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Pinnacle (Irv Williams Trio Album)
''Pinnacle'' is the first album that Irv Williams released not under his own name but as the Irv Williams Trio, on which Irv Williams on tenor saxophone is joined by long-time partner Billy Peterson on bass and Steve Blons on guitar. Its official release date is July 6, 2015 (see 2015 in music). The Special Edition of ''Pinnacle'' consists of 13 musical tracks and highlights of an exclusive conversation, split into six segments, between the jazz saxophonist and late jazz broadcaster Leigh Kamman, whose career spanned over six decades conducting thousands of interviews with the “jazz who’s who”. This historic conversation gives insight into some rare musical history and a few funny stories. This conversation became Kamman´s last recorded interview, as he died away in October 2014. Track listing (Special Edition) # "Conversation – the Pinnacle Band " – 4:44 #*(Kamman, Williams) # "Speak Low" – 5:56 #*(Kurt Weill, Ogden Nash; Chappell & Co., Hampshire House Publishing) ... [...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] |
Eubie Blake
James Hubert "Eubie" Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American pianist and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, he and his long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote ''Shuffle Along'', one of the first Broadway musicals written and directed by African Americans. Blake's compositions included such hits as "Bandana Days", "Charleston Rag", "Love Will Find a Way", "Memories of You" and "I'm Just Wild About Harry". The 1978 Broadway musical ''Eubie!'' showcased his works. Early years Blake was born at 319 Forrest Street in Baltimore, Maryland. Of the many children born to former slaves Emily "Emma" Johnstone and John Sumner Blake, he was the only one to survive childhood. John Sumner Blake was a stevedore on the Baltimore Docks. Blake claimed in later life to have been born in 1883, but records published beginning in 2003— U.S. Census, military, and Social Security records and Blake's passport application and passport—uniformly give his b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lush Life (jazz Song)
"Lush Life" is a jazz standard that was written by Billy Strayhorn from 1933 to 1936. It was performed publicly for the first time by Strayhorn and vocalist Kay Davis with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on November 13, 1948. Background The lyric describes the author's weariness of the night life after a failed romance, wasting time with "jazz and cocktails" at "come-what-may places" and in the company of girls with "sad and sullen gray faces/with ''distingué'' traces". Strayhorn was a teenager when he wrote most of the song, which was to become his signature composition (along with "Take the 'A' Train"). The song was written in the key of D-flat major. The melody is over relatively complex chord changes, compared with many jazz standards, with chromatic movement and modulations that evoke a dreamlike state and the dissolute spirit characteristic of the "lush life." During a 1949 interview, Strayhorn spoke of the song’s genesis: “’Lush Life’ wasn’t the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fran Landesman
Fran Landesman (October 21, 1927 – July 23, 2011) was an American lyricist and poet. She grew up in New York City and lived for years in St. Louis, Missouri, where her husband Jay Landesman operated the Crystal Palace nightclub. One of her best-known songs is " Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most". Early life and education She was born Frances Deitsch in New York City in 1927, Her mother was a journalist and a father was a dress manufacturer. Her brother, Sam Deitsch, founded and operated some neighborhood bars in St. Louis and, with his partner Ed Moose, later founded the Washington Square Bar and Grill in San Francisco. Deitsch attended private schools through high school. For college, she studied at Temple University in Philadelphia and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. There she initially worked in the fashion industry, as her father did. While in New York, Deitsch met writer Jay Landesman, the publisher of the short-lived ''Neurotica'' magazine, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Wolf
Thomas Joseph Wolf Jr. (1925 – 1979) was an American composer and piano player. He was best known for his songwriting collaboration with Fran Landesman. Life Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Wolf met Fran Landesman while playing piano at the Jefferson Hotel there. She showed him a poem which he set to music. The resulting song "This Little Love of Ours" began a collaboration that continued for more than a decade. Wolf's albums include " Wolf at Your Door," and " Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most", both recorded for Fraternity Records. After moving to California, he was a rehearsal pianist, working on the Andy Williams and Red Skelton television shows, and numerous musical specials, most memorably the award-winning Fred Astaire show "Evenings." Several of Wolf's songs, including " Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most", have become jazz Jazz standards, and have been recorded by artists such as Kurt Elling, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, and Ella Fitzgerald. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
You Stepped Out Of A Dream
