O CENTENARIO DE NASCIMENTO DE BENNY GOODMAN NO "MOMENTOS DE JAZZ"

Logo mais a partir das 20h00 no programa "Momentos de Jazz " pelas ondas da Radio Amazonas FM (www.amazonasfm.com.br) vamos celebrar juntos o centenário de nascimento do clarinetista Benny Goodman também conhecido como o "Rei do Swing". Durante os anos 30 e 40 Benny com sua grande orquestra, fez a America dançar sem parar e ainda por cima revelou para o mundo monstros sagrados do jazz como Billie Holiday, Helen Forrest, Peggy Lee e Lionel Hampton.

Em seguida teremos audição especial da musica de três aniversariantes da semana, registrada em albuns que, com a o passar do tempo, se tornaram antológicos pela singularidade das interpretações, musicalidade dos instrumentistas e repertório esmerado, nas carreiras de Bette Midler ( cd "The Rosemary Clooney Songbook") , Ann Hampton Callaway ( cd "Slow") e Dee Dee Bridgewater ( cd "Dear Ella").

Conto com tua valiosa audiência.

Até jazz!

O melhor está por vir.

Humberto Amorim

Nota do Blog - Este é o ultimo programa no horário de 20h00 as 22h00. A partir do dia 7 de junho, sempre aos domingos, estaremos em novo horário - do meio dia as 14h00. Anota aí.

VIVE LA DIFERENCE!

Os integrantes do Clube dos Discófilos Fanáticos - CDFs, voltaram a se reunir na "base secreta" para degustar a amizade, a boa musica e a alegria de viver neste ultimo 26 de maio próximo passado. O contraste reinou, como era esperado, justamente na noite em que eu celebrava com os diletos amigos a passagem do meu aniversário natalicio.

A noite teve de tudo um pouco. Convidado internacional vindo de Aruba (chose d'Acram), entrega do documento de menção honrosa pelos 14 anos de existência do programa radiofônico "Momentos de Jazz" outorgado pelos vereadores da Camara Municipal de Manaus e a mim entregue pelas mãos de Expedito Teodoro e Arnaldo Russo, o rtetorno inesperado do Paulinho Monteiro que compareceu para prestigiar o seu grupo de amigos, vinho italiano de primeira linha ( um espetaculoso) da adega particular do Arnaldo com o qual brindei a grande data e sobretudo, duas magnificas e emblemáticas apresentações, inicialmente pelo Chaguinha que personificou um "heavy metal musician" no melhor estilo da Patuléia, e apresentou um cd com os grandes sucessos de cantores e bandas consagradas como Seal, Gwen Guthrie,Simply Red, Gun's and Roses, Marcelo D2 e Colbie Caillat entre outros. Apresentação impecável.

Salomito Benchimol por sua vez, encarnou um discreto "band leader", esbanjando elegância na abordagem de sua "unique" apresentação intitulada "Sax Ballads" focada principalmente nos grandes saxofonistas da musica jazz.

As fotos seguinte contam a história da inesquecível reunião, em cores.

Fotos - Humberto Amorim

ARMANDO PERAZA, EL CONGUERO CHEVERE.

O percussionista de jazz latino Armando Peraza, nasceu no 30 de maio de 1924 em Havana, Cuba. Devido a sua longa parceria com o pianista de jazz George Shearing , o vibarafonista Cal Tjader e o guitarrista Carlos Santana se projetou internacionalmente no período compreendido entre as décadas de 50 e 90.
Apesar de ter-se identificado primeiramente como bongocero e conguero, Peraza é um compositor e dançarino inovador de grande talento.
Participou de gravações com os band leaders Perez Prado e Machito, pianista George Shearing, saxofonista Charlie Parker, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader e Carlos Santana.

Como musico destaca-se entre os grandes percussionista cubanos. Na vida particular, durante muitos anos, Peraza tem sido uma figura militante nas manifestações sócio-políticas. É considerado modelo Afro-Cubano de conquista por seu virtuosismo musical e pela recusa de se render perante atos de preconceito racial.

O trabalho desenvolvido com o pianista George Shearing, Tjader e Santana trouxe reconhecimento internacional. Foi induzido no Hall da Fama dos Gigantes do Jazz do Instituto Smithsonian e já foi honrado com três dias em sua homenagem pela Cidade de São Francisco.

Armando Peraza born on. May 30, 1924 in Havana, Cuba is a Latin jazz percussionist. Through his long associations with jazz pianist George Shearing, vibraphonist Cal Tjader and guitarist Carlos Santana, he has been internationally known from the 1950s through to the 1990s.

Although primarily known as a bongocero and conguero, Peraza is also an innovative and accomplished dancer and composer. Peraza has been featured on classic recordings by Perez Prado, Machito, George Shearing, Charlie Parker, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader and Carlos Santana.

Significantly, and uniquely amongst the great Cuban percussionists, Peraza has for many years been an important socio-political figure, a symbol of Afro-Cuban achievement through his virtuoso musicianship and his refusal to be defeated by racism. His work with Shearing, Tjader and Santana brought him international fame. He has been inducted into the Smithsonian Institution's Hall of Jazz Legends and has had three official "Armando Peraza Days" by the City of San Francisco.

Reference/Fonte - Latin Jazz

Tradução - Humberto Amorim

ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY, SHE IS MARVELOUS!

Ann Hampton Callaway was born on may 30th 1959 in Chicago. Her father is John Callaway, Chicago's legendary TV and radio journalist, and an acclaimed author, moderator and speaker. Her mother, Shirley Callaway, a superb singer, pianist and one of New York's most in-demand vocal coaches, was recently featured at New York's Town Hall, singing with Ann and her sister Liz. Ann resides in New York. She lives by the creed best expressed in the Andre Gide quote: "Art is the collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does, the better."

Ann Hampton Callaway is one of the finest singer-songwriters of our time. The statuesque performer dazzles music lovers as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, and educator. Her talents have made her equally at home in jazz and pop as well as on stage, in the recording studio, on TV and in film. She is best known for starring in the hit Broadway musical Swing!, and for writing and singing the theme to the internationally successful TV series, The Nanny. Ann is a devoted keeper-of-the-flame of the great American songbook. She brings fresh and original interpretations to these timeless classics and works to uphold the canon by writing songs with Cole Porter, Carole King, Barbara Carroll and others. Her spontaneity, intelligence, and soulful charisma have won her a diverse fan-base including such notables as Barbra Streisand, Clive Davis, Carly Simon and Wynton Marsalis.

The New York Times writes, "For sheer vocal beauty, no contemporary singer matches Ms. Callaway." Ann attributes her voice and love of music to her mother, Shirley, who throughout her childhood sang and played torch songs, Gershwin and German lieder at the piano. Of the uniquely musical household she says, "I didn't know it at the time, but we were sort of the Von Trapp family of Chicago." After a music teacher discovered her unusually mature soprano voice, Ann was encouraged to study classically, honing the pitch-perfect control and expressive three-octave range she is known for. While her voice teachers suggested she could have a career in opera, Ann eventually realized that she would be happier singing the music she most loved. Inspired by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder, she was fascinated by the challenge of drawing these threads together into her own original singing style.

Ann’s new Telarc recording, "At Last", arrived at stores in February 2009. The album is a collection of jazz standards, versatile pop songs and a couple original tunes, each woven together to create a narative that is perhaps as cinemtic as it is musical. At Last is the followup to her 2006 Telarc release, Blues in the Night. Prior to that, she recorded Slow (released on Shanachie), a pop-inspired album that garnered high critical acclaim. Ann has recorded two popular holiday CDs: Holiday Pops! with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops and the solo This Christmas (Angel/After 9). Her recording Signature (After 9) features the signature songs of the great jazz legends of the 20th century, performed with pianist Kenny Barron and guest artist Wynton Marsalis. Other recordings include Easy Living (After 9), To Ella with Love (After 9), After Hours (Denon), Bring Back Romance (DRG), Ann Hampton Callaway (DRG) and the award winning live recording, Sibling Revelry (DRG). She has also been a guest artist on over forty CDs.

