Results for "Count Basie"

Count Basie

Bill Basie studied music with his mother as a child and played piano in early childhood. He picked up the basics of early ragtime from some of the great Harlem pianists and studied organ informally with Fats Waller. He made his professional debut as an accompanist for vaudeville acts and replaced Waller in an act called Katie Crippen and her Kids. He also worked with June Clark and Sonny Greer who was later to become Duke Ellington’s drummer. It was while traveling with the Gonzel White vaudeville show that Basie became stranded in Kansas City when the outfit suddenly broke up. He played at a silent movie house for a while and then became a member of the Walter Page Blue Devils in 1928 and ’29

The Nimmons Tribute: Volume 1 - To The Nth

By EDWARD BLANCO

The Nimmons Tribute is a small Canadian ensemble dedicated to honoring the living legacy of Phil Nimmons a clarinetist, composer and band leader who, in 2020, was 97-years-old and acknowledged as having done more than anyone else in bringing jazz to the mainstream of Canadian culture. A living legend, active for more than six decades, this ...

Mathias Sandberg: The Doctor

By EDWARD BLANCO

Finnish guitarist Mathias Sandberg has been called “One of Finland's best kept secrets," and one of the “hardest working jazz musicians in the country." Well, that secret is now out as this former leader of Dr. Sandberg's Soul Clinic jazz quartet has morphed and downsized things to a rhythm-based guitar trio, documenting a new session of ...

This Is Bop: Jon Hendricks And The Art Of Vocal Jazz

By IAN PATTERSON

This Is Bop: Jon Hendricks And The Art Of Vocal Jazz Peter Jones 263 Pages ISBN: 978 1 78179 874 4 Equinox Publishing 2020 Few are the jazz singers accorded the fanfare usually reserved for the music's great instrumentalists. Jon Hendricks was one, taking scat and vocalese to unprecedented ...

2020: The Year in Jazz

By KEN FRANCKLING

The COVID-19 pandemic put the jazz world in a tailspin, just like the world at large, in 2020. And there is plenty of uncertainty going into the new year about what “new normal: might emerge from the darkness. International Jazz Day, like so many other things, became an online virtual event this time around. Pianist Keith ...

Soundpath

By VICTOR L. SCHERMER

Muhal Richard Abrams (1930-2017) was a revered pianist, composer and teacher of great capability and range who, in addition to his own achievements, inspired and influenced many jazz musicians in both the mainstream and avant-garde categories. Largely self-taught as a result of a personal decision to follow his own path, and early on pursuing church music, ...

Thelonious Monk: An Alternative Top Ten Albums Of Deep And Staggering Genius

By CHRIS MAY

Thelonious Monk's position in cultural history grows in stature with each passing year and every new generation. Lionised by jazz fans and a continuing influence on musicians, Monk in 2020 is also held to be a hero by the hip hop movement. While his music no longer has the power to shock that it once possessed, ...

The Peter Leitch New Jazz Orchestra: New Life

By JACK BOWERS

After what Canadian-born guitarist Peter Leitch has been through in the last eight years, it's little wonder he named the ensemble he now leads the New Life Jazz Orchestra. Diagnosed in 2012 with stage 4 lung cancer, Leitch faced the choice of throwing in the proverbial towel or undergoing career-ending cancer treatment. He chose the latter, ...

Artemis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and More

By JOE DIMINO

This week we start our show with the jazz supergroup, Artemis, as we focus on new jazz and the stars that are delivering it during these pandemic days. We also hear form Andy Milne, Teodross Avery, Ian Carey and Jocelyn Gould. We top it all off with classics from Count Basie, Oscar Peterson and Ray Noble. ...