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Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics. Early life and education McRae was born in Harlem, New York City, United States. Her father, Osmond, and mother, Evadne (Gayle) McRae, were immigrants from Jamaica. She began studying piano when she was eight, and the music of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington filled her home. When she was 17 years old, she met singer Billie Holiday. As a teenager McRae came to the attention of Teddy Wilson and his wife, the composer Irene Kitchings. One of McRae's early songs, "Dream of Life", was, through their influence, recorded in 1939 by Wilson’s long-time collaborator Billie Holiday.Brian Berger"Carmen McRae" HiLobrow, April 8, 2015. McRae considered Holiday to be her primary influence. Early career In her l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caryl Brahms
Doris Caroline Abrahams (8 December 1901 – 5 December 1982), commonly known by the pseudonym Caryl Brahms, was an English critic, novelist, and journalist specialising in the theatre and ballet. She also wrote film, radio and television scripts. As a student at London's Royal Academy of Music, Brahms was dissatisfied with her own skill as a pianist, and left without graduating. She contributed light verse, and later stories for satirical cartoons, to the London paper ''The Evening Standard'' in the late 1920s. She recruited a friend, S.J. Simon, to help her with the cartoon stories, and, in the 1930s and 40s, they collaborated on a series of comic novels, some with a balletic background and others set in various periods of English history. At the same time as her collaboration with Simon, Brahms was a ballet critic, writing for papers including ''The Daily Telegraph''. Later, her interest in ballet waned, and she concentrated on reviewing plays. After Simon's sudden death in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvatore Camarata
Salvador "Tutti" Camarata (May 11, 1913 – April 13, 2005) was an American composer, arranger, trumpeter, and record producer. Also known as "Toots" Camarata. Early life and career Camarata, born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, United States, and studied music at Juilliard School in New York — a student of Bernard Wagenaar, Joseph Littau, Cesare Sodero, and Jan Meyerowitz. His early career was as a trumpet player for bands such as Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and others, eventually becoming the lead trumpet and arranger for Jimmy Dorsey (arranging such hits as ''Tangerine'', ''Green Eyes'' and ''Yours''). He also did arranging for Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Nancy Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and many others. He conducted and orchestrated a recording of Jascha Heifetz. During World War II, he served as a flight instructor in the Army Air Forces. London Records In 1944, J. Arthur Rank sum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
No More (1944 Song)
"No More" is a song with music by Toots Camarata (also known as Tutti Camarata) and words by Bob Russell. It is usually mentioned in connection with Billie Holiday, who recorded it on October 4, 1944. The song is sometimes listed as "(You Ain't Gonna Bother Me) No More". According to one source, Holiday would refer to "No More" as one of her favorite songs. Recording session Billie Holiday, with Toots Camarata and his orchestra (Decca) New York City, October 4, 1944: with Russ Case (trumpet), Hymie Schertzer (alto saxophone), Jack Cressey (alto saxophone), Larry Binyon (tenor saxophone), Paul Ricci (tenor saxophone), Dave Bowman (piano), Carl Kress (guitar), Haig Stephens (bass), Johnny Blowers drums, Toots Camarata (conductor, arranger), Billie Holiday vocal + 6 strings Other notable vocal versions Other singers who have performed it include: *Dinah Washington – ''Dinah Jams'' (1954) *Abbey Lincoln – ''Abbey Lincoln's Affair'' (1956), ''Abbey Sings Billie'' (1989) *Jun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russ Freeman (pianist)
Russell Donald Freeman (May 28, 1926 – June 27, 2002) was a bebop and cool jazz pianist and composer. Initially, Freeman was classically trained. His reputation as a jazz pianist grew in the 1940s after working with Art Pepper and Shorty Rogers. He played with Charlie Parker on the 1947 "Home Cooking" jazz session. Numerous collaborations followed in the 1950s with Chet Baker, Shelly Manne, and Art Pepper. These collaborations included the ''Jazz Immortal'' LP recorded with Russ Freeman and jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown in 1954, which included leading musicians Brown and Zoot Sims. On the ''Jazz Immortal'' LP, Russ Freeman was able to play in a combo that recorded many Clifford Brown compositions. In 1957, he collaborated with André Previn on the album '' Double Play!'', where they both played piano, accompanied only by Manne on drums. In 1988, Keith Jarrett performed a version of Freeman's "The Wind" in a solo concert in Paris, which is featured on his album '' Paris Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feeling Good
"Feeling Good" (also known as "Feelin' Good") is a song written by English composers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the musical ''The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd''. It was first performed on stage in 1964 by Cy Grant on the UK tour and by Gilbert Price in 1965 with the original Broadway cast. Nina Simone recorded "Feeling Good" for her 1965 album ''I Put a Spell on You''. The song has also been covered by Sammy Davis Jr., Traffic, Michael Bublé, John Coltrane, George Michael, Victory, Eels, Joe Bonamassa, Eden, Muse, Black Cat Bones, Bassnectar, Sophie B. Hawkins, Leslie West, Avicii, Chlöe and Lauryn Hill among others. It was also performed by John Legend as part of the Celebrating America performance marking the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on January 20th 2021. Early performances and recordings Although Bricusse and Newley shared songwriting credits, the words of the song are usually attributed to Bricusse, with the musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Bricusse
