Percy France
Percy France (August 15, 1928 – January 4, 1992) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. France gained particular recognition during the 1950s and early 1960s as a sideman for Jimmy Smith, Freddie Roach and Bill Doggett and was considered by his contemporary, Sonny Rollins, as "one of the tenor players that I had to compete with when I was making my reputation as a young saxophonist. He was probably the best player around at that time; I never could beat him." Biography Percy France was born and raised in New York City, living in the prominent black communities of San Juan Hill and Sugar Hill, and attended Benjamin Franklin High School alongside Sonny Rollins. France studied piano and clarinet from an early age. Demonstrating particular aptitude as a woodwind player, France moved on to tenor saxophone at the age of 13. Though France's recording career began in 1949 as a sideman for singer Betty Mays, it was not until 1952 that he became a distinctive saxophone addition to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072 distributed over , the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clarinet
The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodwind family, ranging from the contrabass clarinet, BB♭ contrabass to the A-flat clarinet, A♭ piccolo. The B soprano clarinet is the most common type, and is the instrument usually indicated by the word "clarinet". German instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner is generally credited with inventing the clarinet sometime around 1700 by adding a register key to the chalumeau, an earlier single-reed instrument. Over time, additional keywork and airtight pads were added to improve the tone and playability. Today the clarinet is a standard fixture of the orchestra and concert band and is used in classical music, military bands, klezmer, jazz, and other styles. Etymol ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oliver Jackson (musician)
Oliver Jackson (April 28, 1933 – May 29, 1994), also known as Bops Junior, was an American jazz drummer. Biography Jackson was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States, where he played in the 1940s with Thad Jones, Tommy Flanagan, and Wardell Gray, and had a variety show with Eddie Locke called Bop & Locke. After working with Yusef Lateef from 1954 until 1956, he moved to New York, where he played regularly at the Metropole in 1957 and 1958. Following this he worked with Teddy Wilson, Charlie Shavers (1959–61), Buck Clayton, Benny Goodman (1962), Lionel Hampton (1962–64), Kenny Burrell, Earl Hines (1964–70 intermittently) and the JPJ Quartet with Budd Johnson. Later in life he played with Sy Oliver (1975–80), Oscar Peterson, and George Wein's Newport All-Stars. As a bandleader, Jackson led a 1961 date in Switzerland, and recorded at least five albums for Black & Blue Records between 1977 and 1984. His brother, bassist Ali Jackson, performed with him both at the b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jo Jones
Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes known as Papa Jo Jones to distinguish him from younger drummer Philly Joe Jones. Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Jones moved to Alabama, where he learned to play several instruments, including saxophone, piano, and drums. He worked as a drummer and tap-dancer at carnival shows until joining Walter Page's band, the Blue Devils in Oklahoma City in the late 1920s. He recorded with trumpeter Lloyd Hunter's Serenaders in 1931, and later joined pianist Count Basie's band in 1934. Jones, Basie, guitarist Freddie Green and bassist Walter Page were sometimes billed as an "All-American Rhythm section," an ideal team. Jones took a brief break for two years when he was in the military, but he remained with Basie until 1948. He ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joe Albany
Joe Albany (born Joseph Albani; January 24, 1924 – January 12, 1988) was an American modern jazz pianist who played bebop with Charlie Parker as well as being a leader on his own recordings. Life and career Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Albany studied piano as a child and, by 1943, was working on the West Coast in Benny Carter's orchestra.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007). ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. Oxford University Press, p. 9. In 1946, Lester Young recorded with Albany as his pianist, for Aladdin Records. Also that year, he played at least once with Parker and then 20-year-old Miles Davis. He continued for a few years afterward, and in 1957 recorded an album for Riverside with an unusual trio line-up with saxophonist Warne Marsh and Bob Whitlock on bass, omitting a drummer. Despite that, most of the 1950s and 1960s saw him battling a heroin addiction, or living in seclusion in Europe. He also had several unsuccessful marriages in this period. He r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sammy Price
Samuel Blythe Price (October 6, 1908 – April 14, 1992) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and jump blues pianist and bandleader. Price's playing is dark, mellow, and relaxed rather than percussive, and he was a specialist at creating the appropriate mood and swing for blues and rhythm and blues recordings. Life and career Price was born in Honey Grove, Texas, United States. Price formally studied the piano with Booker T. Washington's daughter, Portia Marshall Washington (1883–1978). In the mid-1920s, when he was employed in a Dallas music store, Price wrote to Paramount Records recommending Blind Lemon Jefferson to the label. During his early career, he was a singer and dancer in local venues in the Dallas area. Price lived and played jazz in Kansas City, Chicago and Detroit. In 1938 he was hired by Decca Records as a session sideman on piano, assisting singers such as Trixie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Price's trio accompanied Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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West End Bar