Ms. Callaway's honors include a Tony Award nomination for best Actress in a Musical for her work in Swing!, and the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut. She has garnered an unsurpassed fourteen awards from The Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs, two Backstage Bistro Awards, The 2005 Nightlife Award, The Johnny Mercer Songwriter Award and The Norman Vincent Peale Award For Positive Thinking.

Click here to enjoy Ann singing "Body and Soul"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnMIfwqJGHw

Reference - OMA

HOJE, CEM ANOS DE BENNY GOODMAN!!!!!

Hoje, o mundo do jazz celebra o centenário de seu nascimento. O clarinetista do swing Benjamim David Goodman ou Benny Goodman, nasceu em Chicago no dia 30 de maio de 1909. Era clarinetista e tornou-se um dos maiores lideres de “big bands” de todos os tempos e ficou conhecido como o “Rei do Swing”.

Basicamente não se pode dizer que Goodman foi o precursor do swing pois, antes dele, o destaque necessariamente tem que ser de Fletcher HEnderson. Mas é incontestável, o fato que foi ao som de sua banda que toda America dançou sem parar nos anos 30 e 40 e por isso, até os nossos dias, é considerado o eterno “Rei do Swing”.

Além deste detalhe criou um trio com o baterista Gene Krupa e o pianista Teddy Wilson (primeiro musico negro a se apresentar com um grupo popular branco) em 1935. Mais tarde o grupo ganhou ainda a participação do fabulosos vibrafonista Lionel Hampton, do guitarrista Charlie Christian e muitos outros gigantes do jazz.

Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee e Helen Forest foram, em épocas diferentes, vocalistas de sua famosa swing band.,

Após 1945 Goodman se limitou a tocar com grupos pequenos além de aturar em orquestra clássicas como solista.

O grande ‘Rei do Swing” faleceu em junho de 1956.

BENNY GOODMAN'S CENTENNIAL IS BEING CELEBRATED TODAY IN THE JAZZ WORLD!.

Born on may 30th 1909, into a large, poverty stricken family, Benny Goodman began playing the clarinet at an early age. He was associated with the Austin High School Gang, having gone to school with drummer Dave Tough. By the time he was twelve, Goodman appeared onstage imitating famous bandleader/clarinetist Ted Lewis. It was at this concert that Ben Pollack heard the young clarinetist and Benny was soon playing in Pollack’s band.

Goodman’s first recordings were made with the Pollack group in 1926, and give a strong example of Benny’s influences at the time including Jimmie Noone, who was then with Doc Cook and His Dreamland Orchestra and Leon Roppolo of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. During this period Goodman recorded his first sides as a leader with members of the Pollack band including one 1928 date which features the only known recording of Benny on alto and baritone saxophones. Following the musical migration out of Chicago and into New York, Goodman became a very successful and popular free-lancer, joining the likes of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey in New York studios.

In 1934 Benny put together his first big band, featuring Bunny Berigan on trumpet, Jess Stacey on piano and Gene Krupa on drums. With the addition of some excellent, sophisticated arrangements by Fletcher Henderson, the “Swing Era” was born.

Goodman spent the next fifty years recording and touring with various groups big and small, including some very successful trips to Russia and the Far East. He also played many concerts on a classical format that received mixed reviews. Known by musicians for his stand-offish and “cheap” nature, many sidemen had a love/hate relationship with Goodman.

Many musicians claimed that Benny was dishonest when it came time to pay off the band and many more recalled the Goodman “ray”, the dirtiest of looks received when a mistake was made.

Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee and Helen Forrest were once, in diferents period of times, vocalists of his swing band.

That aside, its clear that without Goodman the “Swing Era” would have been nowhere near as strong when it came, if it came at all. After his death, the Yale University library received the bulk of Goodman’s personal collection including many private never-before-heard recordings and rare unpublished photos.

Click here to enjoy benny Goodman and Gene Krupa letting it all hang out performing Sing,Sing,Sing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mJ4dpNal_k

Cheers!!! Benny Goodman. Wherever you are!!!

A GRANDE PEDIDA - O AMAZON JAZZ DA ALL THAT JAZZ

"All That Jazz" a mais autêntica banda de jazz amazonense, retorna ao palco do Café e Bar Adrianópolis, logo mais, a partir das 22h00, para apresentar o show intitulado "11 ANOS SEM SINATRA" que oportunizará aos integrantes da banda percorrer musicalmente o repertório do Great American Songbook do qual, muitas canções, Sinatra eternizou.

Nice n' Easy, Day by Day, Day in Day Out, You Make me Feel so Young, Night and Day, I Love Paris, Where or When são, dentre outras, exemplos classícos das canções sinatrianas que serão cantadas em Inglês para a seleta platéia dos amantes da boa música.

Couvert artistico de R$10,00

Integrantes da banda All That Jazz.

Humberto Amorim - Voz

Roger Vargas - contra-baixo acústico

Junior Leal - Saxofone (tenor e soprano)

Guilhermino Souza - Keyboards.

Leonardo Pimentel - Bateria

Roditi nasceu a 28 de maio de 1946 no Rio de Janeiro. Um trompetista de alto qualidade, considerado por alguns como o Kenny Dorham dos anos 90. Cláudio Roditi é um músico muito identificado com o hard bop. Ele foi para os Estados Unidos estudar na Berklee (1970-71) e tocou jazz na região de Boston até se mudar para New York em 1976. Roditi tocou com Charlie Rouse e Herbie Mann e o trabalho mais importante que realizou no começo dos anos 80 foi tocar regularmente com Paquito Rivera.

Ele começou a gravar e ter projeção como solista foi quando passou a integrar a United Nation Orchestra de Dizzy Gillespie. Roditi gravou pela primeira vez como líder para o selo Green Street (1984), e em seguida gravou para a Uptown, Candid e ultimamente para a Reservoir.

Em em suas performances, combina o bebop com bossa nova, sambas e música afro-cubana.

O talentoso trompetista(e flugelhorn) também arrisca alguns vocais em seus últimos discos. O seu grupo regular inclui o grande pianista Danilo Perez, Daniel Freiberg nos sintetizadores e também o tenorista Ralph Moore ou o trombonista Jay Ashby. Roditi é também compositor e nos cds gravados a maioria das músicas são suas composições.

Discografia
1988
Gemini Man
Milestone
1989
Slow Fire
Milestone
1990
Milestones
Candid
1994
Free Wheelin'
Reservoir
1995
Samba Manhattan Style
Reservoir
1996
Double Standards
Reservoir
1997
Claudio, Rio & Friends
RTE
2004
Three for One
Nagel Heyer

TODOS CONTRA A PEDOFILIA NO BRASIL.

No programa “Encontro com o Povo” desta quinta feira, logo mais as 19h40 ao vivo pelo Amazonsat, canal 44 (aberto) Net 13 (fechado) e internet (http://www.amazonsat.com.br/) vamos discutir a pedofilia na cidade de Manaus com a Vice-Presidente da Fórum Estadual de Defesa do Direito da Criança e do Adolescente Lucimar Weil e a Conselheira Tutelar da Zona Norte de Manaus Silvana Silveira.

Conforme caracterizado no tecnicismo, PEDÓFILO “designa a pessoa que gosta de criança”, logo aquele que abusa de crianças ou pratica atos lascivos com menores ou os corrompe não pode ser apontado como pedófilo o que é cogitado é o desvio de comportamento presente em muitas pessoas que segundo os numero apresentados, é um mal que se prolifera na nossa sociedade e precisa ser combatido sem medo, de frente com todas as armas.

Os dados que foram publicados nos jornais no 18 de maio, Dia Nacional de Combate ao Abuso e à Exploração Sexual de Crianças e Adolescentes contam que o Serviço de Atendimento às Vítimas de Violência Sexual (Savvis) da Prefeitura de Manaus, que funciona na Maternidade Moura Tapajós, registrou, de janeiro a dezembro de 2008, 294 casos. Desses, 256 contra crianças ou adolescentes. Mais de 87% (oitenta e sete por cento) dos atendimentos eram casos de violência contra crianças ou adolescentes. Foram 135 crianças com menos de 12 anos e 121 adolescentes entre 12 e 18 anos. Dos 256 atendimentos que envolvem crianças e adolescentes, mais de 52% (cinqüenta e dois por cento) são de crianças com menos de 12 anos.

Temos admitido entre a sociedade à pornografia, em diversas formas, mas a pornografia desvirtua o sexo e a pedofilia é uma das aberrações onde se pode chegar quando se desvirtua o sexo.

Vamos todos contra a pedofilia. Contamos com tua audiência e participação pelo telefone.

Humberto Amorim
Apresentador
Lívia Braga

Produtora

NHOP, O MESTRE DO BAIXO ACÚSTICO.

O contra-baixista de jazz Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen nasceu em Copenhague no 27 de maio de 1946 e tornou-se conhecido nos círculos musicais que freqüentava como NHOP.
Tocou a maior parte de sua carreira no trio do pianista Oscar Peterson desde que substituiu a Ray Brown. Suas habilidades e rapidez ao tocar (principalmente quando acompanhava Oscar) permanecem como sua marca registrada.
Nos Estados Unidos tocou com grandes nomes como Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon e Stan Getz, além do poeta do piano jazz Bill Evans com quem excursionou pela Europa. Niels possuía todas as importantes ferramentas que forjam um grande baixista – um som vigoroso, improviso rápido e engenhoso, destreza, alma e grande habilidade para ouvir, de forma mais explícita, como poucos.
Os diálogos que estabeleceu com o saxofonista Artie Shepp no disco “Looking at Bird”, tem momentos que parecem colocar o contra baixo acústico no centro das atenções, oportunizando a Shepp extrair a essência da música.

Este grande músico de jazz morreu prematuramente em Abril de 2006.

The career of the Danish bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, born o may 27th 1946 in jazz circles, he was usually referred to simply as NHOP. He was a bass virtuoso, who made his unwieldy instrument sound almost impossibly agile. Like a finger-style guitarist, he could pluck the heavy strings with all four fingers of his right hand, where most bassists relied on repeated leverage from one finger, or two at the most.
The turn of speed this gave NHOP allowed jazz's classic “walking bassline” to be played at the most frenetic tempos, and over sustained periods behind soloists. Orsted Pedersen was thus able to hold down one of the most demanding jobs in mainstream jazz, as regular bassist to Oscar Peterson, one of the fastest pianists in the business. This was a tough enough task even with other musicians around to help spread the load, but NHOP often kept Peterson company in that most unforgiving of improvising situations, the drummerless duo. When he took over the job with Peterson, his predecessor Ray Brown observed that the newcomer was the only bassist he could think of who would be quick enough to keep up with Peterson.
The Montmartre was a regular stop-off for touring American stars, and, in the house band there, the young NHOP performed with saxophone legends such as Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Stan Getz; and that poet of jazz piano, Bill Evans, with whom he toured in Europe in 1965.
Orsted Pedersen had all the crucial qualities of a jazz double bassist - a big, rich sound, an improviser's melodic imagination, dexterity, soul, the ability to listen - but he seemed to have them in more liberal quantities than most.
His dialogues with Shepp, on the album Lookin' At Bird (1980), sometimes even seemed to put the bassist in the ringside seat, helping direct Shepp toward the essence of the music. He was also a prolific studio musician, working on some 400 albums in the period from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. As well as working with Oscar Peterson, NHOP fruitfully partnered guitarist Joe Pass, notably on the startlingly virtuosic album Chops (1978). He also worked with the Catalan pianist Tete Montoliu; the power and eloquence of his bass-playing can be heard on four of their recordings in the mid-1970s, notably Catalonian Fire (1974).
Orsted Pedersen was the bassist of choice for some of American jazz's best expatriates, including Dexter Gordon and pianist Kenny Drew, but, over the past two decades, he was increasingly active with European jazz musicians.

Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, died April 19th, 2005

Click to enjoy an amazing duo of Joe Pass and Niels-Henning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI-1sq5dFD4

Reference/Fonte - European Musicians

Tradução - Humberto Amorim

A cantora de jazz Dee Dee Bridgewater nasceu em Memphis, Tenn., em 27 de maio de 1950. O seu pai era um trompetista que ensinou música a Booker Little, George Coleman e Charles Lloyd.

Ela recebeu o apelido de Dee Dee no caminho e ganhou seu último nome em razão do matrimônio com o trompetista Cecil Bridgewater em 1970, mas depois acabou se divorciando. Cantou com a Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orquestra no início dos anos setenta.

Durante a carreira artistica cantou e/ou gravou com Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Dexter Gordon e Roland Kirk entre outros. Em 1974 deu um tempo as atividades jazzisticas e começou sua fase na Broadway, onde ganhou um prêmio Tony pelo seu papel em "The Wiz". Também cantou e atuou em peças como Sophisticated Ladies, Carmen, Cabaret, Black Ballad e com destaque em Lady Day, um retrato da vida conturbada e criativa de Billie Holiday.

Dee Dee voltou a ser cantora de jazz em 1987 e partir daí, continuou cantando em clubes e festivais de jazz e a gravar para a Verve. Entre esses trabalhos se destacam os tributos a Horace Silver e Ella Fitzgerald.

One of the best jazz singers of her generation, Dee Dee Bridgewater (who was married to trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater in the early '70s) had to move to France to find herself. She performed in Michigan during the 1960s and toured the Soviet Union in 1969 with the University of Illinois Big Band. She sang with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra (1972-1974) and appeared in the Broadway musical The Wiz (1974-1976).

Due to erratic records and a lack of direction, Bridgewater was largely overlooked in the jazz world by the time she moved to France in the 1980s. She appeared in the show Lady Day and at European jazz festivals, and eventually formed her own backup group. By the late '80s, Dee dee's Verve recordings were starting to alert American listeners as to her singing talents.

Her 1995 Horace Silver tribute disc (Love and Peace) is a gem and resulted in the singer extensively touring the U.S, reintroducing her to American audiences. She would find even more success with her tribute album, Dear Ella, which won a Grammy in 1997.

Clica para ver e ouvir Dee Dee em maravilhosa ação com uma big band italiana.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRbmF8BuZ94

Reference/Fonte: Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

e Jean-Marie Durand.

Pianist Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis, born may 27th, 1935, Chicago, Illinois, started playing piano at the age of six. He graduated from school in 1948, after winning both the American Legion Award as an outstanding scholar and a special award for piano services at the Edward Jenner Elementary School. He began his career as an accompanist at the Zion Hill Baptist Church, an experience of gospel that never left him. In 1956, he formed a jazz trio with the Clefs' rhythm section (whom he had known since high school) - bass player Eldee Young and drummer Redd Holt.
Lewis made his debut recordings with the Argo record label, which later became Chess Records. In 1964, "Something You Got" was a minor hit, but it was "The In Crowd", an instrumental cover version of Dobie Gray's hit, that made him famous, reaching number 5 in the US charts and selling over a million copies by the end of 1965.
His follow-up, "Hang On Sloopy", reached number 11 and sold another million. These hits set the agenda for his career. Earnings for club dates increased tenfold. His classic "Wade In The Water" was a major hit in 1966, and became a long-standing encore number for Graham Bond. Lewis had an astute ear for hip, commercial sounds: his replacement drummer Maurice White left in 1971 to found the platinum mega-sellers Earth, Wind And Fire.
His album success was a remarkable achievement, with over 30 of his albums making the Billboard Top 200 listings. By the 80s he was producing middle-of-the-road instrumental albums and accompanying singers, most notably Nancy Wilson. In the late 90s he was involved with the Urban Knights, a trilogy of releases with Grover Washington Jnr. and Omar Hakim. Nevertheless, it is his 60s hits - simple, infectious and funky - that will long endure.

