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]   |
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:Template:Infobox Writer/doc
Infobox writer may be used to summarize information about a person who is a writer/author (includes screenwriters). If the writer-specific fields here are not needed, consider using the more general ; other infoboxes there can be found in :People and person infobox templates. This template may also be used as a module (or sub-template) of ; see WikiProject Infoboxes/embed for guidance on such usage. Syntax The infobox may be added by pasting the template as shown below into an article. All fields are optional. Any unused parameter names can be left blank or omitted. Parameters Please remove any parameters from an article's infobox that are unlikely to be used. All parameters are optional. Unless otherwise specified, if a parameter has multiple values, they should be comma-separated using the template: : which produces: : , language= If any of the individual values contain commas already, add to use semi-colons as separators: : which produces: : , pseu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia
''The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia'' is a 2006 compendium of articles written by Michael Gray covering the life and work of Bob Dylan. It includes reviews of varying length for each album and numerous songs in Dylan's musical output, but is not just a work of music criticism. The topics for individual articles encompass Dylan's musical forebears, literary influences, personal acquaintances, key career events, musical associates, cultural context, forays into film and writing, and minutiae of all sorts. Gray's opinions characterize the content found in the ''Encyclopedia''. Gray connects Dylan to the tradition of country blues, and there are many articles relating to blues music and blues musicians, especially those from the 1920s and 1930s. Gray summarises the life and work of key early rock and roll performers from the 1950s, as well as entries on influential artists from the fields of country music and the folk music revival. There are also articles on historical figures, ranging fr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Known for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music. Early life and career Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on August 27, 1909, to Lizetta Young (née Johnson), and Willis Handy Young, originally from Louisiana. Lester had two siblings – a brother, Leonidas Raymond, known as Lee Young, who became a drummer, and a sister, Irm ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Polo Barnes
Paul D. "Polo" Barnes (November 22, 1901 – April 3, 1981, New Orleans) was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist. He was the brother of Emile Barnes and was a mainstay of the New Orleans jazz scene of the 1920s and 1930s. Career Barnes attended St. Paul Lutheran School and began playing alto saxophone in 1919. He and banjoist Lawrence Marrero formed the Original Diamond Band, later known as the Young Tuxedo Band. He was with Kid Rena in 1922, the Maple Leaf Orchestra in 1923, and Papa Celestin's Original Tuxedo Band later that year; Celestin's group recorded his tune "My Josephine", which became quite popular. He played with Chick Webb in 1927, and with King Oliver three times (1927, 1931, 1934–35). He toured with Jelly Roll Morton in 1928-29. In 1932 and 1933, Barnes led his own band. He also played with Chester Zardis (1935), and Kid Howard (1937–1939, 1941). He played in Algiers, Louisiana in a Navy band from 1942 to 1945, then returned to work with Cele ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lee Young
Leonidas Raymond Young (March 7, 1914 – July 31, 2008) was an American jazz drummer and singer. His musical family included his father Willis Young and his older brother, saxophonist Lester Young. In 1944 he played with Norman Granz's first " Jazz at the Philharmonic" concert. Early life and education Young was born in 1914 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Willis Young and Lizetta Teresa Johnson. His father was a musician, as were other relatives. His older brother Lester Young became a famed saxophonist. Lee began playing from an early age and the family had a band for several years. Career In 1944 Lee Young was the drummer at Norman Granz's first "Jazz at the Philharmonic" concert, which also featured guitarist Les Paul, trombonist J.J. Johnson, and saxophonist Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet. Young played with such jazz and swing music notables as Mutt Carey, Fats Waller, Les Hite, Benny Goodman, and Lionel Hampton. In the 1950s Young played with Nat King Cole's tri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Earle Warren
Earle Warren (born Earl Ronald Warren; July 1, 1914 – June 4, 1994) was an American saxophonist. He was part of the Count Basie Orchestra from 1937. Early life Warren was born in Springfield, Ohio, on July 1, 1914. "He played piano, banjo, and ukulele in a family band before taking up C-melody, tenor, and finally alto saxophone." Later life and career When Warren became professional in 1930, he added an "e" to the end of his first name to make it different from other jazz musicians named "Earl". In his early career, he toured the Midwest as a sideman, and led his own bands. He joined the Count Basie Orchestra in 1937, playing baritone and alto saxophones initially, and then being lead altoist and occasional clarinettist and vocalist until 1945. He led bands and occasionally reunited with Basie towards the end of the decade. After managing some bands, he joined trumpeter Buck Clayton in 1957. Warren appeared in ''Born to Swing'', the 1972 film about former members of Basie's ba ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jazz Journal
