Results for "Detroit"

Harold McKinney

arold McKinney was a noted jazz musician who is widely credited with keeping jazz in the forefront of Detroit's music scene. He was a pianist, oboist, vibraphone player and composer who, over his long career, played with many of jazz's greatest artists. As an educator McKinney taught generations of aspiring jazz musicians, helping turn Detroit into a hub for jazz education where the greats passed on their lessons to their students. Harold McKinney was born on July 4, 1928 in Detroit. His mother introduced him to music at an early age and by his teenage years he was playing with local jazz bands

Howard McGhee

Born: March 6, 1918

McGhee was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but grew up in Detroit. He first learned to play the clarinet and tenor sax, then switched to trumpet. From 1936 to 1940 he travelled around playing in territory bands. In 1941 he led his own band at Detroit's Club Congo. After a short stint with Lionel Hampton he joined Andy Kirk, with whom he made his first recording, his own McGhee Special. During the AFM ban, he spent a year with Charlie Barnet, but returned to Kirk in 1943. In 1944, jobs in the bands of Georgie Auld and Count Basie were followed by his joining the Coleman Hawkin's quintet for half a year in Los Angeles

Bennie Maupin

Born: August 29, 1940

Bennie Maupin is best-known for his atmospheric bass clarinet playing on Miles Davis' classic Bitches Brew album, as well as other Miles Davis recordings such as Big Fun, Jack Johnson, and On the Corner. He was a founding member of Herbie Hancock's seminal band The Headhunters, as well as a performer and composer in Hancock's influential Mwandishi band. Born in 1940, Maupin started playing clarinet, later adding saxophone, flute, and, most notably, the bass clarinet to his formidable arsenal of woodwind instruments. Upon moving to New York in 1962, he freelanced with groups led by Marion Brown, Pharoah Sanders, and Chick Corea, and played regularly with Roy Haynes and Horace Silver

Rick Margitza

Born: October 24, 1961

Rick Margitza, who has long been regarded as one of the « Young Lyons » of the International Jazz Scene, is nowadays one of the most respected musicians of his generation. Excellent tenor and soprano saxophonist, mostly inspired by John Coltrane, Michael Brecker and Wayne Shorter, he has managed to expand and develop his unique voice, highly poetic and sharply incisive. He started on the violin when he was four. His grandfather was a cellist and his father a violinist with the Detroit Symphony. He then studied classical piano for a bit, and also played oboe before switching to tenor in high school

Kirk Lightsey

Born: February 15, 1937

Kirk Lightsey’s profound pianisms originate from the Motor City. Kirk LIGHTSEY was born into Detroit 's rich music scene on February 15, 1937. He grew up in a town known for its jazz pianists, which included Hugh Lawson, Sir Roland Hanna, Barry Harris, Hank Jones and Tommy Flanigan, whose brother gave Lightsey his first piano lessons at the age of six. He then took lessons with Glady's Wade Dillard, who also taught pianists Barry Harris, Alice McCloud and Tommy Flanagan. At Cass Technical High School Hugh Lawson and Paul Chambers introduced Kirk to playing jazz. They all performed in the school orchestra, which included Ron Carter and Kiane Zawadi

Hugh Lawson

Born: March 12, 1935

Hugh Lawson, was an American jazz pianist from Detroit who worked with Yusef Lateef for more than 10 years. Inspired by Bud Powell, Hampton Hawes and Bill Evans, Lawson first gained recognition for his work with Yusef Lateef during the late '50s. He recorded with Harry "Sweets" Edison (1962), Roy Brooks, and Lateef on several occasions in the 1960s. In 1972, he performed with "The Piano Choir" (Strata-East), a group with seven pianists including Stanley Cowell and Harold Mabern. He went on to tour with Charles Mingus in 1975 and 1977 and made recordings with Charlie Rouse (1977), George Adams, and as a leader

Yusef Lateef

Born: October 9, 1920

Renaissance man Dr. Yusef Lateef was born William Emanuel Huddleston in Chattanooga, Tennessee on October 9th, 1920. At the age of 5 he moved with his family to Detroit. Growing up in Detroit he came in contact and forged friendships with many a giant of jazz such as Kenny Burrell, Milt Jackson, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Paul Chambers, and Donald Byrd. By the time he graduated from high school he was a proficient tenor saxophonist. He started soon after graduation playing professionally and touring with different swing orchestras among them those of Hot Lips Page, Roy Eldridge and Lucky Millender. In 1949 he joined Dizzy Gillespie’s orchestra (using the stage name William Evans), and stayed with them for one year

Earl Klugh

Born: September 16, 1953

In a recording career of over three decades, master guitarist EARL KLUGH has been lauded first as a prodigy and groundbreaker, then a defining figure, and ultimately, as one of the true statesmen of contemporary jazz. With 2008’s THE SPICE OF LIFE, Klugh earns his 12th career Grammy® Nomination - his second nomination and release on the independent Koch label. As follow up to his 2005 masterpiece, Naked Guitar, Klugh succeeds in creating a statement every bit as compelling. After breaking a six-year recording hiatus with the universally-hailed solo album of 2005, Klugh steps back from Naked Guitar’s intimate focus on the unaccompanied guitar to capture the biggest picture possible, and an equally personal one: THE SPICE OF LIFE is a far-reaching account of all his music, marking Klugh’s return to full-scale album production after a nine-year break, with a special guest appearance by flautist Hubert Laws, and with the arrangements of two legendary orchestrators, Don Sebesky and Eddie Horst. It effortlessly segues from jazz to Latin to pop modes through a compositional approach that recalls his Grammy® Award- winning work with Bob James (One on One), spiced with all the lyric flourishes that established Klugh’s distinctive signature all those years ago. Not surprisingly, the adult-aimed radio stations that have followed Klugh’s music through 23 Top Ten Billboard Jazz Chart albums (five of them No

Sheila Jordan

Born: November 18, 1928

Sheila Jeanette Dawson, 18 November 1928, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Raised in poverty in Pennsylvania’s coal-mining country, Jordan began singing as a child and by the time she was in her early teens was working semi-professionally in Detroit clubs. Her first great influence was Charlie Parker and, indeed, most of her influences have been instrumentalists rather than singers.

Working chiefly with black musicians, she met with disapproval from the white community but persisted with her career. She was a member of a vocal trio, Skeeter, Mitch And Jean (she was Jean), who sang versions of Parker’s solos in a manner akin to that of the later Lambert, Hendricks And Ross. After moving to New York in the early 50s, she married Parker’s pianist, Duke Jordan, and studied with Charles Mingus and Lennie Tristano, but it was not until the early 60s that she made her first recordings.

Thad Jones

Born: March 28, 1923

Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 - August 21, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader. He was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a musical family of ten (an older brother was pianist Hank Jones and a younger brother was drummer Elvin Jones). Thad Jones was a self taught musician, performing professionally by the age of sixteen. He served in U.S. Army bands during World War II (1943-46). After the war, Thad Jones continued his professional music career, eventually winding up with Count Basie in 1954, for whom he arranged, composed, and performed. He stayed with Basie for nine years