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Statesmen Of Jazz
Statesmen of Jazz was a swing jazz group started in 1994 by the American Federation of Jazz Societies. The group performs as a sextet, but it has a rotating, all-star membership comprising about thirty musicians. The group released its first album in 1994 for Arbors Records, performed at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee in 1995, and toured Japan in 1997. When the group started, all of its members were over the age of sixty-five. Members * Louie Bellson * Bill Berry (trumpeter) * Keter Betts * Bob Cranshaw * Kenny Davern * Buddy DeFranco * Panama Francis * Johnny Frigo * Wycliffe Gordon * Al Grey * Milt Hinton * Red Holloway * Jane Jarvis * Jay Leonhart * Eddie Locke * Dennis Mackrel * George Masso * Earl May * Ken Peplowski * Houston Person * Bucky Pizzarelli * Ed Polcer * Benny Powell * Don Sickler * Norman Simmons * Carrie Smith * Derek Smith * Irvin Stokes * Buddy Tate * Clark Terry * Warren Vache * Johnny Varro * Frank Wess * Benny Waters * Joe Wilder Joseph Benjamin Wilder ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swing Jazz
Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Musicians of the swing era include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and Django Reinhardt. Overview Swing has its roots in 1920s dance music ensembles, which began using new styles of written arrangements, incorporating rhythmic innovations pioneered by Louis Armstrong, Cole ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jay Leonhart
Jay Leonhart (born December 6, 1940) is a double bassist, singer, and songwriter who has worked in jazz and popular music. He has performed with Judy Garland, Bucky Pizzarelli, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Sting. Leonhart is noted for his clever songwriting, often laced with dry humor. His compositions have been recorded by Blossom Dearie, Lee Konitz, and Gary Burton. His poetry is published both in, and outside of, the venue of song. Career Leonhart grew up in a musical family. His parents and six siblings were all musically inclined. Everyone played the piano. By the age of seven, he and his older brother Bill were playing banjo, guitar, mandolin, and bass. They played country music and jazz. In their early teens, they were on TV in Baltimore and toured the country performing on banjo. When Leonhart was fourteen he started playing double bass in the Pier Five Dixieland Jazz Band in Baltimore. After studying at the Peabody Institute (1946–1950), he attended the Berklee C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derek Smith (musician)
Derek Smith (17 August 1931 – 19 August 2016) was a British jazz pianist. Biography Born in London, his father Sidney was an Inland Revenue employee. His mother, Lillian, made the decision that he was to take up piano lessons. He was influenced by jazz pianist Art Tatum after listening to his recordings in the 1940s. Smith played his first professional gig when he was fourteen. Someone rolled a piano out into the street, and he played for the VE Day celebrations in May, 1945. Over his parents' protestations, he joined John Dankworth's band when Cleo Laine was the female vocalist, and with many other British jazz musicians, including Kenny Graham and Kenny Baker. Smith also began performing and recording for the BBC, but soon realised the place for him professionally, was America. Smith immigrated to the United States with no job awaiting him. Fourteen days after arriving in New York, he recorded with the Modern Jazz Quartet. One of his first engagements was working with h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carrie Smith
Carrie Louise Smith (August 25, 1925 – May 20, 2012) was an American blues and jazz singer. She was not well known in the United States but had a small following in Europe. Career Smith was born in Fort Gaines, Georgia, United States. She was a member of a church choir that performed at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. In the early 1960's, Smith appeared on TV Gospel Time, a show designed to appeal to black audiences. She first won notice singing with Big Tiny Little in the early 1970s, but became internationally known in 1974 when she played Bessie Smith (to whom she is of no relation) in Dick Hyman's ''Satchmo Remembered'' at Carnegie Hall.Jason Ankeny, Carrie Smithat AllMusic Smith then launched a solo career, performing with the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra, Tyree Glenn (1973), Yank Lawson (1987), and the World's Greatest Jazz Band, in addition to recording numerous solo albums. She starred in the Broadway musical ''Black and Blue'' from 1989 to 1991. The liner no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Simmons (musician)
Norman Simmons (October 6, 1929Wynn, RonNorman Simmons biography" ''allmusic.'' Retrieved March 1, 2011.Norman Simmons biography " ''Jazz Biographies.'' Retrieved March 1, 2011. – May 13, 2021) was an American musician, arranger, composer, educator, and most prominently a pianist who worked extensively with Helen Humes, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O'Day, and Joe Williams (jazz singer), Joe Williams among others.Piano in the Parlour - Norman Simmons Trio April 11th " ''Hackettstown Business Improvement District.'' Retrieved March 1, 2011. < ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Sickler
Don Sickler (January 6, 1944) is an American jazz trumpeter, arranger and producer.Carr, Ian; Fairweather, Digby and Priestley, Brian ''Rough Guide to Jazz'' Rough Guides, 2004 "Don Sickler" at Google Books In the 1980s, he set up a tribute band called with , to play the music of |
Benny Powell
