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Jazz Gala 79
''Jazz Gala 79'' is a double live album recorded by American singer and pianist Carmen McRae with the participation of singer Joe Williams, trumpeters Thad Jones and Cat Anderson, as well as French pianist Claude Bolling at the Marché International du Disque et de l'Édition Musicale Festival in Cannes on January 22, 1979. The album was released the same year in France by America Records and Personal Choice Records in the United States. Critical reception Ken Dryden of AllMusic gave the album three and a half stars and wrote that McRae effectively performs ballads such as "Body and Soul" and "Tis Autumn", along with the perky "Bye Bye Blackbird", although her vocals suffer from reverberation caused by poor engineering. He also noticed that she also takes the rare opportunity to accompany herself on the piano for a restrained, conversational performance of "A Beautiful Friendship", where the problem with reverb magically disappears. Another AllMusic reviewer, Jason Birchmeie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics. Early life and education McRae was born in Harlem, New York City, United States. Her father, Osmond, and mother, Evadne (Gayle) McRae, were immigrants from Jamaica. She began studying piano when she was eight, and the music of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington filled her home. When she was 17 years old, she met singer Billie Holiday. As a teenager McRae came to the attention of Teddy Wilson and his wife, the composer Irene Kitchings. One of McRae's early songs, "Dream of Life", was, through their influence, recorded in 1939 by Wilson's long-time collaborator Billie Holiday.Brian Berger"Carmen McRae" HiLobrow, April 8, 2015. McRae considered Holiday to be her primary influence. Early career In her late te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Heyman
Edward Heyman (March 14, 1907October 16, 1981) was an American lyricist and producer, best known for his lyrics to " Body and Soul", " When I Fall in Love", and " For Sentimental Reasons". He also contributed to a number of songs for films. Biography Heyman studied at the University of Michigan, where he had an early start on his career writing college musicals. After graduating from college, Heyman moved back to New York City, where he started working with a number of experienced musicians including Victor Young (" When I Fall in Love"), Dana Suesse (" You Oughta Be in Pictures") and Johnny Green (" Body and Soul", " Out of Nowhere", " I Cover the Waterfront" and "Easy Come, Easy Go"). From 1935 to 1952, Heyman contributed songs to film scores including '' Sweet Surrender'', '' That Girl from Paris'', '' Curly Top'', '' The Kissing Bandit'', '' Delightfully Dangerous'' and '' Northwest Outpost''. Arguably Heyman's biggest hit is his lyric to " Body and Soul", written in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel Song)
"Just the Way You Are" is a song by Billy Joel from his fifth studio album '' The Stranger'' (1977), released as the album's second single in early November 1977. It became both Joel's first US Top 10 and UK Top 20 single (reaching No. 3 and No. 19 respectively), as well as Joel's first Gold single in the US. The song also topped the ''Billboard'' Easy Listening Chart for the entire month of January 1978. "Just the Way You Are" garnered two Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1979 and is considered a pop standard. Background Joel shared that the melody and chord progression for this song came to him while he was dreaming. In an interview on the '' Howard Stern Radio Show'' on November 16, 2010, Joel said that the inspiration for writing the name of the song and how it sounds in the chorus was directly taken from the last line in the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons song " Rag Doll", which incidentally was also a larger inspiration for Joel's later ... [...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] |
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career in the 1920s, he worked as an arranger including written charts for Fletcher Henderson's big band that shaped the swing style. He had an unusually long career that lasted into the 1990s. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, which included receiving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Lifetime Achievement Award. Career Carter was born in New York City in 1907. He was given piano lessons by his mother and others in the neighborhood. He played trumpet and experimented briefly with C-melody saxophone before settling on alto saxophone. In the 1920s, he performed with June Clark (musician), June Clark, Billy Paige, and Earl Hines, then toured as a member of the Wilberforce Collegians led by Horace Henderson. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Brown
Oscar Brown Jr. (October 10, 1926May 29, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, playwright, poet, actor, and civil rights activist (Brown was African-American). Brown discovered The Jackson 5. Aside from his career, Brown ran unsuccessfully for office in both the Illinois state legislature and the U.S. Congress. Brown wrote many songs (125 have been published), 12 albums, and more than a dozen musical plays. Early life and education Brown was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Helen (née Clark) and Oscar Brown Sr., an attorney and real estate broker. His acting debut came on the Chicago radio show ''Secret City'' at the age of 15. After graduating from Englewood High School, Brown attended first the University of Wisconsin–Madison and then Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, but he dropped out of college and never returned. During Brown's twenties, he worked as the "world's first Black newscaster" for ''Negro Newsfront'', a Chicago radio program that he coproduced with V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nat Adderley
