in New York City on September 18, 1948. The other musicians for the Savoy Records session were pianist John Lewis, bassist Curley Russell, and drummer Max Roach. There were five takes: two false starts and three complete takes. The complete takes were improvised spontaneously, with the probable exception of the opening two bars, which are the same on each take. Parker "varies the phrasing and motivic relatedness of the opening melodic idea in each take". The tempo across the takes varies from 65 quarter notes to 87. "Parker's Mood" is a B blues. "The introduction begins on G minor ..The feature then proceeds to C minor, which ..suggests i–iv in G minor (or v–i in C minor)." Then, from the third bar, "the rhyth ...
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