Monday, November 30, 2009

JACK SHELDON, HORNS OF PLENTY


Trumpet player Jack Sheldon, was born on November 30, 1931. Along with Lester Young in the 30s, Dizzy Gillespie in the 40s, and Zoot Simms in the 50s, Jack Sheldon is one of the Original Lions of the West Coast Sound. Jack's a premier improviser, is one of only a handful of trumpet players throughout jazz history who has developed his own distinctive “signature sound”. It's an inimitable sound that comes from his heart and soul, what Miles Davis called “a voice”.


As an integral part of the West Coast Scene of the 1950s, he played an important role in developing that era's bebop-inspired sound. His solid connection to that vibrant period in West coast Jazz surfaces with each impeccable solo.


Sheldon's collaborative list is indeed long and impressive: Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Curtis Counce, Shelly Manne, Art Pepper, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr., Rosemary Clooney, Diane Schuur and many other greats.


Nominated five times for the Playboy International Artist Of The Year Award, Jack Sheldon continues to dazzle audiences with his prodigious chops and unerring sense of swing. Sheldon has been featured on innumerable soundtracks. It was his sensuous trumpet solo that immortalized Johnny Mandel's The Shadow of Your Smile from the Taylor-Burton film The Sandpiper. Today, his lyrical trumpet continues to garner the spotlight on soundtracks like Object of Beauty, The Super, White Men Can't Jump, For The Boys, Mr. Saturday Night, and his trumpet work is heard like a character in the Francis Ford Coppla film One From The Heart.
A sublime vocalist, Jack Sheldon has been ranked as one of the top jazz singers of the day. In addition to the many recordings show casing his trumpet, he's been a featured singer on soundtracks as well.


Jack Sheldon made his acting/comedy debut on The Steve Allen Show. His comedic skill was an immediate hit and he was soon given his own TV sitcom by CBS, Run Buddy Run. Over the years Sheldon has also appeared regularly on various television series including Dragnet, and Star Trek-The Next Generation. But his most powerful and popular TV stint was his tremendously successful 18 year association with Merv Griffin as featured soloist, resident comedian and musical director on The Merv Griffin Show.
In 2008 a feature documentray film opened, Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon, celebrated with many notable music and film personalities in interviews and rare archival films with Jack playing with Benny Goodman, Chet Baker and with his own remarkable band.
Jack Sheldon "Trying to Get Good"
Press Quotes
Compelling and Highly Entertaining of the Consummate Musician, Irrepressible Comedian, and Ultimate Jazz Survivor, Jack Sheldon. Leonard Maltin-Entertainment Tonight

Sunday, November 29, 2009

BILLY STRAYHORN, TAKE THE "A" TRAIN.


O compositor, arranjador, pianista e músico profissional William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn nasceu em Dayton, Ohio no 29 de Novembro de 1915.



Strayhorn iniciou sua carreira no Pittsburgh Music Institute e foi na cidade de Pittsgurg que ele conheceu Duke Ellington após um concerto, em 1938 depois de uma breve e informal demonstração de seu talento, Strayhorn foi convidado por Ellington para trabalhar com ele em Nova Iorque, o que resultou em uma parceria musical bastante íntima e que durou mais de vinte e cinco anos, terminando somente com a morte prematura de Strayhorn, que foi vítima de cancêr.



Uma das composições mais notavelmente associadas a Strayhorn é Lush Life, escrita por ele entre 1933 e 1938. Outra peça de Strayhorn é "Take the A Train", classificada como um Jazz Standard, e que freqüentemente era tocada no início dos shows de Ellington e bem como de Ella Fitzgerald.



Strayhorn tocou a sua última peça, Blue Cloud, para seu parceiro Duke Ellington no hospital, antes de falecer. Meses depois Ellington, tendo alterado o título para Blood Count, incorporou esta última peça produzida pelo seu amigo, como um tributo a ele, em seu album "And His Mother Called Him Bill."



Strayhorn sempre foi mantido a sombra de Ellington, apesar de seu próprio talento excepcional. Algumas das biografias sobre Strayhorn sugerem que isso tenha sido assim por ele ter vivido uma vida abertamente homosexual numa era em que a homofobia era mais a regra do que uma exceção.


Billy Strayhorn, faleceu em Nova York em Maio de 1967.

Billy plays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-O6wC6svs8

Fonte - Wikipédia. (http://www.billystrayhorn.com/)

BILLY HART, THE 500 RECORDS DRUMMER



Jazz drummer Billy Hart was born in Washington D.C. on November 29, 1940.


His first steady gigs of note were with Shirley Horn and Buck Hill. In the 1960’s he toured with Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Eddie Harris, and Pharoah Sanders. In 1970 he joined Herbie Hancock’s Sextet, and after that band broke up in 1973 he joined first McCoy Tyner (two years) and then Stan Getz (four).


In the 1980’s Hart was a regular with many bands and leaders: Gerry Mulligan, Billy Harper, Clark Terry, The New York Jazz Quartet, the Jazztet, Mingus Dynasty and most extensively with Quest (with David Liebman, Ritchie Beirach, and Ron McClure).


In the 1990’s Hart was a member of the Charles Lloyd, Joe Lovano, and Tom Harrell groups, and in 1999 he began performing with the Three Tenors (Liebman, Lovano, and Michael Brecker).


He is on about 500 hundred records as a sideman.


Billy Hart plays with Jimmy Smith.





Reference - Allmusic


GATO BARBIERI, O JAZZISTA ARGENTINO




O saxofonista tenor de jazz Leandro J. Barbieri, conhecido como Gato Barbieri, nasceu no 28 de novembro de 1934 na Provincia de Rosário na Argentina.