Click to enjoy Ramsey Lewis on piano performing "Hang on Snoopy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwhXslVZOVo

Discography
Albums
Bossa Nova - 1962 (Argo)
Maiden Voyage - 1968 (Cadet)
Mother Nature's Son - 1969 (Cadet)
Another Voyage - 1969 (Cadet)
Ramsey Lewis: The Piano Player - 1970 (Cadet)
Them Changes - 1970 (Cadet)
Back To The Roots - 1971 (Cadet)
Upendo Ni Pamoja - 1972 (Columbia)
Funky Serenity - 1973 (Columbia)
Sun Goddess - 1974 (Columbia)
Don't It Feel Good - 1975 (Columbia)
Salongo - 1976 (Columbia)
Love Notes - 1977 (Columbia)
Tequila Mockingbird - 1977 (Columbia)
Legacy - 1978 (Columbia)
Routes - 1980 (Columbia)
Three Piece Suite - 1981 (Columbia)
Live At The Savoy - 1982 (Columbia)
Chance Encounter - 1983 (Columbia)
The Two Of Us - 1984 (Columbia)
Reunion - 1984 (Columbia)
Keys To The City - 1987 (Columbia)
Classic Encounter - 1988 (Columbia)
We Meet Again - 1989 (Columbia)
Urban Renewal - 1989 (Columbia)
Electric Collection - 1991 (Columbia)
Ivory Pyramid - 1992 (GRP)
Between The Keys - 1996 (GRP)
Dance Of the Soul - 1998 (GRP)
Appassionata - 1999 (Narada)
Meant To Be - 2002 (Narada)
Simple Pleasures - 2003 (Narada)
Time Flies - 2004 (Narada)
With One Voice - 2005 (Narada)

Reference - Wikipédia

O pianista de jazz Gonzalo Rubalcaba nasceu em La Habana no 27 de maio de 1963, filho de um renomado pianista cubano, Guilherme Rubalcaba, é um espirituoso e eclético artista, dotado de um virtuosismo técnico capaz de criar complexas escalas executadas de uma forma mais rápida que o ouvido possa escutar, Rubalcaba, em poucos anos de carreira, conseguiu se estabelecer como uma das estrelas no cenário internacional do jazz.

Depois de ter seu visto de passaporte negado várias vezes, na primavera de 1993, Rubalcaba foi liberado pelo U.S. State Department (graças aos lobbies de Lorraine Gillespie, de executivos da indústria fonográfica e de Wynton Marsalis) e desde então ele pode executar o seu talento com liberdade. Rubalcaba é filho de Guilhermo Rubalcaba, um renomado pianista cubano.

Inicialmente se dirigiu para a bateria, mas cedo ainda, aos nove anos trocou pelo piano, recebendo um grande leque de influências, que vai de Erroll Garner e Art Tatum até Oscar Peterson e McCoy Tyner. Quando era adolescente, ele teve o privilégio de improvisar com artistas famosos como Machito, Chico Hamilton e Paquito De Rivera. Gonzalo se graduou em composição musical no Instituto de Belas Artes de Havana.

Ganhou notoriedade internacional, com 23 anos, após deslumbrante apresentação em Montreux, Suiça. Dizzy Gillespie, sempre olhou com carinho para esse jovem e expressivo pianista, desde que encontrou Gonzalo em Cuba no Havana Jazz Plaza Festival em 1985. Dizzy dizia que ele era “o melhor pianista que escutei nos últimos dez anos”. Por outro lado, Rubalcaba considerava Gillespie pai musical e mentor humano e foi um dos que mais lamentaram a morte de Dizzy em 1993.

Jack Fuller do Chicago Times disse de Rubalcaba "a melhor novidade no jazz na última década". Entre as melhores obras de Gonzalo pela Blue Note estão "Blessing", "Inner Voyage" “Supernova”e com seu trio em Montreux.

Rubalcaba esteve em Manaus em 2008 participando do Amazonas Jazz Festival que a cada ano vem ganhando espaço e público.

Gonzalo Rubalcaba (born May 27, 1963 in Havana, Cuba) is one of the most important pianists in jazz today. A prolific virtuoso and composer, he fuses Cuban and American influences into a powerful and innovative hybrid. Known for his command of the keyboard throughout the 1990s, his recent work has shown broader range as Rubalcaba has matured into arguably one of the most important living jazz pianists.

Click to listen to brazilian music at its prime performed by João Bosco, Ivan Lins and Gonzalo Rubalcaba on keyboards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGsjpDkXZHE

Reference/Fonte -CDJ

Tradução - Humberto Amorim

AMIGO DA BOSSA NOVA.

Saxophonist Bud Shank was born may 27th in Dayton, Ohio as Clifford Everett Shank Jr., where he began playing the clarinet at his country school at age 10. Like many future jazz musicians of the period, he was inspired to play clarinet by the music of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw on the radio.
Two years later, he switched to the saxophone, the instrument with which he would launch a multi-faceted career. He played with Stan Kenton’s big band, helped define the West Coast jazz sound after moving to Los Angeles, contributed to the rise of bossa nova in the 1950s, switched to a more aggressive bebop sound, became a first-call studio musician in Hollywood, and recorded with Ravi Shankar and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
He drew the attention of Stan Kenton, in whose band, the Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra, he played alto saxophone. Throughout the 1950s, he toured with Kenton where he played alongside saxophonist Art Pepper, and performed frequently at L.A.’s Lighthouse, a club that helped bring renown to the cool jazz style of the West Coast. Although associated with cool jazz for most of his career, Shank was never comfortable with the label.
After leaving Kenton’s band in the mid ‘50s, Shank recorded with guitarist Laurindo Almeida, combining jazz and Brazilian music. He also began to change gears in terms of improvisation, eschewing his nonchalant tone for a more gregarious style more akin to bebop.
In the 1960s, with jazz audiences dwindling as rock music became more popular, Shank turned to studio work. He played flute and saxophone full time for movie scores and pop music. He famously recorded the flute solo on the hit song “California Dreamin” by the Mamas and the Papas.
After having been criticized for abandoning jazz, Shank returned to touring in the 1970s, when he formed a group consisting of brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Jeff Hamilton. The band, known as the "L.A. Four", performed Latin-tinged jazz all over the world for several years.
In the 1980s and 90’s Shank had developed a reputation as a jazz icon, and continued to perform, record, and teach clinics. He was an active teacher in Port Townsend, Washington before moving to Tucson, Arizona for health reasons.

On April 2nd, 2009, after returning from San Diego, California, where he had been recording, Bud Shank passed away at age 82. The cause of death was pulmonary embolism.

PEGGY LEE, WHAT A GAL!!!!!!!!

Peggy Lee, born Norma Doloris Egstrom on may 26th 1920, was an American Grammy award winning Jazz and Popular Music singer, songwriter, composer and actress, had Norwegian and Swedish ancestry. She was born in Jamestown, North Dakota, the seventh of eight children of Marvin Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad. Her mother died when she was four years old.

Lee found music to provide an escape from the abusive rampages of her cruel stepmother, Min, who tormented and beat young Norma. She first sang professionally with KOVC radio in Valley City, North Dakota. She soon landed her own series on a radio show sponsored by a local restaurant that paid her "salary" in food. Both during and after her high school years, she took whatever jobs she could find, waiting tables and singing for paltry sums on other local stations. Radio personality Ken Kennedy (actual name: Ken Sydness) of WDAY in Fargo (the most widely listened to station in North Dakota) changed her name from Norma to Peggy Lee.

Tired of the abuse from her stepmother, she left home and traveled to Los Angeles at the age of 17.
She returned to North Dakota for a tonsillectomy and eventually made her way to Chicago for a gig at The Buttery Room, a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel West, where she drew the attention of Benny Goodman, the jazz clarinetist and band leader. According to Lee, "Benny's then-fiancé, Lady Alice Duckworth, came into The Buttery, and she was very impressed. So the next evening she brought Benny in, because they were looking for replacement for Helen Forrest. And although I didn't know, I was it. He was looking at me strangely, I thought, but it was just his preoccupied way of looking. I thought that he didn't like me at first, but it just was that he was preoccupied with what he was hearing." She joined his band in 1941 and stayed for two years.
In early 1942, Lee had her first #1 hit, "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place," followed by 1943's "Why Don't You Do Right?" (originally sung by Lil Green), which sold over a million copies and made her famous. She sang with Goodman in two 1943 films, Stage Door Canteen and The Powers Girl.
In March 1943, Lee married Dave Barbour, the guitarist in Goodman's band. Peggy said, "David joined Benny's band and there was a ruling that no one should fraternize with the girl singer. But I fell in love with David the first time I heard him play, and so I married him. Benny then fired David, so I quit, too. Benny and I made up, although David didn't play with him anymore. Benny stuck to his rule. I think that's not too bad a rule, but you can't help falling in love with somebody."

