Pre-Bird
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Pre-Bird
''Pre-Bird'' (later re-released as ''Mingus Revisited'') is an album by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus consisting of music that was composed before Mingus first heard Charlie Parker, hence the title ''Pre-Bird''. It was released on Mercury Records in September 1961. The music is scored for various sized large jazz ensembles and features many soloists prominent at the time of recording. The album includes two tracks which are Counterpoint, contrapuntal arrangements of two swing era pieces, whereby "Take the "A" Train" (left channel) is paired with a simultaneous "Exactly Like You (song), Exactly Like You" (right channel), and likewise "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me" with "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart". Tracks 1 to 3, 5 and 6 recorded May 25, 1960 probably at Plaza Sound, New York City; tracks 4, 7 and 8 recorded May 24, 1960 at Plaza Sound, New York City. Track listing #"Take the "A" Train" (Billy Strayhorn) / "Exactly Like You (song), Exactly Like You" (Jimmy McHu ...
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Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus
''Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus'' is an album by the jazz double bassist and composer Charles Mingus, recorded in October 1960 and released in December of the same year. The quartet of Mingus, multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Ted Curson, and drummer Dannie Richmond constituted Mingus' core working band at the time, and had been performing the material on this album for weeks at The Showplace in New York. To recreate this atmosphere, Mingus introduces the songs as if he were speaking to the audience, even admonishing them to not applaud or rattle their glasses. This explains why the recordings on ''Presents'' would seemingly give off the illusion of a live album, when in fact it is a studio album. The album was recorded in New York for the Candid label, founded by Nat Hentoff. Mingus usually recorded on major labels like Columbia and Atlantic, but he was given more freedom on Hentoff's independent label. ''Presents'' has received positive reviews from jaz ...
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Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history,See the 1998 documentary ''Triumph of the Underdog'' with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herbie Hancock. Mingus' compositions continue to be played by contemporary musicians ranging from the repertory bands Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty, and Mingus Orchestra, to the high school students who play the charts and compete in the Charles Mingus High School Competition. In 1993, the Library of Congress acquired Mingus' collected papers—including scores, sound recordings, correspondence and photos—in what they described as "the most important acquisition of a manuscript collection relating to jaz ...
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Mingus (Charles Mingus Album)
''Mingus'' is an album by the jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus. The album was recorded in October and November 1960 in New York and released in late 1961 on Nat Hentoff's Candid label. Background At this time Mingus was working regularly with a piano-less quartet featuring Eric Dolphy, Ted Curson and Dannie Richmond, as heard on the ''Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus'' album also recorded in October 1960. The ''Mingus'' album features one track, "Stormy Weather", recorded by the same quartet, plus two tracks recorded by a larger group featuring piano and additional horns. The track "M.D.M." weaves together the themes from three compositions: Duke Ellington's "Main Stem", Thelonious Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" and Mingus's own "Fifty-First Street Blues". The track "Lock 'Em Up" was inspired by a period of treatment that Mingus describes undergoing in his autobiography ''Beneath the Underdog'', at New York's Bellevue Hospital Center, Bellevue psychiatric facility. T ...
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Take The "A" Train
"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra. History The use of the Strayhorn composition as the signature tune was made necessary by a ruling in 1940 by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). When ASCAP raised its licensing fees for broadcast use, many ASCAP members, including Ellington, could no longer play their compositions over radio, as most music was played live on radio at the time. Ellington turned to Billy Strayhorn and son Mercer Ellington, who were registered with ASCAP's competitor BMI, to "write a whole new book for the band," Mercer recalled. "'A' Train" was one of many tunes written by Strayhorn, and was picked to replace "Sepia Panorama" as the band's signature song. Mercer recalled that he found the composition in a trash can after Strayhorn discarded a draft of it because it sounded too much like a Fletcher Henderson arrangement. The song was first recorded ...
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Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1904 – March 28, 1974) was an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films. Her best-known pieces include "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936), "A Fine Romance" (1936), "On the Sunny Side of the Street" (1930), " Don't Blame Me" (1948), "Pick Yourself Up" (1936), "I'm in the Mood for Love" (1935), "You Couldn't Be Cuter" (1938) and " Big Spender" (1966). Throughout her career, she collaborated with various influential figures in the American musical theater, including Jerome Kern, Cy Coleman, Irving Berlin, and Jimmy McHugh. Along with Ann Ronell, Dana Suesse, Bernice Petkere, and Kay Swift, she was one of the first successful Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood female songwriters. Early life Fields was born in Allenhurst, New Jersey, and grew up in New York City. In 1923, Fields graduated from the Benjamin School for Girls in New York City. At school, she was outstanding in the subjects of English, drama, and baske ...
