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Three Chord Opera
''Three Chord Opera'' is the twenty-fifth studio album by Neil Diamond, released in 2001. It marked the first album since 1974's '' Serenade'' to consist solely of original material written solely by Diamond, and the first album of any original songs since 1996's country-themed ''Tennessee Moon'' where he co-wrote all but one of the songs. The album also featured the song "I Believe in Happy Endings", written by Diamond for the 2001 comedy ''Saving Silverman'' in which he made a cameo. The album reached number 15 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. "You are the Best Part of Me", reached No. 28 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Track listing All songs written by Neil Diamond. Personnel * Neil Diamond – lead vocals * Alan Lindgren – arrangements (1, 3, 5, 6, 9), conductor (1, 3, 5, 9), keyboards (2, 4, 9), horn arrangements (2, 7), acoustic piano (3, 9), drums (4), percussion programming (4), Hammond organ (7, 9-12) * Tom Hensley – acoustic piano (2, 3, 7, 10, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts: "Cracklin' Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Longfellow Serenade", "I've Been This Way Before", "If You Know What I Mean", "Desiree (song), Desirée", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "America (Neil Diamond song), America", "Yesterday's Songs", and "Heartlight (song), Heartlight". Thirty-eight songs by Diamond have reached the top 10 on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Adult Contemporary (chart), Adult Contemporary charts, including "Sweet Caroline". He has also acted in films, making his screen debut in the 1980 Musical film, musical drama film ''The Jazz Singer (1980 film), The Jazz Singer''. Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, and he received ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Thompson (guitarist)
Michael Thompson (born Michael Wood Thompson, February 11, 1954 in Port Washington, New York) is an American guitarist and songwriter. Thompson is known for his work as a session guitarist during the last 4 decades. He founded the rock group TRW in 2007. Early years Michael Thompson grew up in Port Washington, New York and attended Berklee College of Music for two years, studying with Pat Metheny before leaving to tour and record with a local R&B/funk group called The Ellis Hall Group. After four years with the group, Thompson moved to Los Angeles in the hopes of starting a career as a studio musician, almost immediately getting a touring gig with Joe Cocker. Money was tight and to support himself and his wife Gloria, Thompson supplemented gigs playing on songwriters' publishing demos and sporadic session work with a job as a cab driver until landing a year-long world tour with Cher. Following the tour, Thompson played guitar for the TV series '' Fame'', a gig he would hold ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sony Pictures Studios
The Sony Pictures Studios is an American television and film studio complex located in Culver City, California at 10202 West Washington Boulevard and bounded by Culver Boulevard (south), Washington Boulevard (north), Overland Avenue (west) and Madison Avenue (east). Founded in 1912, the facility is currently owned by Sony Pictures and houses the division's film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, and Screen Gems. The complex was the original studios of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1924 to 1986 and Lorimar-Telepictures from 1986 to 1989. In addition to films shot at the facility, several television shows have been broadcast live or taped there. The lot, which is open to the public for daily studio tours, currently houses a total of sixteen separate sound stages. History Early years (1912–1924) Director Thomas H. Ince built his pioneering Inceville studios in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles in 1912. While Ince was filming at Ballona Creek in 1915, Harry C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alvin Chea
Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group integrates jazz with spiritual and inspirational lyrics. Take 6 has received several Grammy Awards as well as Dove Awards, a Soul Train Award and nominations for the NAACP Image Award. The band has worked with Ray Charles, Nnenna Freelon, Gordon Goodwin, Don Henley, Whitney Houston, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones, k.d. lang, Queen Latifah, The Manhattan Transfer, Johnny Mathis, Brian McKnight, Luis Miguel, Marcus Miller, Joe Sample, Ben Tankard, Randy Travis, CeCe Winans, Stevie Wonder and Jacob Collier. All original members grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Biography Oakwood College years In 1980, Claude McKnight, older brother of R&B musician Brian McKnight, formed an a cappella quartet, The Gentlemen's Estates Quartet, at Oakwood College (now Oakwood University), a Seventh-day Adventist university in Huntsville, Alabama, where he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Adams (musician)
Greg Adams is an American trumpet/flugelhorn player and music arranger, probably best known for his work with the band Tower of Power. Adams grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and while attending Westmoor High School in Daly City he had already established a reputation as a musical prodigy. He had made plans to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston, but instead accepted an invitation to join Tower of Power for their first album, ''East Bay Grease'' (1970). He remained with the band for 25 years and was responsible for many of their distinctive horn arrangements, including "What Is Hip?" (1973) which earned him a Grammy Award nomination. In 1995 Adams recorded his first solo album, ''Hidden Agenda'' (Epic), which reached #1 on the U.S. smooth jazz charts. His subsequent albums include ''Midnight Morning'' (Ripa, Blue Note) (2002), ''Firefly'' (215) (2004), and ''Cool To The Touch'' (Ripa) (2006). Adams has recorded with and/or arranged for other artists, including Chic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen "Doc" Kupka
Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the band between early 1973 and late 1974, the period of their greatest commercial success. They have had eight songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100; their highest-charting songs include "You're Still a Young Man", "So Very Hard to Go", "What Is Hip?", and "Don't Change Horses (in the Middle of a Stream)". History In the summer of 1968, tenor saxophonist/vocalist Emilio Castillo met Stephen "Doc" Kupka, who played baritone sax. Castillo had played in several bands, but Castillo's father told his son to "hire that guy" after a home audition. Within months the group, then known as The Motowns, began playing various gigs around Oakland and Berkeley, their soul sound appealing to both minority and counterculture listeners. Castillo wanted to play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emilio Castillo
Emilio Castillo (born September 24, 1950) is an American saxophone player and composer, best known as the founder of the band Tower of Power. Background In 1965, Emilio Castillo took to music after he and his brother Jack were caught stealing by his father who told him he could stay in his room until he thought of something to 'Keep him off the street'. Castillo and his brother chose music. Emilio chose saxophone and Jack chose drums. He took lessons in saxophone, piano, and guitar, and also took lessons in music theory from one-time Dave Brubeck bass player Norman Bates (musician), Norman Bates. His first musical endeavor was in Extension Five which later became The Gotham City Crime Fighters due to the Batman craze at the time. He played both organ and sax. The group also consisted of his brother Jack on drums, Jody Lopez on guitar Frank “Rocco’ Houghton on bass (later going by the name of Rocco Prestia, Francis Rocco Prestia), and Dave Genthner on vocals. In March, 1966 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Everette Harp
Everette Harp (born August 17, 1961, in Houston, Texas) is an American jazz saxophonist who has recorded for Blue Note, Capitol and Shanachie Records. His album ''Jazz Funk Soul'', a collaboration with Chuck Loeb and Jeff Lorber, received his first nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Career Everette Harp was the youngest of eight children. His father was a minister and his mother played the organ. Gospel music was one of his earliest influences. He started playing jazz in middle school at Marshall Junior High under the tutelage of drummer Buddy Smith. He attended the High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston under the direction of Robert "Doc" Morgan", then North Texas State University as a music major in the early 1980s. While there he joined Phi Beta Sigma. Working as an accountant for a short time, Harp played in local Houston bands, most notably a jazz/funk group called The Franchise which released a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marimba
The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre of the marimba is warmer, deeper, more resonant, and more pure. It also tends to have a lower range than that of a xylophone. Typically, the bars of a marimba are arranged chromatically, like the keys of a piano. The marimba is a type of idiophone. Today, the marimba is used as a solo instrument, or in ensembles like orchestras, marching bands (typically as a part of the front ensemble), percussion ensembles, brass and concert bands, and other traditional ensembles. Etymology and terminology The term ''marimba'' refers to both the traditional version of this instrument and its modern form. Its first documented use in the English language dates back to 1704. The term is of Bantu origin, deriving from the prefix meaning 'many' and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steel Drums
The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Description The modern pan is a chromatically pitched percussion instrument made from 55 gallon industrial drums. ''Drum'' refers to the steel drum containers from which the pans are made; the steel drum is more correctly called a ''steel pan'' or ''pan'' as it falls into the idiophone family of instruments, and so is not a drum (which is a membranophone). Some steelpans are made to play in the Pythagorean musical cycle of fourths and fifths. Pan is played using a pair of straight sticks tipped with rubber; the size and type of rubber tip varies according to the class of pan being played. Some musicians use four pansticks, holding two in each hand. This grew out of Trinidad and Tobago's early 20th-century Carnival percussion groups known as ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autoharp
An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of the Oscar Schmidt company, but has become a generic designation for all such instruments, regardless of manufacturer. History Charles F. Zimmermann, a German immigrant in Philadelphia, was awarded a patent in 1882 for a “Harp” fitted with a mechanism that muted strings selectively during play. He called a zither-sized instrument using this mechanism an “autoharp.” Unlike later designs, the instrument shown in the patent was symmetrical, and the damping mechanism engaged with the strings laterally instead of from above. It is not known if Zimmermann ever produced such instruments commercially. Karl August Gütter of Markneukirchen, Germany, built a model that he called a ''Volkszither'', which was more clearly the prototype of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russ Kunkel
Russell Kunkel (born September 27, 1948) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Dan Fogelberg, Glenn Frey, Art Garfunkel, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Carole King, Lyle Lovett, Reba McEntire, Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Seger, Carly Simon, Stephen Stills, James Taylor, Joe Walsh, Steve Winwood, Neil Young, and Warren Zevon. He was the studio and touring drummer for Crosby & Nash in the 1970s, and has played on all four of their studio albums. Early life and education Kunkel was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but by the age of nine he moved to Southern California. There, he was part of an orchestra at the local elementary school. Prior to moving, he was influenced by his brother and the song " Wipe Out" to play drums. During his high school years he lived in Long Beach, California. He played for approximately ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