"You Stepped Out of a Dream" is a popular song with music written by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics by Gus Kahn that was published in 1940. The song has become a pop and jazz standard, with many recorded versions. It was a centerpiece in the 1941 musical ''Ziegfeld Girl'', in which it was sung by Tony Martin and accompanied an iconic image of Lana Turner walking down a grand staircase. Although Turner never officially sang or recorded the song, it became her theme song during her peak years as one of Hollywood's top leading ladies, often played when she entered a nightclub or restaurant. The song is played in the film '' The Abominable Dr. Phibes'' (1971) during a murder scene. The song was added to the Chichester/London 2012 Revival version of the musical '' Singin' in the Rain''. Other versions * Dave Brubeck – 1950 * Peter Cincotti * Nat King Cole * Ray Conniff * Eddie Lockjaw Davis * Teddy Edwards * The Four Freshmen * Art Garfunkel * Stan Getz – 1950 * Dexter Gordon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, Porter defied his grandfather's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn to musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs. After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain, but he continued to work. His shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 1930s, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback with his most successful musical, ''Kiss Me, Kate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Concentrate On You
"I Concentrate on You" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1940 film ''Broadway Melody of 1940'', where it was introduced by Douglas McPhail. Notable recordings *Franck Amsallem - ''Amsallem Sings'' (2009) *Fred Astaire - ''The Astaire Story'' (1952) *Tony Bennett - '' Steppin' Out'' (1993) *Freddy Cole - ''Rio de Janeiro Blue'' (2009) *Perry Como - ''TV Favorites'' (1952), ''Easy Listening'' (1970) *Ray Conniff - ''Rhapsody in Rhythm '' (1962), ''The very best of Ray Conniff '' (2017) *Ella Fitzgerald - ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook'' (1956), ''Ella Loves Cole'' (1972) *The Four Freshmen - ''Live in the New Millennium'' (2002) *Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga recorded a version of the song for their 2021 collaborative album '' Love for Sale''. *Judy Garland - ''Judy in Love'' (1958) *Bunky Green - ''Healing the Pain'' (1990) *Grant Green – ''Nigeria'' (1962) *Johnny Hartman - '' Thank You for Everything'' (1998), rec. 1976 *Lena Horne - '' Lena...Lovely and Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Strachey
Jack Strachey (25 September 1894 – 27 May 1972) was an English composer and songwriter Born John Francis Strachey in London on 25 September 1894, he began writing songs in the 1920s for the theatre and the music hall, scoring his first success with songs he had written for Frith Shephard's long running musical revue ''Lady Luck'' which opened at The Carlton Theatre in April 1927 where it ran for 324 performances. In the 1930s, he began to collaborate with Eric Maschwitz and in 1936 Strachey, Maschwitz (using the pen name Holt Marvell), and Harry Link co-wrote "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)", which was to provide a top ten hit for five separate artists in 1936. Benny Goodman was among the five artists to record the song in 1936, and it has been widely covered since - by Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk and Bryan Ferry among others. Under the title "Ces Petites Choses", it was also a hit in France for Dorothy Dickson. Strachey scored another success in 1940 (this time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)
"These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" is a standard with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz, writing under the pseudonym Holt Marvell, and music by Jack Strachey, both Englishmen. Harry Link, an American, sometimes appears as a co-writer; his input was probably limited to an alternative "middle eight" (bridge) which many performers prefer. It is one of a group of "Mayfair songs", like "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square". Maschwitz wrote the song under his pen name, Holt Marvell, at the behest of Joan Carr for a late-evening revue broadcast by the BBC. The copyright was lodged in 1936. According to the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', British cabaret singer Jean Ross, with whom Maschwitz had a youthful liaison, was the muse for the song. Creation Although Maschwitz's wife Hermione Gingold speculated in her autobiography that the haunting jazz standard was written for either herself or actress Anna May Wong, Maschwitz himself contradicted such claims. Maschwitz inste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
While We're Young (1943 Song)
"While We're Young" is a 1943 song with music composed by Alec Wilder and Morty Palitz, to lyrics by Bill Engvick, which was popularized by Don Cherry, Tony Bennett and other artists. Wilder quoted his Algonquin neighbour, James Thurber, as saying that Engvick's lyrics to "While We're Young" was "the finest piece of English writing he knew". The lyric Thurber refers to begins: Versions *Judy Garland on ''Miss Show Business (1955)'' *Peggy Lee on ''Rendezvous with Peggy Lee'' (1949) *Single by Don Cherry (1951)Billboard 1951 August 25 *Tony Bennett, B-side to Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart", and also from debut album ''Because of You'' (1956) *Perry Como with Mitchell Ayres and His Orchestra (1952) and re-recorded for the album '' For the Young at Heart'' (1960) *Red Norvo and His Orchestra from ''Presenting Red Norvo'' EP (1954) *André Kostelanetz and His Orchestra – ''Mood For Love'' EP (1955) *Percy Faith and His Orchestra with Mitch Miller – ''It's So Peaceful in the Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
