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Spirits Gathering
''Spirits Gathering'' is an album by the Billy Bang Quartet, led by violinist Bang, and featuring guitarist Brett Allen, double bassist Akira Ando, and drummer Denis Charles. It was recorded on February 28, 1996, at the Spirit Room in Rossie, New York, and was released later that year by the CIMP label. Reception In a review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow wrote: "This is one of violinist Billy Bang's finest all-around recordings, and one of his most accessible. It is a bit surprising how successful the outing was, for the violinist had been evicted from his apartment the day before... Bang puts plenty of passion in his solos and is easily the dominant force... Recommended." The authors of ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings'' stated: "Beset with technical problems, but an interesting enough date which never quite transcends its circumstances." A reviewer for the ''Orlando Sentinel'' commented: "the music is wonderfully immediate. That's particularly gratifying when performances ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Bang
Billy Bang (September 20, 1947 – April 11, 2011), born William Vincent Walker, was an American free jazz violinist and composer. Biography Bang's family moved to New York City's Bronx neighborhood while he was still an infant, and as a child he attended a special school for musicians in nearby Harlem.Hull, Tom (October 3, 2005)"Billy Bang Is in the House" ''The Village Voice''. Retrieved July 17, 2007. . At that school, students were assigned instruments based on their physical size. Bang was fairly small, so he received a violin instead of either of his first choices, the saxophone or the drums. It was around this time that he acquired the nickname of "Billy Bang", derived from a popular cartoon character.Kelsey, Chris. "Billy Bang – Biography" Allmusic. Retrieved July 17, 2007. Bang studied the violin until he earned a hardship scholarship to the Stockbridge School in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, at which point he abandoned the instrument because the school did not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixty albums as a leader. A number of his compositions, including " St. Thomas", " Oleo", " Doxy", and " Airegin", have become jazz standards. Rollins has been called "the greatest living improviser". Due to health problems, Rollins has not performed publicly since 2012 and announced his retirement in 2014. Early life Rollins was born in New York City to parents from the Virgin Islands. The youngest of three siblings, he grew up in central Harlem and on Sugar Hill, receiving his first alto saxophone at the age of seven or eight. He attended Edward W. Stitt Junior High School and graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem. Rollins started as a pianist, then switched to alto saxophone after being inspired by Louis Jordan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1996 Albums
1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane 1996 Air Africa crash, crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, killing around 300 people. * January 9–January 20, 20 – Serious fighting breaks out between Russian soldiers and rebel fighters in Chechnya. * January 11 – Ryutaro Hashimoto, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democratic Party, becomes Prime Minister of Japan. * January 13 – Prime Minister of Italy, Italy's Prime Minister, Lamberto Dini, resigns after the failure of all-party talks to confirm him. New talks are initiated by President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro to form a new government. * January 14 – Jorge Sampaio is elected President of Portugal. * January 16 – President of Sierra Leone Valentine Strasser is deposed by the chief of defence, Julius Maada Bio. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon"; " The Lady Is a Tramp"; "Manhattan"; " Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"; and " My Funny Valentine". Life and career Hart was born in Harlem, New York City, the elder of two sons, to Jewish immigrant parents, Max M. and Frieda (Isenberg) Hart, of German background. Through his mother, he was a great-grandnephew of the German poet Heinrich Heine. His father, a business promoter, sent Hart and his brother to private schools. (His brother, Teddy Hart, also went into theatre and became a musical comedy star. Teddy Hart's wife, Dorothy Hart, wrote a biography of Lorenz Hart.) Hart received his early education from Columbia Grammar School and entered Columbia College in 1913, before switching to Columbia University School of Journalism, where he attended for two years. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the best-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music. Rodgers is known for his songwriting partnerships, first with lyricist Lorenz Hart and then with Oscar Hammerstein II. With Hart he wrote musicals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including ''Pal Joey (musical), Pal Joey'', ''A Connecticut Yankee (musical), A Connecticut Yankee'', ''On Your Toes'' and ''Babes in Arms.'' With Hammerstein he wrote musicals through the 1940s and 1950s, such as ''Oklahoma!'', ''Flower Drum Song'', ''Carousel (musical), Carousel'', ''South Pacific (musical), South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Funny Valentine