When Lee and Barbour left the band, the idea was that he would work in the studios and she would keep house and raise their daughter, Nicki. But she drifted back towards songwriting and occasional recording sessions for the fledgling Capitol Records in 1947, for whom she produced a long string of hits, many of them with lyrics and music by Lee and Barbour, including "I Don't Know Enough About You" and "It's a Good Day" (1948). With the release of the smash-hit #1-selling record of 1947, "Mañana," her "retirement" was over.

In 1948, she joined Perry Como and Jo Stafford as one of the rotating hosts of the NBC Radio musical program Chesterfield Supper Club. She was also a regular on NBC's Jimmy Durante Show during the 1938-48 season.
She left Capitol for a few years in the early 1940s, but returned in 1943. She is most famous for her cover version of the Little Willie John hit "Fever", to which she added her own, uncopyrighted lyrics ("Romeo loved Juliet," "Captain Smith and Pocahontas") and her rendition of Leiber and Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" Her relationship with the Capitol label spanned almost three decades, aside from her brief but artistically rich detour (1952-1956) at Decca Records, where she recorded one of her most acclaimed albums Black Coffee (1956). While recording for Decca, Lee had hit singles with the songs "Lover" and "Mr. Wonderful."

She was also known as a songwriter with such hits as the songs from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp, for which she also supplied the singing and speaking voices of four characters. Her many songwriting collaborators, in addition to Barbour, included Laurindo Almeida, Harold Arlen, Sonny Burke, Cy Coleman, Gene DiNovi, Duke Ellington, Dave Grusin, Dick Hazard, Quincy Jones, Francis Lai, Jack Marshall, Johnny Mandel, Marian McPartland, Willard Robison, Lalo Schifrin, Hubie Wheeler, guitarist Johnny Pisano and Victor Young.

She wrote the lyrics for "I Don't Know Enough About You", "It's A Good Day", "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'", composed with Duke Ellington, "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", "Fever", the no.1 hit "Manana (Is Soon Enough For Me)", "Bless You (For The Good That's In You)" with Mel Torme, "What More Can a Woman Do?", "Don't Be Mean to Baby", "New York City Ghost" with Victor Young, "You Was Right, Baby", "Just an Old Love of Mine", "Everything's Movin' Too Fast", "The Shining Sea", "He's A Tramp", "The Siamese Cat Song", "There Will Be Another Spring", "Johnny Guitar" with Victor Young, "Sans Souci" with Sonny Burke, "So What's New?", "Don't Smoke in Bed", "I Love Being Here With You", "Happy With the Blues" with Harold Arlen, "Where Can I Go Without You?", "Things Are Swingin'", "Then Was Then" with Cy Coleman, and many others. The first song that Peggy Lee composed was "Little Fool", published in 1941. "What More Can a Woman Do?" was recorded by Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. "Manana (Is Soon Enough For Me)" was no.1 for 9 weeks on the Billboard singles chart in 1948, from the week of March 13 to May 8.

During a time when youths began turning to rock'n'roll, she was one of the mainstays of Capitol recordings. She was the first of the "old guard" to recognize this new genre, as is evident in her recordings of the Beatles, Randy Newman, Carole King, James Taylor and other up-and-coming songwriters. From 1957 until her final disc for the company in 1972, she routinely produced a steady stream of two or three albums per year which usually included standards (often arranged in a style quite different from the original), her own compositions, and material from young artists.

Click here to enjoy Peggy Lee singing "Why don't you do right?" before Benny Goodman's Orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N30aWEgeNk

She passed awy in january 2002.

Reference - Wikipédia

THE JAZZ SINGER.

O cantor e ator Al Jolson, nasceu no 26 de maio de 1886 e ganhou notoriedade ao se apresentar pintando o rosto com tinta preta. Foi o primeiro judeu a se tornar artista de sucesso nos Estados Unidos.

Al nasceu numa família judia russa, na Lituânia, recebendo o nome de Asa Yoelson. Quando criança cantava na sinagoga onde seu pai também era cantor. Já nos EUA, sua primeira aparição deu-se aos 13 anos, na peça Children of the Guetho, em Nova Iorque. Adotando o estilo menestrel, atuava em circos e bares, antes de chegar à Broadway. The Jazz Singer (1927) o primeiro filme sonoro da história do cinema, foi seu filme mais marcante, onde apresentou-se com a famosa blackface (cara preta).

Al Jolson faleceu em 1950.

Al Jolson , born on may 26th 1886 in Lithuania, Russian Empire, was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian, and actor, and, according to PBS, the "first openly Jewish man to become an entertainment star in America." His career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950, during which time he was commonly dubbed "the world's greatest entertainer.” Numerous well-known singers were influenced by his music, including Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, and Bob Dylan, who once referred to him as "somebody whose life I can feel."
By 1920, he was America’s most famous and highest paid entertainer. Between 1911 and 1928, Jolson had nine sell-out Winter Garden shows in a row, more than 80 hit records, and 16 national and international tours. Yet he's best remembered today for his leading role in the world’s first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, released in 1927.

After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with the 1946 Oscar-winning biographical film, The Jolson Story. Larry Parks played Jolson with the songs dubbed in with Jolson’s real voice. A sequel, Jolson Sings Again, was released in 1949, and was nominated for three Oscars. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Jolson became the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II, and again in 1950 became the first star to perform for GIs in Korea, doing 42 shows in 16 days.
According to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, "Jolson was to jazz, blues, and ragtime what Elvis Presley was to rock 'n' roll." Being the first popular singer to make a spectacular "event" out of singing a song, he became a “rock star” before the dawn of rock music. His specialty was building stage runways extending out into the audience. He would run up and down the runway and across the stage, "teasing, cajoling, and thrilling the audience," often stopping to sing to individual members, all the while the "perspiration would be pouring from his face, and the entire audience would get caught up in the ecstasy of his performance."
He enjoyed performing in blackface makeup – a theatrical convention in the early 20th century. With his unique and dynamic style of singing black music, like jazz and blues, he was later credited with single-handedly introducing African-American music to white audiences. As early as 1911, at the age of 25, he also became noted for fighting black discrimination on the Broadway stage. Jolson’s well-known theatrics and his promotion of equality on Broadway helped pave the way for many black performers, playwrights, and songwriters, including Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, and Ethel Waters.

He passed away in 1950.

O MONSTRO SAGRADO DO JAZZ.

Miles Davis nasceu a 26 de maio de 1926 em Alton, Illinois, numa família de classe média, que se mudou para East St. Louis quando ainda era uma criança.

Já com dez anos Davis estava tocando trompete e pouco tempo depois estava participando da banda de sua escola e tocando em vários grupos do jazz local.

Quando tinha 18 anos, Davis viajou para New York estudar na famosa Julliard School of Music, mas cedo caiu na noite novaiorquina, freqüentando os melhores locais de jazz. Começou primeiro tocando com Coleman Hawkins e em seguida se juntou a Charlie Parker com quem gravou vários álbuns no final dos anos 40, em New York e Califórnia.Em 1948 Davis formou seu próprio noneto, que foi um grupo pioneiro e muito influente no desenvolvimento do cool jazz.

