Results for "Bennie Moten"

Bennie Moten

Kansas City jazz, a hard-swinging, blues-based musical style that flourished in the 1920s and '30s, is one of the greatest contributions to the uniquely American art form of jazz. Of the countless musicians and bandleaders who played at nightclubs, ballrooms, social clubs, and all-night jam sessions in the 18th & Vine district during that golden era, none embodied Kansas City jazz more than Bennie Moten. Moten was born and raised in Kansas City, where he studied piano with two of Scott Joplin's former students. While Moten was considered to be a good, but not exceptional, piano player, he excelled as a bandleader and businessman

The Black Swan: A History of Race Records

By KARL ACKERMANN

Montgomery, Alabama native Perry Bradford was an African-American composer and vaudeville musician when he approached General Phonograph Company, Director of Artists, Fred Hagar in 1920. Bradford was pitching Mamie Smith, a relatively unfamiliar pianist and singer from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Hagar agreed to a two-side recording deal. Widely regarded as a blues singer, Smith more frequently ...

Jason Palmer, Charlie Rouse, Bennie Moten & More

By JOE DIMINO

This week we start with the well-established and talented Russian-born jazz pianist Yelena Eckemoff and from there we continue to delve into new jazz releases with Jason Palmer and Native Soul. We profile the talented saxophonist Benjamin Boone with work off his CD The Poetry of Jazz Volume 2 featuring the late great poet Phillip Levine. ...

Kansas City and the Territory Bands (1927 - 1940)

By RUSSELL PERRY

Outside of the Chicago—New York nexus, jazz thrived during the late 1920's and 1930's in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, with its center in Kansas City. Under the careful control of Boss Pendergast, Kansas City was a wide open town with a thriving night club music scene, nurturing musicians like Joe Turner, Mary Lou Williams, Count Basie, ...

Floyd Domino's All-Stars: Floyd Domino's All-Stars

By KARL ACKERMANN

At the time in which traveling bands of the Southern Plains were reaching their peak popularity--the 1920s--Texas and Oklahoma contingents were experimenting beyond their typical formulaic performances. At the same time Western music was on the verge of dying and likely would have were it not for the efforts of folklorists John Lomax (the father of ...

Blue Highways and Sweet Music: The Territory Bands, Part II

By KARL ACKERMANN

Part 1 | Part 2 Part 1 of Blue Highways and Sweet Music: The Territory Bands looked at the roots, drivers and challenges of the travelling groups who brought jazz music to the non-urban areas of the Southern Plains, through one-night-stands, in often impromptu venues. A black phenomenon, often misappropriated by white musicians, promoters, ...

Rare and Unusual Instruments in Jazz

By HRAYR ATTARIAN

Historically the cornet was the quintessential jazz instrument but over a century of its evolution other instruments have also become part of the regular jazz armamentarium. These include common ones such as the piano, saxophone, bass and drums to the more occasionally appearing violin, clarinet and other percussion instruments. There are few, however, that exhibit unique ...

Eddie Durham: Genius in the Shadows

By JIM GERARD

On December 13, 1932, in the eye of the Great Depression that was devastating the record industry, the Bennie Moten Orchestra shuffled “on their uppers" into a converted church in Camden, N.J., and silently launched the Swing Era, three years before clarinetist Benny Goodman's formal inauguration as the “King of Swing" at the Palomar Ballroom in ...

Sun Ra: The Eternal Myth Revealed Vol. 1

By SKIP HELLER

Author's note: Michael Ricci has ordained me with the power to come to you once a month and throw a little information your way. A lot of great music falls through the cracks, often enough because the people who make it don't live comfortably in some nice categorical box. If you're someone who prefers music to ...