"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart coming of age musical ''Babes in Arms'' in which it was introduced by teenaged star Mitzi Green. The song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 1300 albums performed by over 600 artists. One of them was Chet Baker, for whom it became his signature song. In 2015 the Gerry Mulligan quartet's 1953 version of the song (featuring Chet Baker) was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for its "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy". Mulligan also recorded the song with his Concert Jazz Band in 1960. History ''Babes in Arms'' opened at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway, in New York City on April 14, 1937 and ran for 289 performances. In the original play, a character named Billie Smith (played by Mitzi Green) sings the song to Valentine "Val" LaMar (played by Ray Heatherton). The character's name was changed to mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and director in musical theater for nearly 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs. He is best known for his collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, as the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose musicals include '' Oklahoma!'', '' Carousel'', '' South Pacific'', '' The King and I'', '' Flower Drum Song'', and '' The Sound of Music''. Described by his protégé Stephen Sondheim as an "experimental playwright", Hammerstein helped bring the American musical to new maturity by popularizing musicals that focused on stories and character rather than the lighthearted entertainment that the musical had been known for beforehand. He also collaborated with Jerome Kern (with whom he wrote the 1927 music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his Musical theatre, musicals and operettas, particularly ''The Student Prince'' (1924), ''The Desert Song'' (1926) and ''The New Moon'' (1928). Early in his career, Romberg was employed by the Shubert brothers to write music for their musicals and revues, including several vehicles for Al Jolson. For the Shuberts, he also adapted several European operettas for American audiences, including the successful ''Maytime (musical), Maytime'' (1917) and ''Das Dreimäderlhaus, Blossom Time'' (1921). His three hit operettas of the mid-1920s, named above, are in the style of Viennese operetta, but his other works from that time mostly employ the style of American musicals of their eras. He also composed film scores. Biography Early life Romberg was born in Hungary as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise
"Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" is a song with music by Sigmund Romberg and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II from the 1928 operetta '' The New Moon''. One of the best-known numbers from the show, it is a song of bitterness and yearning for a lost love, sung in the show by Philippe (tenor), the best friend of the hero, Robert Mission (baritone). The original song was composed as a tango, and features a dance as accompaniment to the choral reprise, but many versions of the song have changed the tempo completely (there have been many jazz renditions). The one featured in the 1940 film version of the operetta is sung as a cheerful ditty by Nelson Eddy while he shines his shoes, despite the melancholy nature of the song's lyric. The song is featured twice in '' Deep in My Heart'', MGM's 1954 musical biopic of Romberg, when it is sung by Betty Wand (dubbing for Tamara Toumanova) and by Helen Traubel. Cover versions * Paul Chambers – '' Paul Chambers Quintet'' (1958) * Ray Alexan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tankō Bushi
is a Japanese folk song. Despite the term "fushi/bushi" found in its name, the rhythm is in swung, ondo style. It is a song about coal mining, and it refers to old Miike Mine in Kyūshū (Tagawa City). It is a common song used in Bon dances during the Bon Festival or just is a fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ance ..., and the dance that accompanies it depicts actions in mines such as shoveling coal, throwing a bag of coal over the shoulders, shading the eyes from the sun, pushing a cart of coal and a ceremonial bow as captured on the notes by Folk Music International. Excerpt from Tankō Bushi Modern arrangements of Tankō Bushi replace the lyric "Miike Tankō" with "uchi no oyama," which in traditional mining dialect means "our coal mine" or "our coal pit," as Miike Mine is no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Jazz
Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, Musical tone, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during this period believed that the bebop and modal jazz that had been played before them was too limiting, and became preoccupied with creating something new. The term "free jazz" was drawn from the 1960 Ornette Coleman recording ''Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation''. Europeans tend to favor the term "free improvisation". Others have used "modern jazz", "creative music", and "art music". The ambiguity of free jazz presents problems of definition. Although it is usually played by small groups or individuals, free jazz big band, big bands have existed. Although musicians and critics claim it is innovative and forward-looking, it draws on early styles of jazz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Yanow
Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz editor for ''Record Review.'' In September 2002, Yanow was interviewed on-camera by CNN about the Monterey Jazz Festival and wrote an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He authored 12 books on jazz (including 2022's ''Life Through the Eyes of a Jazz Journalist''), more than 900 liner notes for CDs, and more than 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow contributed to the third edition of the '' All Music Guide to Jazz,'' serving as co-editor. He has written for ''Downbeat,'' ''Jazziz'', the ''Los Angeles Jazz Scene,'' ''Syncopated Times,'' ''Jazz Artistry Now'', the ''Jazz Rag,'' and ''New York City Jazz Record''. Yanow has produced a number of records under the Allegro record label. He also hosted a regular radio sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
