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Orchestra U.S.A.
The Orchestra U.S.A. was an American jazz musical ensemble, active from 1962 to 1965. The orchestra was founded in 1962 by John Lewis, along with Gunther Schuller and Harold Farberman, as an experiment in Third Stream blending of classical music and jazz. The ensemble itself was large, and included a full string section in addition to jazz solo performers. Lewis and Schuller both contributed compositions to the ensemble, as did Gary McFarland, Benny Golson, Jimmy Giuffre, Hall Overton, and Teo Macero. Among the jazz musicians to work in the ensemble were Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, Herb Pomeroy, Nick Travis, Leo Wright, Phil Woods, Jim Hall, Richard Davis, Connie Kay, Eric Dolphy, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Golson, Thad Jones, Joe Newman, Jimmy Raney, Jerome Richardson and Mike Zwerin. A sextet of players from the group also recorded on their own in 1964. Discography *''Orchestra U.S.A.: The Debut Recording'' (Colpix Records, 1963) *''Jazz Journey'' (Columbia Records, 1963) ... [...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] |
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began taking lessons from Harvey LaRose at a local music shop. His heroes on the alto saxophone included Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges. He studied music with Lennie Tristano at the Manhattan School of Music and at the Juilliard School. His friend, Joe Lopes, coached him on clarinet as there was no saxophone major at Juilliard at the time and received a bachelor’s degree in 1952. Although he did not copy Charlie Parker, Woods was known as the New Bird, a nickname also given to other alto saxophone players such as Sonny Stitt and Cannonball Adderley. In the 1950s, Woods began to lead his own bands. Quincy Jones invited him to accompany Dizzy Gillespie on a world tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department. A few years later he toured Europe wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop music, pop, classical music, classical, rock music, rock, hip hop, afrobeat, electronic music, electronic, Contemporary R&B, R&B, blues, jazz, and country music, country. The label's name is derived from the initials of its now defunct parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). After the RCA Corporation was purchased by General Electric in 1986, RCA Records was fully acquired by Bertelsmann in 1987, making it a part of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG); following the merger of BMG and Sony in 2004, RCA Records became a label of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. In 2008, after the dissolution of Sony/BMG and the restructuring of Sony Music, RCA Records became fully ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Music Group, an American division of multinational conglomerate Sony. Founded in 1889, Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels, along with Epic Records, RCA Records and Arista Records. History Beginnings (1888–1929) The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded on January 15, 1889, by stenographer, lawyer, and New Jersey native Edward D. Easton (1856–1915) and a group of investors. It derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a local monopoly on sales and service of Edison ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colpix Records
Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia (Col) and Pictures (Pix). CBS, which owned Columbia Records, then sued Columbia Pictures for trademark infringement over the Colpix name. It was founded by Jonie Taps and Harry Cohn in 1958 and was based in New York City. Paul Wexler headed the label. Stu Phillips was in charge of A&R. Lester Sill later headed the label, after breaking with Philles Records partner Phil Spector. The label's roster included Lou Christie, James Darren, Paul Petersen, Freddie Scott, Tommy Boyce. Two of the label's best known number one hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Singles Charts were "Blue Moon" by The Marcels in the spring of 1961 (also a number one in the UK, where Colpix was licensed to Pye International), and " Johnny Angel" by Shelley Fabares in the spring of 1962. Bernadette Castro recorded for the label "Get Rid of Him"/"A Girl in Love Forgives" and "H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Zwerin
Mike Zwerin (May 18, 1930 – April 2, 2010) was an American cool jazz musician and author. Zwerin as a musician played the trombone and bass trumpet within various jazz ensembles. He was active within the jazz and progressive jazz musical community as a session musician. Zwerin found a way to pursue both his interests as an author living in New York, where he was born, and his passion for music by taking positions as a broadcaster, and other journalistic and media positions while maintaining his musical career as well. Although he gained notoriety for his writing, he may be best known to the public for his work with Miles Davis in 1948 as part of his '' Birth of the Cool'' band. Additionally, Zwerin also worked with Maynard Ferguson, Claude Thornhill, Archie Shepp and Bill Russo, among many others. After a period as jazz critic of New York's ''Village Voice'' (1964–69), he was the publication's European editor (1969–71). Zwerin was also the Paris-based jazz critic for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerome Richardson
