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Backgrounder: Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
With spring less than a week away, it's time for upbeat West Coast jazz. The last time I posted on Shorty Rogers was over the holidays when I highlighted The Swingin' Nutcracker. Before that, I featured Chances Are It Swings as a Backgrounder. This week, it's the finger-snapping Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers, as suggested by Todd Selbert. Recorded in the winter of 1957 between January and April, the album for RCA is a swinger loaded with top West Coast ...
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Pat Petrillo Big Rhythm Band - 'The Power Station Sessions' featuring Nile Rodgers, John Popper and More
Source:
Scott Thompson Public Relations
Announcing Pat Petrillo now represented by Scott Thompson PR, and IS AVAILABLE FOR PRESS INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, STATION ID's, SHOWS Pat Petrillo featured in Modern Drummer Magazine! Pat Petrillo has long been recognized as one of the most versatile and prolific drummers on the scene. He has worked with a wide array of artists from diverse genres, including Patti LaBelle, Gloria Gaynor, Chieli Minucci, and Ed Hamilton as well as numerous Broadway shows, from A Chorus Line to Newsies, to the ...
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Backgrounder: Dave Pell Octet 'Plays Rodgers & Hart'
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
I received so much email yesterday about the octet format that I figured I'd end the week with a Backgrounder by the Dave Pell Octet. The octet's arrangements in the 1950s were designed to give the eight musicians a West Coast big band sound—a miniaturized Les Brown Orchestra if you will. Prior to Dave Pell, there was the Dave Brubeck Octet in San Francisco in 1950. And that's it if you type “octet" into Tom Lord's Jazz Discography. There were ...
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Gene Rodgers: At the Astor
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Gene Rodgers was the pianist on Coleman Hawkins' seminal recording of Body and Soul in 1939. For some reason, Rodgers didn't record nearly as often as he should have given his ability. Perhaps he preferred playing live rather than sweating re-takes in the studio. Or he wasn't as outgoing as others when it came to networking and bonding with producers. Or he slipped through the cracks and he became a secret. It's impossible to say. What is evident is that ...
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Legrand Plays Richard Rodgers
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the 1950s, everyone in jazz and pop was sweet on Richard Rodgers. Many of the composer's highly melodic songs were easy to sing and leverage for swinging interpretations. Whether they were written with Lorenz Hart or Oscar Hammerstein II, Rodgers' love songs sounded hip without trying, becoming perfect vessels into which musicians could add their own ingredients. While there were many small-group and vocal albums of Rodgers' music in the 1950s and '60s, only three big bands recorded instrumental ...
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Les Brown Plays Richard Rodgers
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Les Brown's albums in the late 1950s and early 1960s are largely hit and miss. Some have punch while others sort of go through the motions. But when they hit, they're way out of the park. No other band had a swinging Hollywood sound like Brown's. Maybe it's because many of the recording band's West Coast players were working in TV at the time and slick as glass. Or because swing never left the West Coast ethos and survived all ...
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Gene Rodgers: Lost Pianist
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
One of jazz's most enduring hits is Coleman Hawkins' October 1939 recording of Body and Soul. The rendition ranks pretty near the top of every jazz fan's list of favorites in terms of daring and influence. The tenor saxophone came into prominence after Hawk's recording and its sound would never be the same. [Pictured above, Gene Rodgers] Backing Hawkins that day on the three-minute recording was Tommy Lindsay, Joe Guy (tp) Earl Hardy (tb) Jackie Fields, Eustis Mo (as), Gene Rodgers ...
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Anita O'Day Swings Rodgers and Hart
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
My favorite Anita O'Day album for Verve is Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart. Interestingly, O'Day hated it. Then again, she also disdained Billy May for a variety of reasons. And the feeling was mutual. Recorded in June 1960, the album intermingles ferocious band arrangements and tender string charts on some of the American Songbook's most novel tunes. In nearly every case, O'Day's interpretation is bursting with peppery swing and cool seduction. O'Day's scrunched-face reaction to the ...
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Jazz at Lincoln Center Selects Johnny Rodgers Band for International Tour
Source:
Michael Ricci
Selected for their great sound, artistic integrity, musical ability and educational skills, the Johnny Rodgers Band will tour internationally with The Rhythm Road program to share their music with the world to promote cross-cultural understanding with special emphasis on countries not regularly visited by American musicians. Tour activities will include public concerts, master classes, lecture demonstrations, workshops, jam sessions, media outreach and collaborations with local musicians. Johnny Rodgers Band members include Johnny Rodgers on piano and vocals, Brian Glassman on ...
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The Sound of Music with Songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein
Source:
Michael Ricci
On November 16, 1959, The Sound of Music--the last musical collaboration of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II--made history when it opened at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theater. Masterworks Broadway celebrates that milestone with a special 50th anniversary edition of the musical's beloved original cast recording, starring Broadway legend Mary Martin. The 50th anniversary edition of the original cast recording of The Sound of Music will be released on November 3, 2009. While a larger audience came to know The ...
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