Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, and composer Cedar Walton (1934-2013) is a major figure in jazz, associated with a variety of styles from bebop to funk and famous for composing several standards. Born and raised in Dallas, Walton studied music in Denver, where he jammed with musicians such as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. In 1955, ......
Founded in 1917, Paramount Records incongruously was one of several homegrown record labels of a Wisconsin chair-making company. The company pinned no outsized hopes on Paramount. Its founders knew nothing of the music business, and they had arrived at the scheme of producing records only to drive sales of the expensive phonograph cabinets they ......
During the formative years of jazz (1890-1917), the Creoles of Color-as they were then called-played a significant role in the development of jazz as teachers, bandleaders, instrumentalists, singers, and composers. Indeed, music penetrated all aspects of the life of this tight-knit community, proud of its French heritage and language. They played ......
During the formative years of jazz (1890-1917), the Creoles of Color-as they were then called-played a significant role in the development of jazz as teachers, bandleaders, instrumentalists, singers, and composers. Indeed, music penetrated all aspects of the life of this tight-knit community, proud of its French heritage and language. They played ......
Although in 2000 he became the first sideman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, "King Curtis" Ousley never lived to accept his award. Tragically, he was murdered outside his New York City home in 1971. At that moment, thirty-seven-year-old King Curtis was widely regarded as the greatest R & B saxophone player of all time. He also may have ......
Selected as one of the Best Jazz Books of the Year (2021) by The New York City Jazz Record The New Yorker recently referred to Pat Metheny as "possibly the most influential jazz guitarist of the past five decades." A native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, just southeast of Kansas City, Metheny started playing in pizza parlors at age fourteen. By the ......
On December 4, 1957, Miles Davis?revolutionized film soundtrack production, improvising the score for Louis?Malle's Ascenseur?pour?l'echafaud. A cinematic harbinger of the French New Wave,?Ascenseur?challenged mainstream filmmaking conventions, emphasizing experimentation?and creative collaboration.?It was in this?environment?during the late 1950s ......
On December 4, 1957, Miles Davis?revolutionized film soundtrack production, improvising the score for Louis?Malle's Ascenseur?pour?l'echafaud. A cinematic harbinger of the French New Wave,?Ascenseur?challenged mainstream filmmaking conventions, emphasizing experimentation?and creative collaboration.?It was in this?environment?during the late 1950s ......
Dave and Iola Brubeck and Louis Armstrong Challenge Segregation
Keith Hatschek tells the story of three determined artists: Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, and Iola Brubeck and the stand they took against segregation by writing and performing a jazz musical titled The Real Ambassadors. First conceived by the Brubecks in 1956, the musical's journey to the stage for its 1962 premiere tracks extraordinary twists ......