''Jazz Journal'' is a British jazz magazine established in 1946 by Sinclair Traill (1904–1981). It was first published in London under the title ''Pick Up'', which Traill founded as a locus for serious jazz criticism in Britain.Roberta Freund Schwartz How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues', Ashgate Publishing, (1988), p.25, In May 1948, Traill, using his own money, relaunched it as ''Jazz Journal''. Traill, for the rest of his life, served as its editor-in-chief. ''Jazz Journal'' is Britain's longest published jazz magazine. Ownership overview In April 1977, Billboard Limited – then the publisher of ''Music Week'' and '' The Artist'' – acquired publishing rights to ''Jazz Journal'' (via lease agreement) from the magazine's owner, Novello & Company, Ltd. Cardfront Publishers Limited, a division of Billboard Limited, became the publisher; Mike Hennessey became director; Traill continued as editor-in-chief; and the publication ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jesse Fuller
Jesse Fuller (March 12, 1896 – January 29, 1976) was an American one-man band musician, best known for his song "San Francisco Bay Blues". Early life Fuller was born in Jonesboro, Georgia, near Atlanta, United States. He was sent by his mother to live with foster parents when he was a young child, in a rural setting where he was badly mistreated. Growing up, he worked at numerous jobs: grazing cows for ten cents a day; working in a barrel factory, a broom factory, and a rock quarry; working on a railroad and for a streetcar company; shining shoes; and even peddling hand-carved wooden snakes.Koenig, Lester (1963). Liner notes to ''Jesse Fuller: San Francisco Bay Blues''. Good Time Jazz S10051. By the age of 10, he was playing the guitar in two techniques, which he described as "frailing" and "picking". In the 1920s, he lived in southern California, where he operated a hot dog stand and was befriended by Douglas Fairbanks. Fuller worked briefly as a film extra in ''East of Suez ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul Oliver
Paul Hereford Oliver MBE (25 May 1927 – 15 August 2017) was an English architectural historian and writer on the blues and other forms of African-American music. He was equally distinguished in both fields, although it is likely that aficionados of one of his specialties were not aware of his expertise in the other. He wrote some of the first scholarly studies of blues music, and his commentary and research have been influential. Early life and career Oliver was born in Nottingham in 1927, the son of architect W. Norman Oliver. In the late 1930s, his family lived in Pinner, Middlesex, where he attended Longfield Primary School in Rayners Lane and then went to Harrow County School for Boys between 1938 and 1942. He attended Harrow Art School, where he met his wife, Valerie. He initially trained as a painter and sculptor, but because of allergies to some art materials concentrated on graphic design. After a period in the War Office, Oliver gained his Art Teacher's Diploma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Max Jones (journalist)
Ronald Maxwell Jones (28 February 1917, London – 2 August 1993, Chichester) was a British jazz author, radio host and journalist. Life and achievements Together with his brother Cliff, Jones taught himself to play the saxophone, before the two of them founded a dance band in 1930. Named "Campus Club Dance Band" it was semi-professional and when it was dissolved in 1935, Jones tried to establish himself as a professional musician, becoming a member of a combo led by trumpeter Johnny Claes, with musicians who played in the style of Coleman Hawkins. In 1942 and 1943, Jones worked for the BBC radio programme ''Radio Rhythm Club''; and in 1942, together with authors Albert McCarthy and Charles Fox, he founded the magazine ''Jazz Music'', Steve Voce"Obituary: Max Jones" ''The Independent'', 4 August 1993. which became meritorious as it set out "to reassert the pioneering role of the African-American, to emphasise the music’s social dimensions, and to attack the glossy commerc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Streatham
Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey before becoming part of the County of London in 1889, and then Greater London in 1965. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Streatham means "the hamlet on the street". The street in question, the London to Brighton Way, was the Roman road from the capital Londinium to the south coast near Portslade, today within Brighton and Hove. It is likely that the destination was a Roman port now lost to coastal erosion, which has been tentatively identified with 'Novus Portus' mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia (Ptolemy), Geographia. The road is confusingly referred to as Stane Street (Chichester), Stane Street (Stone Street) in some sources and diverges from the main London-Chichester road ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known compositions, " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999, respectively. Waller copyrighted over 400 songs, many of them co-written with his closest collaborator, Andy Razaf. Razaf described his partner as "the soul of melody... a man who made the piano sing... both big in body and in mind... known for his generosity... a bubbling bundle of joy". It is likely that he composed many more popular songs than he has been credited with. When in financial difficulties, he had a habit of selling songs to other writers and performers who clai ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |