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Steuart Liebig
Steuart Liebig, born July 25, 1956, is an American bassist and composer of modern creative jazz and the free improvisational music. He plays 6-string bass guitars. Life and work Liebig grew up in Los Angeles and was influenced as a child by rock and blues music of the 1960s. He first started playing jazz in highschool. He started experimenting with different sounds in college and between 1974 and 1976 he belonged to John Beasley's band. At the age of 19, he played rhythm guitar for the soul jazz pianist and singer Les McCann, with whom he worked on 4 albums. In 1979 he left McCann's band to attend California State University, where he studied classic double bass, music history, and composition until 1983. After he graduated, he created the fusion band, BLOC, with Nels Cline. He also played with Julius Hemphill's JAH-Band along with Alex Cline and Bill Frisell. He spent a lot of time playing with musicians in Los Angeles that were interested in freely improvised music. Afterwards, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique (employed by any musician in any genre) and as a recognizable genre in its own right. Free improvisation, as a genre of music, developed in the U.S. and Europe in the mid to late 1960s, largely as an outgrowth of free jazz and modern classical musics. Exponents of free improvised music include saxophonists Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton, Peter Brötzmann, and John Zorn, composer Pauline Oliveros, drummer Christian Lillinger, trombonist George E. Lewis, guitarists Derek Bailey, Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith and the improvising groups Spontaneous Music Ensemble, The Music Improvisation Company, Iskra 1903, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and AMM. Characteristics In an atonal context, free improvisation refers to where the focus shifts from harmony to other dimensions of music: timbre, melodic intervals, rhythm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Dresser
Mark Dresser (born September 26, 1952) is an American double bass player and composer. Career Dresser was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. In the 1970s, he was a member of Black Music Infinity led by Stanley Crouch and performed with the San Diego Symphony. During the next decade he moved to New York City and became a member of the Anthony Braxton quartet with Marilyn Crispell and Gerry Hemingway. He composed for the Arcado String Trio and Tambastics and for the film, ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari''. Discography As leader * '' Arcado'' with Arcado String Trio (JMT, 1989) * ''Behind the Myth'' with Arcado String Trio (JMT, 1990) * ''For Three Strings and Orchestra'' with Arcado String Trio (JMT, 1992) * ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (Knitting Factory, 1994) * ''Invocation'' (Knitting Factory, 1995) * ''Force Green'' (Soul Note, 1995) * ''Live in Europe'' with Arcado String Trio (Avant, 1996) * ''Banquet'' (Tzadik, 1997) * ''Eye'll Be Seeing You'' (Knitting Facto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Penguin Guide To Jazz
''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by Richard Cook and Brian Morton, two chroniclers of jazz resident in the United Kingdom. History The first edition was published in Britain by Penguin Books in 1992. Every subsequent two years, through 2010, a new edition was published with updated entries. The eighth and ninth editions, published in 2006 and 2008, respectively, each included 2,000 new CD listings. The title took on different forms over the lifetime of the work, as audio technology changed. The seventh edition was known as ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD'' while subsequent editions were titled ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings''. The earliest edition had the title ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette''. Richard Cook died in 2007, prior to the comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Morton (Scottish Writer)
Brian Morton (born 1954) is a Scottish writer, journalist and former broadcaster, specialising in jazz and modern literature. Early life and education Born in Paisley, near Glasgow and raised in Dunoon, Morton was educated at the University of Edinburgh and taught in the late 1970s at the University of East Anglia (under Malcolm Bradbury) and the University of Tromsø in Norway. Writing and broadcasting From 1992 to 1997, Morton was the main presenter of ''Impressions''Brian Morton , Penguin author page for Radio 3, a fortnightly jazz and improvised music programme. For more than a decade Morton was a familiar voice on music programmes and features on other arts related subjects on the London-based BBC networks. For some year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Cook (journalist)
