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Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner (born March 1, 1940) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion, trumpet and French horn. Biography Towner was born into a musical family in Chehalis, Washington, United States. His mother was a piano teacher and his father a trumpet player. Towner learned to improvise on the piano at the age of three. He began his career as a conservatory-trained classical pianist, attending the University of Oregon from 1958-1963, where he also studied composition with Homer Keller. He studied classical guitar at the Vienna Academy of Music with Karl Scheit from 1963–64 and 1967-68. He joined world music pioneer Paul Winter's "Consort" ensemble in the late 1960s. He first played jazz in New York City in the late 1960s as a pianist and was strongly influenced by the renowned jazz pianist Bill Evans. He began improvising on classical and 12-string guitars in the lat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paolo Fresu
Paolo Fresu ( sc, Pàulu; born 10 February 1961) is an Italian jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, as well as a composer and arranger of music. Career Born in Berchidda, Sardinia, he picked up the trumpet at the age of 11, and played in the band Bernardo de Muro in his home town Berchidda. Fresu graduated from the Conservatory of Cagliari in 1984, in trumpet studies under Enzo Morandini, and attended the University of Bologna School of music and performing arts in Bologna. He made his debut in 1985, with the release of his first album ''Ostinato.'' He has taught at the Siena Jazz National Seminars, as well as jazz university courses in Terni, and is the director of Nuoro Jazz Seminars in Nuoro, Italy. Fresu composes music for theatre, poem, dance, radio, television, and film. In 2007, he recorded and toured with Carla Bley's quartet, the Lost Chords. In 2011, he released ''Mistico Mediterraneo'', which featured him, Daniele di Bonaventura and five other members playing band ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Larkin (writer)
Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited the ''Guinness Who's Who of Jazz'', the ''Guinness Who's Who of Blues'', and the ''Virgin Encyclopedia Of Heavy Rock''. He has over 650,000 copies in print to date. Background and education Larkin was born in Dagenham, Essex. Larkin spent much of his early childhood attending the travelling fair where his father, who worked by day as a plumber for the council, moonlighted on the waltzers to make ends meet. It was in the fairground, against a background of Little Richard on the wind-up 78 rpm turntables, that Larkin acquired his passion for the world of popular music. He studied at the South East Essex County Technical High School and at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marc Johnson (musician)
Marc Alan Johnson (born October 21, 1953, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American jazz bass player, composer and band leader. Johnson was born in Nebraska and grew up in Texas. He is married to the Brazilian jazz pianist and singer Eliane Elias. Career At the age of 19, Johnson was working professionally with the Fort Worth Symphony, and while at the University of North Texas, he played in the One O'Clock Lab Band and was also the principal bassist in the NTSU Symphony. In 1978, Johnson joined pianist Bill Evans in what would be Evans's last trio. Johnson toured and recorded with Evans until the death of the pianist in 1980. In 2007 he released the tribute album ''Something For You''—a tribute to Evans—together with his wife, pianist Eliane Elias. His credits since then include albums with Joe Lovano, Michael Brecker, Stan Getz, Bob Brookmeyer, Gary Burton, John Abercrombie (guitarist), John Abercrombie, Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Eliane Elias, Enrico Pieranunzi, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Gómez (musician)
Edgar Gómez (born October 4, 1944) is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist, known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio from 1966 to 1977. Biography Gómez moved with his family from Puerto Rico at a young age to New York, where he was raised. Yanow, Scott. Allmusic biography of Eddie Gómez. Retrieved January 26, 2014. He started on double bass in the New York City school system at the age of eleven and at age thirteen went to the New York City High School of Music & Art. He played in the Newport Festival Youth Band (led by Marshall Brown) from 1959 to 1961, and graduated from Juilliard in 1963. He played with musicians such as Gerry Mulligan, Marian McPartland, Paul Bley, Steps Ahead, and Chick Corea. He spent a total of eleven years with the Bill Evans Trio, which included performances in the United States, Europe and Asia, as well as dozens of recordings. His career mainly consists of working as an accompanist, a position suited for his quick reflexes and flexibility. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Steig
Jeremy Steig (September 23, 1942 – April 13, 2016)Peter Keepnews, "Jeremy Steig, Flutist Who Bridged Jazz and Rock, Dies at 73" '''', June 2, 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016 was an American flutist. Biography Steig was born in Manhattan, the son of '' New Yorker'' cartoonist[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Evans
William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continues to influence jazz pianists today. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, he was classically trained at Southeastern Louisiana University and the Mannes School of Music, in New York City, where he majored in composition and received the Artist Diploma. In 1955, he moved to New York City, where he worked with bandleader and theorist George Russell. In 1958, Evans joined Miles Davis's sextet, which in 1959, then immersed in modal jazz, recorded '' Kind of Blue'', the best-selling jazz album ever. In late 1959, Evans left the Miles Davis band and began his career as a leader, with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, a group now regarded as a se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Winter
Paul Winter (born August 31, 1939) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He is a pioneer of world music and earth music, which interweaves the voices of the wild with instrumental voices from classical, jazz and world music. The music is often improvised and recorded in nature to reflect the qualities brought into play by the environment. Early life Winter was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, United States. He studied piano and clarinet, then fell in love with saxophone in the fourth grade. He started the Little German Band with his schoolmates when he was twelve, then a Dixieland band, and a nine-piece dance band known as The Silver Liners. He became enthralled by big bands and bebop bands of the 1950s. After graduating from Altoona Area High School in 1957, he spent the summer on a tour of state fairs in the Midwest with the conductor and members of the Ringling Brothers Circus Band. Paul Winter Sextet At Northwestern University, he majored in English and vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