Depois de gravar em 1949 o clássico “Birth of the Cool”, Davis deixou a banda (que continuou sem ele) para se apresentar no Paris Jazz Festival e trabalhar com outros músicos.Durante o início dos anos 50, Miles Davis já viciado em heroína, realizou uma série de fracos álbuns dentro do contexto do hard bop desapontando a maioria dos críticos de jazz. Mas em 1955 ele largou a droga, assinou com a Columbia, e fez o seu retorno no prestigiado Newport Jazz Festival. Formando um novo quinteto com o saxofonista John Coltrane, Davis gravou diversos clássicos álbuns na segunda metade de 50, até o grupo se dissolver.

Ele voltou a colaborar com Gil Evans em vários projetos, onde ele experimentou o flugelhorn ao invés do trompete antes de retomar em 1958 um novo sexteto com John Coltrane (sax-tenor), Cannonball Adderley (sax-alto), Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (baixo) e Philly Joe Jones (bateria). Foi com essa formação que Davis gravou seus mais famosos álbuns da fase do hard bop: “Milestones”(1958) e “Kind of Blue”(1959), os quais introduziram as improvisações modais no jazz.

O grupo encerrou suas atividades no começo doa anos 60.Em 1964 Davis formou um novo quinteto experimental, que contava com Herbie Hancock(piano), Wayne Shorter(saxes tenor e soprano), Ron Carter(baixo) e Tony Willians(bateria). Aos poucos o grupo foi trocando seus integrantes, mudando seu estilo, caminhando primeiro para o avant-garde e depois para o eletrônico.

Em 1969 lançou o jazz-rock ao gravar a obra-prima “Bitches Brew”, que foi o primeiro álbum de jazz a vender mais de um milhão de cópias. No começo dos anos 70, a produção de Davis se tornou cada vez mais acessível, com um jazz-rock carregado nas guitarras, keyboards e efeitos de estúdio.

Isso tudo fez com que se distanciasse mais ainda dos críticos de jazz.Em 1975, Miles Davis com a saúde abalada pelas drogas e o álcool, abruptamente anunciou sua retirada do cenário do jazz. Seis anos depois ele retornou com uma nova banda cujos arranjos funky pop continuaram a afastar os críticos e por outro lado ganhou um grande número de fãs e consumidores. Através dos anos 80 Davis excursionou e gravou inúmeros discos, até falecer em setembro de 1991 com a idade de 65 anos, deixando um grande e permanente legado ao mundo do jazz.

Click e desfrute da performance de Miles Davis, Paul Chambers, John Coltrane, Gil Evans em " So What" do antológico cd "Kind of Blue"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8QhjwVy7Ng

Fonte - AAJ

SIVUCA, O SANFONEIRO-MOR.

Severino Dias de Oliveira, o Sivuca, nasceu no 26 de maio de 1930 em uma família de sapateiros e agricultores em Itabaiana na Paraíba e ficou conhecido mundialmente como compositor e acordeonista (sanfoneiro).

Contribuiu para o enriquecimento da música brasileira e recebeu reconhecimento internacional por seus trabalhos que incluem choros, frevos, forrós e outros ritmos.Começou a tocar sanfona aos nove anos de idade, em feiras e festas populares.

Aos 15, mudou-se para Recife, onde trabalhou na Rádio Clube de Pernambuco e recebeu o apelido de Sivuca. Em 1948 tornou-se aluno do maestro Guerra Peixe e foi contratado pela Rádio Jornal do Comércio. Dois anos depois, em parceira com Humberto Teixeira, gravou o seu primeiro disco, pela Continental, que incluía a música "Adeus, Maria Fulô". Em abril de 1955, Sivuca foi morar no Rio de Janeiro.

Durante três anos foi artista contratado da Rádio e TV Tupi.Em 1958, depois de várias apresentações na Europa, decidiu morar em Lisboa. No ano seguinte foi trabalhar em Paris, onde permaneceu quatro anos.Em 1964 Sivuca mudou-se para Nova York, onde assumiu a direção musical das gravações da cantora africana Miriam Makeba.

Excursionou pelo mundo e gravou na Suécia e no Japão. Retornando aos EUA criou músicas para filmes e realizou projetos com músicos como Hermeto Pascoal e Paul Simon, entre outros. Sivuca foi casado com a compositora Gloria Gadelha, com quem desenvolveu um vasto trabalho, com destaque para o forró "Feira de Mangaio". Outras parcerias bem-sucedidas foram "João e Maria", com Chico Buarque e "No Tempo dos Quintais" e "Cabelo de Milho", ambas com Paulo Tapajós.

Após lutar contra um câncer na laringe, Sivuca morreu aos 76 anos em dezembro de 2006.

Clique aqui para desfrutar da musicalidade de Sivuca na companhia da maravilhosa Clara Nunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxPcHoh-fqY

Recomendo a garimpagem pelo disco-joia abaixo:

CHIKO'S BAR - TOOTS THIELEMANS & SIVUCA
Sivuca


Faixas/tracks

1
I just called to say I love you

(Stevie Wonder)

2
Vai passar

(Chico Buarque - Francis Hime)

3
Sandra

(Luiz Avellar)

4
Imagine

(John Lennon)

5
Out of nowhere

(E.Heyman - J.Green)

6
Pela luz dos olhos teus

(Tom Jobim - Vinicius de Moraes)

7
There's no greater love

(J.Spencer)

8
Luz do sol

(Caetano Veloso)

THE VOCAL BLUES.

Mamie Smith nasceu no 26 de maio de 1883 em Ohio e muito embora não tenha sido considerada “tecnicamente” uma cantora de blues, ainda que negra, marcou o seu nome no cenário da musica americana por ter sido a primeira artista negra a gravar o blues vocal. O disco “Crazy Blues” (publicado no 10 de agosto de 1920) alcançou recorde de vendagem com 200 mil cópias nos primeiros 12 meses, ato contínuo, levou as gravadoras a considerar com maior atenção o grande potencial mercadológico dos “discos étnicos” que abriram as portas para Bessie Smith, (sem parentesco) e tantos outros artistas de blues e jazz.

Durante a sua carreira musical chegou a excursionar com uma banda chamada “Jazz Hounds” que contava com a participação dos gigantes do jazz Coleman Hawkins, Bubber Miley, Johnny Dunn e outros e também viajou com a banda de Andy Kirk e Fats Pichon

Mamie chegou a participar de vários filmes incluindo o “Paradise in Harlem” já no final de sua carreira.
Sua discografia é extensa e foi reeditada em lps pela “Document Label”. Em cd alguns estão disponíveis em sites especializados como a amazon.com.

Mamie Smith faleceu em 1946.


Though technically not truly a blues singer, although black, Ohio-born Mamie Smith, sang two blues numbers written for her by black songwriter Perry Bradford: That Thing Called Love (february 1920), notched her place in American music as the first black female artist to record a vocal blues, and Crazy Blues (august 1920), the first blues to become a nation-wide hit (with Willie Smith on piano). It sold 200,000 copies the first year. She was accompanied by the "Jazz Hounds", that featured Memphis trumpeter Johnny Dunn, the first master of the plunger mute. Such feat made record labels aware of the huge potential market for “race records”, thus paving the way for Bessie Smith (no relation) and other blues and jazz performers.

Before Smith's hit, blues music only catered to the underworld of brothels and vaudeville theaters. Afterwards, blues music became as "respectable" as the black syncopated orchestras, despite the fact that it was a music about sorrow instead of joy
An entertainer who sported a powerful, penetrating, feminine voice with belting vaudeville qualities, as opposed to blues inflections, Smith toured as a dancer with Tutt-Whitney's Smart Set Company in her early teens, and sang in Harlem clubs before World War I. Apparently, Smith’s pioneering recording session was an accident, since she was filling in for Sophie Tucker, but the success of the record made her wealthy. Soon thereafter, Smith began touring and recording with such jazz notables as Coleman Hawkins, Bubber Miley, Johnny Dunn, and more.

She also appeared in several films, including Paradise in Harlem late in her life (1939). In the 1980s, all of her recordings were reissued on LP by the imported Document label.
Mamie Smith passed away in 1946.

Reference - Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

Traducão Humberto Amorim

(Jimmy é o clarinetista da esquerda na foto.)

