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Pizza Express All Stars
PizzaExpress Jazz Club is a jazz club in London, England. Based in Dean Street in Soho, it is situated in the basement of a PizzaExpress restaurant, and was opened by company founder Peter Boizot in 1969. It has played host to Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse, Jamie Cullum and Walter Smith III Although the current building was built in 1878, the site was previously occupied by the Dispensary for Diseases of the Ear. Founded in 1816 by a Naval surgeon, John Harrison Curtis (1778–1860), the Dispensary for Diseases of the Ear – the first ear hospital in the UK if not in Europe. – opened at 20 Carlisle Street under the patronage of the Prince Regent (later George IV). Shortly after this it moved to 10 Dean Street in Soho. By 1845 it was known as the Royal Ear Hospital. When larger premises were needed, it moved to 66 Firth Street in 1876, then in 1904 to 42–43 Dean Street in purpose-built premises. Mr Curtis divided opinion at the time, being known as a "great aurist" and a "quack ...
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Pizza Express Jazz Club
PizzaExpress Jazz Club is a jazz club in London, England. Based in Dean Street in Soho, it is situated in the basement of a PizzaExpress restaurant, and was opened by company founder Peter Boizot in 1969. It has played host to Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse, Jamie Cullum and Walter Smith III Although the current building was built in 1878, the site was previously occupied by the Dispensary for Diseases of the Ear. Founded in 1816 by a Naval surgeon, John Harrison Curtis (1778–1860), the Dispensary for Diseases of the Ear – the first ear hospital in the UK if not in Europe. – opened at 20 Carlisle Street under the patronage of the Prince Regent (later George IV). Shortly after this it moved to 10 Dean Street in Soho. By 1845 it was known as the Royal Ear Hospital. When larger premises were needed, it moved to 66 Firth Street in 1876, then in 1904 to 42–43 Dean Street in purpose-built premises. Mr Curtis divided opinion at the time, being known as a "great aurist" and a "quack ...
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Bob Wilber
Robert Sage Wilber (March 15, 1928 – August 4, 2019) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and band leader. Although his scope covers a wide range of jazz, Wilber was a dedicated advocate of classic styles, working throughout his career to present traditional jazz pieces in a contemporary manner. He played with many distinguished jazz leaders in the 1950s and 1960s, including Bobby Hackett, Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet, Jack Teagarden and Eddie Condon. In the late 1960s, he was an original member of the World's Greatest Jazz Band, and in the early 70s of Soprano Summit, a band which gained wide attention. In the late 1970s, he formed the Bechet Legacy Band. Wilber was active in jazz education, including working as director of the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble. He wrote for films, including '' The Cotton Club''. In his autobiography, ''Music Was Not Enough,'' he recounts his childhood, meeting his mentor Sidney Bechet, in 1946, and his struggles as a musician in ...
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Trummy Young
James "Trummy" Young (January 12, 1912 – September 10, 1984) was an American trombonist in the swing era. He established himself as a star during his 12 years performing with Louis Armstrong in Armstrong's All Stars. He had one hit with his version of "Margie", which he played and sang with Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra in 1937. During his years with Armstrong, Young modified his playing to fit Armstrong's approach to jazz. Biography Young was born in Savannah, Georgia, United States, and grew up Richmond, Virginia; he was originally a trumpeter, but by his professional debut in 1928 he had switched to trombone. From 1933 to 1937, he was a member of Earl Hines' orchestra; he then joined Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra in which he played from 1937 to 1943, scoring a hit on Decca Records with "Margie", which featured his vocal. With Sy Oliver he co-wrote " 'Tain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)", a hit for both Lunceford and Ella Fitzgerald in 1939. His other compositions ...
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Tal Farlow
Talmage Holt Farlow (June 7, 1921 – July 25, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist. He was nicknamed "Octopus" because of how his large, quick hands spread over the fretboard. As Steve Rochinski notes, "Of all the guitarists to emerge in the first generation after Charlie Christian, Tal Farlow, more than any other, has been able to move beyond the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic vocabulary associated with the early electric guitar master. Tal's incredible speed, long, weaving lines, rhythmic excitement, highly developed harmonic sense, and enormous reach (both physical and musical) have enabled him to create a style that clearly stands apart from the rest." Where guitarists of his day combined rhythmic chords with linear melodies, Farlow placed single notes together in clusters, varying between harmonically enriched tones. As music critic Stuart Nicholson put it, "In terms of guitar prowess, it was the equivalent of Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile."Stuart Nichol ...
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Red Norvo
Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His recordings included "Dance of the Octopus", "Bughouse", "Knockin' on Wood", "Congo Blues", and "Hole in the Wall". Career Red Norvo was born in Beardstown, Illinois, United States. His career began in Chicago with a band called "The Collegians" in 1925. He played with many other bands, including an all-marimba band on the vaudeville circuit, and the bands of Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, and Woody Herman. He recorded with Mildred Bailey (his wife from 1933 to 1942), Billie Holiday, Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra. Norvo and his wife were known as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing." He appeared as himself in the film '' Screaming Mimi'' (1958) and in ''Ocean's 11'', accompanying Dean Martin while he sang "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" In 19 ...
