|
Mannheim Steamroller
Mannheim Steamroller is an American neoclassical new-age music ensemble founded and directed by percussionist/composer Chip Davis in 1974. The group is known primarily for its ''Fresh Aire'' series of albums, which blend classical music with elements of new age and rock, and for its modern recordings of Christmas music. The group has sold 28 million albums in the U.S. alone. History Beginnings Mannheim Steamroller began as an alias for record producer and composer Chip Davis. The name "Mannheim Steamroller" comes from an 18th-century German musical technique, '' Mannheim roller'' (German: ''Mannheimer Walze''), a crescendo passage having a rising melodic line over an ostinato bass line, popularized by the Mannheim school of composition. Before the fame of Steamroller, Davis had been best known for collaborating with his friend Bill Fries on the songs of the country music character "C. W. McCall", of "Convoy" fame. The song was based on the character created by Fries and musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omaha
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city, Omaha's 2020 census population was 486,051. Omaha is the anchor of the eight-county, bi-state Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. The Omaha Metropolitan Area is the 58th-largest in the United States, with a population of 967,604. The Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA Combined Statistical Area (CSA) totaled 1,004,771, according to 2020 estimates. Approximately 1.5 million people reside within the Greater Omaha area, within a radius of Downtown Omaha. It is ranked as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, which in 2020 gave it "sufficiency" status. Omaha's pioneer period began in 1854, when the city was founded by speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa. The city was founded along the Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Record Producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music'' (Cambridge, MA & London, UK: MIT Press, 2005).Richard James Burgess, ''The History of Music Production'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014)pp 12–13Allan Watson, ''Cultural Production in and Beyond the Recording Studio'' (New York: Routledge, 2015)pp 25–27 The record producer, or simply the producer, is likened to film director and art director. The executive producer, on the other hand, enables the recording project through entrepreneurship, and an audio engineer operates the technology. Varying by project, the producer may or may not choose all of the artists. If employing only synthesized or sampled instrumentation, the producer may be the sole artist. Conversely, some artists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fresh Aire III
''Fresh Aire III'' is the third album by the new-age musical group Mannheim Steamroller. It was originally released in 1979 on American Gramaphone. Each of the first four ''Fresh Aire'' albums is based on a season; ''Fresh Aire III''s theme is summer. The opening track, ''Toccata,'' was played behind station IDs for OEPBS until 1986. Track listing All tracks by Chip Davis #"Toccata" – 4:36 #"Small Wooden Bach'ses" – 2:41 #"Amber" – 2:47 #"Mere Image" – 6:51 #"Morning" – 2:54 #"Interlude 6" – 2:51 #"The Cricket" – 2:44 #"The Sky" – 5:01 #"Midnight on a Full Moon" – 3:16 Personnel *Jackson Berkey - piano, harpsichord, synthesizer, clavichord, Fender Rhodes, tack piano, toy piano *Eric Hansen - bass *Chip Davis - drums, recorders, toys, recording of a cricket on "The Cricket" *Ron Cooley - guitars *Ray Still, Bob Jenkins - oboe *Dave Kappy - French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fresh Aire II
''Fresh Aire II'' is the second album that new-age musical group Mannheim Steamroller originally released in 1977. Each of the first four ''Fresh Aire'' albums is based on a season; ''Fresh Aire II''s theme is fall. ''Fresh Aire II'' is unique in the series in that it is largely based on a single melody, presented consistently in the "Fantasia" music cycle (tracks 1–9) which starts off with 'Chorale,' followed by the seven "doors," ending with the piece 'Fantasy' and in the closing track 'Going To Another Place.' The same melody also occasionally appears in other albums in the series in a form closest to the first few notes in "The First Door." Track listing All songs written and arranged by Chip Davis #"Chorale" – 0:36 #"The First Door – Interrupted Thought" – 1:26 #"The Second Door – The Ugly Head of Greed" – 2:02 #"The Third Door – Pride" – 2:30 #"The Fourth Door – Relaxation" – 3:50 #"The Fifth Door – Frenetic Energy" – 2:59 #"The Sixth Door – Nostalg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's own. Many pseudonym holders use pseudonyms because they wish to remain anonymous, but anonymity is difficult to achieve and often fraught with legal issues. Scope Pseudonyms include stage names, user names, ring names, pen names, aliases, superhero or villain identities and code names, gamer identifications, and regnal names of emperors, popes, and other monarchs. In some cases, it may