Jimmy Hamilton - clarinet, tenor saxophone was born on may 25th 1917. Multi-reedman Jimmy was for a quarter-century a mainstay of jazz's most important large ensemble, the Duke Ellington Orchestra. On clarinet, Hamilton was a model of polished, cool style and substance, while his less often featured work on tenor saxophone allowed him to reveal funkier inclinations.
He was hired by Ellington as the replacement for Barney Brigard in 1943, and he stayed on with the Duke until 1968. Prior to joining Ellington, he had worked with Lucky Millinder, Jimmy Mundy, and most noticeably Teddy Wilson's sextet (1940-1942) and Eddie Heywood; Hamilton also recorded “Gloomy Sunday” with Billie Holiday.

While he was featured primarily as a clarinetist, where he employed a cool smooth tone, he sometimes turned to the tenor on which he was a little rougher and raucous.
When Jimmy took the job with Duke he actually had another offer on the table from Count Basie. Basie wanted him to perform only on tenor sax, however, and Jimmy wanted the chance to perform on clarinet, as well. Jimmy also commented that he was a great fan of Ellington's compositions and that Duke was sure to challenge him with new material. He was certainly right about that! Duke and Billy Strayhorn wrote many featured parts for Jimmy's clarinet and tenor sax improvisations (Air-conditioned Jungle, Deep Purple, and Bluebird of Delphi; to name a few).
After leaving Ellington, Hamilton moved to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, where he taught music in public schools. Jimmy and his Quartet (with his wife, Vivian on piano) had a weekly radio show (WSTX AM radio station) from1971 to ‘77 which broadcast their Friday night gig, live from the Holger Danske Hotel in Christiansted, St. Croix. That broadcast made them fans all throughout the Caribbean. He did return to the U.S. to play with John Carter’s Clarinet Summit in 1981 and 1985, and gigged a bit in New York during 1989-1990, but was otherwise little heard from in his later years.
Hamilton did not record much as a leader, but did put together some fine sessions as his two sessions recorded two weeks apart in 1961 for Swingville (Prestige's mainstream offshoot), they spotlight Hamilton on both clarinet and tenor. “It's About Time!” offers a host of tuneful, loose blues, some of whose titles indicate the participants' collective sense of humor (”Stupid But Not Crazy,” “Nits and Wits”), while “Can't Help Swinging” balances four bluesy originals with an equal number of top-notch standards. The sextet finds Hamilton joined on the front line by fellow distinguished Ellingtonians Clark Terry and Britt Woodman, and both dates are graced by Tommy Flanagan's piano.
Hamilton went on to do a live recording in 1985 from the Virgin Islands. This date “Rediscovered at the Buccaneer,” finds Hamilton playing clarinet and alto in prime form with a quartet also including pianist Gary Mayone, bassist Joe Straws and drummer Delroy Thomas. Hamilton performs five lazy love songs and five tunes associated with Duke Ellington. These would be his last recordings.
Jimmy Hamilton passed in Sept. 1994.

Reference - AAJ

NINGUÉM PRECISA DE IMITADORES.

De midinette du jazz parmi tant d'autres, Sophie Milman est devenue une chanteuse assez attrayante pour se produire au Théâtre Maisonneuve, soit le 6 juillet prochain dans le cadre du 30e Festival de jazz de Montréal. D'abord jeune imitatrice aux velléités de diva, cette Torontoise aux origines russes et israéliennes a tout fait pour être prise au sérieux. En témoigne son nouvel album, Take Love Easy.
Spectaculaire malgré sa petite taille, Sophie Milman tourne partout dans le monde avec son quartette acoustique, régulièrement aux États-Unis où elle écume clubs de jazz, théâtres, parfois même de plus grands espaces tels le Hollywood Bowl, où elle a chanté devant 40 000 personnes. «J'y ai presque eu une crise cardiaque lorsque j'ai vu cette masse humaine», relate-t-elle, hilare.

Trois albums studio, de nombreuses tournées, Sophie Milman veut certes être prise au sérieux, mais... Plusieurs nouvelles chanteuses associées aux étiquettes de jazz n'ont que peu à voir avec le genre. A-t-on besoin de les nommer? La Torontoise ne le sait que trop... et croit être bien plantée dans la tradition.
«Je suis proche du jazz et je dois toujours me battre contre cette idée que chanter revient à être pop. C'est d'ailleurs pourquoi les chansons pop que j'interprète le sont dans un esprit jazz. Si je reprends 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover de Paul Simon, par exemple, je m'efforce d'amener la chanson côté jazz.»
Sophie Milman se réclame de l'école classy, elle croit aux lignes mélodiques élégantes et soyeuses que le sable fin et le léger vibrato de sa voix mettent à profit.
«Je ne scatte pas, fait-elle remarquer, je ne crois pas que ce soit essentiel. Je dirais même que plusieurs grandes chanteuses de jazz ne le faisaient pas non plus. Carmen McRae, que je considère comme la plus importante de toutes, ne scattait pas. Je préfère improviser avec la mélodie.»
Un seul petit détail... Carmen McRae, née en 1920 et morte en 1994, aurait pu être la grand-mère, sinon l'arrière-grand-mère de Sophie Milman. Comment aller plus loin en 2009?
«Je ne trouve pas si difficile de trouver mon identité. Bien entendu, j'ai le son d'une chanteuse blanche, je n'ai donc pas le style de mes préférées, c'est-à-dire Carmen McRae, Shirley Horn ou Cassandra Wilson... Mais j'aime aussi Blossom Dearie, Carol Sloane, Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang. J'aime également Leonard Cohen, James Taylor ou Bonnie Raitt, j'aime la musique classique, la soul ou le vieux rock de qualité.»
À l'évidence, Sophie Milman est un esprit classique, pour qui la contribution artistique se situe à l'intérieur de paramètres connus.
«Je sais ce que j'aime, je sais ce que je veux chanter, je sais comment le faire. Je ne copie plus, je n'imite personne. Je constate, d'ailleurs, que plusieurs jeunes chanteurs trouvent leur propre voie, Liz Wright par exemple. Or, il faut d'abord admettre que rien n'est absolument neuf, que tout se fonde sur la tradition. Les Romains ont emprunté aux Grecs et ainsi de suite. Forcément, nous construisons à partir de ce que nous savons», soulève la chanteuse, avant de résumer sa quête identitaire.
«Mon premier album (éponyme) fut un exercice de style. Au deuxième (Make Someone Happy), j'avais appris davantage. Au troisième? J'ai le sentiment d'avoir trouvé l'angle que je cherchais avec Take Love Easy. Je n'ai plus cette insécurité que confère le manque de connaissances essentielles à ce métier. Le temps et l'expérience ont fait leur travail. Écoutez la grande Dianne Reeves au début de sa carrière, c'était Sarah Vaughan; maintenant il y a un peu de toutes les chanteuses «classiques» en elle... et beaucoup de Dianne Reeves.
«Chose certaine, personne n'a besoin d'imitateurs.»

Pour Alain Brunet.

La Presse

VAMOS CELEBRAR O CENTENÁRIO DE MERCER.

As celebrações referentes ao centenário de Johnny Mercer,(na foto), neste ano, coloca-o em boas companhias. Em 2009 ocorrerão as celebrações dos centenários de Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Lester Young e Ben Webster. Os eventos para Mercer servirão como lembranças sobre como ele alcançou seus objetivos, utilizando apenas sua voz e caneta.

O centenário de Mercer teve sua comemoração lançada em 16 de Novembro de 2008 com um concerto de aniversário no “Johnny Mercer Theatre” localizado no “Savannah Civic Center” em Atlanta na Geórgia.

A Fundação Johnny Mercer tem mais eventos planejados para este ano.“Será lançado um livro com os trabalhos de Mercer organizado por Robert Kimball”, declarou o diretor executivo da Fundação Mercer, Frank Scardino. “O lançamento está previsto para o verão norte-americano e cobrirá suas colaborações com Harold Arlen, Henry Mancini, Duke Ellington e muitos outros. Clint Eastwood está servindo como produtor executivo de um documentário dirigido por Bruce Ricker sobre a carreira de Mercer. Espera-se que seja utilizado como parte da “American Masters” através da PBS”.Em conjunto com os eventos da “Mercer Foundation”, o “Savannah Music Festival” na Geórgia, que ocorreu entre 19 de Março e 15 de Abril, apresentou concertos e programas educacionais sobre o compositor.