Foi inicialmente influenciado pelo free jazz noa anos 60, Barbieri evoluiu para o jazz latino, na década seguinte.


Atualmente, menos ativo, Barbieri compõe, e toca, smooth jazz.



Barbieri recebeu um Grammy pela trilha sonora do filme "O Último Tango em Paris", de Bernardo Bertolucci.


Gato toca "Last Tango in Paris"





Fonte - Wikipédia

RANDY BRECKER


Trumpet player Randy Brecker was born into a very musical family on November 27, 1945 in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. His father Bob is a pianist, songwriter and singer who loved to listen to recordings of the great jazz trumpet players such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown and has been shaping the sound of Jazz, R&B and Rock for more than three decades.


His trumpet and flugelhorn performances have graced hundreds of albums by a wide range of artists from James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Chaka Khan, George Benson and Parliament-Funkadelics to Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan, David Sanborn, Horace Silver, Jaco Pastorius and Frank Zappa. Randy Brecker's history is as varied as it is distinguished.



Randy spent summers in stage-band camps where he got his earliest experience in ensemble playing. He began playing R&B and funk in local bar bands while in his teens, but at the same time he had an ear for hard bop. "I'd listen to Sonny Rollins, Lee Morgan, Miles' Quintets, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, the Clifford Brown/Max Roach group." After finishing high school. He attended Indiana University where after winning the 1965 Notre Dame Jazz festival, the IU Jazz Band was awarded a 3 month State Dept. tour of the Middle East and Asia.



In 1966, he moved to New York City. Some of his first gigs upon arriving there were with Clark Terry's Big Band, the Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and the Duke Pearson Big Band with whom he recorded 2 albums. Randy also began his foray into jazz-rock by joining Blood, Sweat and Tears. He worked with BS&T for a year and played on their innovative 1968 debut, Child is Father to the Man. Randy left BS&T to join the Horace Silver Quintet. "BS&T was a very structured situation...I needed to stretch out and play." In 1968, Randy recorded his first album as a leader, Score (re-issued in 1993 on Blue Note), which also featured 19 year-old Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone.


In the fall of 1994, the Brecker Brothers released the double-Grammy winning Out of the Loop, with tours that followed into 1995 throughout the U.S. and Europe. A tour highlight, they were the first international contemporary jazz group to perform in the People's Republic of China, playing to sell-out crowds in Beijing and Shanghai. Branching out again in 1995, Randy toured Japan as a special guest with Stanley Turrentine and was one of the first western jazz artists to tour in Poland.


Most significantly, he began recording his first solo album in six years with a band of musicians assembled from different parts of the globe, including long-time friend and musical cohort David Sanborn. guitarist Adam Rogers from Lost Tribe, Brazilian vocalist Maucha Adnet (singer with the late Jobim's band), and bassist Bakithi Kumalo of Graceland fame, among others.
Completed in 1996, drawn to and inspired by the music of Brazil since his first visit there in 1979, Randy offered up his impression of Brazilian music mixed with pinches of Latin, World Music, Funk and Jazz on Into the Sun. Released first in Japan on Pony Canyon, it became available on Concord Records throughout the rest of the world, and won Randy his first Grammy as a soloist in 1998 for "Best Contemporary Jazz Performance."



A live concert of the music from the album was filmed by Japanese television station NHK and broadcast in 1997. The summer of that year, Randy toured Europe with Joe Henderson, and closed the year on tour with the Mingus Big Band across the U.S. and South America, and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band in Europe.


The year of 1998 began with Randy's appearance on tour as a special guest with Billy Cobham in the U.K. In fact, it was while on stage at Ronnie Scott's in London, that Randy first heard the news of his Grammy win. Summer appearances included several reunion concerts with Larry Coryell and the 11th House, as well as a special guest appearance with the Vanguard Orchestra in a Tribute to Thad Jones In Marciac, France. Later that year he began appearing with the Art of Blakey Band featuring Benny Golson and Curtis Fuller in addition to performing in Israel twice as a guest soloist.


He has been a part of the touring Concord/Fujitsu Jazz Festival in Japan three times in recent years... with Art of Blakey Band and as Special Guest with the Ray Brown Trio and the Micheal Brecker Quartet. In addition he has been a frequent guest in Russia touring with the Igor Butman Quartet.


His most recent CD for ESC, 34th N Lex released in April of 2003 to great reviews ("RandyBrecker clearly outdoes himself on this one"-Paula Edelstein AMG Review)) features 11 new Randy Brecker compositions and arrangements and the 'dream horn section' of David Sanborn, Micheal Brecker, Fred Wesley and, Ronnie Cuber, along with Randy's regular working band and his wife, the Italian tenor saxophonist Ada Rovatti. In May of 2003 he toured Europe with his Quintet in support of the CD, and in the summer went back to Europe yet again with the Randy Brecker/ Bill Evans Soulbop Band.


The summer of 2003 culminated in the special headline appearance in Japan at the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival of the reunited Brecker Brothers.



Randy Brecker continues to influence and inspire young musicians, and thoughout the years, has been in constant demand as a Yamaha Clinician, performing at Colleges and Universities the world over.
Randy plays "Blue Moon"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Sa2U89cdo

Reference - Allmusic

ETTA JONES


Vocalist and recording artist Etta Jones was born on november 25, 1928 in South Carolina, but brought up in Harlem, New York.

Etta Jones was a fine jazz singer who made the most of her vocal talents. She retained a loyal following wherever she sang, and was held in the highest regard by her fellow musicians. Her last three decades were her most productive, in both the quantity and artistic quality of her work.


