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Stuff Smith
Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song "If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper"). Smith was, along with Stéphane Grappelli, Michel Warlop, Svend Asmussen, Ray Nance and Joe Venuti, one of jazz music's preeminent violinists of the swing era. Biography He was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, United States in 1909, and studied violin with his father. Smith cited Louis Armstrong as his primary influence and inspiration to play jazz, and like Armstrong, was a vocalist as well as instrumentalist. In the 1920s, he played in Texas as a member of Alphonse Trent's band. After moving to New York City he performed regularly with his sextet at the Onyx Club starting in 1935, and also with Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and later, Sun Ra. After being signed to Vocalion Records in 1936, he had a hit with "I'se a Muggin'" and was bill ...
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Portsmouth, Ohio
Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. The population was 20,226 at the 2010 census. Portsmouth also stands as the state's 88th most populated city. History Foundation The area was occupied by Native Americans as early as 100 BC, as indicated by the Portsmouth Earthworks, a ceremonial center built by the Ohio Hopewell culture between 100 and 500 AD. According to early 20th-century historian Charles Augustus Hanna, a Shawnee village was founded at the site of modern-day Portsmouth in late 1758, following the destruction of Lower Shawneetown by floods. European-Americans began to settle in the 1790s after the American Revolutionary War, and the small town of Alexandria was founded. Located at the confluence, Alexandria was flooded numerous times by the Ohio and the Scioto r ...
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Onyx Club (New York City)
The Onyx Club was a jazz club located on West 52nd Street in New York City."New York: America's Jazz Capitol"
. Retrieved 13 July 2013.


History

; 35 West 52nd Street (1927–1934) : The Onyx Club opened in 1927 at 35 West 52nd Street as a under bootlegger Joe Helbock ''(né'' ...
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National Jazz Museum In Harlem
The National Jazz Museum in Harlem is a museum dedicated to preservation and celebration of the jazz history of Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. The idea for the museum was conceived in 1995. The museum was founded in 1997 by Leonard Garment, counsel to two U.S. presidents, and an accomplished jazz saxophonist, Abraham David Sofaer, a former U.S. district judge who gave the initial gift in honor of his brother-in-law Richard J. Scheuer, Jr., and matching funds from the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation. For more than 15 years, the museum was based in East Harlem at 104 East 126th Street. On February 1, 2016, the museum re-opened in a new space on the ground floor of 58 West 129th Street in Central Harlem with approximately 1900 square feet of exhibition space. Programs and exhibits The National Jazz Museum in Harlem's Visitors Center has featured exhibits such as ''The Ghosts of Harlem'' by American music producer, photographer, and author Hank O'Neal. The ...
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Loren Schoenberg
Loren Schoenberg (born July 23, 1958) is a tenor saxophonist, conductor, educator, and jazz historian. He has won two Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes. He is the former Executive Director and currently Senior Scholar of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. In the late 1970s he played professionally with alumni of the Count Basie and Duke Ellington bands. In 1980 he formed his own big band, which in 1985 became the last Benny Goodman orchestra. Career Early years and education Schoenberg was born on July 23, 1958, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where he attended Fair Lawn High School.Parisi, Albert J"Fond Memories of the 'King of Swing'" ''The New York Times'', October 1, 1989. Accessed July 23, 2016. "'Everybody I knew as a kid was into rock bands and heavy-metal stuff, but it just didn't do anything for me,' said Mr. Schoenberg, a 31-year-old Fair Lawn native...Over the years, besides studying music at Fair Lawn High School, Mr. Schoenberg managed to enter what he described as the G ...
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William Savory
William Alcott Savory (June 11, 1916 – February 11, 2004) was an audio engineer known for his extensive private recordings of important jazz musicians in the 1930s, and for his contributions to recording technology. A musician who developed an interest in sound engineering, Savory began building his own recording devices in the mid-1930s. Savory was involved with the team led by Columbia Records engineer William Bachman that succeeded in bringing the first 33⅓ rpm long-playing record albums to market in 1948. Biography Savory was born William Alcott Savory of French and Italian parents aboard the ocean liner Mauretania. He played the piano and the saxophone. He grew up in New Jersey and Southern California. He was married to Helen Ward, a former singer in Benny Goodman's band. Savory specialized in transcribing live performances off the air for radio networks and advertisers, and recorded a large number of radio broadcasts which featured American jazz musicians, classical m ...
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Randall's Island
Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Islands, in New York County, New York City,Feature Detail Report for Randalls Island
"Purchased in 1772 by British Captain James Montresor; sold in 1784 to Johnathan Randel; acquired by City of New York in 1835."
separated from Manhattan Island by the , from by the

Carnival Of Swing
The Carnival of Swing was a music festival that took place on 29 May 1938 on Randall's Island, New York. It is considered the first outdoor jazz festival. Performing at the concert were twenty-five swing bands, including the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras, and Stuff Smith. Though newsreel footage of the event exists, no audio recordings were thought to have survived until radio recordings known as the Savory Collection were acquired by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), .... The event reportedly lasted five hours and forty-five minutes. It was attended by "23,400 assorted jitterbugs and alligators - more conservatively known as swing music enthusiasts". Lines of police and park officers were in place to protect the musicians fr ...
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Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued for the remainder of his life. He found great popular success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts. His trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Cole also acted in films and on television and performed on Broadway. He was the first African-American man to host an American television series. He was the father of singer Natalie Cole (1950–2015). Biography Early life Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919. He had three brothers: Eddie (1910–1970), Ike (1927–2001), and Freddy (1931–2020), and a half-sister, Joyce Coles. Each of the Coles brothers pursued careers in music. When Nat King Cole was four years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his ...
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Varsity Records
Varsity may refer to: *University, an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in various academic disciplines Places *Varsity, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada * Varsity Lakes, Queensland, a suburb of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia Books and publications * ''Varsity'' (Cambridge), a student newspaper at Cambridge University * ''Varsity'' (Cape Town), a student newspaper of the University of Cape Town * ''The Varsity'' (newspaper), a student newspaper at the University of Toronto Business *The Varsity (restaurant), a drive-in restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, US *Varsity (pub chain), a UK pub chain Media * '' The Boys Presents: Varsity'', a 2023 live-action adaptation of ''The Boys'' comic book series arc "We Gotta Go Now" * Varsity (band), an indie rock band from Chicago * "Varsity" (alma mater song), the alma mater song of the University of Wisconsin-Madison * "Varsity" (fight song), a 1911 fight son ...
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Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. In 1937, anticipating Nazi Germany, Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca and the link between the U.K. and U.S. Decca labels was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group. The U.S. Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG (Universal Music Group). Label name The name dates back to a portable phonograph, gramophone called the "Decca Dulcephone" patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel and Sons. The name "Decca" was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the w ...
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Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was later dropped from the label's name. In late 1924, the label was acquired by Brunswick Records. During the 1920s, Vocalion also began the 1000 race series, records recorded by and marketed to African Americans. Jim Jackson recorded "Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues" for Vocalion in 1927. It sold exceptionally well, and the song became a blues standard for musicians from Memphis and Mississippi. The label issued Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues" The name Vocalion was resurrected in the late 1950s by American Decca as a budget label for back-catalog reissues. This incarnation of Vocalion ceased operations in 1973; however, its replacement as MCA's budget imprint, Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was fo ...
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Sun Ra
Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra", an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up. Born and raised in Alabama, Blount became involved in the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s. He soon abandoned his birth name, taking the name Le Sony'r Ra, shortened to Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun). Claiming to be an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, he developed a mythical persona and an idiosyncratic credo that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism. Throughout his life he denied ties to his prior identity saying, "Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym." His widely eclectic and avant-garde music echoed the entire history of jazz, from ragtime and ea ...
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