Jerome Richardson (December 25, 1920 – June 23, 2000) was an American jazz musician and woodwind player. He is cited as playing one of the earliest jazz flute recordings with his work on the 1949 Quincy Jones arranged song "Kingfish". Career Starting from a young age, he first played alto saxophone, taking Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter as models. By the age of fourteen, he was playing professionally around northern California, and also took up the flute. He studied music at San Francisco State College. While in the navy, he worked under Marshal Royal in the 45-piece regimental band that was attached to the Navy's preflight training school for pilots at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. After his discharge, he joined Lionel Hampton`s band in 1949 before moving to New York in 1954. There, he played with Oscar Pettiford and at Minton`s Playhouse doing combo work with Kenny Burrell. He also worked at the Roxy Theatre (New York City) in their Rhythm and blues, R&B product ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Raney
James Elbert Raney (August 20, 1927 – May 10, 1995) was an American jazz guitarist, born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, known for his work from 1951 to 1952 and then from 1953 to 1954 with the Red Norvo trio (replacing Tal Farlow) and, during the same time period, with Stan Getz. In 1954 and 1955, he won the ''DownBeat'' Critics' Poll for guitar. Raney worked in a variety of jazz mediums, including cool jazz, bebop, post bop, hard bop, and mainstream jazz. In 1946, he worked for a time as guitarist with the Max Miller Quartet at Elmer's in Chicago, his first paying gig. Raney also worked in the Artie Shaw Orchestra and collaborated with Woody Herman for nine months in 1948. He also collaborated and recorded with Buddy DeFranco, Al Haig and later on with Bob Brookmeyer. In 1967, alcoholism and other professional difficulties led him to leave New York City and return to his native Louisville. He resurfaced in the 1970s and also did work with his son Doug, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Newman (trumpeter)
Joseph Dwight Newman (September 7, 1922 – July 4, 1992) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator, best known as a musician who worked with Count Basie during two periods. Early life and education Newman was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Dwight, (pianist) and Louise Newman, a musical family, having his first music lessons from David Jones. He attended Alabama State College, where he joined the college band (the Bama State Collegians), became its leader, and took it on tour. There he was discovered by Lionel Hampton. Career In 1941, he joined Lionel Hampton for two years, before signing with Count Basie, with whom he stayed for a total of thirteen years, interrupted by short breaks and a long period (1947–1952) spent first with saxophonist Illinois Jacquet and then drummer J. C. Heard. During his second period with Basie, which lasted for about nine years, he made a number of small-group recordings as the leader. He also played on Benny Goodman's 196 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thad Jones
Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Early life, family and education Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan, to Henry and Olivia Jones, a musical family of 10 (an older brother was pianist Hank Jones and a younger brother was drummer Elvin Jones). A self-taught musician, Thad began performing professionally at the age of 16. He served in U.S. Army bands during World War II (1943–1946). Many years later, while teaching jazz at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen, Jones studied composition formally during this period. He also began learning the valve trombone. Career After his military service, which included an association with the United States Armed Forces School of Music, US Military School of Music and working with area bands in Des Moines, Iowa; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Jones ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim-Ernst Berendt, Joachim E. Berendt explained: "There were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn". Hawkins biographer John Chilton described the prevalent styles of tenor saxophone solos prior to Hawkins as "mooing" and "rubbery belches". Hawkins denied being first and noted his contemporaries Happy Caldwell, Stump Evans, and Prince Robinson, although he was the first to tailor his method of Jazz improvisation, improvisation to the saxophone rather than imitate the techniques of the clarinet. Hawkins' virtuosic, arpeggiated approach to improvisation, with his characteristic rich, emotional, and vibrato-laden tonal style, was the main influen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader. Primarily an alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist, Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence during the same era. His use of the bass clarinet helped to establish the unconventional instrument within jazz. Dolphy extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists. His improvisational style was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to employing an array of extended techniques to emulate the sounds of human voices and animals. He used melodic lines that were "angular, zigzagging from interval to interval, taking hairpin turns at unexpected junctures, making dramatic leaps from the lower to the upper register." Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz, his compositions and solos were often rooted in conventional (if ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
