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Dottie Dodgion
Dottie Dodgion (born Dorothy Rosalie Giaimo; September 23, 1929 – September 17, 2021) was an American jazz drummer and singer. Life and career Dodgion was born on September 23, 1929, in Brea, California. As a child, Giaimo sang in the band led by her father, a drummer. She grew up in the Bay Area and sang with jazz guitarist Nick Esposito and bassist Charles Mingus as a teenager. An early marriage to Robert Bennett was annulled. After marrying Monty Budwig in 1952, she began playing drums, but Budwig tried to dissuade her from the instrument; she received encouragement to play from Jerry Dodgion and bassist Eugene Wright, and subsequently divorced Budwig in 1954 to marry Dodgion."Dottie Dodgion". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld. Her new husband advised her to choose between singing and drums; she decided to concentrate on the latter. She worked with Carl Fontana in Las Vegas toward the end of the decade and then relocated in 1961 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vi Redd
Elvira "Vi" Redd (born September 20, 1928) is an American jazz alto saxophone player, vocalist and educator. She has been active since the early 1950s and is known primarily for playing in the blues style. She is highly regarded as an accomplished veteran who has performed with Count Basie, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Linda Hopkins, Marian McPartland and Dizzy Gillespie. Life and career Redd was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of New Orleans jazz drummer and Clef Club co-founder Alton Redd and Mattie Redd (née Thomas). Her mother played saxophone, although not professionally, and her brother was a percussionist. She was deeply influenced during her formative years by her father, who was one of the leading figures on the Central Avenue jazz scene. Another important musical mentor was her paternal great aunt Alma Hightower, who convinced the 10-year-old Redd to switch from piano to saxophone. During junior high school, Redd played alto saxophone in a band with Melba Liston and D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Grey
Al Grey (June 6, 1925 – March 24, 2000) was an American jazz trombonist who was a member of the Count Basie orchestra. He was known for his plunger mute technique and wrote an instructional book in 1987 called ''Plunger Techniques''. Career Al Grey was born in Aldie, Virginia, United States, and grew up in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He was introduced to the trombone at the age of four, playing in a band called the Goodwill Boys, which was led by his father. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy, where he continued to play the trombone. Soon after his discharge, he joined Benny Carter's band, then the bands of Jimmie Lunceford, Lucky Millinder, and Lionel Hampton. In the 1950s, he was a member of the big bands of Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie. He led bands in the 1960s with Billy Mitchell and Jimmy Forrest. Later in life he recorded with Clark Terry and J. J. Johnson. He made thirty recordings under his own name and another seventy with bands. Grey's early trom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Wess
Frank Wellington Wess (January 4, 1922 – October 30, 2013) was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. In addition to his extensive solo work, Wess is remembered for his time in Count Basie's band from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Critic Scott Yanow described him as one of the premier proteges of Lester Young, and a leading jazz flutist of his era—using the latter instrument to bring new colors to Basie's music. Biography Wess was born in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, the son of a principal father and a schoolteacher mother. He began with classical music training and played in Oklahoma in high school. He later switched to jazz on moving to Washington, D.C. and by nineteen was working with big bands. His career was interrupted by World War II although he did play with a military band in the period. After leaving the military, he joined Billy Eckstine's orchestra. He returned to Washington D.C. a few years afterwards and received a degree in flute at the city's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Randy Brecker
Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was born on November 27, 1945, in the Philadelphia suburb of Cheltenham to a musical family. His father Bob (Bobby) was a lawyer who played jazz piano and his mother Sylvia was a portrait artist. Randy described his father as "a semipro jazz pianist and trumpet fanatic. In school when I was eight, they only offered trumpet or clarinet. I chose trumpet from hearing Diz, Miles, Clifford, and Chet Baker at home. My brother (Michael Brecker) didn't want to play the same instrument as I did, so three years later he chose the clarinet!" Randy's father, Bob, was also a songwriter and singer who loved to listen to recordings of the great jazz trumpet players such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown. He took Randy and his younger brother Mic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 2004, and was inducted into the ''DownBeat'' Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007. Biography Early life and career Michael Brecker was born in Philadelphia and raised in Cheltenham Township, a local suburb. He was raised in a Jewish—and artistic—family: his father, Bob (Bobby), was a lawyer who played jazz piano and his mother, Sylvia, was a portrait artist. Michael Brecker was exposed to jazz at an early age by his father. He grew up as part of the generation of jazz musicians who saw rock music not as the enemy but as a viable musical option. Brecker began studying clarinet at age 6, then moved to alto saxophone in eighth grade, settling on the tenor saxophone as his primary instrument in his sophomore year. He graduated from Chelte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Wein
