Kevin Whitehead
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Kevin Whitehead
Kevin Francis Whitehead (born April 27, 1952 in New York City) is an American jazz critic and author. Biography Whitehead studied at Oswego State University in New York, then earned a Masters in American Literature and Culture at Syracuse University. He began writing in the early 1970s for the short-lived magazine '' Oswego County Times''. In 1979, he wrote his first record review, for Joni Mitchell's ''Mingus''. Since the end of the 1970s, Whitehead has been writing regularly on jazz, including for the NPR program Fresh Air with Terry Gross since 1987, as well as for newspapers and magazines such as ''JazzTimes'', ''Chicago Sun-Times'', ''Chicago Reader'', ''Down Beat'', ''Village Voice'', and the ''Volkskrant''. He lived in the Netherlands in the late 1990s. Whitehead wrote the books ''New Dutch Swing'' (1998) and ''Why Jazz: A Concise Guide'' (2010) and (with the photographer Ton Mijs) ''Instant Composers Pool Orchestra: You Have to See It'' (2011). He is also editor of ''Bimh ...
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New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ...
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Ton Mijs
Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds * the short ton, which is 2,000 pounds * the tonne, also called the ''metric ton'', which is 1,000 kilograms or 1 megagram. Its original use as a measurement of volume has continued in the capacity of cargo ships and in terms such as the ''freight ton'' and a number of other units, ranging from in capacity. Recent specialized uses include the ton as a measure of energy and as a means of truck classification. It can also be used as a unit of energy, or in refrigeration as a unit of power, sometimes called a ''ton of refrigeration''. Because the ton (of any system of measuring weight) is usually the heaviest unit named in colloquial speech, its name also has figurative uses, singular and plural, informally meaning a large amount or quan ...
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Daniel Schnyder
Daniel Schnyder (born March 12, 1961 in Zurich) is a Swiss jazz reedist and composer of both jazz and classical music. Schnyder learned to play cello before saxophone. He attended Berklee College of Music and the Conservatory of Winterthur. He has recorded for Enja Records and composes pieces which meld jazz and classical music. His work has been published by Hal Leonard, Universal Edition, and Edition Kunzelmann; he has been commissioned by Vienna Art Orchestra, , Opera Philadelphia, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic.Marcus Gammel, "Daniel Schnyder". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld, 2004. Sidemen on his albums include Michael Philip Mossman, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Kenny Drew Jr., Dave Taylor, Adam Taubitz, Michael Formanek, and Mark Feldman. He has also worked with Flavio Ambrosetti, Lee Konitz, and Abdullah Ibrahim. Discography * ''Secret Cosmos'' ( Enja, 1988) * ''The City'' (Enja, 1989) * ''Decoding the Mess ...
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Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", Sanders played a prominent role in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz through his work as a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s, and later through his solo work. He released over thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others. Fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world". Sanders' take on “spiritual jazz” was rooted in his inspiration from religious concepts such as Karma and Tawhid, and his rich, meditative performance aesthetic. This style was seen as a continuation of Coltrane's work on albums such as ''A Love Supreme''. As a result, Sanders was considered to have been a di ...
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Han Bennink
Han Bennink (born 17 April 1942) is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano. Though perhaps best known as one of the pivotal figures in early European free jazz and free improvisation, Bennink has worked in essentially every school of jazz, and is described by critic Chris Kelsey as "one of the unfortunately rare musicians whose abilities and interests span jazz's entire spectrum." Known for often injecting slapstick and absurdist humor into his performances, Bennink has had especially fruitful long-term partnerships with pianist Misha Mengelberg and saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. Han is a brother of saxophonist Peter Bennink. Early life and education Bennink was born in Zaandam, the son of a classical percussionist. He played the drums and the clarinet during his teens. Performing career Through the 1960s he was the drummer with a number of American musician ...
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Simon Nabatov
Simon Nabatov (born 11 January 1959) is a Russian-American jazz pianist. Early life Nabatov was born in Moscow on 11 January 1959. His parents were Leon, a professional pianist and choir conductor who was a native of Belarus, and Regina. Nabatov began playing the piano at the age of three and his first composition was at six. He attended a Duke Ellington concert in Moscow in 1971 and his determination to become a jazz musician was reinforced a year later at a Thad Jones–Mel Lewis Orchestra performance. By the age of 17 he was playing bebop with other musicians in Moscow. His formal education in music was at the Central School of Music and then the Moscow Conservatory. Nabatov and his parents were permitted to leave the Soviet Union in 1979. This was ostensibly to join family members in Israel, but the Nabatovs instead flew to Italy and applied for visas to enter the United States. While waiting for a visa, Nabatov gained experience by becoming the house pianist at the Missis ...
