|
Mike Falana
Mike Falana (died c. 1995) was a Nigerian jazz trumpeter and musician of the highlife genre. He was a member of several groups in the 1960s that included well-known musicians, such as the African Messengers, Johnny Burch Octet, the Johnny Burch Octet, the Graham Bond Organization and the Ramong Sound. He achieved a level of stardom in the early 1960s. Background According to the book ''Kay Thompson from Funny Face to Eloise'' by Sam Irvin, Mike Falana was a thirteen year old prodigy who could play like Miles Davis. It was then that he was discovered by Lionel Hampton who was over in Lagos on a cultural arts exchange. In the 1950s, Falana was a soloist with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Dance Orchestra which had Fela Sowande and Steve Rhodes (musician), Steve Rhodes as the musical directors on various occasions. He was a member of the African Messengers who also had Bayo Martins, Peter King (Nigerian musician), Peter King, Humphrey Okoh and Paul Edoh in the line up. ... [...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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, hymns, marches, vaudeville song, and dance music. 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. 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. However, jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Cennamo
Louis David Cennamo (born 5 March 1946) is an English bass guitarist, who has recorded and/or toured with a number of important British rock/blues/progressive bands, including The Herd, Renaissance and Colosseum. Career Cennamo left school at 16 and undertook his earliest important musical project (1962–65) as a founding member of the popular London-based blues/rock band, Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions (a band that also included Rod Stewart). They signed a recording deal with Pye Records and released "That's Alright" (written by Powell) as a single in June 1964, and were also hired to provide backing for Jamaican singer Millie Small on her recording of "My Boy Lollipop" (which was a No. 2 hit in both the UK and the US, selling upwards of six million copies). In June 1964, The 5 Dimensions appeared on the bill at the ''All Night Rave at the Alexandra Palace'' with headlining act The Rolling Stones (as well as Alexis Korner, John Lee Hooker and John Mayall & the Bluesbre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klooks Kleek
Klooks Kleek was a jazz and rhythm 'n’ blues club on the first floor of the Railway Hotel, West Hampstead, north-west London. Named after "Klook's Clique", a 1956 album by jazz drummer Kenny Clarke (Savoy Records 12006), the club opened on 11 January 1961 with special guest Don Rendell (tenor sax) and closed nine years later on 28 January 1970 after a session by drummer Keef Hartley’s group. There were over 1200 sessions at Klook’s Kleek, around 300 of them featuring jazz, and the others rhythm ‘n’ blues. Zoot Money, Ten Years After, John Mayall and Graham Bond recorded live albums at Klooks Kleek and it was a popular venue in the British blues and rhythm and blues boom of the early 1960s. History Jazz Klook's Kleek founder Dick Jordan was a jazz enthusiast and aspiring trombonist who had made previous attempts to establish a jazz club in the inner suburbs of North-West London. KK proved to be third time lucky. Don Rendell played the club a record 20 times, followed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Rhodes (musician)
George Arthur Rhodes (October 10, 1918 – December 25, 1985) was an American arranger, conductor, music director, pianist, and composer. He is most known for being Sammy Davis Jr.'s long-time music director, arranger, and conductor. Rhodes made history as a black music director by being the first to work for a major network (at NBC in 1966 for ''The Sammy Davis Jr. Show'') and to work for a Las Vegas showroom (at the Tropicana Hotel in 1973). After being hired as a temporary pianist for Davis in 1955, Rhodes eventually became his principal arranger and conductor, working on his variety act, ''The Sammy Davis Jr. Show'', three of Davis' television specials, two musicals starring Davis, and three albums. Biography Early life George Arthur Rhodes was born in Indiana on October 10, 1918 to Margaret and James Rhodes." George Arthur Rhodes, Cartõ de Imigração; 1954." April 28, 1954. Cartões de imigração, Caixa 332, Maço 3, ''Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, registos de migração (parte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Davis Jr
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally, and his film career began in 1933. After military service, Davis returned to the trio and became a sensation following key nightclub performances at Ciro's (in West Hollywood) in 1951, including one after the 23rd Academy Awards, Academy Awards ceremony. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced both by black Americans and Jewish communities.Sammy Davis Jr. Biography Biography.com. Retrieve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Val Wilmer