also include nicknames. Historically, they have sometimes taken the form of anagrams, Graecisms, and Latinisations. Pseudonyms should not be confused with new names that replace old ones and become the individual's full-time name. Pseudonyms are "part-time" names, used only in certain contexts – to provide a more clear-cut separation between o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of labels in 1999. It is the oldest surviving established record company. History Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft was founded in 1898 by German-born United States citizen Emile Berliner as the German branch of his Berliner Gramophone Company. Berliner sent his nephew Joseph Sanders from America to set up operations. Based in the city of Hanover (the founder's birthplace), the company was the German affiliate of the U.S. Victor Talking Machine Company and the British Gramophone Company, and, from 1900, a fully owned subsidiary of the latter, but that ended after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 when ownership reverted to Germany. Though no longer connected to the British Gramophone Company, Deutsche Grammophon continued to use the "His M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convoy (song)
"Convoy" is a 1975 novelty song performed by C. W. McCall (a character co-created and voiced by Bill Fries, along with Chip Davis) that became a number-one song on both the country and pop charts in the US and is listed 98th among ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time. Written by McCall and Chip Davis, the song spent six weeks at number one on the country charts and one week at number one on the pop charts. The song went to number one in Canada as well, hitting the top of the ''RPM'' Top Singles Chart on January 24, 1976. "Convoy" also peaked at number two in the UK. The song capitalized on the fad for citizens band (CB) radio. The song was the inspiration for the 1978 Sam Peckinpah film ''Convoy'', for which McCall rerecorded the song to fit the film's storyline. The song received newfound popularity with its use during the 2022 Freedom Convoy, to which Fries gave his approval shortly before he died. Content The song consists of three types of inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Fries
William Dale Fries Jr. (November 15, 1928 – April 1, 2022) was an American advertising executive and spoken word artist who won several Clio Awards for his advertising campaigns. He is best known for his character C. W. McCall, a truck-driving country singer he originally created for a series of bread commercials; Fries later assumed the role of McCall for a series of outlaw albums and songs in the 1970s, in collaboration with co-worker (and Mannheim Steamroller founder) Chip Davis. McCall's most successful song was " Convoy", a surprise pop-crossover hit in 1975, reaching number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and number 2 in the British charts in March 1976. Fries was elected mayor of Ouray, Colorado, and served in that position from 1986 to 1992. Early life McCall was born Billie Dale Fries on November 15, 1928, in Audubon, Iowa. He later legally changed his name to William Dale Fries, Jr. His father was also called Billie and so he was the junior. One of h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass Line
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, dub and electronic, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played (in jazz and some forms of popular music) by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, cello, tuba or keyboard (piano, Hammond organ, electric organ, or synthesizer). In unaccompanied solo performance, basslines may simply be played in the lower register of any instrument while melody and/or further accompaniment is provided in the middle or upper register. In solo music for piano and pipe organ, these instruments have an excellent lower register that can be used to play a deep bassline. On organs, the bass line is typically played using the pedal keyboard and massive 16' and 32' bass pipes. Riffs and grooves Basslines in popular music often use "riffs" or " grooves", which are usually simple, appealing musical motifs or phrases t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ostinato
In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include classical compositions such as Ravel's '' Boléro'' and the ''Carol of the Bells'', and popular songs such as Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" (1977), Henry Mancini's theme from ''Peter Gunn'' (1959), The Who's "Baba O'Riley" (1971), and The Verve's " Bitter Sweet Symphony" (1997). Both ''ostinatos'' and ''ostinati'' are accepted English plural forms, the latter reflecting the word's Italian etymology. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in itself. Kamien, Roger (1258). ''Music: An Appreciation'', p. 611. . Strictly speaking, ostinati should have exact repetition, but in common usage, the term covers repetition with variation and development, such as the alteration of an os ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
