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Pure Desmond
''Pure Desmond'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist Paul Desmond recorded in 1974 and released on the CTI Records, CTI label.CTI Records discography
accessed February 13, 2012


Background

In September, 1974, Desmond brought Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert to the United States to record the studio album, in a quartet setting with Ron Carter and Connie Kay. This was Bickert's first major appearance playing jazz on a U.S. record label in over a decade, and it served as a showcase for Bickert's guitar playing. “I consider it Ed’s album, really,” Desmond told writer Gene Lees for the album's liner notes.


Reception

The Allmusic reviewer Richard S. Ginell stated "With the ''Skylark (Paul Desmond album), Skylark'' "experiment" behind him, P ...
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Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond (born Paul Emil Breitenfeld; November 25, 1924 – May 30, 1977) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer and proponent of cool jazz. He was a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet and composed the group's biggest hit, " Take Five". The song remains the best-selling jazz song of all time. In addition to his work with Brubeck, he led several groups and collaborated with Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Jim Hall, and Ed Bickert. After years of chain smoking and poor health, Desmond succumbed to lung cancer in 1977 after a tour with Brubeck. Early life Desmond was born Paul Emil Breitenfeld in San Francisco, California, in 1924, the son of Shirley (née King) and Emil Aron Breitenfeld. His grandfather Sigmund Breitenfeld, a medical doctor, was born on 17 November 1857, in Česká Kamenice in Bohemia in 1857; he emigrated to the US in 1885 and on 2 May 1886, in New York, married Hermina Lewy. They had four children (including Emil, father of Paul Emil). Paul D ...
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Loudness War
The loudness war (or loudness race) is a trend of increasing audio levels in recorded music, which reduces audio fidelity and—according to many critics—listener enjoyment. Increasing loudness was first reported as early as the 1940s, with respect to mastering practices for 7-inch singles. The maximum peak level of analog recordings such as these is limited by varying specifications of electronic equipment along the chain from source to listener, including vinyl and cassette players. The issue garnered renewed attention starting in the 1990s with the introduction of digital signal processing capable of producing further loudness increases. With the advent of the compact disc (CD), music is encoded to a digital format with a clearly defined maximum peak amplitude. Once the maximum amplitude of a CD is reached, loudness can be increased still further through signal processing techniques such as dynamic range compression and equalization. Engineers can apply an increasingly ...
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Roy Turk
Roy Kenneth Turk (September 20, 1892 – November 30, 1934) was an American songwriter and lyricist, who frequently collaborated with composer Fred E. Ahlert, with whom he wrote their popular 1929 song "Mean to Me (1929 song), Mean to Me", which became a jazz standard. In 1926 he collaborated with Lou Handman on his best known song, the 1927 hit Are You Lonesome Tonight?, whose best version was the Elvis Presley one, released in 1960. He worked with many other composers, including for film lyrics. Turk was elected posthumously to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Overview Among his compositions (with music by Fred Ahlert unless otherwise noted): * 1923 – "My Sweetie Went Away" (music by Lou Handman) * 1927 – "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (music by Lou Handman), popularized in 1960 by Elvis Presley * 1928 – "I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You)" * 1928 – "Mean to Me (1929 song), Mean to Me" * 1931 – "I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)" * 1931 – "Walkin' My Baby Back Hom ...
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Fred E
Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rodrigues de Oliveira, Brazilian * Fred (footballer, born 1979), Helbert Frederico Carreiro da Silva, Brazilian * Fred (footballer, born 1983), Frederico Chaves Guedes, Brazilian * Fred (footballer, born 1986), Frederico Burgel Xavier, Brazilian * Fred (footballer, born 1993), Frederico Rodrigues de Paula Santos, Brazilian * Fred Again (born 1993), British songwriter known as FRED Television and movies * ''Fred'' (2014 film), a 2014 documentary film * Fred Figglehorn, a YouTube character created by Lucas Cruikshank ** ''Fred'' (franchise), a Nickelodeon media franchise ** '' Fred: The Movie'', a 2010 independent comedy film * '' Fred the Caveman'', French Teletoon production from 2002 * Fred Flintstone, of the 1966 TV carto ...
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Mean To Me (1929 Song)
"Mean to Me" is a popular song with music by Fred E. Ahlert and lyrics by Roy Turk, published in 1929. Hit versions that year were by Ruth Etting and by Helen Morgan. Ben Bernie and the Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra also recorded what might be the first male version in February 1929 with vocals by Scrappy Albert. The song is a popular standard, recorded by many artists. Other notable recordings *Annette Hanshaw - recorded in New York February 20, 1929. Released under the pseudonym of Gay Ellis and Her Orchestra on Harmony 859H. * Ben Bernie and His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra with Scrappy Lambert on vocals - recorded in February 1929. *Billie Holiday recorded her version in 1937 with Lester Young and Teddy Wilson and this was very popular that year. *Una Mae Carlisle and her Jam Band - recorded May 20, 1938 in London, Vocalion S-198 (UK). *The Andrews Sisters - recorded September 5, 1940 for Decca Records (catalog No. 3440A). *In 1946, Lester Young, Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich re ...
