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The Warm Moods
''The Warm Moods'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist Ben Webster featuring tracks recorded in 1960 for the Reprise label. accessed August 25, 2012 The album was the label's first non- Frank Sinatra release. Reception In the '''', wrote ''The Warm Moods'' demonstrated why Webster was "among the immortals", commenting that his tenor saxophone playing "makes every song seem beautiful, whether the task is ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Career Early life and career A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from Pete Johnson, and received saxophone lessons from Budd Johnson. He played with Lester Young in the Young Family Band. He recorded with Blanche Calloway and became a member of the Bennie Moten Orchestra with Count Basie, Hot Lips Page, and Walter Page. For the rest of the 1930s, he played in bands led by Willie Bryant, Benny Carter, Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson, Andy Kirk (musician), Andy Kirk, and Teddy Wilson. With Ellington Webster was a soloist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra from 1940, appearing on "Cotton Tail". He considered Johnny Hodges, an alto saxophonist in the Ellington orchestra, a major influence on his playing. Gunther Schuller wrote in 1989 that Hodges influence pushed him away from his original inspiration, Coleman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ned Washington
Ned Washington (born Edward Michael Washington, August 15, 1901 – December 20, 1976) was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Life and career Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962. He won the Best Original Song award twice: in 1940 for " When You Wish Upon a Star" in ''Pinocchio'' and in 1952 for " High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin')" in '' High Noon''. Washington had his roots in vaudeville as a master of ceremonies. Having started his songwriting career with ''Earl Carroll's Vanities'' on Broadway in the late 1920s, he joined the ASCAP in 1930. In 1934, he was signed by MGM and relocated to Hollywood, eventually writing full scores for feature films. During the 1940s, he worked for a number of studios, including Paramount, Warner Brothers, Disney, and Republic. During these tenures, he collaborated with many of the great composers of the era, including Hoagy Carmichael, Victor Young, Max Steiner, and Dimitri Tiomkin. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's " Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed multipl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I'm Beginning To See The Light
"I'm Beginning to See the Light" is a popular song and jazz standard, with music written by Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, and Harry James and lyrics by Don George and published in 1944. 1945 recordings *Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots featuring Bill Kenny recorded a version in 1945, that was on the pop song hits list for six weeks in 1945, reaching #5. *A competing 1945 recording by Harry James and his Orchestra, with lead vocal by Kitty Kallen reached No. 1 for two weeks in January of that year. James' version of the song reached No. 7 on Billboard's Second Annual High School Survey in 1945. *Duke Ellington also released in 1945 a version, vocal by Joya Sherrill, which reached the top ten. Other notable recordings *Rosemary Clooney – ''Out of This World'' (2000) *Bobby Darin (1962) - featured in the 1996 feature film '' Swingers''. *Frank Sinatra (1962) - "Sinatra And Swingin' Brass" *Seal (2017) - "Standards" *Johnnie Ray (1958) *Connie Francis (1958) *Oscar Alemán ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers (born Phillip Silver; May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly sixty years. Silvers achieved major popularity when he starred in ''The Phil Silvers Show'', a 1950s sitcom set on a United States Army, U.S. Army post in which he played Master Sergeant Ernest (Ernie) Bilko. He also starred in the films ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' (1963) and ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (film), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' (1966). He was a winner of two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on ''The Phil Silvers Show'' and two Tony Awards for his performances in ''Top Banana (musical), Top Banana'' and ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. He also wrote the original lyrics to the jazz standard Nancy (with the Laughing Face). Early life Born Philip Silver in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, in the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nancy (With The Laughing Face)
"Nancy (with the Laughing Face)" is a song composed in 1942 by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Phil Silvers, called, originally, "Bessie (With The Laughing Face)". It was originally recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1944. Many, perhaps most, people—including, for a time, Sinatra himself—wrongly assume or assumed the song was composed specifically for Sinatra's wife or daughter, each named Nancy; the adjustment in name indeed was inspired by Sinatra's daughter. Origin Former broadcast executive and music historian Rick Busciglio tells the story of the song's inception as related to him by Van Heusen: Notable recordings * Pharoah Sanders, William Henderson, Stafford James, Eccleston W. Wainwright - '' Welcome to Love'' (1991) * Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Percy Heath, Connie Kay - '' Know What I Mean?'' (1961) * Karrin Allyson - Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane' (2001) *Tony Bennett - ''Perfectly Frank'' (1992) *Corry Brokken - ''Voor Nancy'' (1971) *Ray Charles - '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jule Styne
Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became successful films: ''Gypsy,'' '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,'' and '' Funny Girl.'' Early life Styne was born to a Jewish family in London, England. His parents, Anna Kertman and Isadore Stein, were emigrants from Ukraine, the Russian Empire, and ran a small grocery. Even before his family left Britain, he did impressions on the stage of well-known singers, including Harry Lauder, who saw him perform and advised him to take up the piano. At the age of eight, he moved with his family to Chicago, where he began taking piano lessons. He proved to be a prodigy and performed with the Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphonies before he was ten years old. Career Before Styne attended Chicago Musical College, he had already attracted the attention o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Cahn
Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He and his collaborators had a series of hit recordings with Frank Sinatra during the singer's tenure at Capitol Records, but also enjoyed hits with Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin, and won an Oscar four times for his songs, including the popular hit " Three Coins in the Fountain". Among his most enduring songs is "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", cowritten with Jule Styne in 1945. Life and career Cahn was born Samuel Cohen in the Lower East Side of New York City, the only son (he had four sisters) of Abraham and Elka Reiss Cohen, who were Jewish immigrants from Galicia, then ruled by Austria-Hungary. His sisters, Sadye, Pearl, Flor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time After Time (1947 Song)
"Time After Time" is a romantic jazz standard with lyrics written by Sammy Cahn and music by Jule Styne in 1946. First recordings The first recording was on November 19, 1946 for Musicraft by Sarah Vaughan with the Teddy Wilson Quartet: Wilson on piano, Charlie Ventura on tenor saxophone, Remo Palmieri on guitar, and Billy Taylor on double bass. The song was written for Frank Sinatra to introduce in the 1947 MGM film ''It Happened in Brooklyn''. The pianist providing the offscreen accompaniment was André Previn to an arrangement of Axel Stordahl. Later in the film, the song was reprised in full by Kathryn Grayson. The only contemporary recording by a British artist was the one by Steve Conway. Sinatra recorded it again in 1957 with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. After it emerged as a jazz standard thanks to saxophonists like Getz and Coltrane, 1959 was a banner year for its popularity, being covered by many pop and jazz vocalists. Other versions * Chet Baker, ''Chet Baker Sings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Van Heusen
James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and career Born in Syracuse, New York, Van Heusen began writing music while at high school. He renamed himself at age 16, after the shirt makers Phillips-Van Heusen, to use as his on-air name during local shows. His close friends called him "Chet".Coppula, C. (2014). ''Jimmy Van Heusen: Swinging on a Star''. Nashville: Twin Creek Books. Jimmy was raised Methodist. Studying at Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University, he became friends with Jerry Arlen, the younger brother of Harold Arlen. With the elder Arlen's help, Van Heusen wrote songs for the Cotton Club revue, including "Harlem Hospitality". He then became a staff pianist for some of the Tin Pan Alley publishers, and wrote "It's the Dreamer in Me" (1938) with lyrics by Jimmy Dorsey. Colla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Burke (lyricist)
John Francis Burke (October 3, 1908 – February 25, 1964) was an American lyricist, successful and prolific between the 1920s and 1950s. His work is considered part of the Great American Songbook. His song "Swinging on a Star", from the Bing Crosby film ''Going My Way'', won an Academy Award for Best Song in 1944. Early life Burke was born in Antioch, California, United States, the son of Mary Agnes (Mungovan), a schoolteacher, and William Earl Burke, a structural engineer. When he was still young, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Burke's father founded a construction business. As a youth, Burke studied piano and drama. He attended Crane College and then the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he played piano in the orchestra. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1927, Burke joined the Chicago office of the Irving Berlin Publishing Company in 1926 as a pianist and song salesman. He also played piano in dance bands and vaudeville. Car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
But Beautiful (song)
"But Beautiful" is a popular song with music written by Jimmy Van Heusen, the lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was published in 1947. One of five songs written by Burke and Van Heusen featured in the Paramount Pictures movie ''Road to Rio'' (1947), it was introduced by Bing Crosby and is also associated with his leading lady Dorothy Lamour. The song was a hit in 1948 for Frank Sinatra (reaching the No.14 spot), Bing Crosby (#20), Margaret Whiting (#21) and Art Lund (#25). The original key is G major and has the form A-B1-A-B2. Chick Corea recorded a piano solo version of it in the original key of G major, but it has been recorded in many different keys, including F major (later Sinatra), C major (Bill Evans and Stan Getz), D major (Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga), Billie Holiday (B-flat major) and Nat King Cole (E major). It is usually performed as a ballad. Other versions *Tex Beneke released a version in 1947 with Garry Stevens on vocal. *Tony Bennett on his first album with the g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