Valerie Sybil Wilmer (born 7 December 1941) is a British photographer and writer specialising in jazz, gospel, blues, and British African-Caribbean music and culture. Her notable books include ''Jazz People'' (1970) and ''As Serious As Your Life'' (1977), both first published by Allison and Busby. Wilmer's autobiography, ''Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This: My Life in the Jazz World'', was published in 1989. Early life Val Wilmer was born on 7 December 1941 in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, where her family had been evacuated from London because of the outbreak of World War II. She is the sister of the poet and writer Clive Wilmer (1945–2025). As soon as the war was over, her family returned to living in London. She began her life in the jazz world by listening to prewar recordings of jazz classics, being led to many important recordings through Rudi Blesh's ''Shining Trumpets'', a history of jazz, and ''Jazz'' by Rex Harris. Wilmer became entranced by recordings by Bess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English comedian, actor, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishment comedic movement that emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. Born in Torquay, he was educated at the University of Cambridge. There he became involved with the Footlights, Footlights Club, of which he later became president. After graduating, he created the comedy stage revue ''Beyond the Fringe'', beginning a long-running partnership with Dudley Moore. In 1961, Cook opened the comedy club The Establishment (club), The Establishment in Soho. In 1965, Cook and Moore began a television career, beginning with ''Not Only... But Also''. Cook's deadpan monologues contrasted with Moore's buffoonery. They received the 1966 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance. Following the success of the show, the duo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nina Simone
Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.. The sixth of eight children born into a respected family in North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a local fund set up in her hometown, she enrolled at Allen High School for Girls, then spent a summer at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, preparing to apply for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She failed to gain admission to Curtis,Liz Garbus, 2015 documentary film, '' What Happened, Miss Simone?'' which she attributed to racism, though staff have pointed out th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maud Meyer
Maud Meyer was a Sierra Leonean Nigerian jazz singer who rose to prominence during the 1950s. She was born in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in Nigeria. From an early age, Meyer was exposed to music and had learnt from her mother who had a band. Musically, she was strongly influenced by the sounds of Billie Holiday. "Meyer’s skills were unrivalled; she would listen to any kind of music and convert it to jazz instantly". According to Emeka Keazor, “She was one of the greatest female jazz singers of all time.” Meyer garnered a massive following on the club circuits. She also performed with various popular bands across Africa. See also * List of people from Port Harcourt *List of Nigerian musicians This is a list of Nigerian musicians. Only notable individuals are included here; for groups, see List of Nigerian musical groups. Names are to be arranged by the first letter of Wikipedia reference. 0–9 *2face Idibia – hip hop and R&B ... References Singers from P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Heckstall-Smith
Richard Malden Heckstall-Smith (26 September 1934 – 17 December 2004) was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most influential English blues rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s. He is known for primarily playing tenor, soprano, and baritone saxophones, as well as piano, clarinet and alto saxophone. Early years Heckstall-Smith was born in the Royal Free Hospital, in Ludlow, Shropshire, England, and was raised in Knighton, Radnorshire, learning to play piano, clarinet and alto saxophone in childhood. He attended a York boarding school but refused a second term there, instead enrolling in Gordonstoun, where his father had accepted a job as headmaster of the local grammar school. Heckstall-Smith completed his education at Dartington Hall School, before reading agriculture – and co-leading the university jazz band – at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (1953–1956). Aged 15, he had taken up the soprano sax while at Dartingt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish musician. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and bassist of Rock music, rock band Cream (band), Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a solo career and also played with several bands. In the early 1960s, Bruce joined the Graham Bond Organisation (GBO), where he met future Cream bandmate Ginger Baker. After leaving the band, he briefly joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, where he met Eric Clapton. In 1966, after a short time with Manfred Mann (band), Manfred Mann, he formed Cream with lead guitarist Clapton and drummer Baker. He co-wrote many of their songs (including "Sunshine of Your Love", "White Room" and "I Feel Free") with poet/lyricist Pete Brown. After the group disbanded in the late 1960s, he began recording solo albums. Bruce put together a band of his own to perform material live and subsequently formed the blues rock band West, Bruce and Laing in 1972, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Graham Bond Organisation
The Graham Bond Organisation (GBO) were a British blues/blues rock group of the mid-1960s consisting of Graham Bond (vocals, keyboards, alto-saxophone), Jack Bruce (bass), Ginger Baker (drums), Dick Heckstall-Smith (tenor/soprano saxophone) and John McLaughlin (guitar). They recorded several albums and further recordings were issued when the group's members achieved fame in jazz rock. On original releases, the spelling of the band's name varied between the British "S" and the American "Z". History At the start of the British rhythm and blues boom the Graham Bond Organisation earned a reputation for playing aggressive R & B with prominent jazz and blues. Bond was the primary songwriter but encouraged the other musicians to contribute material, including Dick Heckstall-Smith's "Dick's Instrumental" and Ginger Baker's "Camels and Elephants", in which the drummer explored ideas he eventually developed into his signature piece "Toad". Jack Bruce's harmonica-driven version of Pete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
