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Top Brass
''Top Brass'' (subtitled ''Featuring 5 Trumpets'') is an album by American jazz composer and arranger Ernie Wilkins featuring performances recorded in 1955 and first released on the Savoy label.Savoy Records Catalog: 12000 series accessed February 5, 2016 accessed February 5, 2016 The album consists of five original selections with trumpeters Ray Copeland, |
Ernie Wilkins
Ernest Brooks Wilkins Jr. (July 20, 1922 – June 5, 1999) was an American jazz saxophonist, conductor and arranger who spent several years with Count Basie. He also wrote for Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Dizzy Gillespie. He was musical director for albums by Cannonball Adderley, Dinah Washington, Oscar Peterson, and Buddy Rich. Early career Wilkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri. In his early career he played in a military band, before joining Earl Hines's last big band. He worked with Count Basie from 1951 to 1955, eventually leaving to work free-lance as a jazz arranger and songwriter. His success declined in the 1960s, but revived after work with Clark Terry, leading to a tour of Europe. Final years in Denmark Eventually Wilkins settled in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he would live for the rest of his life. There he formed the Almost Big Band so he could write for a band of his own formation. The idea was partly inspired by his wife Jenny. Copenhagen had a thriving jazz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Ronell
Ann Ronell (née Rosenblatt; December 25, 1905 — December 25, 1993) was an American composer and lyricist. She was best known for the standards " Willow Weep for Me" (1932) and " Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" (1933). Early life Ronell was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Morris and Mollie Rosenblatt. Ronell graduated from Omaha's Central High School in 1923. She enrolled in Wheaton College, Massachusetts, but transferred after her sophomore year to pursue a more serious music education.Benjamin Sears"Ann Ronell" ''American National Biography Online'', 2000 She graduated from Radcliffe College, where she studied music with Walter Piston. While at Radcliffe, Ronell wrote music for college plays and contributed reviews and interviews to the school's music publication. After interviewing George Gershwin, she struck up a friendship with the composer, who hired her as a rehearsal pianist for his show '' Rosalie''. It was Gershwin who suggested that she change her name from Rosenblatt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John La Touche (lyricist)
John Treville Latouche (La Touche) (November 13, 1914, Baltimore, Maryland – August 7, 1956, Calais, Vermont) was a lyricist and bookwriter in American musical theater. Biography John Treville Latouche was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His family moved to Richmond, Virginia, when he was four months old. There he attended school, before going north to Columbia University. He became involved in music and theater, writing for the Varsity Show and joining the Philolexian Society. He did not graduate. In 1937 Latouche contributed two songs in the revue '' Pins and Needles''. For the show ''Sing For Your Supper'' (1939), he wrote the lyrics for "Ballad for Uncle Sam", later retitled "Ballad for Americans", with music by Earl Robinson. It was featured at both the 1940 Republican Convention and the convention of the American Communist Party, and was extremely popular in 1940s America. This 13-minute cantata to American democracy was written for a soloist and as well a full orches ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Fetter
Theodore Fetter (June 10, 1906 – March 13, 1996) was a Broadway lyricist who contributed material to such revues as ''The Show Is On'' (1936) and ''Billy Rose's Aquacade'' (1939), but is best remembered for co-writing the song "Taking a Chance on Love," introduced in the 1940 musical comedy '' Cabin in the Sky''. Biography Fetter started as an actor, appearing in the 1928 revival of '' Peter Pan'' and in Cole Porter's 1935 musical comedy, '' Jubilee''. Fetter was Porter's second cousin and later wrote additional lyrics for some of Porter's songs. Beginning in 1936, he wrote lyrics for a number of revues, melodramas and burlesques in collaboration with composers, Richard Lewine, Hoagy Carmichael and Vernon Duke. In 1940, Duke was working on ''Cabin in the Sky'' with lyricist John Latouche and needed a new number for star Ethel Waters. He pulled out an old "trunk song" that he had written years earlier with Fetter, called "Fooling Around With Love". With Fetter's permi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vernon Duke
Vernon Duke ( 16 January 1969) was a Russian-born American composer/songwriter who also wrote under his birth name, Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for " Taking a Chance on Love," with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche (1940), "I Can't Get Started," with lyrics by Ira Gershwin (1936), " April in Paris," with lyrics by E. Y. ("Yip") Harburg (1932), and "What Is There To Say," for the '' Ziegfeld Follies'' of 1934, also with Harburg. He wrote the words and music for " Autumn in New York" (1934) for the revue '' Thumbs Up!'' In his book, ''American Popular Song, The Great Innovators 1900-1950'', composer Alec Wilder praises this song, writing, “The verse may be the most ambitious I’ve ever seen." Duke also collaborated with lyricists Johnny Mercer, Ogden Nash, and Sammy Cahn. Early life Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky ( Russian: Владимир Александрович Дукельский) was born in 1903 into a Belarusian noble family in the village of Par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taking A Chance On Love
