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Straight Ahead (Art Blakey Album)
''Straight Ahead'' is a live album by drummer Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers recorded at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco in 1981 and released on the Concord Jazz label. accessed June 18, 2013 Reception , writing for , described it as "One of the best recordings by Art Blakey's 1981 Jazz Messengers... Highly recommended".Yanow, SAllMusic Review accessed June 19, 2013
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Art Blakey
Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1940s in the big bands of Fletcher Henderson and Billy Eckstine. He then worked with bebop musicians Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. In the mid-1950s, Horace Silver and Blakey formed the Jazz Messengers, a group that the drummer was associated with for the next 35 years. The group was formed as a collective of contemporaries, but over the years the band became known as an incubator for young talent, including Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean, Johnny Griffin, Curtis Fuller, Chuck Mangione, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Cedar Walton, Woody Shaw, Terence Blanchard, and Wynton Marsalis. ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' calls the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bud Powell
Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of modern jazz. His virtuosity led many to call him the Charlie Parker of the piano. Powell was also a composer, and many jazz critics credit his works and his playing as having "greatly extended the range of jazz harmony".Grove Life and career Early life He was born in Harlem, New York, United States. Powell's father was a stride pianist.Gitler, p. 112. Powell started classical piano lessons at the age of five. His teacher, hired by his father, was a West Indian man named Rawlins. At 10 years of age, Powell showed interest in the swing music that could be heard all over the neighborhood. He first appeared in public at a rent party,Crawford, p. 12. where he mimicked Fats Waller's playing style. The first jazz composition that he mastered was Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Fambrough
Charles Fambrough (August 25, 1950January 1, 2011) was an American jazz bassist, composer and record producer from Philadelphia. Fambrough was a member of Art Blakey, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers during the early 1980s. Suffering from kidney failure, congestive heart failure, and pulmonary hypertension, he died in 2011 at the age of 60. Discography As leader As sideman With Kei Akagi * ''Mirror Puzzle'' (1994) With Art Blakey * ''Live at Montreux and Northsea'' (Timeless, 1980) * ''Art Blakey in Sweden'' (Amigo, 1981) * ''Album of the Year (Art Blakey album), Album of the Year'' (Timeless, 1981) * ''Straight Ahead (Art Blakey album), Straight Ahead'' (Concord Jazz, 1981) * ''Killer Joe (George Kawaguchi & Art Blakey album), Killer Joe'' (Union Jazz, 1981) - with George Kawaguchi * ''Keystone 3'' (Concord Jazz, 1982) * ''Oh-By the Way'' (Timeless, 1982) With Craig Handy * ''Introducing Three for All + One'' (Arabesque, 1993) With Wynton Marsalis * ''Fathers and Sons'' (1982) * '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. It was invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700. Description The word "piano" is a shortened form of ''pianoforte'', the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from ''clavicembalo col piano e forte'' (key cimbalom with quiet and loud)Pollens (1995, 238) and ''fortepiano''. The Italian musical terms ''piano'' and ''forte'' indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively, in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys: the grea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Williams (musician)
James Williams (March 8, 1951 – July 20, 2004) was an American jazz pianist.AllMusic/ref> Early life James Williams was born March 8, 1951, in Memphis, Tennessee. He began his formal piano studies at age 13, and was subsequently an organist at Eastern Star Baptist Church in Memphis, a position he held for six years. He earned a B.S. in Music Education at Memphis State University, where he also formed solid friendships with fellow Memphis pianists Mulgrew Miller and Donald Brown. A devotee of the late Memphis pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr., Williams took time to delve into his hometown's jazz heritage, associating with pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Jamil Nasser, and saxophonists George Coleman and Frank Strozier, among others. Later life and career At 22, Williams moved to Boston to accept a teaching position at the Berklee College of Music. A year later, he joined drummer Alan Dawson's group, which provided support in the Boston area for touring artists including Art Far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenor Saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while the alto is pitched in the key of E), and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef, sounding an octave and a major second lower than the written pitch. Modern tenor saxophones which have a high F key have a range from A2 to E5 (concert) and are therefore pitched one octave below the soprano saxophone. People who play the tenor saxophone are known as "tenor saxophonists", "tenor sax players", or "saxophonists". The tenor saxophone uses a larger mouthpiece, reed and ligature than the alto and soprano saxophones. Visually, it is easily distinguished by the curve in its neck, or its crook, near the mouthpiece. The alto saxophone lacks this and its neck goes straight to the mouthpiece. The tenor saxophone is most recognized for it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Pierce (saxophonist)