She entered one of the famous talent contests at the Apollo Theatre as a 15 year old, and although she did not win, she was asked to audition for a job with the big band led by Buddy Johnson, as a temporary replacement for the bandleader's sister.


Johnson's band was popular on the black touring circuit of the day, and the experience provided a good grounding for the singer. Etta stayed with Johnson's big band for a year and then went out on her own in 1944 to record several sides with noted jazz producer and writer Leonard Feather. In 1947, she returned to singing in big bands, one led by drummer J.C. Heard and the next with legendary pianist, Earl “Fatha” Hines, whom she stayed with for three years. She worked for a number of bands in the ensuing years, including groups led by Barney Bigard, Stuff Smith, Sonny Stitt and Art Blakey, but went into a period of virtual obscurity from 1952 until the end of the decade, performing only occasionally.


In 1960, she was offered a recording opportunity by Prestige Records, and immediately struck gold with her hit recording of “Don't Go To Strangers.” She cut several more albums for them in the next five years, including a with-strings session, and a guest spot on one of saxophonist Gene Ammons's many records.


In 1968, at a Washington, D.C. gig, Etta teamed up with tenor saxophonist, Houston Person and his trio. They decided to work together and formed a partnership that lasted over 30 years. She toured Japan with Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers in 1970, but after her final date for Prestige in 1965, she did not make another album until 1976, when she cut “Ms Jones To You” for Muse.


Her closest collaborator in that period was Houston Person, and they cut a string of well-received recordings from the mid-70’s onward, including the Grammy nominated albums “Save Your Love For Me,” (1981) and “My Buddy: Etta Jones Sings the Songs of Buddy Johnson” (1999). They developed an appealing, highly intuitive style of musical response, and were always jointly billed. The pair was married for a time, and he became her manager, and produced most of her subsequent records, initially for Muse Records, and then its successor, High Note.


As if to make up for lost time, she recorded eighteen records for the company, and worked steadily both in New York and on the international jazz festival circuit, including appearances in New York with pianist Billy Taylor at Town Hall and saxophonist Illinois Jacquet at Carnegie Hall.
She favored a repertoire of familiar jazz standards; the improvisatory style of her phrasing drew at least as much on the example of horn players as singers, but owed something to Billie Holiday in its sensitivity and phrasing (she was said to do remarkable impersonations of Holiday in private). She took a tougher, blues-rooted approach from Dinah Washington or the less familiar Thelma Carpenter, a singer with the Count Basie band whom Jones acknowledged as an early influence on her own style.


Unfortunately, her physical health began deteriorating, yet she re-emerged in the early 1990s with a new passion for life and a spirit for musical adventure. She took on more solo gigs and began collaborating with young musicians such as pianist Benny Green and veteran bluesman Charles Brown.


She continued to perform regularly until just before her death, and still had forthcoming engagements in her diary when she succumbed to complications from cancer. Ironically, her last recording, a Billie Holiday tribute entitled “Etta Jones Sings Lady Day,” was released in the USA on the day of her death, in 2001.


Etta sings "Crazy He Calls Me"


Reference - Allmusic

PAUL DESMOND, O COMPOSITOR DE "TAKE FIVE"


O jazzista saxofonista-alto Paul Desmond nasceu no 25 de novembro de 1924 em São Francisco,California, foi integrante e o principal solista do Dave Brubeck Quartet durante 16 anos.


Desmond primeiro foi um clarinetista durante o tempo em que cursou a escola secundária. Ele começou os trabalhos com o Dave Brubeck em seu grupo entre 1948-1950, mas só foi efetivado como saxofista regular do quarteto em 1951. Foi através do circuito universitário que o grupo obteve fama, passando a excursionar bo exterior.



Durante essa época compôs "Take Five", que foi o maior sucesso do grupo. Depois de sair do Brubeck Quartet em 1967, Desmond começou sua carreira como freelance, decisão que perdurou até a sua saida de cena definitivamente.


Durante sua década final de vida, ele realizou duetos com o guitarrista Jim Hall e com o saxofonista barítono Gerry Mulligan. Desmond passou a gravar discos com seu nome e entre eles se destacam álbuns como “Desmond Blue” e “Easy Living” pela RCA, "Summertime” pela A&M/Horizon, e além das bem sucedidas colaborações com Hall e Mulligan ele gravou com o Modern Jazz Quartet (regravado pelo selo Red Baron).



O musico descrevia seu estilo de tocar da seguinte maneira: "Eu penso que o tenho no fundo da minha mente e quero que meu instrumento soe como um dry martini". Falando de seu grande companheiro Dave Brubeck, nos primeiros tempos "Eu estava dando o máximo no meu alto e então aparecia Dave tocando Bartok com a mão direita e Milhaud na mão esquerda. Juntos, nós esvaziaríamos qualquer clube em menos de meia hora sem ninguém mencionar a palavra: fogo!".

Desmond faleceu em maio de 2000.

Dave Brubeck Quartet plays "Take Five" com solo de Paul Desmond

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faJE92phKzI




Fonte - Allmusic

NAT ADDERLEY


American jazz cornet and trumpet player Nathaniel Adderley was born on November 25, 1931 in Tampa, Florida and played in the hard bop and soul jazz genres. He was the brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderly.


Nat moved to Tallahassee,Florida when both parents were hired to teach at Florida A&M University. Nat and Cannonball played withRay Charles in the early 1940s in Tallahassee.


In the 1950s he worked with his brother's original group, with Lionel Hampton, and with J.J. Johnson, then in 1959 joined his brother's new quintet and stayed with it until Cannonball's death in 1975. He composed "Work Song," "Jive Samba," and "The Old Country" for this group.



