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Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin'
"Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" is a 1941 song written by Billy Strayhorn and Lee Gaines. Notable recordings * Johnny Dankworth - ''The Best of Johnny Dankworth'' (2008) *June Christy - '' Recalls Those Kenton Days'' (1959), ''The Best Of The Capitol Years'' * Ella Fitzgerald - '' Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook'' (1958) *Stan Kenton - ''On AFRS: 1944-45'' (2006) vocal by June Christy * The Delta Rhythm Boys - ''release charted #17, "their first (and only) chart success" (December 1945) See also * Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ... * Duke Ellington discography References Songs with music by Duke Ellington Songs with lyrics by Lee Gaines 1940s jazz standards 1941 songs Songs with music by Billy Strayhorn {{pop-stan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song
A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usually made of sections that are repeated or performed with variation later. A song without instruments is said to be a cappella. Written words created specifically for music, or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics. If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in the classical tradition, it is called an art song. Songs that are sung on repeated pitches without distinct contours and patterns that rise and fall are called chants. Songs composed in a simple style that are learned informally by ear are often referred to as folk songs. Songs composed for the mass market, designed to be sung by professional singers who sell their recordings or live shows, are called popular songs. These songs, which have broad appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Strayhorn
William Thomas Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take the 'A' Train", "Chelsea Bridge (song), Chelsea Bridge", "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing", and "Lush Life (jazz song), Lush Life". Early life Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio, United States. His family then moved to the Homewood (Pittsburgh), Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His mother's family came from Hillsborough, North Carolina, and she sent him there to protect him from his father's drunken rages. Strayhorn spent many months of his childhood at his grandparents' house in Hillsborough. In an interview, Strayhorn said that his grandmother was his primary influence during the first ten years of his life. He became interested in music while living with her, playing hymns on her piano and listening to records on her Victrol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Gaines
Otho Lee Gaines (April 21, 1914 – July 15, 1987) was an American jazz singer and lyricist. Gaines wrote the lyrics for " Take the "A" Train" and "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'", two jazz standards by Billy Strayhorn. Lee Gaines was from Buena Vista, Mississippi, and began singing as a bass in high school, he formed a vocal quartet at Langston University in 1933, and returned to the United States in 1937 having toured South America. Gaines was a founding member of the Delta Rhythm Boys who achieved their peak popularity in the 1940s and 50's, having recorded with Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Jimmy Lunceford, Charlie Barnet, Fred Astaire, Ruth Brown and Les Paul. The Delta Rhythm Boys moved to Europe in the 1950s. Gaines had lived in Finland for a year at the time of his death from cancer in 1987 and he is buried in Maunulan uurnalehto, an urn cemetery at Helsinki (section 39, lot 109). Gaines was married to Muriel Gaines, a calypso singer and former Cotton Club The Cot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE (20 September 1927 – 6 February 2010), also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist and writer of film scores. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he was a music educator and also her music director. Biography Early years Dankworth was born in Walthamstow, then in the County Borough of West Ham, in 1927. He grew up, within a family of musicians, in Hollywood Way, Highams Park, a suburb of Chingford, and attended Selwyn Boys' (Junior) School in Highams Park and later Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow. He had violin and piano lessons before settling eventually on the clarinet at the age of 16, after hearing a record of the Benny Goodman Quartet. Soon afterwards, inspired by Charlie Parker, he learned to play the alto saxophone. He made his first recording in 1944 playing the clarinet on ''Good Old Wagon Blues'' by ''Freddie Mirfield and his Garbage Men.'' He began his ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
June Christy
June Christy (born Shirley Luster; November 20, 1925 – June 21, 1990) was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued a solo career from 1954 and is best known for her debut album '' Something Cool''. After her death, she was hailed as "one of the finest and most neglected singers of her time." Biography Early life Shirley Luster was born in Springfield, Illinois, United States. She moved with her parents Steve and Marie (née Crain) Luster to Decatur, Illinois, when she was three years old. She began to sing with the Decatur-based Bill Oetzel Orchestra at thirteen. While attending Decatur High School she appeared with Oetzel and his society band, the Ben Bradley Band, and Bill Madden's Band. Her first work outside of Decatur was with the Dick Cisne Orchestra of nearby Champaign, IL, performing as far away as Texas and Louisiana. After high school she ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recalls Those Kenton Days
