Results for "banjo"

Juan Carlos Águila Coghlan

Born: December 21, 1949

40 years playing in Traditional Jazz Bands. Currently, working in a Ph.D. thesis on Jazz and Interculturality

Dave Guard

Born: October 19, 1934

Dave Guard was an important figure in the late ’50s and early ’60s folk boom, principally as a member of the Kingston Trio, and for a brief time as the central attraction in Dave Guard’s Whiskeyhill Singers.

Guard, with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, was an original member of the Kingston Trio and did his share of songwriting in that group, co-writing their 1959 hit “A Worried Man.” In 1961, however, Guard left the still-thriving act (to be replaced by John Stewart), upset about some problems with the handling of their finances and wanting to pursue different musical directions.

This he did with Dave Guard & the Whiskeyhill Singers, who made but one album for Capitol in 1962, also including future noted folk and rock singer Judy Henske, Cyrus Faryar (later of the Modern Folk Quartet and then a solo singer-songwriter), and David Wheat (who had worked with the Kingston Trio as an accompanist on bass).

They toured with the release of the album and were asked to perform several folk songs on the Academy Award winning soundtrack of How the West Was Won. Their voices can be heard on "The Erie Canal", "900 miles", "The Ox Driver", "Raise A Ruckus Tonight"

Pete Seeger

Born: May 3, 1919

It's no exaggeration to say that Pete Seeger has done more to popularize American folk music than any other contemporary musician, authoring or co-authoring the songs that have become folk standards: "If I Had a Hammer," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" to name just a few. His work has inspired countless musicians including Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and the Dixie Chicks, and his tireless political and environmental activism have galvanized generations of admirers to follow his lead and take action. Born on May 3, 1919 to Charles and Constance Seeger, music was in Seeger's blood from the first; his father was a Professor of musicology and his mother, a classical violinist

Jayme Stone

Banjo-playing composer Jayme Stone follows whimsy rigorously. He picked up a passion for music from an eccentric uncle who listened to records endlessly, placing his ashtray on the speaker so Stone could join him in watching how the cigarette smoke swirled to the music. Stone muses that he started playing banjo because the instruments' quirky physics align with his quick thinking. Soon after his calling to the banjo, he followed the sound of an Indian sarod (like a whisp of smoke) in a small California town to a chance meeting with revered Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan. "I spent the better part of the week soaking up these ancient songs," remembers Stone

John Hartford

Born: December 30, 1937

John Hartford won Grammy awards in three different decades, recorded a catalog of more than 30 albums, and wrote one of the most popular songs of all time, Gentle On My Mind. He was a regular guest and contributor on the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour and the Smothers Brothers Show. He added music and narration to Ken Burns’ landmark Civil War series, and was an integral part of the hugely popular "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack and Down From The Mountain concert tour. But that hardly explains John Hartford. John Hartford was an American original. He was a musician, songwriter, steamboat pilot, author, artist, disc jockey, calligrapher, dancer, folklorist, father, and historian

Don Vappie

Born: January 30, 1956

Don Vappie, musician/composer/educator, is the 2021 Steve Martin Banjo Prize Winner and the Banjo Hall of Fame inductee, in September 2022. In addition, he has received awards for his contributions to the preservation of New Orleans Creole Culture through music and film. He has produced 7 of his own albums, co-produced and starred in a PBS documentary, performed as a featured artist with orchestras on movie and television soundtracks, and at concerts and festivals worldwide. Vappie's highly regarded unique and original tenor banjo style is equal only to his love of his Creole heritage and tradition.

Jake Schepps

Born: November 1, 1969

Jake Schepps and Expedition plays engaging, dynamic material that reflects the Colorado aesthetic of roots music. The Expedition Quartet remains true to the artistic values of stringband, yet draws on certain jazz sensibilities, such as improvisation, more extended harmonies and creative composition. The recent release Ten Thousand Leaves features the Quartet and was produced by Matt Flinner. Jake Schepps and Expedition is a partner band of The Steampowered Preservation Society. Jake Schepps is known for his intelligent touch on the banjo and his imaginative variation on stringband music

Jimmy Mazzy

Jimmy Mazzy enjoys iconic status as both a banjoist and vocalist on the American jazz scene. For more than forty years, this consummate musician has delighted followers of traditional jazz with his uniquely lyrical banjo style and his wonderfully haunting vocals. He is featured on more than 30 albums, many of them on the famous Stomp Off label including the Paramount Jazz Band and his own Jimmy Mazzy & Friends. In a New York Times review of Jimmy and Eli’s Stomp Off recording, Shake It Down, critic John S. Wilson wrote: “Mr. Mazzy sings with husky-voiced intensity and a sentimental enthusiasm that sometimes suggests a cross between Ted Lewis and Clancy Hayes

Papa Charlie Jackson

Born: 1885

Papa Charlie Jackson was the first blues singer to record while accompanying himself on six string banjo. His first session was for Paramount in 1924 where he cut "Papa's Lawdy Blues" and "Airy Man Blues." Born in New Orleans in 1885, Jackson moved to Chicago in 1924, when Paramount’s J. Mayo Williams saw him singing in the street and recruited him for the label. Between 1924 and 1934 he cut around 70 sides. Jackson was the first really successful self accompanied performer and he has the distinction of being one of the creators of “Hokum”, a spicy form of popular song that made repeated and continual references to sex, his most popular composition being “Shake That Thing.” He also recorded with Ma Rainey and Ida Cox before his subsequent death around 1938. Jackson’s style as a soloist was unique and sophisticated for the period

Bela Fleck

Born: July 10, 1958

Just in case you aren't familiar with Béla Fleck, there are some who say he's the premiere banjo player in the world. Others claim that Béla has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map and on a range of solo projects and collaborations. If you are familiar with Béla, you know that he just loves to play the banjo, and put it into unique settings. Born and raised in New York City, Béla began his musical career playing the guitar. In the early 1960's, while watching the Beverly Hillbillies, the bluegrass sounds of Flatt & Scruggs flowed out of the TV set and into his young brain. Earl Scruggs's banjo style hooked Béla's interest immediately