After his brother's death he led his own groups and recorded extensively. During this period he worked with, among others, Ron Carter,Sonny Fortune,Johnny Griffin, Antonio Hart, and Vincent Herring.



He also helped in the founding and development of the annual Child of the Sun Jazz Festival, held annually at Florida South College in Lakeland, Florida.


On his passing in 2000 at his home in Lakeland, Nat Adderley was interred near his brother in the Southside Cemetery in Tallahassee,Florida. His son, Nat Adderly Jr. a keyboardist, was Luther Vandross' long time musical director.

The pioneer white blues band, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, covered "Work Song" on their landmark album East-West, with amplified harmonica instead of brass.
Nat plays "Work Song"
Reference - Wikipédia

MANAUS,DOMINGO,MEIO DIA,101.5 FM,JAZZ,VINHO,CAROL DUBUC,HUBERT LAWS.


Neste domingo em Manaus, a partir do meio dia, Jazz is King no programa "Momentos de Jazz" pelas ondas da Radio Amazonas FM 101.5 FM (http://www.amazonasfm.com.br)/ , como vem acontecento sem interrupções, há mais de 14 anos.


Vamos iniciar destacando a música do cantor Curtis Stigers que registrou no CD "Real Emotional" o seu lado mais romantico, baseando-se em um repertório integrado por musicas desconhecidas pelo grande público brasileiro, sem deixar de lado a seu fraseado puramente jazzistico. A leitura de "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" e "A Woman Just Like You", valorizam a audição.


A cantora Patti Austin esbanja versatilidade no CD "Street of Dreams" no qual navega com alta qualidade musical pelo jazz contemporâneo, ainda muito rejeitado pelos puristas do genero. "The Look of Love" de Burt Bacarach, "Street of Dreams" (uma sinatriana original) e "Someone to Watch Over Me" de Gershwin agregam brilhantismo ao disco.


A veterena cantora de jazz Amy London jamais emplacou seus CDs de altissima qualidade nos países da America do Sul. Felizmente, em 2007, com o lançamento do CD "When I Look in Your Eyes" esta triste realidade deu sinal de mudança e o disco que inclui companhia de peso como John Hicks,Lee Musiker, Rufus Reid e Chris Byars, chegou a ser comercializado em várias lojas do ramo no circuito Rio/ São Paulo, ainda que nas prateleiras dos importados. Vamos entender melhor ouvindo Amy cantar, entre outras, do repertório imbatível "Wouldn't You?", "Passarim" de Tom e a sinatriana " The Best is Yet to Come".



A cantora revelação do programa é Carol Duboc que lançou em 2009 o CD "Burt Bacarach Songbook" que tem como convidado especial o flautista/saxofonista Hubert Laws que engrandece o disco com grandes solos e improvisos de flauta. O fraseado jazzistico estabelece o referencial inovador com leituras inéditas dos classicos de Hal Davis e Bacarach como "What the World Needs Now", "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" (em pura bossa nova) e "Close to You" .



Conto com tua preciosa audiência.



O Melhor ainda está por vir!



Humberto Amorim

Locutor/Produtor



Nota do Blogger - Uma garrafa de um divino vinho das castas portuguesas de alta estirpe, oferecido pela Panificadora N.S. de Fátima, será sorteada no final do programo entre os ouvintes que participarem da promoção pelo telefone (92) 32165504.


Friday, November 27, 2009

CAMBADA DA BOLSA VINHO,NUMA CASA PORTUGUESA COM CERTEZA






































As fotos acima, atestam sem nebulosidade, o nivel de amizade, descontração, congraçamento, alegria de viver e bom gosto dos participantes da Cambada da Bolsa Vinho que se reuniu neste mês de novembro, sob a batuta do primoroso chef portugues e amigo do peito Bernardino, nas dependencias de seu novo e espetacular empreendimento a "Adega Bernardino" - especializada em comidas portuguesas e vinhos de todas as regiões lusas (adegabernardino@globo.com) que ele abriu para receber clientes e amigos de alta estima e bom gosto.

O jantar foi organizado com maestria por outro grande lusitano, Joaquim Nogueira, que nas horas de trabalho abastece à clientela seleta de Manaus com as mais preciosas iguarias européia na sua base, a Panificadora N.S. de Fátima, sob a sempre presente orientação de seu pai e mestre Arthur Nogueira.
As fotos traduzem, na minha opinião, o que disse o grande cineasta italiano Federico Fellini:

"A vida é uma combinação de magia, massas, vinhos, de fantasia e realidade".


O melhor ainda está por vir.

Humberto Amorim
Cambeiro-Mor
Nota do Blogger - Os puros "Robainas" foram ofertados pelo cambeiro Ernesto Costa e o Vinho do Porto pelo cambeiro Joaquim Nogueira.
A proxima reunião festiva de Natal está no forno para se tornar, inesquecível.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

AL COHN


Amercican jazz saxophonist and arranger/composer Al Cohn was born on November 24,1925 and was initially known in the 1940s for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot sims, Stan Getz and Serge Chaloff. Unlike the better known tenors Sims and Getz, Cohn contributed arrangements to the Herman band. Cohn has a reputation as a lyrical flowing soloist.


After leaving the Herman group Cohn went on to play with a variety of other musicians but his best-known association was his long-term partnership with fellow Herman veteran tenor player Sims, beginning with the quintet they co-led in 1956. They continued to play together sporadically until the death of Sims. The high point of their recorded output can be found on "You 'n' Me" a collection of standards and original compositions released on Mercury Records in 1960. The two also played on some of author Jack Kerouac's recordings. The rhythm section on their classic 50s recordings included Mose Allison on piano.

