Results for "banjo"

Johnny St. Cyr

Born: April 17, 1890

Johnny St. Cyr is one of the masters of early blues-jazz. His recordings with Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven feature some really impressive solo and rhythm player where St. Cyr explores the extended range of the guitar-banjo. St. Cyr used a special made banjo with an extra large pot for additional volume. St. Cyr had his own bands in New Orleans as far back as 1905. He played with A.J. Piron, the Superior, Olympia and Tuxedo bands, played on the riverboats with Fate Marable and was with King Oliver when he went north to Chicago in 1923. St. Cyr recorded with King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton and with Louis Armstrong as a key member of the Hot Five and Hot Seven sessions

Cynthia Sayer

Born: May 20

Multi-award-winning instrumentalist/vocalist/bandleader Cynthia Sayer is acclaimed by musicians, critics, and fans alike as the top 4-string banjoist in the world today. Praised for her “drive and virtuosity” by the New York Times, Cynthia enchants audiences with her electrifying, swing-based performances and captivating stage presence wherever she appears. An inductee into the American Banjo Hall Of Fame, and winner of the 2019 Bistro Award and 2018 Global Music Awards, Cynthia garnered cheering crowds and her usual standing ovation at the 2018 Newport Jazz Festival. Other USA festivals include appearing as a Special Guest at the prestigious 2019 Django Reinhardt Festival in NYC, headlining at the 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival, the 2017 Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, and numerous others

Danny Barker

Born: January 13, 1909

A jazz banjoist and guitarist with a career that stretched over parts of eight decades, Danny Barker lived the history of jazz in the twentieth century. Then, late in life, he became one of its most qualified chroniclers, drawing upon his recollections of the early days of jazz in New Orleans. Danny Barker spent his first six years living with his father’s family in a two-story apartment building on Chartre Street across from the French Quarter Ice. His grandfather on his mother’s side was Isidore Barbarin, a founding member of the original Onward Brass Band. And Danny’s uncle, Paul Barbarin, played in bands led by top jazz artists including King Oliver, Henry ‘Red’ Allen, and Sidney Bechet. Barker would follow in his Uncle Paul’s footsteps, leading to his first gig playing banjo subbing for an intoxicated Babe Son in Kid Rena's band

Nino Frasio

Born: April 26, 1950

Banjo, guitar and tuba player.
He was graduated in 1976 from the Universitá degli Studi of Milano and he has worked for more than twenty years with several companies as AFC manager.
His first steps in music were taken in 1964 as a guitarist and banjoist.
He studied with professor Enea Vallesi, one of the more requested orchestra and studio musicians in Milano active from the early '30s throughout the '50s, and followed the Beatles craze - as virtually all the teenage players did then - playing lead guitar and trying to sing in a somewhat understandable English.
The latter was the worse performance of the two.
In 1969 he joined the Italian cast of Up With People! and played many shows on lead guitar and tenor banjo.
He quit in 1971, when he started his 'day job' career, and since then has dedicated himself exclusively to Classic Jazz.
Deepening his studies on banjo, he discovered the 'other' four string tuning and soon was able to double on tenor and plectrum banjo.
RAI, the national Italian TV network, invited him to the broadcast "Musica Insieme" dedicated to the various musical instruments to show the role of the banjo in Classic Jazz.
He founded in 1972 the Olympia Ragtime Band, a pure New Orleans styled band in which he played banjo.
In the early '80s he left the Olympia Ragtime Band to start a busy musical career as a free-lance performer with the many jazz bands active in Northern Italy.
In late 1973 he was enlisted in the Italian Air Force and, during the duty, began the study of cornet and tuba.
When he was discharged in 1975 his day job asked him firmly to choose between the two due to the lack of time ..

Holger Gross

Born: March 22, 1943

David Bandrowski

Born: April 2, 1973

David grew up playing the 5-string banjo in New Orleans and Boston. He then went on to study guitar at Berklee College of Music, and graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans from their jazz studies program. Before Hurricane Katrina, you could see David playing regularly at the famous Commander's Palace restaurant in New Orleans.

David has taught workshops at Chicago's Old Town School of folk music, and has played with Dr. John, Natalie Merchant, Donald Harrison, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Matt Glaser, and with band members of the Harry Connick Jr. Big Band, Fats Domino, The Allman Brothers, Merle Travis, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Rebirth Brass Band, Galactic, and many other well known and lesser known entertainers