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King Pleasure
King Pleasure (born Clarence Beeks; March 24, 1922 – March 21, 1982) was an American jazz vocalist and an early master of vocalese, where a singer sings words to a well-known instrumental solo. Biography Born as Clarence Beeks in Oakdale, Tennessee, United States, he moved to New York City in the mid-1940s working as a bartender and became a fan of bebop music. King Pleasure first gained attention by singing the Eddie Jefferson vocalese classic "Moody's Mood For Love", based on a 1949 James Moody saxophone solo to "I'm In The Mood For Love". Pleasure's 1952 recording, his first after signing a contract with the Prestige label, is considered a jazz classic; the female vocalist featured is Blossom Dearie. He and Betty Carter also recorded a famous vocalese version of "Red Top", a jazz classic penned by Kansas Citian Ben Kynard and recorded by Gene Ammons and others. Other notable recordings include a presciently elegiac version of "Parker's Mood", the year before Charlie Parker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oakdale, Tennessee
Oakdale is a town located along the Emory River in Morgan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 203 at the 2020 census, a decrease from the 2010 census figure of 212. History Oakdale was originally known as "Honeycutt" after an early settler, Allen Honeycutt. In the 1880s, the Cincinnati Southern Railway, which connected Chattanooga and Cincinnati, was built through the area, intersecting the vast system of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad (later the Southern Railway) at Emory Gap near Harriman. Allen Honeycutt donated land to the railroad for construction of a switching point. In 1892, the name of the town was changed to "Oakdale" after a nearby mining operation.Vera Scarbrough, Regina Headden,A Brief History of Oakdale" Oakdale Alumni Association website, 2008. The stretch of the Cincinnati Southern from Oakdale to Somerset, Kentucky, involves steep grades that were too difficult for normal late-19th and early-20th century steam-powered loc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Ammons
Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – August 6, 1974), also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons is remembered for his accessible music, steeped in soul and R&B. Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ammons studied music with instructor Walter Dyett at DuSable High School. Ammons began to gain recognition while still at high school when in 1943, at the age of 18, he went on the road with trumpeter King Kolax's band. In 1944, he joined the band of Billy Eckstine (who bestowed on him the nickname "Jug" when straw hats ordered for the band did not fit), playing alongside Charlie Parker and later Dexter Gordon. Performances from this period include "Blowin' the Blues Away," featuring a saxophone duel between Ammons and Gordon. After 1947, when Eckstine became a solo performer, Ammons then led a group, including Miles Davis and Sonny Stitt, that performed at Chicago's Jumptown Club. In 1949, Ammon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peck Morrison
John A. "Peck" Morrison (September 11, 1919 – February 25, 1988) was an American jazz bassist. Morrison was classically trained, and was competent on trumpet and percussion in addition to bass. He played in military bands in Italy during World War II and moved to New York City after the war to play professionally. He played with Lucky Thompson in the early 1950s, and then recorded with Horace Silver, Gigi Gryce, and Art Farmer. He played with Gerry Mulligan in tours of Europe. He was a noted accompanist and sideman, playing with Carmen McRae, Tiny Bradshaw, King Pleasure, Zoot Sims, Eddie Jefferson, the J. J. Johnson/Kai Winding Quintet (1954), Duke Ellington (1955 and 1964), Lou Donaldson, Johnny Smith, Mal Waldron, Randy Weston, Babs Gonzales, the Newport Rebels (1960), Shirley Scott, Red Garland, Charles McPherson, and Sy Oliver and the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band (1986). Morrison never recorded as a session leader. Discography With Dave Bailey *''One Foot in the Gutter'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Lewis (musician)
Ed Lewis (January 22, 1909 – September 18, 1985) was an American jazz trumpeter. Career Born in Eagle City, Oklahoma, Lewis played early in his career in Kansas City, Missouri, with Jerry Westbrook as a baritone hornist, then switched to trumpet in 1925. He played with Paul Banks and Laura Rucker before joining the Bennie Moten Orchestra, where he played from 1926 to 1932 and was the primary trumpet soloist until Hot Lips Page became a member. In the 1930s he worked with Thamon Hayes (1932–34), Harlan Leonard (1934–37), and Jay McShann (1937). In 1937 Lewis joined the Count Basie Orchestra, where he remained until 1948; he recorded frequently with Basie but almost never soloed. In the 1950s Lewis led his band in New York City for local performances and worked for a while as a taxi driver. He returned to play with the Countsmen in Europe in 1984 shortly before his death. Lewis never led a recording session. Discography * Count Basie, ''The Original American Decca Recordi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonard Gaskin
Leonard Gaskin (August 25, 1920 – January 24, 2009) was an American jazz bassist born in New York City. Gaskin played on the early bebop scene at Minton's and Monroe's in New York in the early 1940s. In 1944 he took over Oscar Pettiford's spot in Dizzy Gillespie's band, and followed it with stints in bands led by Cootie Williams, Charlie Parker, Don Byas, Eddie South, Charlie Shavers, and Erroll Garner. In the 1950s, he played with Eddie Condon's Dixieland band, and played with Ruby Braff, Bud Freeman, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams, Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, J.J. Johnson, and Miles Davis. In the 1960s he became a studio musician, playing on numerous gospel and pop records. In the 1970s and 1980s he returned to jazz, playing with Sy Oliver, Panama Francis, and The International Art of Jazz. Gaskin became involved in educating young people later in his life. He performed and shared his knowledge with elementary students with the Good Groove Band (Leonard Gaskin, Melissa Lov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teacho Wiltshire