Bill Pierce (also Billy Pierce) (born September 25, 1948 in Hampton, Virginia) is an American jazz saxophonist. He played with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in the early 1980s and in Tony Williams's quintet in the mid-1980s to early 1990s. He also has released numerous CDs for which he is the band leader. He studied with Joe Viola and Andy McGhee at Berklee College of Music, and with Joe Allard. He is the school's woodwind department chair. Discography As Leader * ''Give and Take'' ( Sunnyside, 1988) * ''Equilateral'' (Sunnyside, 1989) * ''One for Chuck'' (Sunnyside, 1991) * ''Rolling Monk'' (Bellaphon, 1993) * ''Rio (Ballads and Bossa Novas)'' (Sunnyside, 1995) * ''Complete William the Conqueror Sessions'' (Sunnyside, 1995) * ''Burnin - with Javon Jackson (Criss Cross Jazz, 1997) As Sideman With Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers * '' Live at Montreux and Northsea'' ( Timeless, 1980) * ''Art Blakey in Sweden'' (Amigo, 1981) * ''Album of the Year'' (Timeless, 1981) * ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alto Saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor but larger than the B soprano. It is the most common saxophone and is used in popular music, concert bands, chamber music, solo repertoire, military bands, marching bands, pep bands, and jazz (such as big bands, jazz combos, swing music). The alto saxophone had a prominent role in the development of jazz. Influential jazz musicians who made significant contributions include Don Redman, Jimmy Dorsey, Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Lee Konitz, Jackie McLean, Phil Woods, Art Pepper, Paul Desmond, and Cannonball Adderley. Although the role of the alto saxophone in classical music has been limited, influential performers include Marcel Mule, Sigurd Raschèr, Jean-Marie Londeix, Eugene Rousseau, and Frederick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Watson
Robert Michael Watson Jr. (born August 23, 1953), known professionally as Bobby Watson, is an American saxophonist, composer, and educator. Music career Watson was born in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. He attended the University of Miami, at the same time as Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, and Bruce Hornsby. He graduated in 1975, moved to New York City, and became music director for the Jazz Messengers from 1977 to 1981. After leaving the band, he was productive as a session musician, recording with Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Max Roach, Joe Williams, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls, Betty Carter, and Carmen Lundy. He formed the band Bobby Watson & Horizon with bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Victor Lewis, with whom he played throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1991, they released the album ''Post Motown Bop'' on Blue Note Records, with John Fordham in Q Magazine describing it as "gleaming, glossy bebop". Watson also led a group known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B or C trumpet. Trumpet-like instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or hunting, with examples dating back to at least 1500 BC. They began to be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th century. Trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing air through nearly-closed lips (called the player's embouchure), producing a "buzzing" sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century, trumpets have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular shape. There are many distinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards, and his ''Blood on the Fields'' was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He is the only musician to win a Grammy Award in both jazz and classical during the same year. Early years Marsalis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 18, 1961, and grew up in the suburb of Kenner. He is the second of six sons born to Dolores Ferdinand Marsalis and Ellis Marsalis Jr., a pianist and music teacher.Stated on ''Finding Your Roots'', PBS, March 25, 2012 He was named for jazz pianist Wynton Kelly. Branford Marsalis is his older brother and Jason Marsalis and Delfeayo Marsalis are younger. All three are jazz musicians. While sitting at a table with trumpeters Al Hirt, Miles Davis, and Clark Terry, his father jokin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drum Kit
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks, one in each hand, and uses their feet to operate a foot-controlled hi-hat and bass drum pedal. A standard kit may contain: * A snare drum, mounted on a stand * A bass drum, played with a beater moved by a foot-operated pedal * One or more tom-toms, including rack toms and/or floor toms * One or more cymbals, including a ride cymbal and crash cymbal * Hi-hat cymbals, a pair of cymbals that can be manipulated by a foot-operated pedal The drum kit is a part of the standard rhythm section and is used in many types of popular and traditional music styles, ranging from rock and pop to blues and jazz. __TOC__ History Early development Before the development of the drum set, drums and cymbals used in military and orchestral m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
