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Indy Jazz Fest
The Indy Jazz Fest is an annual jazz festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. It first took place on June 17, 1999. It was created by a consortium of Downtown Indianapolis hospitality, civic and business interests as a way to spotlight Indianapolis' rich jazz heritage through an annual event. The hope was to have a tourist weekend event that was arts-related, as opposed to the many sporting events held each year in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis 500, the Brickyard 400 as well the occasional NCAA championship or Super Bowl. A planning committee was formed by these business interests, which brought on an event planning company and a full-time director of booking and operations to plan and manage the event. It was determined that the event would be a multi-day, multi-venue festival, culminating in a multi-stage outdoor event called the Bank One Jazz & Roots Fair at White River State Park in Downtown Indianapolis. A $2 million budget was used to stage the event, which included artists s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Baker (composer)
David Nathaniel Baker Jr. (December 21, 1931 – March 26, 2016) was an American jazz composer, conductor, and musician from Indianapolis, as well as a professor of jazz studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Baker is best known as an educator and founder of the jazz studies program. From 1991 to 2012, he was conductor and musical and artistic director for the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. He has more than 65 recordings, 70 books, and 400 articles to his credit. He received the James Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, an American Jazz Masters Award, a National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award, a Sagamore of the Wabash award, and a Governor's Arts Award from the State of Indiana. Baker also held leadership positions in several arts and music associations. The Indiana Historical Society named Baker an Indiana Living Legend in 2001. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts named him a Living Jazz Legend in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rob Dixon
Rob Dixon is an American jazz saxophonist. A native of Atlanta, Dixon went to Indiana University where he came under the influence of the renowned jazz educator David Baker. After moving to New York in 1996, he began gigging around town with other up-and-coming musicians like drummer Ari Hoenig, organist Greg Lewis and pianist Rick Germanson, and vocalist Cynthia Layne. He subsequently worked in Illinois Jacquet's big band for four years before following tenor saxophonist Mark Turner in Tana Reid, a straight-ahead quartet co-led by drummer Akira Tana and bassist Rufus Reid. After several years away, Dixon returned to Indianapolis in 2003, where he worked with a number of organizations, such as the Cleveland Heritage Jazz Orchestra and the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra. In addition to working with these bands, he leads a jazz-funk group called and an organ quartet with veteran organ player Melvin Rhyne. Dixon is signed with Owl Studios, an Indianapolis-based jazz label. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Pianists Association
The American Pianists Association is a performing arts organization based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, that holds two national, quadrennial piano competitions in alternating 2-year cycles: the Classical Fellowship Awards and the Jazz Fellowship Awards. Only American citizens ages 18–30 are eligible to compete. The organization hosts a recital series in non-competition years. The Fellowship Awards are among the most lucrative piano prizes in the world, valued at over $100,000. History The association was "born" in New York City in 1979 as the Beethoven Foundation, conceived by the late Victor Borge, Tony Habig of Kimball International and Julius Bloom, former general manager of Carnegie Hall. Their original intent was to help identify and groom young American pianists to compete in international piano competitions by offering fellowships over a three-year period that included cash awards, concerts and media coverage. It changed its name to The American Pianists Association i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Béla Fleck And The Flecktones
Béla may refer to: * Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater * Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name See also * Bela (other) * Belá (other) * Bělá (other) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''white''), is the name of several places in the Czech Republic: * Bělá (Havlíčkův Brod District), a municipality and village in the Vysočina Region * Bělá (Mírová pod Kozákovem), a village, a part of the ... {{DEFAULTSORT:Bela de:Béla pl:Béla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson (born December 4, 1955) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female Jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack ho hasexpanded the playing field" by incorporating blues, country, and folk music into her work. She has won numerous awards, including two Grammys, and was named "America's Best Singer" by Time magazine in 2001. Early life and career Cassandra Wilson is the third and youngest child of Herman Fowlkes, Jr., a guitarist, bassist, and music teacher; and Mary McDaniel, an elementary school teacher who earned her PhD in education. Her ancestry includes Fon, Yoruba, Irish and Welsh. Between her mother's love for Motown and her father's dedication to jazz, Wilson's parents sparked her early interest in music. Leland, John. GOING HOME WITH: Cassandra Wilson; Jazz Diva Follows Sound of Her Roots'' '' Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets is an American jazz fusion band founded in 1977 in Los Angeles, California. History In 1977, guitarist Robben Ford, for his first solo album, recruited keyboardist Russell Ferrante, electric bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Ricky Lawson. They decided to continue as a group and were signed to Warner Bros. Records by producer Tommy LiPuma, who chose the name "Yellowjackets" from a list of potential group names the band had compiled. In 1984, the band's second album, '' Mirage a Trois'', was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Fusion Performance. Ford only played on half this album, and after he departed the group, saxophonist Marc Russo was hired in his place. The next album, '' Shades'', reached No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' magazine jazz album chart, while the single "And You Know That" won a Grammy for Best R&B Instrumental Performance. Lawson left and was replaced by Will Kennedy in 1987. Their next three albums, ''Four Corners'', ''Politics'', and ''The Spin'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shemekia Copeland
Charon Shemekia Copeland (born April 10, 1979) is an American electric blues vocalist. To date, she has released ten albums and been presented with seven Blues Music Awards. Career Copeland was born in Harlem, New York City, United States. She is the daughter of Texas blues guitarist and singer Johnny Copeland. She began singing at an early age and her first public performance was at the Cotton Club when she was about 10. She began to pursue a singing career in earnest at age 16. When her father's health began to decline, he took Shemekia on tour as his opening act, which helped establish her name on the blues circuit. Copeland graduated in 1997 from Teaneck High School in Teaneck, New Jersey. She landed a recording contract with Alligator Records, which issued her debut album, ''Turn the Heat Up!'' in 1998, following it up with a tour of the blues festival circuit in America and Europe. Her second album, ''Wicked'', was released in 2000 and featured a duet with one of her hero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonny Lang
Jon Gordon Langseth Jr. (born January 29, 1981), known as Jonny Lang, is an American blues, gospel, and rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has made five albums that have charted on the top 50 of the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and has won a Grammy Award for ''Turn Around''. Biography Jonny Lang was born in Fargo, North Dakota, United States, of Norwegian descent. He started playing the guitar for his friends at age 12. He played modern hits to the classics, even performing a rendition of Jimi Hendrix's take on the National Anthem. Soon after his father took him to see the Bad Medicine Blues Band, one of the few blues bands in Fargo, Lang started taking guitar lessons from Ted Larsen, the band's guitar player. Several months after Lang began, he joined the band, which was then renamed Kid Jonny Lang & The Big Bang. Two years later A&M Records, then home of Janet Jackson and Soundgarden, was invited to come see him at a live performance at Bunkers Bar in Minneapolis, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Booker T
Booker T or Booker T. may refer to * Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), African American political leader at the turn of the 20th century ** List of things named after Booker T. Washington, some nicknamed "Booker T." * Booker T. Jones (born 1944), American musician and frontman of Booker T. and the M.G.'s * Booker T (wrestler) (born 1965), ring name of American professional wrestler Booker Huffman Also * Booker T. Bradshaw (1940–2003), American record producer, film and TV actor, and executive * Booker T. Laury (1914–1995), American boogie-woogie and blues pianist * Booker T. Spicely (1909–1944) victim of a racist murder in North Carolina, United States * Booker T. Whatley (1915–2005) agricultural professor at Tuskegee University * Booker T. Washington White (1909–1977), American Delta blues guitarist and singer known as Bukka White * Booker T. Boffin, pseudonym of Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities. Born in Concord, California, Brubeck was drafted into the US Army, but was spared from combat service when a Red Cross show he had played at became a hit. Within the US Army, Brubeck formed one of the first racially diverse bands. In 1951, Brubeck formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet, which kept its name despite shifting personnel. The most successful—and prolific—lineup of the quartet was the one between 1958 and 1968. This lineup, in addition to Brubeck, featured saxophonist Paul Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello. A U.S. Department of State-sponsored tour in 1958 featuring the band inspired Brubeck to record the 1959 album ''Time Out''. Despite its esoteric theme and contrarian ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Genius". Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray". Charles was blinded during childhood, possibly due to glaucoma. Charles pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm and blues, and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, notably with his two '' Modern Sounds'' albums. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company. Charles's 1960 hit " Georgia On My Mind" was the first of his three career No. 1 hits on the ''Billboard'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
