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Val Wilmer
Valerie Sybil Wilmer (born 7 December 1941) is a British photographer and writer specialising in jazz, gospel, blues, and British African-Caribbean music and culture. Her notable books include ''Jazz People'' (1970) and ''As Serious As Your Life'' (1977), both first published by Allison and Busby. Early life Val Wilmer was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, on 7 December 1941. She is the sister of the poet and writer Clive Wilmer. As soon as World War II was over, her family returned to living in London. She began her life in the jazz world by listening to pre-war recordings of jazz classics, being led to many important recordings through Rudi Blesh's ''Shining Trumpets'', a history of jazz, and ''Jazz'' by Rex Harris. Wilmer became entranced by recordings by Bessie Smith ("Empty Bed Blues") and the singing of Fats Waller – going to the Swing Shop in Streatham, south London, at the age of 12, combing through the jazz records until she found something she wanted to he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with ''Top Secret!'' (1984) and ''Real Genius'' (1985), as well as the military action film '' Top Gun'' (1986) and the fantasy film ''Willow'' (1988). Kilmer gained acclaim for his portrayal of Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's ''The Doors'' (1991). Kilmer's stardom continued, as he was often cast as a main character in critically acclaimed films such as the western '' Tombstone'' (1993), and the crime dramas ''True Romance'' (1993), and ''Heat'' (1995). He replaced Michael Keaton portraying Bruce Wayne/Batman in Joel Schumacher's ''Batman Forever'' (1995). He continued acting in films such as ''The Ghost and the Darkness'' (1996), '' The Island of Dr. Moreau'' (1996), ''The Saint'' (1997), ''The Prince of Egypt'' (1998), ''Pollock'' (2000), ''Alexander'' (2004), ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' (2005), ''Déjà Vu'' (2006), '' Bad Lieuten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Streatham
Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey before becoming part of the County of London in 1889, and then Greater London in 1965. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Streatham means "the hamlet on the street". The street in question, the London to Brighton Way, was the Roman road from the capital Londinium to the south coast near Portslade, today within Brighton and Hove. It is likely that the destination was a Roman port now lost to coastal erosion, which has been tentatively identified with 'Novus Portus' mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia. The road is confusingly referred to as Stane Street (Stone Street) in some sources and diverges from the main London-Chichester road at Kennington. After the departure of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Harriott
Joseph Arthurlin Harriott (15 July 1928 – 2 January 1973) was a Jamaican jazz musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone. Initially a bebopper, he became a pioneer of free-form jazz. Born in Kingston, Harriott moved to the United Kingdom as a working musician in 1951 and lived in the country for the rest of his life. He was part of a wave of Caribbean jazz musicians who arrived in Britain during the 1950s, including Dizzy Reece, Harold McNair, Harry Beckett and Wilton Gaynair. Early life and career Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Harriott was educated at Alpha Boys School, an orphanage in the city. At Alpha he learned to play the clarinet, the instrument that was assigned to him shortly before his tenth birthday. He took up the baritone and tenor saxophone while performing with local dance bands, before settling on the alto saxophone. Harriott arrived in London in the summer of 1951, aged 23, as a member of Ossie Da Costa's band. British subject ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Coker
Henry Coker (December 24, 1919 – November 23, 1979) was an American jazz trombonist. Biography Coker was born in Dallas, Texas, United States. He made his professional debut with John White in 1935. From 1937 to 1939 he played with Nat Towles's territory band, then moved to Hawaii to play with Monk McFay. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Coker returned to California, playing with Benny Carter (1944–46), Illinois Jacquet (1945), Eddie Heywood (1946–47), and Charles Mingus (late 1940s). Coker fell ill from 1949 to 1951 and played little. After his recovery he worked with Sonny Rollins and then joined Count Basie's band, playing and recording with him from 1952 to 1963. Coker worked as a studio musician in the 1960s, then toured with Ray Charles from 1966 to 1971. He worked freelance and in film and television studios in the mid-1970s, returning to Basie briefly in 1973 and Charles in 1976. Osie Johnson wrote a tribute to him entitled "Cokernut Tree" in 1955. Coker app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Kelley
Robin Davis Gibran Kelley (born March 14, 1962) is an American historian and academic, who is the Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at UCLA. From 2006 to 2011, he was Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California (USC), and from 2003 to 2006 he was the William B. Ransford Professor of Cultural and Historical Studies at Columbia University. From 1994 to 2003, he was a professor of history and Africana Studies at New York University (NYU) as well the chair of NYU's history department from 2002 to 2003. Kelley has also served as a Hess Scholar-in-Residence at Brooklyn College. In the summer of 2000, he was honored as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, where he taught and mentored a class of sophomores, as well as wrote the majority of the book ''Freedom Dreams''. During the academic year 2009–10, Kelley served as Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University, the first African-American historian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Higgins
Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop. Biography Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958. He then freelanced extensively with hard bop and other post- bop players, including Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, Grant Green, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Don Cherry, Paul Horn, Milt Jackson, Jackie McLean, Pat Metheny, Hank Mobley, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, David Murray, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins, Mal Waldron, and Cedar Walton. He was one of the house drummers for Blue Note Records and played on dozens of Blue Note albums of the 1960s. He also collaborated with composer La Monte Young and guitarist Sandy Bull. In his career, he played on over 700 recordings, including recordings of rock and funk. He appeared as a jazz drummer in the 2001 movie, ''Southlander''. In 1989, Higgins cofounded a cultural cente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", " Straight, No Chaser", "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington. Monk's compositions and improvisations feature dissonances and angular melodic twists and are consistent with his unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of switched key releases, silences, and hesitations. Monk's distinct look included suits, hats, and sunglasses. He also had an idiosyncratic habit during performances: while other musicians continued playing, Monk would stop, stand up, and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano. Monk is one of five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Known for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music. Early life and career Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on August 27, 1909. to Lizetta Young (née Johnson), and Willis Handy Young, originally from Louisiana. Lester had two siblings – a brother, Leonidas Raymond, known as Lee Young, who became a drummer, and a sister, Irma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polo Barnes
Paul D. "Polo" Barnes (November 22, 1901 – April 3, 1981, New Orleans) was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist. He was the brother of Emile Barnes and was a mainstay of the New Orleans jazz scene of the 1920s and 1930s. Career Barnes attended St. Paul Lutheran College and began playing alto saxophone in 1919. He and Lawrence Marrero formed the Original Diamond Band, later known as the Young Tuxedo Band. He was with Kid Rena in 1922, the Maple Leaf Orchestra in 1923, and Papa Celestin's Original Tuxedo Band later that year; Celestin's group recorded his tune "My Josephine", which became quite popular. He played with Chick Webb in 1927, and with King Oliver three times (1927, 1931, 1934–35). He toured with Jelly Roll Morton in 1928-29. In 1932 and 1933, Barnes led his own band. He also played with Chester Zardis (1935), and Kid Howard (1937–1939, 1941). He played in Algiers, Louisiana in a Navy band from 1942 to 1945, then returned to work with Celestin from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Young
Leonidas Raymond Young (March 7, 1914 – July 31, 2008) was an American jazz drummer and singer. His musical family included his father Willis Young and his older brother, saxophonist Lester Young. In 1944 he played with Norman Granz's first "Jazz at the Philharmonic" concert. Early life and education Young was born in 1914 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Willis Young and Lizetta Teresa Johnson. His father was a musician, as were other relatives. His older brother Lester Young became a famed saxophonist. Lee began playing from an early age and the family had a band for several years. Career In 1944 Lee Young was the drummer at Norman Granz's first "Jazz at the Philharmonic" concert, which also featured guitarist Les Paul, trombonist J.J. Johnson, and saxophonist Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet. Young played with such jazz and swing music notables as Mutt Carey, Fats Waller, Les Hite, Benny Goodman, and Lionel Hampton. In the 1950s Young played with Nat King Cole's trio. F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earle Warren
Earle Warren (born Earl Ronald Warren; July 1, 1914 – June 4, 1994) was an American saxophonist. He was part of the Count Basie Orchestra from 1937. Early life Warren was born in Springfield, Ohio, on July 1, 1914. "He played piano, banjo, and ukulele in a family band before taking up C-melody, tenor, and finally alto saxophone." Later life and career When Warren became professional in 1930, he added an "e" to the end of his first name to make it different from other jazz musicians named "Earl". In his early career, he toured the Midwest as a sideman, and led his own bands. He joined the Count Basie Orchestra in 1937, playing baritone and alto saxophones initially, and then being lead altoist and occasional clarinettist and vocalist until 1945. He led bands and occasionally reunited with Basie towards the end of the decade. After managing some bands, he joined trumpeter Buck Clayton in 1957. Warren appeared in ''Born to Swing'', the 1972 film about former members of Basie's ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz Journal
''Jazz Journal'' is a British jazz magazine established in 1946 by Sinclair Traill (1904–1981). It was first published in London under the title ''Pick Up'', which Traill founded as a locus for serious jazz criticism in Britain.Roberta Freund Schwartz How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues', Ashgate Publishing, (1988), p.25, In May 1948, Traill, using his own money, relaunched it as ''Jazz Journal''. Traill, for the rest of his life, served as its editor-in-chief. ''Jazz Journal'' is Britain's longest published jazz magazine. Ownership overview In April 1977, Billboard Limited – then the publisher of ''Music Week'' and '' The Artist'' – acquired publishing rights to ''Jazz Journal'' (via lease agreement) from the magazine's owner, Novello & Company, Ltd. Cardfront Publishers Limited, a division of Billboard Limited, became the publisher; Mike Hennessey became director; Traill continued as editor-in-chief; and the publication w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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