In addition to his work as a jazz tenor saxophonist Al Cohn was a noted arranger, his work included the Broadway productions of "Raisin" and "Sophisticated Ladies". Also, Al Cohn did arrangements for unreleased Linda Rondstadt recordings from the 1980s.
Al Cohn's first wife was singer Marilyn Moore. Cohn died in Stroudsburg,Pennsylvania in 1988.


Reference - Allmusic

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

TEDDY WILSON, JAZZ MASTER



Pianist,Composer,bandleader,recording artist,educator Teddy Wilson was born on November 24,1912 in Austin ,Texas.


His airy, effortless style, with its emphasis on lightly accompanied right-hand melody, was a key element in the transition from swing to bebop, and many modern jazz pianists took Wilson's approach as their starting point. His early recordings were percussive and forceful, but as he matured his technique became graceful, almost elegant. He was a gifted artist who used the full range of his instrument to his advantage. His recordings with Billie Holiday and Benny Goodman’s trio and quartet during the 1930s are considered classics.


His parents were both schoolteachers. They left Texas in 1918 for positions at the prestigious Tuskegee College in Talladega, AL, one of the pioneer black universities. Wilson studied music at both the Tuskegee Institute and Alabama's Talladega College.
Moving on to Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, he started by joining up with Speed Webb and Milton Senior before heading to Chicago, where he played with the likes of Erskine Tate, Eddie Mallory, Clarence Moore, Jimmy Noone and Louis Armstrong. He traveled to New York in 1933 to join Benny Carter's orchestra, the Chocolate Dandies. After Carter disbanded the following year to take a position as arranger with Goodman's band Wilson worked with an all-star group led by Red Norvo in 1934 and with Willie Bryant's band during 1934 and 1935. He met Goodman in 1935 and in 1936 was asked to join the bandleader's trio, which also included drummer Gene Krupa. Lionel Hampton joined soon after, making it a quartet. Wilson became the first African-American publicly featured in Goodman's line-up.


During his time with Goodman, Wilson put together several small groups for recording sessions, and began a long career as a freelance recording artist that culminated in his marvelous series of discs with Billie Holiday. Other sessions featured such artists as Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Helen Ward, and Harry James. Wilson left Goodman in 1939 to form his own big band, which included such top musicians as Doc Cheatham, Ben Webster, Rudy Powell, and Hal Baker. Thelma Carpenter was vocalist. Wilson's subtle style failed to win over audiences, however, who often complained that his orchestra sounded ''too white.'' He disbanded the group after only a year and formed a sextet that played regularly at the Cafe Society in New York from 1940 to 1946.


After 1946 Wilson worked mostly as a soloist or in a trio. In 1946 he became a staff musician for CBS radio and operated his own music school, and produced a series of recordings, the “Teddy Wilson School for Pianists,” (reissued on Mosaic) to demonstrate various elements of jazz piano.
He taught at Julliard through the early 1950s, becoming one of the first jazz musicians to do so, and stayed on the staff for seven years. His recording partnerships of the 1950s included significant albums with Lester Young and Benny Carter (both for Verve) in which Wilson's economical style was a perfect setting for each saxophonist. He made a series of recordings for Columbia in the mid-50s, and by the ‘60s had expanded his scope to world wide appearances..


He was part of the mother of all jazz tours, Benny Goodman’s 1962 State Department tour of Russia. He performed with international musicians, developing a close relationship with the Dutch Swing College Band, with whom he made four tours. Wilsons discography for the 1970s includes recording sessions in Copenhagen, Tokyo, Munich, Nice, and London. He was truly an international jazz star. He continued to work right up to the end, making appearances with Goodman, Hampton, Krupa, Benny Carter, Red Norvo and other all-star survivors of the Swing Era, and he also worked extensively with a trio including his sons-Theodore on bass and Steven on drums.



Teddy Wilson maintained a phenomenally consistent standard until the end of his life, because of his influence and longevity; he is regarded by many critics as a significant pianist of the swing era. His extensive catalog of recordings as a sideman and leader, and his distinguished reputation amongst jazz aficionados and musicians alike, are his enduring testament.



Teddy Wilson passed away in 1986.

Teddy Wilson with the Benny Goodman Trio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyZv444n6bg
Reference - Wikipédia.

Monday, November 23, 2009

RUTH ETTING, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME


A cantora americana Ruth Etting nasceu no 23 de Novembro de 1896 em David City, Nebraska e fez muito sucesso nos anos de 30. Gravou mais de sessenta discos. Seus maiores sucessos foram "Shine On Harvest Moon", "Ten Cents a Dance" e "Love Me or Leave Me" e as gravações mais populares incluem: "Button Up Your Overcoat", "Mean to Me", "Exactly like you" e "Shaking the Blues Away".


Deixou seu lar aos dezessete anos de idade para entrar numa escola de artes em Chicago,Illinois. Conseguiu um trabalho de desenhar figurinos para os empregados da boate Marigold Gardens, cantores e dançarinos.


Ela se tornou a vocalista da boate e depois se casou com o gângster Martin "Moe the Gimp" Snyder em 12 de julho de 1922. Snyder empresariou sua carreira, conseguindo apresentações no rádio e um contrato de exclusividade com a Gravadora Colúmbia (Columbia Records).


Ruth estreiou na Broadway com o espetáculo Ziegfeld Follies of 1927, e participaria de vários outros shows em uma rápida escalada. Dentre esses espetáculos figuram Simple Simon e Whopee!. Em Hollywood ela participou de uma longa série de filmes curtos entre 1929 e 1936, além de três longa-metragens, em 1933 e 1934. Em 1936 ela se apresentou em Londres no Transatlantic Rhythm de Ray Henderson.



