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Commodore Records
Commodore Records was an American independent record label known for producing Dixieland jazz and Swing music, swing. It is also remembered for releasing Billie Holiday's hit "Strange Fruit". History Commodore Records was founded in the spring of 1938 by Milt Gabler, a native of Harlem who founded the Commodore Music Shop in 1926 in Manhattan at 136 East 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street (diagonally across the street from the Grand Hyatt New York, Commodore Hotel), and from 1938–1941 with a branch at 46 West 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd Street, Commodore's albums included dixieland music (Eddie Condon, Bill Davison, Wild Bill Davison) and swing (Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines). Commodore's biggest hit was "Strange Fruit" (backed with "Fine and Mellow (song), Fine and Mellow") by Billie Holiday, which reached No. 16 on the charts on July 22, 1939. The label was most active from 1939 to 1946. The roster included Bud Freeman, Bobby Hackett, Edmond Hall, Hot Lips Page, Pee Wee Rus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop music, pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly influenced by jazz instrumentalists, inspired a new way of manipulating Phrase (music), phrasing and tempo. Holiday was known for her vocal delivery and Jazz improvisation, improvisational skills. After a turbulent childhood, Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem where she was heard by producer John Hammond (record producer), John Hammond, who liked her voice. Holiday signed a recording contract with Brunswick Records, Brunswick in 1935. Her collaboration with Teddy Wilson produced the hit "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which became a jazz standard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia Records, Columbia and Decca Records, Decca. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Music Guide To Jazz
''All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz'' is a non-fiction book that is an encyclopedic referencing of jazz music compiled under the direction of All Media Guide. The first edition, ''All Music Guide to Jazz: the Best CDs, Albums & Tapes'', appeared in 1994 and was edited by Ron Wynn with Michael Erlewine and Vladimir Bogdanov (head of the ''All Music Guide'' book series). The book's fourth edition was released on November 27, 2002, and was edited by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra and Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Content The book's back cover touts that the book contains ratings for close to 20,000 albums and 1,700 musician biographies. Artists are listed alphabetically and include some of the following: birth and death dates, classification ( vocals, guitar, drums, etc.), a biography, a discography. The discography listings include a five star rating, the music label it was released on, and the date as well as possibly reviews of certain albums. These rev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which became an independent company just before the Second World War. The American spin-off became a subsidiary of MCA Inc. in 1962. Known for its technical innovations, the British parent company grew to become the second most successful recording company in Britain and celebrated fifty years of existence in 1979, shortly before being sold to PolyGram. Both Decca and its former subsidiary were subsequently acquired by Universal Music. Decca and its American spin-off both built up strong catalogues of popular music. In their first two decades their artists included Gertrude Lawrence, George Formby, Jack Hylton and Vera Lynn in Britain and Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, the Andrews Sisters and the Mills Brothers in the US. Later performers in their popular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Record Corporation
American Record Corporation (ARC), also referred to as American Record Company, American Recording Corporation, or ARC Records, was an American record company in operation from 1929 to 1938, and again from 1978 to 1982. Overview ARC was created in January 1929 by Louis G. Sylvester, president of Scranton Button Company, Scranton Button Works ('Scranton'), founded 1885. Scranton owned a pressing plant that manufactured disks for many companies, including Columbia Records, Columbia labels and Emerson Records, the latter which it also owned. It then purchased Cameo Record Corporation, which owned the Cameo Records, Cameo, Lincoln Records, Lincoln and Romeo Records, Romeo labels), and six labels owned by the Plaza Music Company (Conqueror Records, Conqueror, Banner Records, Banner, Domino Records (1924), Domino, Jewel Records (New York record label), Jewel, Oriole Records (U.S.), Oriole, and Regal Records (1921), Regal). for $1 each, including liabilities. Pathé-Perfect Phonograp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Known for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music. Early life and career Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on August 27, 1909, to Lizetta Young (née Johnson), and Willis Handy Young, originally from Louisiana. Lester had two siblings – a brother, Leonidas Raymond, known as Lee Young, who became a drummer, and a sister, Irm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley (October 9, 1908 – December 11, 1975) was an American jazz singer during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Biography Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. At