Results for "Ballads"

Nina Richmond

Nina has been passionate about singing her whole life, performing in genres from musical theatre and pop to jazz and blues. During her many years practising law and raising a family, Nina was the featured singer with the Advocats Big Band and the Tokyo Giants, R & B band, as well as the swing band, Atomic Cocktail, and many other smaller formations. She has performed at high-profile events such as the Beaches International Jazz Festival, Eat to the Beat for Willow, the Angel Ball for Providence Centre, AidsBeat, as well as at weddings, parties and book launches. She has appeared at many venues around Toronto, including, The Rex, The Duke Live, The Old Mill, Seven44 Restaurant & Lounge, Gate 403, the Rivoli, Revival Bar, The Pilot and more

Lucky Thompson's Ballads (1953-'56)

February 5, 2021

Lucky Thompson was one of the most gorgeous tenor saxophonists of the post-war period. His tone was pronounced, slippery and confidential and his improvising was as fluid and as seamless as syrup. His sweet spot was mid-tempo numbers, like Lullaby in Rhythm and East of the Sun, but his ballads also were standouts. Delivered with a ...

Dexter Gordon's Ballads (1946-'52)

February 4, 2021

Dexter Gordon in the late 1940s and early '50s was best known for jumpers such as The Chase, The Hunt and Dexter's Deck. But among his many high-energy 78s are a handful of ballads that show off his yearning, romantic tone. Here are five Dexter Gordon ballads and a bonus track: Here's Gordon in New York ...

Gene Ammons' Ballads (1950-'53)

February 3, 2021

Jazz has a long history of tenor saxophone pairings. The list includes Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin, and Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray. Such duos initially began as improvisational battles, which were popular in clubs and then on recordings. My favorite tenor duelists were Gene “Jug" Ammons and Sonny Stitt. ...

Sonny Stitt's Ballads (1950-'51)

February 2, 2021

Between 1949 and 1952, Sonny Stitt recorded for Prestige Records. His playing was sensational—on tenor, alto and baritone saxophones. Of particular note during this period were his ballads. Here are nine of them: Here's Ain't Misbehavin', with Kenny Drew (p), Tommy Potter (b) and Art Blakey (d), in February 1950... Here's Mean to Me, from the ...

Shelly Berg

Born: August 18

Shelly Berg is a Steinway piano artist and multi-Grammy nominated arranger and producer. His latest album Gershwin Reimagined: An American in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by José Serebrier and produced by Gregg Field (Decca Gold).

The All Music Guide says “Shelly Berg is one of the finest pianists around in the early 21st century playing modern mainstream jazz.” His recording project The Deep with bassist Dave Finck on Chesky Records is widely praised for its versatility and virtuosity with 4.5 stars from DownBeat magazine. His solo project Shelly Berg: The Nearness of You (Arbors) and a two-piano album with Dick Hyman Meeting of Minds (Victoria) are also both critically acclaimed

Ruud de Vries

Born: April 20, 1961

Ruud de Vries is a jazz tenor saxophonist from the Netherlands, playing and recording many musical styles, though always recordings based on improvisation. When you look up his recordings on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon, or all other online music portals, you'll find traditional jazz, ballads, funk jazz, souljazz, latin jazz, afrobeat, calypso jazz, rhythm & blues, rock 'n roll, pop and 'DJ' dance music with sax improvisation. Ruud de Vries plays saxophone music without boundaries. He bought his first saxophone when he was already 27 years old, after attending a performance of tenor saxophonist Hans Dulfer (the father of Candy Dulfer)

Wayne Powers

From jazz vocalist/bandleader to actor/comedian/radio talk show host, it's easy to see why Wayne Powers is often referred to as a “renaissance man”. Wayne started out as a “boy singer” in New York nightclubs at age 16. “I wasn’t very good,” he freely admits, “but you’ve gotta start someplace – and I grew up with this music inside me – in my heart and soul – and treasure it enough to gladly do whatever it takes for me to live inside the music. You see, when I was growing up we couldn’t afford a piano (and we had no room for one, anyway). so I just learned to play the human voice.” Persistence paid off as Powers eventually studied in New York with renowned vocal coach of the day, Fred Steele, mentor to Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Eddie Fisher and widely credited with helping restore Tony Bennett’s voice

Barbara Reed

Like all life long musicians it seems that I never really decided to become a musician, but that the decision was natural, and therefore automatic. I simply had to do it. We had a baby grand when I was a toddler and I'd crawl up on the bench and make what I thought was wonderful music for hours at a time. I'm pretty sure that singing was the medium through which I pictured myself communicating musically, and that too seemed to be automatic. That's not to say that there weren't lessons and studies along the way, but only that I felt as if these things were stepping stones to that fabulous world of making beautiful sounds

Brian Ford