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Myra Melford
Myra Melford (born January 5, 1957) is an American avant-garde jazz pianist and composer. A 2013 Guggenheim Fellow, Melford was described by the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' as an "explosive player, a virtuoso who shocks and soothes, and who can make the piano stand up and do things it doesn't seem to have been designed for." Early life and education Melford was born in Evanston, Illinois and was raised in a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. At 3, she started playing the piano on her own, climbing onto the piano bench and improvising. She began taking lessons when she was in kindergarten. She developed a strong relationship with her teacher, Erwin Helfer, a classically trained boogie-woogie player. Helfer introduced her to classical composers such as Bach before moving on to contemporary composers, such as Bartók, and later taught her to play the blues. Melford attended blues festivals, and because of her relationship with Helfer, she was often invited backstage, where s ...
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Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill (born February 15, 1944) is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. He came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles rooted in jazz but with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating other genres of music. He has performed and recorded with several ensembles: Air, Aggregation Orb, Make a Move, the seven-piece Henry Threadgill Sextett, the twenty-piece Society Situation Dance Band, Very Very Circus, X-75, and Zooid. He was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album ''In for a Penny, In for a Pound'', which premiered at Roulette Intermedium on December 4, 2014 Career Threadgill performed as a percussionist in his high-school marching band before taking up baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, and flute. He studied at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, majoring in piano, flute, and composition. He studied piano with Gail Quillman and composition with Stella Roberts. He was an original member of the Experimental Band,a precu ...
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Sheila Jordan
Sheila Jordan (born Sheila Jeanette Dawson; November 18, 1928) is an American jazz singer and songwriter. She has recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to recording her own albums. Jordan pioneered a bebop and scat jazz singing style with an upright bass as the only accompaniment. Jordan's music has earned praise from many critics, particularly for her ability to improvise lyrics; Scott Yanow describes her as "one of the most consistently creative of all jazz singers." Charlie Parker often introduced Jordan as "the lady with the million dollar ears." Biography Early career Sheila Jordan grew up in Summerhill, Pennsylvania, United States, before returning to her birthplace of Detroit, Michigan, in 1940. She sang and played piano in jazz clubs in Detroit. She was a member of the trio Skeeter, Mitch, and Jean (Skeeter Spight, Leroi Mitchell, and Jordan was "Jean"), which wrote lyrics to music by Charlie Parker. They went to Parker' ...
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Phillip Johnston
Phillip Johnston (born January 22, 1955) is an American avant-garde saxophonist. He came to prominence in the 1980s as co-founder of The Microscopic Septet and went on to write extensively for films, particularly new scores for classic silent films from the early 20th Century. Biography Phillip Johnston was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 22, 1955, and raised in the New York City area. During the 1970s he met and formed relationships with some of his earliest musical associates (John Zorn, Joel Forrester, David Hofstra, Eugene Chadbourne), and moved often between San Francisco and New York City. In 1980 he settled in New York, and soon formed his first ongoing music groups, The Public Servants (with vocalist Shelley Hirsch) and The Microscopic Septet (with pianist Joel Forrester). Throughout the 80s and 90s and early 2000s, he worked as a leader (The Microscopic Septet, Big Trouble, Transparent Quartet) co-leader and sideman (Mikel Rouse, Kitty Brazelton, Bobby Radcliff), ...
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François Houle
François Houle (born August 17, 1961) is a Canadian jazz musician. He was born in Lachine, Quebec, and plays primarily clarinet. Houle studied music formally at McGill University from 1980 to 1984 and then at Yale University from 1985 to 1987, after which he pursued a career in jazz, studying under Steve Lacy.Mark Miller, "François Houle". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld. He lived in Vancouver, British Columbia from 1990. His album for Songlines Records, ''In the Vernacular: The Music of John Carter'', was nominated for a Juno Award in 1999 for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Discography As leader * ''Hacienda'' (Songlines, 1992) * ''Schizosphere'' (Red Toucan, 1994) * ''Any Terrain Tumultuous'' with Marilyn Crispell (Red Toucan, 1995) * ''Nancali'' with Benoit Delbecq (Songlines, 1997) * ''In the Vernacular'' (Songlines, 1998) * ''Au Coeur Du Litige'' (Spool, 2000) * ''Cryptology'' (Between the Lines, 2000) * ''Dice Thrown'' with Benoit ...
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Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle (born February 28, 1939) is an American free jazz musician. Initially known as a saxophonist who came to prominence in the 1990s after decades of obscurity, Gayle also performs as pianist, bass clarinetist, bassist, and percussionist. Biography Charles Gayle was born in Buffalo, New York. Some of his history has been unclear due to his reluctance to talk about his life in interviews. He briefly taught music at the University at Buffalo before relocating to New York City during the early 1970s. Gayle was homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway platforms around New York City. He has described making a conscious decision to become homeless: "I had to shed my history, my life, everything had to stop right there, and if you live through this, good, and if you don't, you don't. I can't do the rent, the odd jobs, the little rooms, scratchin', and all that, no!" At the same time, this allowed Gayle to devote most of his tim ...
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