fifteen, she left home to pursue a singing career, singing on New York City radio stations. Her career was interrupted by a fall while horseback riding. She suffered temporary blindness but recovered. At the age of 19 she was a member of the Leo Reisman Orchestra, with whom in 1931 she recorded three songs: "Take It from Me", "Time On My Hands", and her composition "Got the South in My Soul". Wiley began her radio career at KVOO in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She sang on the ''Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt'' program on NBC in 1932, and was featured on Victor Young's radio show in 1933. From June 10, 1936, until September 2, 1936, she had her own show, ''Lee Wiley'', on CBS. In 1939, Wiley recorded eight Gershwin songs on 78s with a small group for Liberty Music Shop Records. The set sold well and was followed by 78s de ... [...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] |
Art Tatum
Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever. From early in his career, fellow musicians acclaimed Tatum's technical ability as extraordinary. Tatum also extended jazz piano's vocabulary and boundaries far beyond his initial stride influences, and established new ground through innovative use of reharmonization, voicing, and bitonality. Tatum grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where he began playing piano professionally and had his own radio program, rebroadcast nationwide, while still in his teens. He left Toledo in 1932 and had residencies as a solo pianist at clubs in major urban centers including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In that decade, he settled into a pattern he followed for most of his career – paid performances followed by long after-hours playing, all accompanied by prodigious alcohol consumption. He was said to be more spontaneous and creative in such venues, and altho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muggsy Spanier
Francis Joseph "Muggsy" Spanier (November 9, 1901 – February 12, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist based in Chicago. He was a member of the Bucktown Five, pioneers of the "Chicago style" that straddled traditional Dixieland jazz and swing. Life and career Spanier was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Katherine Helen (O'Reilly) and William Spanier, a certified public accountant. His parents were from France and Ireland, respectively. At thirteen, he began playing the cornet and played with Elmer Schoebel in 1921. He borrowed the sobriquet of "Muggsy" from John "Muggsy" McGraw, the manager of the New York Giants baseball team. In the early 1920s, he played with the Bucktown Five. In 1929, he became a member of a band led by Ted Lewis, then spent two years with Ben Pollack. After an illness, he assembled the eight-man group Muggsy Spanier and His Ragtime Band. In 1939, the band recorded several sessions of Dixieland standards for Bluebird Records, that were la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie "The Lion" Smith
Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Allen (basketball) (born 1949), American basketball player and director of the Growing Power urban farming program * Willie Allen (racing driver) (born 1980), American racing driver * Willie Anderson (other) * Willie Apiata (born 1972), New Zealand Army soldier, the only recipient of the Victoria Cross for New Zealand * Willie (footballer) (born 1993), Brazilian footballer Willie Hortencio Barbosa * Willy Böckl (1893–1975), Austrian world champion figure skater * Willy Bocklant (1941–1985), Belgian road racing cyclist * Willy Bogner Sr. (1909–1977), German Nordic skier * Willy Bogner Jr. (born 1942), German fashion designer and alpine skier * Willie Bosket (born 1962), an American convicted murderer whose numerous crimes committed as a minor led to a change in New York state law * Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pee Wee Russell
Charles Ellsworth "Pee Wee" Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969) was an American jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but he eventually focused solely on clarinet. With a highly individualistic and spontaneous clarinet style that "defied classification", Russell began his career playing traditional jazz, but throughout his career incorporated elements of newer developments such as swing, bebop, and free jazz. Writing in 1961, the poet Philip Larkin commented: "No one familiar with the characteristic excitement of his solos, their lurid, snuffling, asthmatic voicelessness, notes leant on till they split, and sudden passionate intensities, could deny the uniqueness of his contribution to jazz." Early life Pee Wee Russell was born in Maplewood, Missouri, United States, and grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma. As a child, he first studied violin, but "couldn't get along with it", then piano, disliking the scales and chord exercises, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hot Lips Page
Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page (January 27, 1908 – November 5, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He was known as a scorching soloist and powerful vocalist. Page was a member of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Artie Shaw's Orchestra and Count Basie's Orchestra, and he worked with Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Ida Cox.Thedeadrockstarsclub.com Retrieved April 30, 2019. He was one of the five musicians booked for the opening night at Birdland with in 1949. Life and career Oran Thaddeus Page was born in |