Ruth Etting se divorciou de Moe Snyder em 30 de novembro de 1937. Ela se apaixonara pelo pianista Myrl Alderman que em 1938 levou um tiro e ficou ferido em uma discussão com o ex-marido dela. Snyder foi condenado por tentativa de homicídio mas apelou e saiu da cadeia depois de um ano. Etting se casou com Alderman em dezembro de 1938. O escândalo e o julgamento sensacionalista em Los Angeles puseram um fim a carreira dela, embora conseguisse ainda apresentar por um curto período um programa de rádio em 1947. Alderman morreu em 15 de novembro de 1966.



Ruth Etting morreu em Colorado Springs, Colorado em 1978, aos 81 anos de idade.
Sua vida foi a base para o filme de 1955, Love Me or Leave Me, com Doris Day e James Cagney.


Broadway
The Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 – Ela apresentou a canção de Irving Berlin, "Shaking The Blues Away"


Whoopee! – 1928 - ela apresentou a canção "Love Me or Leave Me"
The Nine-Fifteen Revue - 1929, em que ela apresentou a canção "Get Happy"
Simple Simon – 1930, em que ela apresentou a canção "Ten Cents a Dance"
The Ziegfeld Follies of 1931 .

Lindo! Lindo! Ruth Etting canta "Love me or Leave Me"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y59qgqPd1jU

Fonte - Wikipédia.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

GUNTHER SCHULLER, THE THIRD STREAM


O compositor e tocador de trompa Gunther Schuller, nasceu em Nova Iorque no 22 de novembro de 1925. É considerado como uma das principais figuras da música clássica contemporânea.


Gunther Schuller estudou na Saint Thomas Choir School, onde tirou o curso de trompa. Aos dezesete anos, tinha o lugar principal de tocador de trompa na orquestra de Cincinnati Symphony em Ohio; dois anos mais tarde, assumia a mesma posição na Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.


Em 1959, decide dedicar-se exclusivamente à composição. Estudou, e tocou, jazz com Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, e John Lewis. Foi o criador do termo Terceira Corrente (Third stream), que misturava a música clássica com o jazz. Schuller escreveu cerca de 160 composições originais.


Em 1960, Schuller presidiu ao England Conservatory, criando um programa de jazz que, atualmente, é um dos principais centros de jazz do mundo.


Schuller é o editor-chefe de Jazz Masterworks Editions, e co-director da orquestra Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, em Washington D.C. Outro trabalho em que esteve envolvido, foi a preservação das últimas obras obra de Charles Mingus, no Lincoln Center, em 1989, lançados pela editora Columbia/Sony Records.


Recebeu os seguintes prémios:


Pullitzer Prize, em 1994, pelo seu trabalho para a Louisville Symphony Of Reminiscences and Reflections
MacArthur Foundation "genius", em 1991
William Schuman, em 1900, entregue pela Universidade de Columbia, pelos seus trabalhos na composição musical americana
Ditson Conductor, em 1970
Em 1993, a revista Down Beat, entregou-lhe o prémio de Lifetime Achievement, pelas suas contribuições para o jazz.
Grammys:
Melhor Álbum Clássico: Footlifters (compositor), em 1976
Melhor Interpretação em Música de Câmara: Gunther Schuller (compositor) & The New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble for Joplin: The Red Back Book , em 1974


Nota do Blogger - Para desfrutar e entender melhor do que trata o "Third Stream" ouça os discos do músico françês Jacques Loussier.


Ouça e veja o video promocional da Charles Mingus Epitath Orchestra com Winton Marsalis, o condutor da Epitath Gunther Schuller e Randy Brecker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S86WzxIbolw



Reference - Wikipédia

MANAUS,DOMINGO,MEIO DIA,JAZZ,EDEN ATWOOD,MATT DUSK


Meus Caros Jazzófilos(as),

Daqui a pouco em Manaus, a partir do meio dia, pelas ondas sonoras e jazzificadas da Radio Amazonas FM 101.5 FM o destaque vai recair sobre quatro figuras distintas deste genero musical que não para de nos encantar a cada audição.


O cantor canadense Matt Dusk fez aniversario na semana que passou. Particamente,ainda em inicio de carreira , se levarmos em conta que seu primeiro CD foi publicado no ano, desde então Mattque concede provas indiscutivel de elevado talento, principalmente no quesito versatilidade. Teremos a audição do CD TWO SHOTS que serviu de trilha para "The Casino", serie televisiva da Televisão Fox. Jazz contemporaneo da mais alta qualidade.

A cantora Eden Atwood é nova no cenário do jazz em New York e adjacencias. Ousada, publicou o CD "The Bossa Nova Sessions" onde se aventura com sotaque seguro e indiscutivelmente influenciado pelos ritmos brasileiros, em perfeito equilibrio com um leve toque de jazz. Uma experiencia musical vitoriosa.

O cantor,compositor e pianista Dr. John é a mais perfeita personificação artistica da musica atual de Nova Orleans. Excentrico e versátil, navega pelo blues,cajun music, jazz e rhythm and blues com a naturalidade forjada desde a idade de 17 anos quando largou tudo para seguir estrada em direção aos palcos da vida. Inquestionavelmente, um talento sem igual na história da Crescent City. Vamos degustar o CD Trippin' Live" o primeiro album ao vivo que gravou.

