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Project Grand Slam
Project Grand Slam (PGS) is a jazz-rock fusion band with a twist of Classic Rock and Latin from New York City, New York formed in 2007. The band is led by acclaimed bassist/composer Robert Miller. To date, Project Grand Slam has released ten highly regarded albums including a Billboard #1 (Trippin'), earned over five million video views and more than a million streams, performed at festivals and concerts around the world, and shared the stage with Edgar Winter, Blues Traveler, Boney James and Mindi Abair. PGS and five of their songs were also featured in an episode of the NBC-TV series Lipstick Jungle starring Brooke Shields, and Robert has a speaking part. History Robert Miller was a staple of the Boston music scene in the 1970ʼs at a time when jazz fusion acts such as Weather Report, Return To Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra and others were performing. His personal fusion band (which included Anton Fig of David Letterman fame) performed with Gary Burton, Sonny Stitt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian virtuoso keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer and vocalist Alphonse Mouzon as well as American percussionists Don Alias and Barbara Burton. The band was initially co-led by co-frontmen Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter but, subsequently as the 1970s progressed, Joe Zawinul largely became the sole musical leader of the group. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Victor Bailey, Chester Thompson, Peter Erskine, Airto Moreira, and Alex Acuña. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet consisting of Zawinul, Shorter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist. The band started as a free improvising jazz group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings (pioneered by Zawinul); when Vitouš left Weathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Although not commercially successful during its existence, the Velvet Underground became regarded as one of the most influential bands in the history of underground and alternative rock music. Reed's distinctive deadpan voice, poetic and transgressive lyrics, and experimental guitar playing were trademarks throughout his long career. Having played guitar and sung in doo-wop groups in high school, Reed studied poetry at Syracuse University under Delmore Schwartz, and had served as a radio DJ, hosting a late-night avant garde music program while at college. After graduating from Syracuse, he went to work for Pickwick Records in New York City, a low-budget record company that specialized in sound-alike recordings, as a songwriter and sess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Thunder Smith
Tony "Thunder" Smith is an American drummer best known as a member of the Lou Reed backing band. He was former member of Jan Hammer Group with whom he recorded the album ''Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live'', and was the drummer for French music icon Serge Gainsbourg in the eighties, and many others. Discography * 1971 - ''Papa John Creach'' (Papa John Creach) * 1973 - ''Welcome'' (Santana) * 1976 - '' Oh Yeah?'' ( Jan Hammer Group) * 1977 - ''Melodies'' (Jan Hammer Group) * 1977 - ''Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live'' (Jan Hammer Group with Jeff Beck) * 1978 - ''Black Sheep'' (Jan Hammer Group) * 1978 - ''Electric Guitarist'' (John McLaughlin) * 1979 - '' Electric Dreams'' (John McLaughlin with The One Truth Band) * 1985 - ''Gainsbourg Live'' (Casino de Paris) (Serge Gainsbourg) * 1986 - ''Charlotte for Ever'' (Charlotte Gainsbourg) * 1987 - '' You're Under Arrest'' (Serge Gainsbourg) * 1989 - ''Le Zénith de Gainsbourg'' (Serge Gainsbourg) * 1994 - ''Mann to Mann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brecker Brothers
The Brecker Brothers were a jazz fusion music duo consisting of siblings Michael Brecker, Michael and Randy Brecker, Randy. Michael played saxophone, flute, and EWI (musical instrument), EWI, and Randy played trumpet and flugelhorn. The brothers attended Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. Randy, the older brother, became famous as an original member of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears. He appeared on their debut album ''Child Is Father to the Man'' in 1968. Michael first appeared on record supporting Randy on his solo debut album, titled ''Score (Randy Brecker album), Score'', which was released in 1969. In 1970 and 1971 the brothers were members of the group Dreams (band), Dreams who recorded two albums for Columbia Records. The brothers frequently played together, and individually, as session musicians on recordings by other artists. They were heard on Todd Rundgren's hit "Hello It's Me", which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Randy Brecker
Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was born on November 27, 1945, in the Philadelphia suburb of Cheltenham to a musical family. His father Bob (Bobby) was a lawyer who played jazz piano and his mother Sylvia was a portrait artist. Randy described his father as "a semipro jazz pianist and trumpet fanatic. In school when I was eight, they only offered trumpet or clarinet. I chose trumpet from hearing Diz, Miles, Clifford, and Chet Baker at home. My brother (Michael Brecker) didn't want to play the same instrument as I did, so three years later he chose the clarinet!" Randy's father, Bob, was also a songwriter and singer who loved to listen to recordings of the great jazz trumpet players such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown. He took Randy and his younger brother Mich ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz. Born in Alton, Illinois, and raised in East St. Louis, Davis left to study at Juilliard in New York City, before dropping out and making his professional debut as a member of saxophonist Charlie Parker's bebop quintet from 1944 to 1948. Shortly after, he recorded the ''Birth of the Cool'' sessions for Capitol Records, which were instrumental to the development of cool jazz. In the early 1950s, Davis recorded some of the earliest hard bop music while on Prestige Records but did so haphazardly due to a heroin addiction. After a widely acclaimed comeback performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, he signed a long-term contract wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Foster