Benny Powell (March 1, 1930 – June 26, 2010) was an American jazz trombonist. He played both standard (tenor) trombone and bass trombone. Biography Born Benjamin Gordon Powell Jr in New Orleans, Louisiana, he first played professionally at the age of 14, and at 18 began playing with Lionel Hampton. In 1951 he left Hampton's band and began playing with Count Basie, in whose orchestra he would remain until 1963. Powell takes the trombone solo in the bridge of Basie's 1955 recording of " April in Paris". After leaving Basie, he freelanced in New York City. From 1966 to 1970 he was a member of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, playing on Monday nights at the Village Vanguard. Among other engagements, he played in the house band of the ''Merv Griffin Show'', and when the show moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1970 Powell also relocated there. He did extensive work as a session musician, including with Abdullah Ibrahim, John Carter, and Randy Weston. Later in his car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Polcer
Ed Polcer (born February 10, 1937 in Paterson, New Jersey, United States) is an American jazz cornetist, bandleader, festival director, club owner, and mentor of young musicians. He has been described as a "melodic mellow-toned cornetist with an unforced delivery". Polcer started leading jazz bands while attending Princeton University. While at Princeton studying engineering, he was headed toward a promising career as a professional baseball player. During that time, he was asked to play at the wedding of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier in Monaco, as well as a concert in Carnegie Hall. He chose music over baseball. When cornetist Bobby Hackett recommended him to Benny Goodman, he abandoned his engineering and purchasing day jobs and joined Goodman's small band. Other musicians in that band included John Bunch, Bucky Pizzarelli, Slam Stewart, Al Klink, Zoot Sims, George Masso, and Peter Appleyard. While in his 20s and 30s, Polcer played with Teddy Wilson, Bobby Hackett, Kenny Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bucky Pizzarelli
John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020) was an American jazz guitarist. He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) and ABC with Bobby Rosengarden in (1952). Musicians he collaborated with include Benny Goodman, George Barnes, Les Paul, Stéphane Grappelli, and Antônio Carlos Jobim. Pizzarelli cited as influences Django Reinhardt, Freddie Green, and George Van Eps. Early life Pizzarelli was born on January 9, 1926, in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. He learned to play guitar and banjo at a young age. His uncles, Pete and Bobby Domenick, were professional musicians, and sometimes the extended family would gather at one of their homes with their guitars for jam sessions. Pizzarelli cited blind accordion player Joe Mooney as an inspiration. Mooney led a quartet that included Pizzarelli's uncle, Bobby Domenick. During high school, Pizzarelli was th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Houston Person
Houston Person (born November 10, 1934) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. He received the ‘Eubie Blake Jazz Award’ in 1982. Biography Person grew up in Florence, South Carolina, and first played piano before switching to tenor saxophone. He studied at South Carolina State College where he was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1999. In the United States Air Force, he joined a service band stationed in West Germany, and played with Don Ellis, Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton, and Leo Wright. He later continued his studies at Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. He first became known for a series of albums for Prestige in the 1960s. Contrary to popular belief, he was never married to the vocalist Etta Jones, but did spend many years as her musical partner, recording, performing and touring, and for much of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Peplowski
Ken Peplowski (born May 23, 1959) is an American jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and known primarily for playing swing music. For over a decade, Peplowski recorded for Concord Records. In 2007, Peplowski was named jazz advisor of Oregon Festival of American Music and music director of Jazz Party at The Shedd, both in Eugene, Oregon. Awards and honors * Best Jazz Record of the Year, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, ''The Natural Touch'' (1992) *The ''Satchmo Award'' presented by the Jazz Club of Sarasota in March, 2014 Discography As leader/co-leader * ''Double Exposure'' (Concord Jazz, 1988) – recorded in 1987 * ''Sonny Side'' (Concord Jazz, 1989) * The Ken Peplowski Quintet, ''Mr. Gentle and Mr. Cool'' (Concord Jazz, 1990) * ''Illuminations'' (Concord Jazz, 1991) * ''Natural Touch'' (Concord Jazz, 1992) * ''Steppin' with Peps'' (Concord Jazz, 1993) * ''Ken Peplowski and Howard Alden'' with Howard Alden (Concor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earl May
Earl Charles Barrington May (September 17, 1927 - January 4, 2008) was an American jazz bassist. He was "one of the most prodigious and prolific bassists of the postwar era". Early life May was born in New York City on September 17, 1927. As a child, he played the drums, and changed to the acoustic bass at the age of 14. He "played left-handed on an instrument strung for a right-handed player". Later life and career Until 1951, May had a job in insurance while playing in clubs at night. During this period, he played with Miles Davis, Lester Young, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, and Mercer Ellington. He was also taught by Charles Mingus in the early 1950s. Through most of the 1950s he played in a trio with Billy Taylor, and also worked in the late 1950s with John Coltrane and Chet Baker. From 1959 to 1963 he played behind vocalist Gloria Lynne, and in the 1960s he also worked with Dave McKenna, Herman Foster, Shirley Scott, Stanley Turrentine, Herbie Mann, Mose Allison, and Earl Hines. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