O compositor, pianista, trombonista e genio Johnny Mercer, cujo centenário de nascimento foi celebrado pelo mundo do jazz neste ultimo dia 18, compos mais de 1.500 canções durante a sua vida. É sem sombra de dúvidas um dos mais impostrtantes compositores do século XX e do Great American Songbook. Vamos degustar o CD "The songs of Johnny Mercer" que o cantor Lee Leesack publicou, prestando justa e grandiosa homenagem a este vulto da canção internacional, Johnny Mercer.

Conto com tua preciosa audiência.

O Melhor ainda está por vir.

Humberto Amorim

Locutor/Produtor

Saturday, November 21, 2009

COLEMAN HAWKINS, O MONSTRO SAGRADO DO SAXOFONE

O jazz master e saxofonista Coleman Hawkins (na foto com Ms. Lady Day), nasceu no 21 de novembro de 1904, em St. Joseph , Missouri, e começou sua viagem pelo jazz na adolescencia, saindo do sul de Kansas City para tocar em Chicago, em visitas de fim de semana.


Até que Lester Young entrasse em cena, havia apenas um grande nome no sax-tenor: Coleman Hawkins. O homem apelidado de "Bean" tinha um som grande, áspero, forte que era muito diferente do som mais cool de Young.


Em 1939, Hawkins fez para a melodia "Body and Soul" uma versão que se tornou um clássico do jazz. Muitos sustentam que aquele Hawkins serviu de inspiração pela revolução de bop, fornecendo material para os improvisos dos combos da 52nd Street no início dos anos 40s.


Ele se tornou integrante da “Mamie Smiths Jazz Hounds” em 1921, se uniu a Fletcher Henderson em 1924, passando uma década nessa banda que também teve Louis Armstrong. Firmou sua fama de solista de primeira linha em 1925 com a melodia "Stampede".


Apreciava vestir roupas caras e dirigir carros rápidos e em 1934 Hawkins partiu para uma estadia de cinco anos na Europa. Retornou aos Estados Unidos em 1939, e com "Body and Soul" Hawkins restabeleceu a sua supremacia no sax-tenor do jazz. Sua ligação com a era de bop foi em 1943 quando o seu sexteto incluiu o trompetista Benny Harris e o pianista Thelonious Monk.



Durante os anos seguintes, ele também empregou outras futuras estrelas do bop, como os trompetistas Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis e Fats Navarro e o baterista Max Roach.


Embora não sendo mais o top de linha nos cinqüenta, Hawkins continuou se testando, e em meados de 1963 gravou com o grupo vanguardista de Sonny Rollins para RCA. Ele também trabalhou com Duke Ellington e no Jazz At The Philharmonic nos anos 60.


O monstro sagrado do saxofone Coleman Hawkins, faleceu em 19 de maio de 1969 na cidade de New York.


Coleman Hawkins sola "Body and Soul"
Fonte -CDJ

DR. JOHN, THE NIGHT TRIPPER

O pianista, cantor e ator Dr. John, nasceu no 21 de Novembro de 1940 em Nova Orleans, Louisiana, e foi batizado com o nome de Malcholm Rebbenack. Aos 13 anos tornou-se músico com todo apoio dos familiares, que de certa forma, tinham na veia, muito talento musical.

"Mac" abandonou os estudos no penúltimo ano do ensino médio, quando tinha 16 anos, para se tornar pianista de blues. Adotou o apelido de Dr.John the Night Tripper"(ou Dr. John, simplesmente) destacando-se como fiel representante do "Novo Som de Nova Orleans" no estilo blues/jazz.


Originalmente tocava guitarra, mas perdeu um dedo da mão ao defender o amigo Tonnie Barron e foi forçado a migrar para o piano/teclados.


recebeu dois premios Grammy, foi induzido no Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame


Dr. John was born on November 21, 1940, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as Malcolm Rebbenack. At 13 he decided to become a musician, and was supported by his family, who themselves were musicians in a small way. "Mac" dropped out of school in the 11th grade in 1956, at the age of 16, to become a blues piano player. He has become known as "Dr. John, The Night Tripper" (or "Dr. John", for short) and a prime example of the "New Orleans Sound" style of blues/jazz. He has received two Grammy Awards, and is in the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame and into the Louisiana Music Hall of fame, as well, in 2007.


He was originally a guitar player, but after getting his index finger nearly shot off in an effort to protect band mate and friend Ronnie Barron, he switched to piano/keyboards.

Dr.John canta com Etta James "I'd rather go blind"





Reference - Jazz Music & Blues


Tradução - Humberto Amorim

JUNE CHRISTY, SOMEONE COOL


Vocalist June Christy was born as Shirley Luster on November 20,1925 in Springfield,Illinois and was best known for her work in the cool jazz genre. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. Upon her death, she was hailed as "one of the finest and most neglected singers of her time."


She moved with her family to Decatur,Illinois when she was three years old. She began to sing with the Decatur based Bill Oetzel Orchestra at the young age of 13. While attending Decatur High School she appeared with Oetzel and his society band, the Ben Bradley Band, and Bill Madden's Band. After high school she moved to Chicago, changed her name to Sharon Leslie, and sang with a group led by Boyd Raeburn. Later she joined Benny Strong's band. In 1944, Strong's band moved to New York, while at the same time Christy was quarantines in Chicago with scarlet fever.



In 1945, after hearing that Anita O'Day had left Stan Kenton's Orchestra, she auditioned and got the role as a vocalist. At first, she bore a heavy resemblance to Anita O'Day, both physically and vocally. During the time when she sang in the Orchestra, she changed her name once again, this time to June Christy.