Aloysius Tyrone Foster (born January 18, 1943) is an American jazz drummer. Foster's professional career began in the mid-60s, when he played and recorded with hard bop and swing musicians including Blue Mitchell and Illinois Jacquet. Foster played jazz fusion with Miles Davis during the 70s and was one of the few people to have contact with Davis during his retirement from 1975–1980. During Davis's retirement, Foster continued to play and record acoustic jazz with Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Horace Silver, and other band leaders. Foster played on Miles Davis's 1981 comeback album ''The Man with the Horn'', and was the only musician to play in Davis's band both before, and after, his retirement. After leaving Davis's band in the mid-80s, Foster toured and recorded with Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, and many other band leaders, primarily working in acoustic jazz settings. Foster has also released several solo albums under his own name, starting wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaki Byard
John Arthur "Jaki" Byard (; June 15, 1922 – February 11, 1999) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. Mainly a pianist, he also played tenor and alto saxophones, among several other instruments. He was known for his eclectic style, incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz. Byard played with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and was a member of bands led by bassist Charles Mingus for several years, including on several studio and concert recordings. The first of his recordings as a leader was in 1960, but, despite being praised by critics, his albums and performances did not gain him much wider attention. In his 60-year career, Byard recorded at least 35 albums as leader, and more than 50 as a sideman. Byard's influence on the music comes from his combining of musical styles during performance, and his parallel career in teaching. From 1969 Byard was heavily involved in jazz education: he began teachi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonny Stitt
Edward Hammond Boatner Jr. (February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982), known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording more than 100 albums. He was nicknamed the "Lone Wolf" by jazz critic Dan Morgenstern because of his relentless touring and devotion to jazz yet rarely worked with the same musicians for long. Stitt was sometimes viewed as a Charlie Parker mimic, especially earlier in his career, but gradually came to develop his own sound and style, particularly when performing on tenor saxophone and even occasionally baritone saxophone. Early life Edward Hammond Boatner, Jr. was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. He had a musical background: his father, Edward Boatner, was a baritone singer, composer, and college music professor; his brother was a classically trained pianist, and his mother was a pian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Burton
Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be heralded as an innovator, and his sound and technique are widely imitated.Corley, Cheryl (May 8, 2004)"Gary Burton Steps Down, Out: Jazz Vibraphonist Moves On After Three Decades at Berklee". ''NPR''. He is also known for pioneering fusion jazz and popularizing the duet format in jazz, as well as being a major figure in music education from his 30 years at the Berklee College of Music. Biography Burton was born in Anderson, Indiana, United States. Beginning music at six years old, he mostly taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone. He began studying piano at age sixteen while finishing high school at Princeton Community High School in Princeton, Indiana (1956–60). He has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as the inspiration for his approa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anton Fig
Anton Fig (born 8 August 1952 in Cape Town, South Africa), known as "The Thunder from Down Under", is a South African session drummer, perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band. David Letterman, for whom the band served as house band on his late-night talk shows, often referred to Fig as "Anton Zip" or "Buddy Rich Jr." Fig is also well known for his work with Kiss, Ace Frehley and Joe Bonamassa. Early career Fig began playing drums at the age of four. After performing in numerous successful local rock bands in Cape Town, becoming locally respected with bands like Hammak, he moved to Boston to further pursue his musical interests. His formal education included studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he studied jazz and classical disciplines, and graduated with honors in 1975. In 1976, he moved to New York City, where he began to establish a career as a freelance musician. Fig was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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