Results for "JazzStage.net"

George Shearing, Ebullient Jazz Pianist, R.I.P.

February 18, 2011

George Shearing, the ebullient jazz pianist who wrote the standard “Lullaby of Birdland" and had a string of hits both with and without his quintet, has died. He was 91. Shearing, blind since birth, died early Monday morning in Manhattan of congestive heart failure, his longtime manager Dale Sheets said. Shearing had been a superstar of ...

"Strange Fruit" - Billie Holiday's Ugly Song

February 17, 2011

Written by a Jewish communist called Abel Meeropol, Strange Fruit was not by any means the first protest song, but it was the first to shoulder an explicit political message into the arena of entertainment. Unlike the robust workers' anthems of the union movement, it did not stir the blood; it chilled it. “That is about ...

Hot Young Pianist Gerald Clayton Born into Jazz Experience

February 11, 2011

Many of today's top jazz artists adopted the music after being turned on by a great album, concert, or learning experience. Pianist Gerald Clayton was born into it. His father, bassist and arranger John Clayton, played in the Count Basie Orchestra before co-founding the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra “I was exposed to the lifestyle behind the music," ...

Moody-Inspired Fan Devotes Life to History of Jazz

February 10, 2011

“Jazz Is Freedom. You Think About That." -Thelonious Monk By Stan Lee Special to jazzstage.net That's what jazz brings to me. I have friends with whom I want to share this joy of artistry that started with me in 1986. That's the purpose of this project on jazz history. I started with the birth of jazz ...

Dr. Billy Taylor's Memorial Service in NYC - Video

January 23, 2011

Any thought that the Harlem memorial service for Dr. Billy Taylor would be a somber, mournful affair was dispelled after the opening prayers at Riverside Church of New York. First, Reverend Calvin O. Butts (from the nearby Abyssinian Baptist Church) delivered the evening's gathering prayer; then, he said, “One of the ...

Happy Birthday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 17, 2011

On the Importance of Jazz Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Opening Address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival, WPFW News (Washington), On the Importance of Jazz, [23 August 2002] God has wrought many things out of ...

Bassist Charles Fambrough -- Rest in Peace

January 4, 2011

Reflections on Trudy Pitts

December 24, 2010

By Linda Dachtyl It is hard to know how to begin to talk about the recent passing of Trudy Pitts and the ways in which she touched my life in the brief time I got to know her over the last two years, so I will start at the beginning. I am always amazed at how ...

Trudy Pitts Carney, Jazz Organist, Vocalist -- R.I.P.

December 23, 2010

Trudy Pitts Carney, 78, a Philadelphia-born jazz organist, pianist, and vocalist who played with many jazz greats over a career that spanned more than four decades, died of pancreatic cancer Sunday, Dec. 19, at Chestnut Hill Hospital. She played with jazz greats John Coltrane and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, among others, her daughter said. Actually, “she didn't ...

Jazz Drummer Blackman, Guitar Legend Santana Exchange Vows

December 22, 2010

Guitar legend Carlos Santana, 63, married fiancée Cindy Blackman, 51, in Maui on Sunday! She posed outside with her bridesmaids, though inclement weather moved their actual ceremony from the beach to an indoor venue. Click here for rundown from popsugar.com As many of you know, drummer Cindy Blackman and guitarist Carlos Santana were married Sunday, Dec. ...