Her unique voice produced successful hits such as "Shoo Fly Pie an Apple Pan Dowdy," the million-selling "Tampico" in 1945, and "How High the Moon". "Tampico" was Kenton's biggest-selling record. When the Kenton Band temporarily disbanded in 1948, she sang in nightclubs for a short time, and reunited with the band two years later in 1950.



From 1952, she started to work on her own records, primarily with the arranger and bandleader Pete Rugolo. In 1954, she released her own 10" LP "Something Cool", recorded with Rugolo and his orchestra, a gathering of notable Los Angeles jazz musicians that included her husband, multi-instrumentalist Bob Cooper and alto saxophonist Bud Shank. "Something Cool" was rereleased as a 12" LP in 1955 with additional selections, and then entirely rerecorded in stereo in 1960 with a somewhat different personnel. Christy would later say that the album was "the only thing I've recorded that I'm not unhappy with. "Something Cool" was also important in launching the vocal cool movement of the 1950s, and it hit the Top 20 Charts, as did her third album "The Misty Miss Christy". She continued to release more records, which influenced future jazz vocalists and set new standards for the music.


In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Christy appeared on a number of television programs, including The Nat King Cole Show,The Steve Allen Show, and the short-lived variety show The Lively Ones. Christy embarked on a number of concert tours, playing such far away locales as Europe,South Africa,Australia and Japan.


R.M. Cook and Brian Morton, writers of The Penguin Guide to Jazz recordings, appreciated the singer's body of work: "Christy's wholesome but particularly sensuous voice is less an improviser's vehicle than an instrument for long, controlled lines and the shading of a fine vibrato. Her greatest moments—the heartbreaking 'Something Cool' itself, 'Midnight Sun,' 'I Should Care'—are as close to creating definitive interpretations as any singer can come."


Christy was married to Bob Cooper. In 1954, she gave birth to a daughter, Shay Cooper. Christy's nephew claims that although she was agnostic, she was very well versed in religion and philosophy, identifying at least partially with Buddhism.



Christy retired from the music business in 1965, rarely taking the stage again after that point. In 1972, she sang at the Newport Jazz festival in New York City, where she was reunited with the Kenton Orchestra. She also performed at a handful of jazz festivals during the 1980s, playing with a band of all-star west coast jazz musicians led by Shorty Rivers. Christy returned to the recording studio in 1977 to record her final LP " Impromptu".


After struggling with illness for many years, she died at her home in Sherman Oaks,California of kidney failure on June 21,1990 at the age of 64. Her remains were cremated and scattered off the coast of Marina Del Rey.

June sings "Something Cool"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIv1zFVPrTE


Reference - Wapedia

Friday, November 20, 2009

MINHA NOITE NO CDFs: DEU FRANK NA CABEÇA


















Resolvi surpreender aos meus queridos pares do Clube dos Discófilos Fanáticos (CDFs) que de mim (tenho quase certeza!) esperavam uma noitada puramente jazzistica, do tipo daquelas que a gente só deseja, como disse a Marta : "relaxar e gozar". Eu não canço de dizer que não consigo ser previsível. É a minha natureza.
Ledo engano, deles. Apareci na nossa reunião com o busto do Frank no peito e soltei as frangas, os cachorros, os gatos, as pacas e as cotias, embalado pelo som da voz do maior cantor de todos os tempos: Francis Albert Sinatra.
Importante resaltar que, antes da minha vez, o terreno da arena de nossas alucinações musicais, foi solidificado pela manifestação do meu estimado amigo Luis Carlos Havas que apresentou, como participante da Patruléia, um CD interessante que versou sobre as big bands.
O titulo de seu trabalho não poderia ser mais verdadeiro e sugestivo: "As Big Bands São Eternas". Havas abusou da criatividade com bom gosto e, de todos, recebeu merecidos aplausos pela apresentação na qual aproveitou para resgatar, não só a fascinante história da Era das Big Bands como também, brindou no final de sua dissertiva os integrantes especiais de sua seleta platéia, com um CD onde Duke,Goodman ,Bolling e outros mais mantém a centelha do jazz mais brilhante ainda. Valeu Havas!!!!!
Como eu ia escrevendo... minha primeira grande alegria foi rever Summerlee, filho de meu amigo com cheiro de irmão Expedito Theodoro que, devido a presença da cria, ficou mais cheio de nove horas. São do Summerlee, a maioria das fotos que vêem no blog. Obrigado Summerlee. Volte sempre!!!!

Acram voltou atras e desistiu de estragar minha apresentação, como ato de vingança pela minha bagunça durante a sua. Acabou dizendo que eu sou o tal, maravihoso e que se emocionou com a minha paixão pela musica do Chirman-of-the Board. Choses!

Arnaldo, O Caseiro, concordou com tudo que eu disse e prometeu tocar no cd player do seu carro (será,será!!!) o CD duplo "The Best is Yet to Come" que produzi e ofertei à todos.

Benedito Lyra, Bené meu amigo querido, disse que eu e o Frank somos o máximo. Ficou extasiado com as musicas, algumas inéditas, que apresentei.
o meu ex-diretor de eventos Edson Costa, tornou-se mais suspeito em relação a mim e teceu elogios ao trabalho. Como não poderia deixar de ser, fez varias e aparentemente perigosas intervenções com posicionamentos bem pertinentes ao tema.

Noite inesquecível pela qual agradeço a cada um que "me emprestou o ouvido e a atenção" com meu carinho, minha amizade e fraternidade.
Já escolhi o tema para o ano que vem. Se Deus permitir, vou repetir a do
Obrigado meus queridos amigos. Não esqueçam: O melhor ainda está por vir!
HumbertoAmorim
Sinatrófilo