Richard David Cook (7 February 1957 – 25 August 2007) was a British jazz writer, magazine editor and former record company executive. Sometimes credited as R. D. Cook, Cook was born in Kew, Surrey, and lived in west London as an adult. A writer on music from the late 1970s until he died, Cook was co-author, with Brian Morton, of ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings'', which lasted for ten editions until 2010. ''Richard Cook's Jazz Companion'' and ''It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off the Record'' were published in 2005. Cook began as a staff writer for ''NME'' in the early 1980s. The editor at the time, Neil Spencer, commented that he "would take on the pieces that the fashion-oriented shunned - a Roxy Music review, an audience with a fading star, a piece on the emergent sounds of Africa". He was later the jazz critic for ''The Sunday Times'' and a music writer for the ''New Statesman''. Cook was formerly editor of ''The Wire'', when it was a jazz-centred perio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DownBeat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. It is named after the " downbeat" in music, also called "beat one", or the first beat of a musical measure. ''DownBeat'' publishes results of annual surveys of both its readers and critics in a variety of categories. The ''DownBeat'' Jazz Hall of Fame includes winners from both the readers' and critics' poll. The results of the readers' poll are published in the December issue, those of the critics' poll in the August issue. Popular features of ''DownBeat'' magazine include its "Reviews" section where jazz critics, using a '1-Star to 5-Star' maximum rating system, rate the latest musical recordings, vintage recordings, and books; articles on individual musicians and music forms; and its famous "Blindfold Test" column, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "This emotional, lyrical performer was a talented blues guitarist and arranger with an impressive body of work." His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor-key sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique. James first recorded for Paramount Records in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly, having been released during the Great Depression, and he drifted into obscurity. After a long absence from the public eye, James was rediscovered in 1964 by blues enthusiasts including John Fahey, helping further the blues and folk music revival of the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, James appeared at folk and blues festivals, gave concerts around the country, and recorded several albums for various record labels. His songs have influenced generations of musicians and have been adapted by num ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues". His style of playing has been described as "raining down Delta beatitude". Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, and by age 17 was playing the guitar and the harmonica, emulating the local blues artists Son House and Robert Johnson."His thick heavy voice, the dark colouration of his tone, and his firm, almost solid, personality were all clearly derived from House," wrote the music historian Peter Guralnick in ''Feel Like Going Home'', "but the embellishments, which he added, the imaginative slide technique and more agile rhythms, were closer to Johnson." He was recorded in Mississippi by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1941. In 1943, he moved to Chicago to become a full-time professi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of jazz. Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an inventive trumpet and cornet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance. Around 1922, he followed his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver, to Chicago to play in the . In Chicago, he spent time with other popular jazz musicians, reconnecting with his friend Bix Beiderbecke and spending time with Hoagy Carmichael and Lil Hardin. He earned a reputation at "cutting contests", and his fame reached band leader Fletcher Henderson. Henderson persuaded Armstrong to come to New York City, where he became a featured and musically influential band soloist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Johnson
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generations of musicians. Although his recording career spanned only seven months, he is now recognized as a master of the blues, particularly the Delta blues style, and is also one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as being "the first ever rock star". As a traveling performer who played mostly on street corners, in juke joints, and at Saturday night dances, Johnson had little commercial success or public recognition in his lifetime. He participated in only two recording sessions, one in San Antonio in 1936, and one in Dallas in 1937, that produced 29 distinct songs (with 13 surviving alternate takes) recorded by famed Country Music Hall of Fame producer Don Law. These songs, recor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Vatcher
Michael Vatcher (born 1954) is an American jazz percussionist who lived in the Netherlands. Vatcher grew up in California and as a child played the vibraphone and snare drum. He worked for a long time with Michael Moore, John Handy, and Terry Gibbs. In 1981 he moved to Amsterdam where he was active in many groups like Tristan Honsinger's ''Sextet,'' the Maarten Altena Ensemble, ''The Ex, Roof'' (with Phil Milton, Tom Cora, and Luc Ex), ''Available Jelly'', and in a trio with Michiel Braaam and Wilbert de Joode. He also actively performed alongside Van Dyke Parks, John Zorn, Simon Nabatov, Georg Gräwe, Hans Lüdemann, and Ernst Reijseger. In 2012 worked with Magnus Broo, Ken Vandermark, and Steve Swell Steve Swell (born in Newark, New Jersey, December 6, 1954) is an American free jazz trombonist, composer, and educator. Music career Swell studied at Jersey City State Teachers College before moving to New York City in 1975 where he began his m .... Vatcher also worked as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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