O festival contratou o saxofonista Ted Nash para apresentar um novo arranjo para a composição de Mercer “Blues in The Night”. Uma grande canção como esta reinventa-se perpetuamente. Scardino afirma que a saúde da Fundação que dirige comprova a permanência das composições de Mercer.Metade dos ganhos que são gerados pelo legado de Mercer vão para a Fundação declarou Scardino. “Mais de 30 anos após sua morte, sua música provém os fundos que nos permite realizar os programas de filantropia e educacionais que apoiamos.

Em anos recentes só a parte caritativa tem recebido, aproximadamente, U$ 500,000 anualmente”.Scardino mostra que “Dream” está na trilha sonora do filme “Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day”. “Trav´lin ´Light” e “Blues in The Night’ são canções título de discos recém lançados por Queen Latifah e Ann Hampton Callaway, respectivamente. “Moon River” está sendo utilizada em uma corrente campanha da Mastercard.“As canções de Mercer ainda têm impacto na vida das pessoas " declarou Scardino. "Este legado viverá através dos novos vocalistas. Parte do objetivo principal da Fundação é propagar o grande repertório norte-americano, porque novas gerações necessitam saber que algo foi escrito em outra época e que pode soar contemporâneo”.As composições tiveram início nos anos 30 do século passado. Mercer, que também cantava, se transformou em celebridade como compositor.

Sua foto frequentemente aparecia com sua própria partitura. Uma rara distinção para uma simples canção. Em um tempo em que poucos compositores tinham audácia ou talento para cantar suas próprias canções, ele o fez bem.Sua vocalização era genial, simples e coloquial.

Nos anos 30 , Mercer gravou com Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman e Bing Crosby. A interação com Crosby era como uma deliciosa conversação, mas as palavras de Mercer não paravam em Crosby. Hoje ninguém tem de puxar pela memória para lembrar versos como "set´em up, Joe”, “P.S, I Love You” ou mesmo para a dançante “Dig you in the land of nod”. Elas faziam parte do vernáculo comum, quando foram sacadas e plantadas em uma série de canções.

Mais importante , é que jovens vocalistas ainda as apresentam.Daryl Sherman, que tem uma coletânea de músicas de Mercer , provisoriamente entitulada “Jeepers Creepers!”, a ser lançada no próximo verão norte-americano, declarou: “Muitas das letras de Mercer refletem sua adolescência na Geórgia com imagens de pessegueiros e frutas de estação. Era o seu ouvido para o vernáculo que dava ao seu trabalho muita personalidade.Ele privilegiava sons amplos de vogal e usava onamatopeias. Suas palavras eram visuais e coloridas.Mas , para um cantor, ele fraseava de forma coloquial”

Fonte : Downbeat / John McDonough

O saxofonista Archie Shepp nasceu em Fort Lauderdale, Florida, no dia 24 de maio de 1937. O multitalentoso Shepp, também professor e dramaturgo, cresceu na Filadélfia e estudou literatura dramática na Faculdade de Goddard onde recebeu o bacharelado em 1959.

Conduzindo uma carreira dupla em New York, Shepp estava tocando sax-alto em bandas de dança ao mesmo tempo em que procurava um lugar no mundo do teatro. Por estar em New York, ele ficou sob a influência de John Coltrane. Daí optou pelo sax-tenor, passando a tocá-lo em vários grupos de jazz, principalmente aqueles que estavam identificados com o free-jazz. As primeiras experiências profissionais incluíram trabalho com Cecil Taylor, de 1960 a 62.

Foi co-líder junto com Bill Dixon de um quarteto (1962-63) e de 1963-64, com Don Cherry e John Tchicai no New York Contemporary Five. No seu grupo participaram entre outros, Roswell Rudd, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Chambers, Phillips Barre, Beaver Harris e Grachan Moncur III. Shepp se tornou professor da faculdade de S.U.N.Y. Buffalo, no departamento de estudos sobre os negros, de 1969-74, depois se transferiu para Universidade de Massachusetts em 1974. Em 1978, UMass o nomeou um professor associado.

Shepp continuou gravando e viajando nos anos oitenta, passandondo muito do seu tempo na Europa. Suas colaborações significativas incluem gravações com Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Max Roach e Horace Parlan.

O seu estilo continua combinando rastros de free-jazz com canções simples, tocando alternadamente no seu tenor, uivos e gritos agudos e interpretações melódicas adoráveis. A influência de Duke Ellington no seu trabalho pode ser visto na presença de muitas canções de Ellington que estão gravadas nos álbuns de Shepp.

Outra característica foi a inclusão de poesia em sua música, projetando a experiência negra na América.

Fonte - Jazzatall

FRANCESCO CAFISO, A GRANDE REVELAÇÃO DO JAZZ ITALIANO.

Italian sax player Francesco Cafiso, born on may 24th 1989 is an amazing musical revelation. One of the most precocious talents in the history of jazz. When he was barely nine years old Francesco took his first steps, working with internationally famous musicians.
First of all, veteran jazz critic Ira Gitler was blown away by the young man's incredible set with veteran pianist Franco D'Andrea at the 2002 Pescara Jazz Festival, most of which was issued on the Philology CD Standing Ovation and was described in detail by Gitler in an article written for the Jazz Journalist Association newsletter. Meeting Wynton Marsalis at a laterfestival was a decisive moment for Francesco’s career. Amazed by Francesco’s qualities, Marsalis took him along with his septet on his 2003 European tour, where Francesco performed in prestigious theatres in the largest cities in Europe.
From that moment on, Francesco went through a series of important experiences both in Italy and abroad. He attended the 2004 International Association of Jazz Education in New York City, amazing audiences in his nightly jazz sessions with veterans James Williams (piano), Ray Drummond (bass) and Ben Riley (drums). Phil Woods, who obviously knows the difference between musicianship and press hype, commented to one writer in jest, “I'd like to break his arm!”
He won various important prizes: the Massimo Urbani National Award to Urbisaglia, the EuroJazz Award to Lecco, the International Jazz Festivals Organization Award to New York, the World Saxophone Competition to London, the Django d’Or to Rome and many others.

In order to improve his English, but most of all, in order to experience new musical styles and genres, Francesco went to New Orleans where he played with Ellis Marsalis, Jason Marsalis, Thadeus Richard, Bob Franch, Maurice Brown and many others important local musicians while taking special lessons from Alvin Batiste.

In 2005 the Swing Journal, the authoritative Japanese jazz music magazine, confers him the New Stars Award, prize reserved to the emergent foreign talents. Immediately later, the affirmation in the Top Jazz, referendum of the Italian Music Jazz magazine, that recognizes him as the best new talent of the year.

Francesco performed with a number of great musicians: Hank Jones, Cedar Walton, Mulgrew Miller, Ronnie Matthews, Jimmy Cobb, Ben Riley, Ray Drummond, Reggie Johnson, Doug Sides Lewis Nash, James Williams, Joe Lovano, George Mraz, Joe Locke, Enrico Rava, Gianni Basso, Dado Moroni, Franco D’Andrea and many other Italian and American musicians.

In February 2006 Francesco has achieved the Diploma in Transverse Flute at the Musical Institute V. Bellini in Catania with the Elena Favaron guide and he studies piano jazz.

Discography:

Concerto For Michel Petrucciani Philology 2004

Cafiso & Strings: A Tribute to Charlie Parker Giotto Music 2005

New York Lullaby Venus 2006

Seven Steps to Heaven Venus 2006

Happy Time CamJazz 2006

Jazz Italiano Live 2006 Casa del Jazz 2006

Standing Ovation Franco D'Andrea Philology 2004

First Orchestra Jazz del Mediterraneo Philology 2004

Jazz Italiano Live 2007 Maria Pia De Vito Casa del Jazz 2007 .

Reference - AAJ