Nathaniel Carlyle Adderley (November 25, 1931 – January 2, 2000) was an American 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ... trumpeter and composer. He was the younger brother of saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, with whom he played for many years. Adderley's composition "Work Song (Adderley song), Work Song" (1960) is a jazz standard, and also became a success on the pop charts after singer Oscar Brown Jr. wrote lyrics for it. Early life Nat Adderley was born in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, but moved to Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee when his parents were hired to teach at Florida A&M University. His father played trumpet professionally in his younger years, and he passed down his trumpet to Cannonball. When Cannonball picked up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Work Song (Nat Adderley Song)
"Work Song" is a work song and jazz standard by American trumpeter Nat Adderley and writer Oscar Brown Jr. It was first featured in Adderley's 1960 studio album of the same name, which was met with high praise and acclaim.Yanow, S. Allmusic Reviewaccessed February 17, 2010. "Work Song" is one of Adderley's best known compositions. The song was originally only an instrumental, but Oscar Brown Jr. included lyrics in a cover released the following year on his album, ''Sin & Soul''. Background "Work Song" was inspired by Nat Adderley's childhood experience of seeing a group of convict laborers singing while they worked on a chain gang, paving the street in front of his family’s home in Florida. Musical composition The song is a 16 bar form in F minor. It is a minor blues. The Penguin Guide to Jazz states: Work Song' is the real classic, of course, laced with a funky blues feel but marked by some unexpectedly lyrical playing." In a musical analysis of Adderley's improvisati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Henderson
Ray Henderson (born Raymond Brost; December 1, 1896 – December 31, 1970) was an American songwriter. Early life Born in Buffalo, New York, Henderson moved to New York City and became a popular composer in Tin Pan Alley. He was one-third of a successful songwriting and music publishing team with Lew Brown and Buddy De Sylva from 1925 through 1930, responsible for several editions of the revue called '' George White's Scandals'' and such book musicals as '' Good News'', '' Hold Everything!'', and '' Follow Thru''. After De Sylva's departure, Henderson continued to write with Brown through 1933. Then, he worked with other partners. In 1934, he composed the musical '' Say When'' with lyricist Ted Koehler. Career Henderson's biggest hit songs included "Annabelle" (1923), " Alabamy Bound" (1924), " Bye Bye Blackbird", " Has Anybody Seen My Girl?" (a/k/a "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue"), " I'm Sitting on Top of the World", " Don't Bring Lulu" (all 1925), " The Birth of the Blue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mort Dixon
Mort Dixon (March 20, 1892 – March 23, 1956) was an American lyricist. Biography Born in New York City, United States, Dixon began writing songs in the early 1920s, and was active into the 1930s. He achieved success with his first published effort, 1923's "That Old Gang of Mine". His chief composer collaborators were Ray Henderson, Harry Warren, Harry M. Woods and Allie Wrubel. His composing output declined in the late 1930s, and he retired early in life to reside in Westchester County, New York. Among his lyrics are: " That Old Gang Of Mine" (1923), "Bye Bye Blackbird" (1926), " I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" (1927), "Nagasaki" (1928), " Would You Like to Take a Walk?" (1930), "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store)", "You're My Everything", and "River, Stay 'Way from My Door" (1931), "Flirtation Walk" and "Mr and Mrs is the Name" (1934) and " The Lady in Red" (1935). Dixon is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He died in Bronxville, New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bye Bye Blackbird
"Bye Bye Blackbird" is a song published in 1926 by Jerome H. Remick and written by composer Ray Henderson and lyricist Mort Dixon. It is considered a popular standard and was first recorded by Sam Lanin's Dance Orchestra in March 1926. Song information Popular recordings in 1926 were by Nick Lucas, Gene Austin, Benny Krueger, and by Leo Reisman. It was the number 16 song of 1926 according to ''Pop Culture Madness''. Recordings of the song often include only the chorus; the verses are far less known. In popular culture The song was featured in the 1955 movie musical '' Pete Kelly's Blues'', sung by Peggy Lee in the role of alcoholic jazz singer Rose Hopkins. In "Goodbye Nkrumah" (1966) Beat poet Diane Di Prima asks:And yet, where would we be without the American culture Bye bye blackbird, as Miles plays it, in the ’50s Segregationists opposed to the American Civil Rights Movement, notably at the Selma to Montgomery marches, played the song over loudspeakers as a taun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