The West End Bar, also known for a time as the "West End Gate", was located on Broadway near 114th Street in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. From its establishment in 1911, the bar served as a common gathering place for Columbia University students, faculty and administration (its slogan was "Where Columbia Had Its First Beer"). Amongst the Columbia students who used the bar as a meeting place were Beat Generation writers of the 1940s, and later for student activists of the 1960s. History In the early 1940s, in the formative days of the Beat Generation, students including Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Lucien Carr spent hours at the bar discussing their studies and their futures. In the 1960s, the bar was host to student activists upset about racial discrimination in the area and US foreign policy regarding Vietnam. Mark Rudd, who led the Columbia branch of Students for a Democratic Society and was a prominent member of the Weather Underground after his expuls ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charles Thompson (jazz)
Charles Phillip Thompson (March 21, 1918 – June 16, 2016) was an American swing and bebop pianist, organist, composer, and arranger. Early life Thompson was born in Springfield, Ohio, United States, on March 21, 1918.DeVeaux, Scott; Kernfeld, Barr"Thompson, Sir Charles."''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'' (2nd ed.). Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved July 7, 2015. His father was a minister and his stepmother played the piano. "He first studied violin and briefly played tenor saxophone, but took up piano as a teenager." He moved with his family to Parsons, Kansas, in the southeastern part of the state. Later Thompson attended a Kansas City high school. By the age of twelve, Thompson was playing private parties with Bennie Moten and his band in Colorado Springs, Colorado. During this time, Count Basie played off and on with Moten's band. During a show, Basie called Thompson up to perform. He was dubbed "Sir Charles Thompson" by Leste ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Down To Earth (Freddie Roach Album)
''Down to Earth'' is the debut album by American organist Freddie Roach recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.Blue Note Records discography accessed November 2, 2010 Reception The review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "Freddie Roach differentiated himself from the legions of soul-jazz organists on his debut album, ''Down to Earth''. Many jazz organists played the instrument down and dirty, and while there's funk in Roach's playing, his style is ultimately lighter than many of his peers, with clean, concise solos and chords... the signature of ''Down to Earth'' is Roach's tasteful bluesy ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Home Cookin' (album)
''Home Cookin'' is an album by the American jazz organist Jimmy Smith of performances recorded in 1958 and 1959 and released on the Blue Note label. The album was rereleased on CD with five bonus tracks. Reception The AllMusic review by Lindsay Planer states: "The Hammond organ mastery of Jimmy Smith is arguably nowhere as profound as on this collection... Jimmy Smith's voluminous catalog is remarkably solid throughout and ''Home Cookin'' is a recommended starting place for burgeoning enthusiasts as well as a substantial entry for the initiated".Planer, L. Allmusic Reviewaccessed November 25, 2010 ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' placed this album by Smith among those it regarded as "formulaic"; but highlighted the presence of Burrell and concluded that it was "A solid one". Track listing :''All compositions by Jimmy Smith, except as indicated'' # " See See Rider" (Ma Rainey) – 6:35 # "Sugar Hill" (Kenny Burrell) – 5:19 # " I Got a Woman" (Ray Charles, Renald Richard) – 3:5 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm in the late 1970s; in the latter part of the 1980s Virgin purchased several existing companies, including WH Allen, well known among '' Doctor Who'' fans for their Target Books imprint; Virgin Books was incorporated into WH Allen in 1989, but in 1991 WH Allen was renamed Virgin Publishing Ltd. Virgin Publishing's early success came with the ''Doctor Who'' New Adventures novels, officially licensed full-length novels carrying on the story of the popular science-fiction television series following its cancellation in 1989. Virgin published this series from 1991 to 1997, as well as a range of ''Doctor Who'' reference books from 1992 to 1998 under the Doctor Who Books imprint. In recent times the company is best known for its commercia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Encyclopedia Of Popular Music
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Knowledge'', Christmas edition, 22 December 2007 – 4 January 2008. It is published by the Oxford University Press and was described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". History of the encyclopedia Larkin believed that rock music and popular music were at least as significant historically as classical music, and as such, should be given definitive treatment and properly documented. ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is the result. In 1989, Larkin sold his half of the publishing company Scorpion Books to finance his ambition to publish an encyclopedia of popular music. Aided by a team of initially 70 contributors, he set about compiling the data in a pre-internet age, "relying instead on information ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |