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Leon Thomas
Amos Leon Thomas Jr. (October 4, 1937 – May 8, 1999), known professionally as Leon Thomas, was an American jazz and blues vocalist, born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and known for his bellowing glottal-stop style of free jazz singing in the late 1960s and 1970s. Life and career Leon Thomas was born Amos Thomas, Jr. on October 4, 1937, in East St. Louis, Illinois. He studied music at Tennessee State University. At the time of his studies, he had begun a singing career as a guest vocalist for the jazz bands of percussionist Armando Peraza, saxophonist Jimmy Forrest, and guitarist Grant Green. His musical development at this time was shaped in part by seeing saxophonist John Coltrane perform in trumpeter Miles Davis's sextet during the late 1950s. Thomas moved to New York City in 1959, singing at the Apollo Theater as a vocalist for acts such as jazz ensemble The Jazz Messengers and singer Dakota Staton. In 1961, he joined the Count Basie Orchestra but soon left after being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East St
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that east is the direction where the Sun rises: ''east'' comes from Middle English ''est'', from Old English ''ēast'', which itself comes from the Proto-Germanic *''aus-to-'' or *''austra-'' "east, toward the sunrise", from Proto-Indo-European *aus- "to shine," or "dawn", cognate with Old High German ''*ōstar'' "to the east", Latin ''aurora'' 'dawn', and Greek ''ēōs'' 'dawn, east'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin oriens 'east, sunrise' from orior 'to rise, to originate', Greek ανατολή anatolé 'east' from ἀνατέλλω 'to rise' and Hebrew מִזְרָח mizraḥ 'east' from זָרַח zaraḥ 'to rise, to shine'. '' Ēostre'', a Germanic goddess of dawn, might have been a personifica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and raised in North Carolina, Coltrane moved to Philadelphia after graduating high school, where he studied music. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was one of the players at the forefront of free jazz. He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. Over the course of his career, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension, as exemplified on his most acclaimed album ''A Love Supreme'' (1965) and others. Decades after his death, Coltrane remains influential, and he has received numerous posthumous awards, including a special Pulitzer Prize, and was canoniz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Commentary
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people's sense of justice. Social commentary can be practiced through all forms of communication, from printed form, to conversations to computerized communication. Two examples of strong and bitter social commentary are the writings of Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift and German priest Martin Luther. Swift decried the appalling conditions faced by Irish Catholics under the rule of the Protestant Ascendancy in '' A Modest Proposal'', while Martin Luther decried corruption in the Catholic Church in his ''Ninety-five Theses. Examples of social commentators from the lower social strata are Charles Dickens and Will Rogers. Forms This list is far from exhaustive. Examples of social commentary may be foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby McFerrin
Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is an American folk and jazz singer. He is known for his vocal techniques, such as singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in pitch—for example, sustaining a melody while also rapidly alternating with arpeggios and harmonies—as well as scat singing, polyphonic overtone singing, and improvisational vocal percussion. He is widely known for performing and recording regularly as an unaccompanied solo vocal artist. He has frequently collaborated with other artists from both the jazz and classical scenes. McFerrin's song " Don't Worry, Be Happy" was a No. 1 U.S. pop hit in 1988 and won Song of the Year and Record of the Year honors at the 1989 Grammy Awards. McFerrin has also worked in collaboration with instrumentalists, including the pianists Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Joe Zawinul, the drummer Tony Williams, and the cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Early life and education McFerrin was born in Manhattan, New York City, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, the avant-garde, and an evolving voice-as-instrument sound. He died at the age of 28 from a heroin and morphine overdose, leaving behind sons Taylor and Jeff. Early life and career Tim Buckley was born in Washington, D.C. on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1947, to Elaine (née Scalia), an Italian American, and Timothy Charles Buckley Jr., a decorated World War II veteran and son of Irish immigrants from Cork. He spent his early childhood in Amsterdam, New York, an industrial city about northwest of Albany. At five years old, Buckley began listening to his mother's progressive jazz recordings, particularly Miles Davis. Buckley's musical life began after his family moved to Bell Gardens in southern Cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Moody (saxophonist)
James Moody (March 26, 1925 – December 9, 2010) was an American jazz saxophone and flute player and very occasional vocalist, playing predominantly in the bebop and hard bop styles. Moody had an unexpected hit with " Moody's Mood for Love," a 1952 song written by Eddie Jefferson that used as its melody an improvised solo that Moody had played on a 1949 recording of "I'm in the Mood for Love." Moody adopted the song as his own, recording it with Jefferson on his 1956 album '' Moody's Mood for Love'' and performing the song regularly in concert, often singing the vocals himself. Early life James Moody was born in Savannah, Georgia, United States, and was raised by his (single) mother, Ruby Hann Moody Watters. He had a brother, Louis. Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, he was attracted to the saxophone after hearing "Buddy" George Holmes Tate, Don Byas, and various saxophonists who played with Count Basie. He later also took up the flute. Career Moody joined the US Army Air Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yodeling
Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from the German (and originally Austro-Bavarian) word ''jodeln'', meaning "to utter the syllable ''jo''" (pronounced "yo" in English). This vocal technique is used in many cultures worldwide. Recent scientific research concerning yodeling and non-Western cultures has shown that music and speech evolved from a common prosodic precursor. Alpine yodeling was a longtime rural tradition in Europe, and became popular in the 1830s as entertainment in theaters and music halls. In Europe, yodeling is still a major feature of folk music (Volksmusik) from Switzerland, Austria and southern Germany and can be heard in many contemporary folk songs, which are also featured on regular TV broadcasts. In the United States, traveling minstrels were yodeling in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karma (Pharoah Sanders Album)
''Karma'' is a jazz recording by the American tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, released in May 1969 on the Impulse! label, with catalog number AS 9181. A pioneering work of the spiritual jazz style, it has become Sanders' most popular and critically acclaimed album. Background The social and political upheavals of the 1960s have been cited as a major factor in the emergence of a new stylistic trend in jazz, with a very different emphasis to the forms of the music which emerged earlier. Many of the artists involved in the making of this new music, variously called "free jazz", "the new thing", or "energy music", recorded for the Impulse! label. Ashley Kahn writes that several musicians, often those who had either played with or been influenced by John Coltrane, such as his widow Alice Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, and Leon Thomas, began exploring new thematic and musical ideas, often associated with non-western religious and musical traditions.Ashley Kahn, ''The Hous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Thiele
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) *Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II * Bob the Railway Dog, a part of South Australian Railways folklore Television, games, and radio * ''Bob'' (TV series), an American comedy series starring Bob Newhart * ''B.O.B.'' (video game), a side-scrolling shooter * Bob FM, on-air brand of a number of FM radio stations in North America Music Musicians and groups * B.o.B (born 1988), American rapper and record producer *Bob (band), a British indie pop band * The Bobs, an American a cappella group *Boyz on Block, a British pop supergroup Songs * "B.O.B" (song), by OutKast * "Bob" ("Weird Al" Yankovic song), from the 2003 album ''Poodle Hat'' by "Weird Al" Yankovic *"Bob", a song from the album ''Brighter Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conscripted
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of near-universal national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s, where it became the basis of a very large and powerful military. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1–8 years on active duty and then transfer to the reserve force. Conscription is controversial for a range of reasons, including conscientious objection to military engagements on religious or philosophical grounds; political objection, for example to service for a disliked government or unpopular war; sexism, in that historically men have been subject to the draft in the most cases; and ideological objection, for example, to a perceived vio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Count Basie Orchestra
The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 1950s, the band survived long past the Big Band era itself and the death of Basie in 1984. It continues under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart. Originally including such musicians as Buck Clayton and Lester Young in the line-up, the band in the 1950s and 1960s made use of the work of such arrangers as Neal Hefti and featured musicians such as Thad Jones and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. Its recordings of this era included collaborations with singers such as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. History Early years Count Basie arrived in Kansas City, Missouri in 1927, playing on the Theater Owners Bookers Association (TOBA) circuit. After playing with Walter Page's Blue Devils, in 1929 he joined rival band leader Bennie Moten's band. Up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dakota Staton
Dakota Staton (June 3, 1930 – April 10, 2007) was an American jazz vocalist who found international acclaim with the 1957 No. 4 hit "The Late, Late Show". She was also known by the Muslim name Aliyah Rabia for a period due to her conversion to Islam as interpreted by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.Fox, Margalit (April 13, 2007).Dakota Staton, 76, Jazz Singer With a Sharp, Bluesy Sound, Dies. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved on April 16, 2007. Biography Born in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she attended George Westinghouse High School, and studied music at the Filion School of Music in Pittsburgh. Later she performed regularly in the Hill District, a jazz hotspot, as a vocalist with the Joe Westray Orchestra, a popular Pittsburgh orchestra. She next spent several years in the nightclub circuit in such cities as Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland and St. Louis. While in New York, she was noticed singing at a Harlem nightclub called the Baby Grand by Dave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