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Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become Standard (music), standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan (1937 song), Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty five-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writ ...
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Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood films. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, Porter defied his grandfather's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn to musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs. After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain, but he continued to work. His shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 1930s, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback w ...
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Django Reinhardt
Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani people, Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Belgium, Belgian-born Romani jazz guitarist and composer in France. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most significant exponents. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, Reinhardt formed the Paris-based Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1934. The group was among the first to play jazz that featured the guitar as a lead instrument. Reinhardt recorded in France with many visiting American musicians, including Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter, and briefly toured the United States with Duke Ellington's orchestra in 1946. He died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in 1953 at the age of 43. Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become standards within gypsy jazz, including "Minor Swing (song), Minor Swing", "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42", and "Nuages (song), Nuages". The jazz guitarist Frank V ...
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Nuages
"Nuages" () is one of the best-known compositions by Django Reinhardt. He recorded at least thirteen versions of the tune, which is a jazz standard and a mainstay of the gypsy swing repertoire. English and French lyrics have been added to the piece which was originally an instrumental work. The title translated into English is "Clouds", but the adaptation with English lyrics is titled "It's the Bluest Kind of Blues". In 1940, Django made two recordings of Nuages in F major, and with a clarinet melody. (Some later recordings are in G major, perhaps to suit the violin.) Unhappy with the first recording, Reinhardt added a second clarinet, creating a renowned arrangement for the December 1940 recording. Reinhardt's 1946 recording (as can be heard in the sample) is in the key of G major. A final recording was made at a 1953 session just before he died, where we hear Django with only Maurice Vander on piano, Pierre Michelot on bass, and Jean-Louis Viale on drums. He was using an electri ...
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Johnny Mercer
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Wallichs Music City, Glenn E. Wallichs. He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music and was a popular singer who recorded his own as well as others' songs from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. Mercer's songs were among the most successful hits of the time, including "Moon River", "Days of Wine and Roses (song), Days of Wine and Roses", "Autumn Leaves (1945 song), Autumn Leaves", and "Hooray for Hollywood". He wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway theatre, Broadway shows. He received nineteen Academy Awards, Oscar nominations, and won four Academy Award for Best Original Song, Best Original Song Oscars. Early life Mercer was born in 1909, in Savannah, Georgia, where one o ...
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Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance (song), A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Song Is You", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Long Ago (and Far Away)". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg. A native New Yorker, Kern created dozens of Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and musical films, Hollywood films in a career that lasted for more than four decades. His musical innovations, such as 4/4 dance rhythms and the employment of syncopati ...
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I'm Old Fashioned
"I'm Old Fashioned" is a 1942 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Johnny Mercer. It was written for the film ''You Were Never Lovelier'' (1942), where it was introduced by Nan Wynn who dubbed for Rita Hayworth as part of a song and dance routine with Fred Astaire. The musical director of the film was Leigh Harline and that and the other romantic dance sequences were orchestrated by Conrad Salinger while he was freelancing. Background According to John Mueller: "Constructed sparsely in a kind of theme and variations form (ABA'A") it is particularly notable for the appealing way the strains link up – especially for the poised and dramatic transitions between the A' and A" strains". Mercer recalled working with the older Kern, and how Kern reacted to the lyrics for "I'm Old Fashioned":We hit it off right away. I was in such awe of him, I think he must have sensed that. He was very kind to me, treated me more like a son than a collaborator. And when he thought ...
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