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Metronome All-Stars
The Metronome All-Stars were a collection of jazz musicians assembled for studio recordings by ''Metronome Magazine'', based on its readers' polls. The studio sessions were held in the years 1939-42, 1946–53, and 1956, and typically consisted of two tracks which allowed each participant a chance to solo for one chorus. Earlier recordings feature more swing style, while the later sessions tend more toward bebop. Participants * ''All Star Band'' 1939: "Blue Lou"/"The Blues", recorded by Bunny Berigan, Charlie Spivak, Sonny Dunham, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Hymie Shertzer, Eddie Miller, Art Rollini, Carmen Mastren, Bob Haggart, Bob Zurke, Ray Bauduc. * ''The Metronome All-Stars Nine'' 1940: "All-Star Strut" recorded by Harry James, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Benny Carter, Eddie Miller, Jess Stacy, Charlie Christian, Bob Haggart, Gene Krupa. * ''Metronome All-Stars'' 1940: "King Porter Stomp", recorded by the same personnel as "All-Star S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Zurke
Bob Zurke (January 7, 1912 – February 16, 1944) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and briefly a bandleader during the Swing era. Biography Born Boguslaw Albert Zukowski in Hamtramck, Michigan, United States, he was already using the name Bob Zurke professionally by the age of 16, when he first recorded with a group led by pioneering female jazz bassist Thelma Terry. At that time, Zurke also began to work as a copyist for the Detroit-based booking agency run by Jean Goldkette. Through the end of 1936, Zurke worked in various Detroit clubs, mostly as a band pianist, and occasionally went on tour with other groups; it was in this period that Zurke developed a long friendship with pianist Marvin Ash, who would later go on to record some of Zurke's compositions. At the beginning of 1937, Zurke was hired by bandleader Bob Crosby to fill in for Joe Sullivan, then ailing with tuberculosis. It was with Crosby that Zurke gained notice; he contributed arrangements to the ban ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim E. Berendt explained: "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn". Hawkins biographer John Chilton described the prevalent styles of tenor saxophone solos prior to Hawkins as "mooing" and "rubbery belches." Hawkins cited as influences Happy Caldwell, Stump Evans, and Prince Robinson, although he was the first to tailor his method of improvisation to the saxophone rather than imitate the techniques of the clarinet. Hawkins' virtuosic, arpeggiated approach to improvisation, with his characteristic rich, emotional, and vibrato-laden tonal style, was the main influence on a generation of tenor players that included Chu Berry, Charlie Bar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cootie Williams
Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Biography Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of 14 with the Young Family band, which included saxophonist Lester Young. According to Williams he acquired his nickname as a boy when his father took him to a band concert. When it was over his father asked him what he'd heard and he replied, "Cootie, cootie, cootie." In 1928, he made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in New York, where he also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. Williams rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra when the band was playing at the Cotton Club, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940. He also recorded his own sessions during this time, both freelance and with other Ellington sidemen. Williams was renowned for his "jungle"-style trumpet playing (in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ziggy Elman
Harry Aaron Finkelman (May 26, 1914 – June 26, 1968), known professionally as Ziggy Elman, was an American jazz trumpeter associated with Benny Goodman, though he also led his group Ziggy Elman and His Orchestra. Early years Elman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, but his family settled in Atlantic City, New Jersey when he was four. His father was a violinist who had hoped Elman would play violin. Although he did learn to play violin, he preferred brass instruments. He began playing for Jewish weddings and nightclubs at age 15. Career In 1932, made his first recording, playing the trombone. At some point in the decade he adopted the name "Ziggy Elman". In 1936, Elman joined the Benny Goodman orchestra as a trumpeter, after playing briefly with a band led by Alex Bartha at Steel Pier in Atlantic City, where Goodman heard him. In 1938, while with Goodman, he got a contract with Bluebird, RCA's cheaper label, to record 20 sides as Ziggy Elman and his Orche ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bugle Call Rag
"Bugle Call Rag", also known as "Bugle Call Blues", is a jazz standard written by Jack Pettis, Billy Meyers and Elmer Schoebel. It was first recorded by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings in 1922 as "Bugle Call Blues", although later renditions as well as the published sheet music and the song's copyright all used the title "Bugle Call Rag".Bugle Call Rag at ''jazzstandards.com'' - retrieved on 18 May 2009 Background The New Orleans Rhythm Kings recorded "Bugle Call Rag" on August 29, 1922 in Richmond, Indiana for Gennett Records. The recording was released as a 78 single as Gennett 4967-B with "Discontented Blu ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One O'Clock Jump