George Wein (October 3, 1925 – September 13, 2021) was an American jazz promoter, pianist, and producer."George Wein: Dinosaur Walks the Earth" AllAboutJazz.com interview, June 2000, Retrieved on April 1, 2007. He was the founder of the , which is held every summer in . He also co-founded the with |
Melba Liston
Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. Other than those playing in all-female bands she was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s and 1960s, but as her career progressed she became better known as an arranger, particularly in partnership with pianist Randy Weston. Smith, Jessie Carney, and Shirelle Phelps (eds), ''Notable Black American Women: Book 2''. VNR AG, 1996, , pp. 413–415. Other major artists with whom she worked include Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane and Count Basie. Biography Early life and education Liston was born in Kansas City, Missouri. At the age of seven, Melba's mother purchased her a trombone and began learning to play. Her family encouraged her musical pursuits, as they were all music lovers. Liston was primarily self-taught, but she was "encouraged by her guitar-playing grandfather", with whom she spent significant time learning to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Osborne
Mary Osborne (July 17, 1921 – March 4, 1992) was an American jazz guitarist and guitar manufacturer. She began performing at a young age and was featured on a radio program in North Dakota, where she grew up. In New York City during the 1940s, she played with jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, and Thelonious Monk. After moving to California in 1968, she and her husband founded the Osborne Guitar Company. Biography Osborne was born in Minot, North Dakota, the tenth of eleven children. Her family was musically inclined; her mother played guitar and her father, in addition to constructing violins, allowed his barbershop to be the meeting place for the town's musicians. As early as 3 years of age, she showed an interest in music. Osborne's earliest instruments included piano, ukulele, violin, and banjo. At age nine, she first played the guitar. At ten, she started playing banjo in her father's ragtime band. She also came to be featured on her own r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Mraz
George Mraz (born Jiří Mráz; 9 September 1944 – 16 September 2021) was a Czech-born American jazz bassist and alto saxophonist. He was a member of Oscar Peterson's group, and worked with Pepper Adams, Stan Getz, Michel Petrucciani, Stephane Grappelli, Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Raney, Chet Baker, Joe Henderson, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, and Richie Beirach, among others. During the 1970s, he was a member of the New York Jazz Quartet and The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and in the 1980s a member of Quest. He also appeared with Joe Lovano, Hank Jones and Paul Motian on Lovano's records '' I'm All For You'' and '' Joyous Encounter''. Discography As leader/co-leader * 1977: ''Alone Together'' with Masaru Imada ( Three Blind Mice) * 1992: ''Catching Up'' * 1995: ''Jazz'' with Richie Beirach, Billy Hart, Larry Willis, Rich Perry * 1995: ''My Foolish Heart'' with Richie Beirach, Billy Hart * 1997: ''Bottom Lines'' with Cyrus Chestnut, Al Foster, Rich Perry * 1999 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Norris
Walter Norris (December 27, 1931 – October 29, 2011) was an American pianist and composer. Biography Early life and career Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force. After his time in the Air Force, Norris played with Jimmy Ford in Houston, Texas, then moved to Los Angeles where he became an integral part of the West Coast Jazz scene. While in Los Angeles, he played on Jack Sheldon's first album and on Ornette Coleman's first album, '' Something Else! The Music of Ornette Coleman'' (1958) for Contemporary Records. In 1960, Norris relocated to New York City and formed a trio with guitarist Billy Bean an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Venuti
Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist. Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie Lang, a friend since childhood. Through the 1920s and early 1930s, Venuti and Lang made many recordings as leader and as featured soloists. He and Lang became so well known for their 'hot' violin and guitar solos that on many commercial dance recordings they were hired to do 12- or 24-bar duos towards the end of otherwise stock dance arrangements. In 1926, Venuti and Lang started recording for the OKeh label as a duet (after a solitary duet issued on Columbia), followed by "Blue Four" combinations, which are considered milestone jazz recordings. Venuti also recorded commercial dance records for OKeh under the name "New Yorkers". He worked with Benny Goodman, Adrian Rollini, the Dorsey Brothers, Bing Crosby, Bix Beiderbecke, Jack Teagarde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruby Braff
Reuben "Ruby" Braff (March 16, 1927 – February 9, 2003) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Garry Moore television show and described Ruby as "the Ivy League Louis Armstrong". Braff was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He was renowned for working in an idiom ultimately derived from the playing of Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke. He began playing in local clubs in the 1940s. In 1949, he was hired to play with the Edmond Hall Orchestra at the Savoy Cafe of Boston. He relocated to New York in 1953 where he was much in demand for band dates and recordings. He resided in Harwich, Massachusetts and died of complications from emphysema, heart failure, and glaucoma on February 9, 2003, in Chatham, Massachusetts. He had spent a good part of his life living in the Riverdale section of The Bronx, New York City. Discography As leader/co-leader * '' Buck Meets Ruby'' (Vanguard, 1954) with Buck Clayton * ''Jazz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
