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A Classy Pair
''A Classy Pair'' is a 1979 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra, with arrangements by Benny Carter. This was Fitzgerald and Basie's second studio recording after '' Ella and Basie!'' (1963), and features re-recordings of two songs from the earlier album, " Honeysuckle Rose" and " Ain't Misbehavin'. The two musicians worked together much more frequently during her Pablo years than they had during her years on the Verve label, and this album marked the end of a connection that had begun in 1957. Reception The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow said that "Basie's sidemen are unfortunately restricted in the Benny Carter arrangements to backup work but Basie has a few piano solos and Fitzgerald is in good voice and in typically swinging form". Track listing CD Edition Some CD editions not only altered the order of the tracklist, also included two tracks without credited them: 5 and 11. Times listed on booklets and backco ... [...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] |
Penguin Books
Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year."About Penguin – company history" , Penguin Books. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths (United Kingdom), Woolworths and other stores for Sixpence (British coin), sixpence, bringing high-quality fiction and non-fiction to the mass market. Its success showed that large audiences existed for several books. It also affected modern British popular culture significantly through its books concerning politics, the arts, and science. Penguin Books is now an imprint (trad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Koehler
Ted L. Koehler (July 14, 1894 – January 17, 1973) was an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. Life and career Koehler was born in 1894 in Washington, D.C. He started out as a photo-engraver, but was attracted to the music business, where he started out as a theater pianist for silent films. He moved on to write for vaudeville and Broadway theatre, and he also produced nightclub shows. His most successful collaboration was with the composer Harold Arlen, with whom he wrote many famous songs from the 1920s through the 1940s. In 1929 the duo composed their first well-known song, " Get Happy", and went on to create " Let's Fall in Love", " Stormy Weather", " Sing My Heart" and other hit songs. Throughout the early and mid-1930s they wrote for the Cotton Club, a popular Harlem night club, for big band jazz legend Duke Ellington and other top performers, as well as for Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. Koehler also worked with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rube Bloom
Reuben Bloom (April 24, 1902 – March 30, 1976) was an American songwriter, pianist, arranger, band leader, recording artist, vocalist, and author. Life and career Bloom was born and died in New York City. He was Jewish. During his career, he worked with many well-known performers, including Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti, Ruth Etting, Stan Kenton, Tommy Dorsey, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. He collaborated with a wide number of lyricists, including Johnny Mercer, Ted Koehler, and Mitchell Parish. During the 1920s he wrote many novelty piano solos, which are still well regarded today. He recorded for the Aeolian Company's Duo-Art reproducing piano system various titles including his "Spring Fever". His first hit came in 1927 with "Soliloquy"; his last was "Here's to My Lady" in 1952, which he wrote with Johnny Mercer. In 1928, he made a number of records with Joe Venuti's Blue Four for OKeh, including five songs he sang, as well as played piano. Bloom formed and led a number of bands du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitchell Parish
Mitchell Parish (born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky; July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist, notably as a writer of songs for stage and screen. Biography Parish was born to a Jewish family in Lithuania, Russian Empire in July 1900. His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 aboard the when he was less than a year old. They settled first in Louisiana where his paternal grandmother had relatives, but later moved to New York City, where he grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and received his education in the public schools. He attended Columbia University and N.Y.U. and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He eventually abandoned the notion of practicing law to become a songwriter. He served his apprenticeship as a writer of special material for vaudeville acts, and later established himself as a writer of songs for stage, screen and numerous musical revues. By the late 1920s, Parish was a well-regarded Tin Pan Alley lyricist in New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irving Mills