Leslie Bricusse OBE (; 29 January 1931 – 19 October 2021) was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright who worked on theatre musicals and wrote theme music for films. He was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films ''Doctor Dolittle'', ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'', '' Scrooge'', ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'', '' Tom and Jerry: The Movie'', the songs " Goldfinger", " You Only Live Twice", "Can You Read My Mind (Love Theme)" (with John Williams) from ''Superman'', and "Le Jazz Hot!" with Henry Mancini from ''Victor/Victoria''. Early life and education Born in Pinner, Middlesex, now the London Borough of Harrow. Bricusse was educated at University College School in London and then at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he was Secretary of Footlights between 1952 and 1953 and Footlights President during the following year. It was during his college drama career that he began working for Beatrice Lillie. Career In the 1960s and 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest leading men", from 1959 to 1962 he scored a dozen entries on the UK Top 40 chart, including two number one hits. Newley won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for " What Kind of Fool Am I", sung by Sammy Davis Jr., and wrote " Feeling Good", which became a signature hit for Nina Simone. His songs have been performed by a wide variety of artists including Fiona Apple, Tony Bennett, Barbara Streisand, Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey. With songwriting partner Leslie Bricusse, Newley won an Academy Award for the film score of ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'' (1971), featuring "Pure Imagination", which has been covered by dozens of artists. He collaborated with John Barry on the title song for the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'' (1964 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music. Rodgers is known for his songwriting partnerships, first with lyricist Lorenz Hart and then with Oscar Hammerstein II. With Hart he wrote musicals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including ''Pal Joey (musical), Pal Joey'', ''A Connecticut Yankee (musical), A Connecticut Yankee'', ''On Your Toes'' and ''Babes in Arms.'' With Hammerstein he wrote musicals through the 1940s and 1950s, such as ''Oklahoma!'', ''Flower Drum Song'', ''Carousel (musical), Carousel'', ''South Pacific (musical), South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebrated for brin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sweetest Sounds (song)
"The Sweetest Sounds" is a popular song, with words and music written by Richard Rodgers for the 1962 musical ''No Strings''. The song opens and closes the show for characters Barbara Woodruff and David Jordan, performed by Diahann Carroll and Richard Kiley in the original Broadway theatre production and subsequent cast recording. Composition The melodic theme appears to have been inspired by an orchestral figure in the final movement of Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms) (measures 64–80). In television and film *Judy Garland featured the song on The Judy Garland Show episode that aired November 10, 1963 in a medley performed with Count Basie and his orchestra. *Barbra Streisand featured the song in the 1973 broadcast '' Barbra Streisand...And Other Musical Instruments''. *The song is featured in the 1997 adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''Cinderella'', performed as a duet by Brandy and Paolo Montalbán. Recordings In addition to the respective cast a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Francis Webster
Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984) was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated sixteen times for the award. Life and career Webster was born in New York City, United States, the son of Myron Lawrence Webster and Blanche Pauline Stonehill Webster. His family was Jewish. His father was born in Augustów, Poland. He attended the Horace Mann School ( Riverdale, Bronx, New York), graduating in 1926, and then went to Cornell University from 1927 to 1928 and New York University from 1928 to 1930, leaving without receiving a degree. He worked on ships throughout Asia and then became a dance instructor at an Arthur Murray studio in New York City. By 1931, however, he turned his career direction to writing song lyrics. His first professional lyric was "Masquerade" (music by John Jacob Loeb) which became a hit in 1932, performed by Paul Whiteman. In 1935, Twentieth Century Fox signed him to a contract to write lyr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Mandel
John Alfred Mandel (November 23, 1925June 29, 2020) was an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. The musicians he worked with include Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Diane Schuur and Shirley Horn. He won five Grammy Awards - from 17 nominations; his first nomination was for his debut film score for the multi-nominated 1958 film ''I Want to Live!'' Early life Mandel was born in the borough of Manhattan in New York City on November 23, 1925. His father, Alfred, was a garment manufacturer who ran Mandel & Cash; his mother, Hannah (Hart-Rubin), had aimed to be an opera singer and discovered her son had perfect pitch at the age of five. His family was Jewish. They moved to Los Angeles in 1934, after his father's business collapsed during the Great Depression. Mandel was given piano lessons, but switched to the trumpet and later the trombone. Career Mandel studied at the Manhattan School of Music and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