"One O'Clock Jump" is a jazz standard, a 12-bar blues instrumental, written by Count Basie in 1937. Background The melody derived from band members' riffs—Basie rarely wrote down musical ideas, so Eddie Durham and Buster Smith helped him crystallize his ideas. The original 1937 recording of the tune by Basie and his band is noted for the saxophone work of Herschel Evans and Lester Young, trumpet by Buck Clayton, Walter Page on bass, and Basie himself on piano. The song is typical of Basie's early riff style. The instrumentation is based on "head arrangements" where each section makes up their part based on what the other sections are playing. Individuals take turns improvising over the top of the entire sound. Basie recorded "One O'Clock Jump" several times after the original performance for Decca in 1937, for Columbia in 1942 and 1950 and on a number of occasions in the fifties. "One O'Clock Jump" became the theme song of the Count Basie Orchestra. They used it to close ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle". Early life Barnet was born in New York City, the son of Charline (Daly) and Willard Barnet. His parents divorced when he was two, and he was raised by his mother and her grandparents. His grandfather was Charles Frederick Daly, a vice-president for the New York Central Railroad, banker, and businessman. Barnet attended boarding schools, both in the New York and Chicago areas. He learned to play piano and saxophone as a child. He often left school to listen to music and to try to gain work as a musician. Although his family wanted him to become a lawyer, he chose to be a musician instead. Career By sixteen, Barnet had played on tours with Jean Goldkette's satellite band and was in New York, where he joined Frank Winegar's Pennsylvania ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toots Mondello
Nunzio (Toots) Mondello (August 14, 1911 in Boston, Massachusetts – November 15, 1992 in New York City, New York) was an American swing jazz alto saxophonist. Mondello played with Mal Hallett from 1927 to 1933, where he also simultaneously performed saxophone and trombone, and with Irving Aaronson's Commanders, Joe Haymes, and Buddy Rogers. In 1934–35 he was a member of the Benny Goodman Orchestra; he returned to play with Goodman in 1939–40. In the interim he worked with Haymes, Ray Noble, and Phil Harris. He did extensive work as a studio sideman, with Chick Bullock, Bunny Berigan, Miff Mole, Claude Thornhill, Larry Clinton, Teddy Wilson, Louis Armstrong (1938–39), Lionel Hampton, and the Metronome All–Stars. He recorded as a leader between 1937 and 1939, doing two sessions with a big band, one with a nonet, and one with a trio. Mondello served in the military during World War II. He continued doing session work and remained active into the 1970s. He and Goodm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Jenney
Truman Eliot "Jack" Jenney (May 12, 1910 – December 16, 1945) was an American jazz trombonist. Early life Born in Mason City, Iowa, Jenney first played trumpet, then switched to trombone. His father was a musician and music teacher. Jenney performed in his father's band from age 11, but his professional work began with Austin Wylie in 1928. Career During his career, Jenney worked with Isham Jones, Red Norvo, Artie Shaw, Mal Hallett, and Waring's Pennsylvanians. He appeared in the film ''Syncopation''.AllMusicbiography He has been called "the greatest trombonist of the Big Band era" and won the ''DownBeat'' Reader's Poll for trombone in 1940. He led his own band for a year in 1938 and 1939, but it was a financial failure. He was drafted into the United States Navy in 1943, but also played as a studio musician the following year. Death He died on December 16, 1945, in Los Angeles, from complications following an appendectomy An appendectomy, also termed appendicectom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Krupa
Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of "Sing, Sing, Sing" elevated the role of the drummer from an accompanist to an important solo voice in the band. In collaboration with the Slingerland drum and Zildjian cymbal manufacturers, he was a major force in defining the standard band drummer's kit. Krupa is considered "the founding father of the modern drumset" by ''Modern Drummer'' magazine. Early life The youngest of Anna (née Oslowski) and Bartłomiej Krupa's nine children, Gene Krupa was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Bartłomiej was an immigrant from Poland born in the village of Łęki Górne, southeastern Poland. Anna was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and was also of Polish descent. His parents were Roman Catholics who groomed him for the priesthood. He spent his grammar s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. For this, he is often credited with leading to the development of the lead guitar role in musical ensembles and bands. John Hammond and George T. Simon called Christian the best improvisational talent of the swing era. In the liner notes to the album '' Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian'' (Columbia, 1972), Gene Lees wrote that "Many critics and musicians consider that Christian was one of the founding fathers of bebop, or if not that, at least a precursor to it."Liner notes. '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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