''June Christy Recalls Those Kenton Days'' is a 1959 album by June Christy. Music and recording The album was recorded at the Capitol Studios in Hollywood, on January 15, 21, and February 5, 1959. The material is tunes Christy sang when she was with the Stan Kenton Orchestra. The arrangements were by Pete Rugolo, who also conducted the band, which contained many from Kenton's ensembles. The original LP contained five songs per side. The liner notes present June Christy's reaction to the project, quoting her as saying, "This has been absorbing as well as sentimental for all concerned. The originals were, and still are, all top efforts, and it was a real challenge to try to re-do such well-established concepts. I think we succeeded in doing right by them."''June Christy Recalls Those Kenton Days'', 1959, Capitol Records catalogue #T-1202, back cover liner notes Release and reception The album was released by Capitol Records. The AllMusic reviewer suggested that it would be attrac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, Intonation (music), intonation, absolute pitch, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. After a tumultuous adolescence, Fitzgerald found stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" helped boost both her and Webb to national fame. After taking over the band when Webb died, Fitzgerald left it behind in 1942 to start her solo career. Her manager was Moe Gale, co-founder of the Savoy, until she turned the rest of her career over to Norman Granz, who founded Verve Records to produce new records by Fitzgerald. With Verve, she recorded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Duke Ellington Songbook
Ella is a feminine given name, which also used as a surname. Ella (or similar) may also refer to: Places United States * Ella, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Ella, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Ella, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Ella, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community * Lake Ella, Tallahassee, Florida Greenland * Ella Island, an uninhabited island of the Greenland Sea, Greenland Sri Lanka * Ella, Sri Lanka, a town in Uva Province, Sri Lanka United Kingdom * East Ella, a suburb of Hull * Kirk Ella, village and parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire * West Ella, in Kirk Ella parish Arts and entertainment Musicians * Ella Fitzgerald (born 1917), sometimes referred to as "Lady Ella" * Ella (Brazilian singer) (born 1997) * Ella (Malaysian singer) (born 1966) * Ella Gross (born 2008), known mononymously as Ella, member of South Korean girl group Meovv Albums * ''Ella'' (Ella Fitzgerald album), 1969 * ''Ella'' (Juan Gabriel album), 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though Kenton had several pop hits from the early 1940s into the 1960s, his music was always forward-looking. Kenton was also a pioneer in the field of jazz education, creating the Stan Kenton Band Clinics, Stan Kenton Jazz Camp in 1959 at Indiana University.Sparke, Michael. ''Stan Kenton: This is an Orchestra.'' UNT Press (2010). . Early life Stan Kenton was born on December 15, 1911, in Wichita, Kansas; he had two sisters (Beulah and Erma Mae) born three and eight years after him, respectively. His parents, Floyd and Stella Kenton, moved the family to Colorado, and in 1924, to the Greater Los Angeles Area, settling in suburban Bell, California. Kenton attended Bell High School (Bell, California), Bell High School; his high-school yearbook pict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Delta Rhythm Boys
The Delta Rhythm Boys were an American vocal group active from 1934 to 1987. The group was formed at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma, in 1934 by Carl Jones, Traverse Crawford, Otha Lee Gaines, and Kelsey Pharr. They moved to Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1936 and worked there under Frederick Hall as the Frederick Hall Quintet and the New Orleans Quintet. They performed on radio programs such as ''Amos and Andy'' and '' The Joan Davis Show'', and performed on Broadway in the shows ''Sing Out the News'' and '' Hot Mikado''. The group appeared extensively in 15 films. They resettled permanently in Europe in 1956. Lee Gaines died of cancer in Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ..., Finland on July 15, 1987. At Gaines's funeral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 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 Standard (music), standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan (1937 song), Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty five-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duke Ellington Discography
This is the discography of recordings by Duke Ellington, including those nominally led by his sidemen (mainly in the 1930s and early 1940s), and his later collaborations (mainly in the 1960s) with musicians with whom Ellington had generally not previously recorded. Below are listed 96 studio albums (including 1 box set and 5 EPs), 65 live albums (including 1 box set), and 235 compilations (including 17 box sets and 5 EPs) by the Duke. Discography Studio albums Live albums Compilations Listed here are all compilations released during Ellington's lifetime, in addition to all significant compilations, excluding the aforementioned box sets A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists .... Session appearances *'' The Complete Porgy and Bess'' (1956) (Bethlehem) – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