George "Teacho" Wiltshire (born Audrick Gladstone Wiltshire; September 20, 1909 – September 29, 1968) was a Barbadian-born American R&B pianist, bandleader, arranger, A&R man, and songwriter, who had success in the 1950s and 1960s with musicians including Annie Ross, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Isley Brothers and the Drifters. Life and career Wiltshire was born on a plantation near Belleplaine in St Andrew Parish, Barbados, the son of Estelle Wiltshire and an unknown father. In 1917, he and his mother emigrated to the United States, and settled in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, New York City. After his mother married, he adopted his stepfather's surname and was registered at school as Audrick Rock, though in later adult life he used the name George Wiltshire. He married in 1929 but the couple soon separated.Opal Louis Nations and Bob Eagle, "Back Room Wizards: Teacho Wiltshire", ''Blues & Rhythm'', No.372, September 2022, pp.14-18 In the 1930s, he played ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cecil Payne
Cecil Payne (December 14, 1922 – November 27, 2007) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn, New York. Payne also played the alto saxophone and flute. He played with other prominent jazz musicians, in particular Dizzy Gillespie and Randy Weston, in addition to his solo work as bandleader. Biography Payne received his first saxophone aged 13, asking his father for the instrument after hearing " Honeysuckle Rose" performed by Count Basie with Lester Young soloing. Payne took lessons from a local alto sax player, Pete Brown, and studied at Boys High School, Bedford-Stuyvesant. Payne began his professional recording career with J. J. Johnson on the Savoy label in 1946. During that year he also began playing with Roy Eldridge, through whom he met Dizzy Gillespie. His earlier recordings would largely fall under the swing category, until Gillespie hired him. Payne stayed on board until 1949, heard performing solos on "Ow!" and "Stay On It". In the early 1950s, h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Abrams (musician)
Ray Abrams (January 23, 1920 – July 1992) was an American jazz and jump blues tenor saxophonist, born Ray Abramson in New York City. His younger brother was jazz drummer Lee Abrams. Ray Abrams first worked with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945, toured Europe with Don Redman in 1946 and was with Andy Kirk in 1947. He went back and forth between Kirk and Gillespie for decades. Artist Biography by Eugene Chadbourne All Music. Outside of his work with Gillespie he might be best known for the "Ray Abrams Big Band." Other bands with which he played into the early 1950s include those of Hot Lips Page, Roy Eldridge, and Slim Gaillard. Discography As sideman * Dizzy Gillespie, ''Odyssey 1945–1952'' (Savoy, 2002) * Dizzy Gillespie, ''Showtime at the Spotlite, 52nd Street New York City, June 1946'' (Uptown, 2008) * Coleman Hawkins, ''Rainbow Mist'' (Delmark, 1992) * King Pleasure, ''The Source'' (Prestige, 1972) * Jimmy Scott & Paul Gayten Paul Leon Gayten (January 29, 1920 – March 26, 1991) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lem Davis
Lemuel A. Davis (22 June 1914 – 16 January 1970), was an American jazz alto saxophonist associated with swing music. Born in Tampa, Florida, United States, his career began in the 1940s with pianist Nat Jaffe. Davis played with the Coleman Hawkins septet in 1943 and with Eddie Heywood's group. Throughout the 1940s, he played in a variety of jazz groups. In 1953, he appeared on Buck Clayton's "The Hucklebuck" recording. He continued to play in New York City throughout the 1950s, but recorded little thereafter. Recordings With Buck Clayton *'' The Huckle-Buck and Robbins' Nest'' (Columbia, 1954) *'' How Hi the Fi'' (Columbia, 1954) *''Jumpin' at the Woodside'' (Columbia, 1955) *''All the Cats Join In ''All the Cats Join In'' is a song written by Ray Gilbert, Eddie Sauter and Alec Wilder, and first recorded by Benny Goodman. It later was a track on an LP with the same title by trumpeter Buck Clayton. Benny Goodman Curiously, Goodman recor ...'' (Columbia 1956) Referen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guide' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genya Ravan
Genya Ravan, a.k.a. Goldie (born Genyusha Zelkovicz; April 19, 1940) is an American rock singer and music producer. She was lead singer of The Escorts, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, and Ten Wheel Drive. Life and career Childhood Ravan was born in Łódź, Poland in 1940 and emigrated to the United States in 1947, accompanied by her parents and one sister. They were her only family members who had survived the Nazi Holocaust in Europe; she also had two brothers, who both died. The family did not speak any English when they arrived. Genya was named 'Goldie' by her mother, who claimed Genyusha was not American enough. Music career Early success and Goldie and The Gingerbreads Goldie's career started in 1962 in a Brooklyn club called The Lollipop Lounge, which is also the title of her autobiography published by Billboard Books. On a dare, she jumped up to sing, which she states was the first time she had heard her voice. She was asked to join the band The Escorts, which featured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astral Weeks
''Astral Weeks'' is the second studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was recorded at Century Sound Studios in New York during September and October 1968, and released in November of the same year by Warner Bros. Records. The album's music blends folk, blues, jazz, and classical styles, signalling a radical departure from the sound of Morrison's previous pop hits, such as "Brown Eyed Girl" (1967). The lyrics and cover art portray the symbolism equating earthly love and heaven that would often feature in the singer's subsequent records. His lyrics have been described as impressionistic, hypnotic, and modernist, while the record has been categorized as a song cycle or concept album. ''Astral Weeks'' did not originally receive promotion from Morrison's record label and was not an immediate success with consumers or critics. Its standing eventually improved greatly, with praise given to Morrison's singing, arrangements and songwriting, and the album has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