"Taking a Chance on Love" is a popular song from the 1940 Broadway musical '' Cabin in the Sky''. It was introduced by Ethel Waters playing the role of Petunia Jackson both on Broadway and later in the 1943 MGM musical Cabin in the Sky (film). The song was written by Vernon Duke with lyrics by John La Touche and Ted Fetter (see 1940 in music). It has become a standard. Several songs from the Broadway musical were released as a 3-record shellac set under the title "The Music of Cabin in the Sky featuring Ethel Waters" in 1940. Cover versions Since the original recording, "Taking a Chance on Love" has become part of the American Songbook and has been sung and recorded by many prominent performers, including: *In 1943, a reissue of the Benny Goodman cover featuring Helen Forrest (which was recorded and previously released in 1940) reached No. 1, as well as reaching No. 10 on the Harlem Hit Parade chart. * Sammy Kaye also enjoyed chart success in 1943, reaching the No. 13 pos ... [...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 Tiom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first singer-songwriters in the age of mass media to utilize new communication technologies such as television, electronic microphones, and sound recordings. Carmichael composed several hundred songs, including 50 that achieved hit record status. He is best known for composing the music for "Stardust", " Georgia on My Mind" (lyrics by Stuart Gorrell), " The Nearness of You", and " Heart and Soul" (in collaboration with lyricist Frank Loesser), four of the most-recorded American songs of all time. He also collaborated with lyricist Johnny Mercer on " Lazybones" and " Skylark". Carmichael's " Ole Buttermilk Sky" was an Academy Award nominee in 1946, from '' Canyon Passage'', in which he co-starred as a musician riding a mule. " In the Cool, Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Nearness Of You
"The Nearness of You" is a popular song written in 1938 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Ned Washington. The song debuted in the 1938 movie Romance in the Dark. It is also heard in the 1940 recording In the Mood by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, with vocals by Ray Eberle, and by many others. The song is on the Grammy-Award-winning album Come Away with Me by Norah Jones, at Track 14. Lyrics ''It's not the pale moon that excites me'' ''That thrills and delights me, oh no'' ''It's just the nearness of you'' ''It isn't your sweet conversation'' ''That brings this sensation, oh no'' ''It's just the nearness of you'' ''When you're in my arms and I feel you so close to me'' ''All my wildest dreams come true'' ''I need no soft lights to enchant me'' ''If you'll only grant me the right'' ''To hold you ever so tight'' ''And to feel in the night the nearness of you'' Covers The first big-selling version was recorded on April 28, 1940, by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, with a vocal b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs. He is best known for his collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, as the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose musicals include '' Oklahoma!'', '' Carousel'', ''South Pacific'', '' The King and I'', and '' The Sound of Music''. Described by Stephen Sondheim as an "experimental playwright", Hammerstein helped bring the American musical to new maturity by popularizing musicals that focused on stories and character rather than the lighthearted entertainment that the musical had been known for beforehand. He also collaborated with Jerome Kern (with whom he wrote '' Show Boat''), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American 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'', '' 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'', ''South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and '' The Sound of Music''. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebrated for bringing the Broadway musical to a new maturity by telling stories that were focused on characters and drama ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
It Might As Well Be Spring
"It Might as Well Be Spring" is a song from the 1945 film ''State Fair''. which features the only original film score by the songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. "It Might as Well Be Spring" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for that year. Composition/ As a showtune The song is sung early in the film by Margy the teenage daughter of the State Fair-bound Frake family, who is feeling the symptoms of spring fever. Oscar Hammerstein, the lyricist for the Rodgers & Hammerstein team, mentioned to Richard Rodgers that although state fairs were held in summer or autumn, for Margy – flushed by the stirrings of womanhood – "it might as well be spring". Rodgers immediately advised Hammerstein that the latter had just named the song. An early version of the composition exists with an alternate melody. Music historian Todd Purdum described the alternate version in 2018: Rodgers envisioned "It Might as Well Be Spring" as a cheery uptempo number, it bei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