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John Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE (20 September 1927 – 6 February 2010), also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist and writer of film scores. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he was a music educator and also her music director. Biography Early years Born in Woodford, Essex, he grew up, within a family of musicians, in Hollywood Way, Highams Park, a suburb of Chingford, and attended Selwyn Boys' (Junior) School in Highams Park and later Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow. He had violin and piano lessons before settling eventually on the clarinet at the age of 16, after hearing a record of the Benny Goodman Quartet. Soon afterwards, inspired by Charlie Parker, he learned to play the alto saxophone. He began his career on the British jazz scene after studying at London's Royal Academy of Music (where his jazz interests were frowned upon) and then national service in the Royal Air Force, during which he ...
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Al Haig
Alan Warren Haig (July 19, 1922 – November 16, 1982) was an American jazz pianist, best known as one of the pioneers of bebop. Biography Haig was born in Newark, New Jersey and raised in nearby Nutley. In 1940, he majored in piano at Oberlin College. He started performing with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in 1945, and performed and recorded under Gillespie from 1945 to 1946, as a member of Eddie Davis and His Beboppers in 1946 (also featuring Fats Navarro), and the Eddie Davis Quintet in 1947, under Parker from 1948 to 1950, and under Stan Getz from 1949 to 1951. The Gillespie quintet, which included Haig, recorded four 78 r.p.m. sides for Guild Records in May 1945 which are regarded as the first recordings to demonstrate all elements of the mature bebop style. He was part of the nonet on the first session of Miles Davis' ''Birth of the Cool''. For much of the 1950s and 1960s, "Haig was all but a forgotten giant", in Brian Case's words; "Jazz pianism, ever more ...
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Yank Lawson
John Rhea "Yank" Lawson (May 3, 1911 – February 18, 1995) was an American jazz trumpeter known for Dixieland and swing music. Born John Lausen in 1911, from 1933 to 1935 he worked in Ben Pollack's orchestra and after that became a founding member of the Bob Crosby Orchestra. He later worked with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, but also worked with Crosby again in 1941–42. Later in the 1940s he became a studio musician leading his own Dixieland sessions. In the 1950s he and Bob Haggart created the Lawson-Haggart band and they worked together in 1968 to form the World's Greatest Jazz Band, a Dixieland group which performed for the next ten years. References External links Yank Lawson recordingsat the Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio s ...
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Tommy Whittle
Tommy Whittle (13 October 1926 – 13 October 2013) was a British jazz saxophonist. Biography Tommy Whittle was born in Grangemouth, Scotland. He started playing clarinet at the age of 12 before taking up tenor saxophone at 13, guided by Alan Davie. He moved to Chatham, Kent, at 16 and in 1943 started playing in the dance-hall band of Claude Giddins in nearby Gillingham. During the 1940s, Whittle played with Johnny Claes, Lew Stone, Carl Barriteau, and Harry Hayes. In 1946 he joined Ted Heath's band, playing with him until 1952 when he moved on to play in Tony Kinsey's small group at the 51 Club in London. Later in the 1950s he joined Cyril Stapleton's BBC Show Band where he became featured as a soloist in nationwide broadcasts. In April 1954 he formed his a quintet with Harry Klein and Dill Jones, later touring with a ten-piece band for 14 months. He then led small groups and performed in clubs. In 1955 he was voted Britain's top tenor-sax player in the ''New Musical Expr ...
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Danny Moss
Dennis Moss (16 August 1927 – 28 May 2008) was a British jazz tenor saxophonist. He performed with many figures in British jazz, including Vic Lewis, Ted Heath, John Dankworth, Alex Welsh, and Humphrey Lyttelton. Biography The son of a toolmaker, Moss was born in Redhill, Surrey in 1927. His childhood was spent on the south coast, in the Brighton-Worthing area, and he attended Steyning Grammar School. At the age of thirteen, he saw a jazz band appear briefly in a Bowery Boys film on a family cinema visit, and was so inspired by the clarinet playing that he swapped his most valued possession, his ice skates, for a second-hand instrument of his own. He was self-taught on both this and the tenor saxophone, which he took up at school. A spell of National Service at the age of eighteen saw Moss performing for three years in a Royal Air Force regional band. After leaving the forces he joined the Vic Lewis Orchestra, and in the next few years moved around various bands, especial ...
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Digby Fairweather
Richard John Charles "Digby" Fairweather (born 25 April 1946) is a British jazz cornetist, author and broadcaster. Biography Before becoming a professional musician, Fairweather was a librarian and has retained an interest in jazz bibliography and archiving. He led his first band, Dig's Half Dozen, in 1971 and recorded in 1973 with Alex Welsh. Four years later, he was a member of the band Velvet, with Ike Isaacs, Len Skeat, and Denny Wright, then a member of the Midnite Follies Orchestra and the Pizza Express All-Stars. In the early 1980s, he started a band that performed music by Nat Gonella. He worked as a sideman for George Chisholm, Alex Welsh, Tiny Winters, and Brian Priestley. In the 1980s and 1990s, he led the Jazz Superkings, the Great British Jazz Band, and the Half Dozen. During the 1990s, he was part of the ''Salute to Satchmo''. Fairweather and Stan Barker started the Jazz College charity to introduce improvisation in schools. He established the Association of ...
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