Irving Harold Mills (born Isadore Minsky; January 18, 1894 Odessa, Ukraine – April 21, 1985) was a music publisher, musician, lyricist, and jazz promoter. He often used the pseudonyms Goody Goodwin and Joe Primrose. Personal life Mills was born to a Jewish family in Odessa, Russian Empire, although some biographies state that he was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. His father, Hyman Minsky, was a hatmaker who immigrated from Odessa to the United States with his wife Sofia (''née'' Dudis). Hyman died in 1905, and Irving and his brother, Jacob (1891–1979) worked odd jobs including bussing at restaurants, selling wallpaper, and working in the garment industry. By 1910, Mills was a telephone operator. Mills married Beatrice ("Bessie") Wilensky in 1911, and they subsequently moved to Philadelphia. By 1918, Mills was working for publisher Leo Feist. His brother, Jack, was working as a manager for McCarthy and Fisher, the music publishing firm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organ Grinder's Swing
"Organ Grinder's Swing" is a song composed by Will Hudson, with lyrics credited to Mitchell Parish and Irving Mills (Mills was the publisher), published in 1936. It became associated with the Jimmie Lunceford orchestra. Hudson based the "Organ Grinder's Swing" on the nursery rhyme "I Love Coffee, I Love Tea". Recordings Ella Fitzgerald recorded the song in November 1936 with her Savoy Eight, and recorded it for a second time with the Count Basie Orchestra for her last album with Basie, 1979's ''A Classy Pair''. Other contemporary versions were recorded by Benny Goodman, Django Reinhardt and the Mills Brothers. It was also featured in a 1937 Popeye short Organ Grinder's Swing. Organist Jimmy Smith recorded "Organ Grinder's Swing" on his 1965 album '' Organ Grinder Swing''. Vibraphonist Milt Jackson recorded it again in 1976 live at the Kosei Nenkin, Tokyo, with Teddy Edwards, Cedar Walton, Ray Brown and Billy Higgins. In popular culture In the 1935 film ''The Littlest Rebel'', S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene De Paul
Gene Vincent de Paul (June 17, 1919 – February 27, 1988) was an American pianist, composer and songwriter. Biography Born in New York City, he served in the United States Army during World War II. He was married to Billye Louise Files (November 23, 1924 – January 30, 1977) of Jack County, Texas. He joined the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1941, and went on to compose the music for many motion pictures. He was nominated (with Don Raye) for an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song in 1942 for the song "Pig Foot Pete" from the movie '' Hellzapoppin''. The song actually was not included in that movie, but in the 1941 feature, '' Keep 'Em Flying'', and was thus ineligible for the nomination and award. The award was given to " White Christmas". De Paul collaborated with Johnny Mercer, Don Raye, Carolyn Leigh, Charles Rinker and others at Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios and other Hollywood companies. De Paul composed the 195 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Cahn
Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He and his collaborators had a series of hit recordings with Frank Sinatra during the singer's tenure at Capitol Records, but also enjoyed hits with Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin, and won an Oscar four times for his songs, including the popular hit " Three Coins in the Fountain". Among his most enduring songs is " Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", cowritten with Jule Styne in 1945. Life and career Cahn was born Samuel Cohen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, the only son (he had four sisters) of Abraham and Elka Reiss Cohen, who were Jewish immigrants from Galicia, then ruled by Austria-Hungary. His sisters, Sady ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teach Me Tonight
"Teach Me Tonight" is a popular song that has become a jazz standard. The music was written by Gene De Paul, the lyrics by Sammy Cahn. The song was published in 1953. Early recordings Five versions charted in 1954 and 1955: *Janet Brace was apparently first, making the Billboard chart on October 23, 1954, and eventually reaching No. 23First recording from 1953*Jo Stafford – No. 15 in 1954 *Dinah Washington – a No. 4 R&B/Hip-Hop Songs hit in 1954, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 * Helen Grayco – No. 29 in 1954 *The DeCastro Sisters ("It's Love" / "Teach Me Tonight", Abbott Record Co. 3001) – No. 2 in 1955. In addition, a 1959 re-recording titled "Teach Me Tonight Cha Cha" went to No. 76 on the Hot 100. Other recordings *Blossom Dearie recorded the song for her 1959 album '' Once Upon A Summertime'' *Ann-Margret recorded a version on her 1961 debut album, '' And Here She Is ... Ann-Margret'' and again on her 2023 album '' Born to Be Wild '' as a duet with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known compositions, " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999, respectively. Waller copyrighted over 400 songs, many of them co-written with his closest collaborator, Andy Razaf. Razaf described his partner as "the soul of melody... a man who made the piano sing... both big in body and in mind... known for his generosity... a bubbling bundle of joy". It is likely that he composed many more popular songs than he has been credited with. When in financial difficulties, he had a habit of selling songs to other writers and performers who clai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
