Results for "composer/conductor"

John Williams

Born: January 28, 1928

Erskine Tate

Born: December 19, 1895

Violinist Erskine Tate studied music at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, and at the American Conservatory in Chicago. He began working as a professional musician in Chicago in 1912. From 1919 to 1928 he led an orchestra at the Vendome Theatre, providing music for silent films and entertaining during intermissions. Originally a nine-piece outfit, by the mid-1920s it had become a 15-piece ensemble which featured, at times, such musicians as Louis Armstrong, Lil Armstrong, Freddie Keppard, and Buster Bailey. The Vendome Orchestra recorded on the Okeh and Vocalion labels in the mid-1920s. After leaving the Vendome, Tate led a band at the Metropolitan Theatre until 1930 and then at the Michigan Theatre until 1932

Steve Reich

Born: October 3, 1936

From his early taped-speech pieces It’s Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966) to his and video artist Beryl Korot’s digital video opera Three Tales (2002), Steve Reich’s path has embraced not only aspects of Western Classical music, but the structures, harmonies, and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music, particularly jazz. Born in New York and raised there and in California, Mr. Reich graduated with honors in philosophy from Cornell University in 1957. For the next two years, he studied composition with Hall Overton, and from 1958 to 1961 he studied at The Juilliard School of Music with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti

Jaroslav Jezek

Born: September 25, 1906

Jaroslav Jezek: 1906 (Czechoslovakia) - 1942 (New York). Jezek was a brilliant jazz composer and leader of a big band in addition to a career as a classical composer and pianist. In November 1934, the young composer – he was 28 at the time - came into the radio and talked about jazz. "Jazz is a new form of art. It demands a real composer and a proper orchestra made up of virtuosi. That’s not the case with most so-called jazz orchestras, which are nothing more than coffee-house dance-bands.” His music is almost unknown outside of Czechoslovakia. Some of his best pieces are Bugatti Step, Three Policemen Step, Dark Blue World Tmavomodry Svet, White Sisters (Bilé Séstry) and Upside-Down World (svet na ruby)

John Warren

Born: September 23, 1938

John Warren is an internationally acclaimed composer/ arranger who has been commissioned by the foremost jazz ensembles across Europe. Amongst them are the Danish Radio Big Band; John Surman Octet; WDR Big Band, Cologne; BBC Big Band; Norma Winstone; Alan Skidmore Quintet; Georgie Fame & NDR Big Band; NOS Hilversum, NDR Symphony Orchestra; Karin Krog; Oslo Radio Orchestra; The Dedication Orchestra; &Tim Garland’s Northern Underground Jazz Orchestra. Originally from Montreal, John came to England in the sixties. For thirty years the John Warren Band showcased his music, played by instrumentalists of the stature of Surman, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Skidmore, Julian Arguelles, Dave O’Higgins and Henry Lowther

Paolo Conte

Born: January 6, 1937

Paolo Conte was born in Asti in 1937. When he was only a young boy, he began to cultivate what today remain his great passions: American jazz and the figurative arts.He started writing songs at an early age, at first with his brother, Giorgio, and later on his own. He was inspired not only by everyday life, but also by cinema and literature. In the mid sixties, his highly original style became popular through the voices of the most famous performers of the day: "La coppia più bella del mondo" and "Azzurro" were sung by Celentano, "Insieme a te non ci sto più" by Caterina Caselli, "Tripoli 69" by Patty Pravo, "Messico e nuvole" by Enzo Jannacci, "Genova per noi" and "Onda su onda" by Bruno Lauzi, to name but a few

Walter Barnes

Born: July 8, 1905

Walter Barnes - clarinet, saxophone, bandleader One of the deadliest fires in American musical history took the lives of over 200 people, including bandleader Walter Barnes and nine members of his dance orchestra The Royal Creolians at the Rhythm Club, in Natchez, Mississippi, on April 23, 1940. News of the tragedy reverberated throughout the country, especially among the African American community, and blues performers have recorded memorial songs such as “The Natchez Burning” and “The Mighty Fire” ever since. A state historical marker was later erected at the former site of the Rhythm Club

Carlos Franzetti

Born: June 3, 1948

Carlos Franzetti is a musical virtuoso without bounds, traversing genres from symphonies to big band jazz, chamber works to Latin American rhythms, and enchanting film scores. His musical journey has been adorned with accolades, including five Latin Grammy® Awards and a Grammy® Award as a producer for the mesmerizing "Tangos" CD in 2015. This versatile artist has also been nominated for Grammys® and Latin Grammys® multiple times, showcasing his exceptional talent and unwavering dedication to music.

Throughout his illustrious career, Carlos Franzetti has received numerous grants and prestigious awards, cementing his status as a true luminary in the world of music. Notable honors include the New Jersey Council on the Arts Composers' Fellowship in 2002, The Yamaha Composers Award, Clio Award, Prensario Award, ACE Award, and Premio Konex from Argentina. He's been recognized by The Foundation for New American Music, Meet the Composer, and has achieved gold record status.

David Sherr

I have lived in Chicago, Baltimore, Tulsa, New York and LA, mostly LA. I began to play the clarinet and saxophone in high school, took up the flute in 1960 and the oboe (at the instigation of Plas Johnson and Sheridon Stokes) in 1966. Composition came later. In 1960 I moved to Tulsa and after a brief period with a band that made some pretty funny sounds, I joined the Ernie Fields Orchestra. Ernie's band had existed since the early 1930s, flirted with success briefly in the 1940s, and even won the Pittsburgh Courier poll in 1947 over the Ellington and Basie bands. (The Courier was then the most widely circulated African-American newspaper in the country.) By the late 1950s the band had shrunk to eight pieces and a remarkable singer, Ann Walls

David Rose

Born: June 15, 1910

David Rose was one of the most popular and distinctive mainstream instrumental pop composers of the '40s,'50s and '60s, writing a number of pieces that became part of the nation's collective memory. From "Holiday for Strings" to "The Stripper," his music was usually distinguished by a loose, humorous approach, where the strings mimicked voices and the horns and percussion were alternately swinging and supportive. In addition to those two signature songs, Rose composed scores for many films and television programs, including Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie. Born in London, Rose and his family moved to the United States when he was four years old