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Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
"Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" (also written as "Do Nothin' Til You Hear from Me") is a song with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell. It originated as a 1940 instrumental ("Concerto for Cootie") that was designed to highlight the playing of Ellington's lead trumpeter, Cootie Williams. Russell's words were added later. In 1944, Ellington's own recording of the song was a number one hit R&B chart for eight non-consecutive weeks and number six on the pop chart. Other recordings to reach the ''Billboard'' charts in 1944 were by Woody Herman and by Stan Kenton (vocal: Red Dorris). Other versions "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" has since been performed by many other famous musical artists, including: *Nat King Cole, 1944, with The King Cole Trio *Billie Holiday, 1944 - Live, 1955, Studio, '' Stay With Me'' *Lena Horne, 1944, appears on her 2002 compilation album ''The Young Star'' *Patti Page, 1949, released in 1986 on ''The Uncollected Patti Page (1949): Patti P ...
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I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
"I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" is a 1938 composition by Duke Ellington, with lyrics added by Irving Mills, Henry Nemo and John Redmond. The song became a number one hit for Ellington in 1938. Other hit versions the same year were by Benny Goodman (with Martha Tilton singing), Connee Boswell, Hot Lips Page, and Mildred Bailey. It was performed as part of The Cotton Club Parade of 1938. Other recordings *Tony Bennett - for the album '' Tony Makes It Happen'' (1967). *June Christy - included in the album ''Mood Indigo: Capitol Sings Duke Ellington'' (1994). *Rosemary Clooney - for the album ''Blue Rose'' (1956) *Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1957 for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the album ''With All My Heart'' (2012). *Ella Fitzgerald - in the album ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book'' (1957) *Gogi Grant - for her album ''Suddenly There's Gogi Grant'' (1956). *Lena Horne - for her album '' Lena...Lovely and Alive'' (1962) *Irene Kra ...
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Billy Strayhorn
William Thomas Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take the 'A' Train", "Chelsea Bridge", "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing", and " Lush Life". Early life Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio, United States. His family soon moved to the Homewood section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, his mother's family came from Hillsborough, North Carolina, and she sent him there to protect him from his father's drunken sprees. Strayhorn spent many months of his childhood at his grandparents' house in Hillsborough. In an interview, Strayhorn said that his grandmother was his primary influence during the first ten years of his life. He became interested in music while living with her, playing hymns on her piano, and playing records on her Victrola record player. Return to Pittsburgh and meeting Ellington S ...
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Jimmy McHugh
James Francis McHugh (July 10, 1894 – May 23, 1969) was an American composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he is credited with over 500 songs. His songs were recorded by many artists, including Chet Baker, June Christy, Bing Crosby, Deanna Durbin, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Adelaide Hall, Billie Holiday, Beverly Kenney, Bill Kenny, Peggy Lee, Carmen Miranda, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, and Dinah Washington. Career McHugh began his career in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut [Massachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət],'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ..., United States, where he published about a dozen songs with local publishers. His first success was with the World War I song "Keep the Love-Light Burning in the Window Till the Boys Come Marching Home", and this ...
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Album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual Phonograph record#78 rpm disc developments, 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP record, long-playing (LP) records played at  revolutions per minute, rpm. The album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983 and was gradually supplanted by the cassette tape during the 1970s and early 1980s; the populari ...
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Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's " Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed multipl ...
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Bob Russell (songwriter)
Bob Russell (April 25, 1914 – February 18, 1970) was an American songwriter (mainly lyricist) born Sidney Keith Rosenthal in Passaic, New Jersey. Career Russell attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He worked as an advertising copywriter in New York; for a time, his roommate there was Sidney Sheldon, later a novelist. He turned to writing material for vaudeville acts, and then for film studios, ultimately writing complete scores for two movies: ''Jack and the Beanstalk (1952 film), Jack and the Beanstalk'' and ''Reach for Glory''. The latter film received the Locarno International Film Festival prize in 1962. A number of other movies featured compositions by Russell, including ''Affair in Trinidad'' (1952), ''The Blue Gardenia, Blue Gardenia'' (1953), ''The Girl Can't Help It'' (1956), ''The Girl Most Likely'' (1957), ''A Matter of WHO'' (1961), ''Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd'' (1952), ''Sound Off (film), Sound Off'' (1952), ''That Midnight Kiss'' (1949 ...
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