Results for "Doc Severinsen"

Doc Severinsen

Heeeeere’s Johnny!” That lead-in, followed by a big band trumpet blast, was the landmark of late night television for three decades. The ‘Johnny’ was Johnny Carson, the announcer was Ed McMahon and the bandleader was Doc Severinsen. Beginning in October 1962, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson ruled the night air for thirty years. On May 22, 1992, it came to an end… Within a week of the final telecast, Doc Severinsen and His Big Band were on the road, and to this day, audiences across America love and respect Doc and his big band, not just because he shared their living room with them for so many years, but because of Doc’s love of the Big Band repertoire

Nancy Kelly: A Dynamic And Determined Voice

By SCOTT GUDELL

Nancy Kelly has been singin,' swingin' and scattin' for a long time. Her first musical path took her into the world of classical music when she started playing by ear at age three and her mother guided her to piano lessons by age four. The Beatles arrived a decade later and she abruptly shifted her allegiance ...

Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story

By NICHOLAS F. MONDELLO

Doc Severinsen Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story A film by Kevin Bright & Jeff Consiglio Just Bright Productions2020 Never Too Late (Just Bright Productions, 2020) is a meticulously produced and emotion-grabbing documentary portrait of the musical career and life of trumpeter Doc Severinsen. While Duke Ellington may ...

Vince Mendoza: Streams of Influence Flowing into a River of Sound

By VICTOR L. SCHERMER

Vince Mendoza is a jazz composer, arranger, and conductor of consummate originality, skill, and adaptability, so much so that he has for several decades received frequent invitations and commissions from the whole gamut of ensembles and performers like the WDR Big Band, the Metropole Orkest in the Netherlands, the Los Angeles and Berlin Philharmonic, and the ...

Nick Travis: A New York Studio Jazzman

By RICHARD J SALVUCCI

It may well be that in the world of the Internet, no one is ever truly forgotten. That's obviously true of people commonly known as “the great and the good." Yet even in the more obscure branches of human endeavor, the principle holds. Nowhere, more so, it seems, than in music, and even in ...

Shawn Purcell: Symmetricity

By GEANNINE REID

Guitarist Shawn Purcell has enjoyed a busy career with 15 years as a member of the military Big Bands in Washington DC. From 1996-2004, he was the guitarist in the US Air Force premier jazz ensemble, The Airmen of Note. During his time with “The Note," Purcell performed throughout the world, including England, Germany, Turkey, Luxembourg, ...

US Military Service Bands: Histories & Heroes

By CHRIS M. SLAWECKI

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 US Air Force Airmen of Note The premier jazz ensemble of the US Air Force, the Airmen of Note is one of six musical ensembles that comprise The US Air Force Band. Created in 1950 to continue the tradition of Major Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces ...

Tom Pierson: Last Works

By DOUG HALL

As musicians make choices and pursue a passion for music which also directs their musical orbit, looking at jazz composer, arranger and pianist Tom Pierson's resume, it is clear that a creative search for originality and exploration was paramount, from the very beginning. Gifted at the start, Pierson was a piano prodigy and a soloist with ...

Al Hood and the H2 Sextet: Jazz Muses

By NICHOLAS F. MONDELLO

There's something fascinating about the word “inspire." We know from Latin that the word derives from inspirare, meaning “to breathe" or “blow into." It is the perfect theme as presented for trumpeter Al Hood and the H2 Sextet's terrific album, Jazz Muses. Not only is Hood inspired by his Jazz Muses, but his blowing here takes ...

Brad Goode: That's Right!

By NICHOLAS F. MONDELLO

The first collaboration between trumpeter Brad Goode and saxophonist Ernie Watts is a case study in superior musicianship and improvisation. It also illustrates how two frontline performers and their supporting band can achieve excellence as a creative ensemble. The kickoff, “Half Moon," an original from pianist Adrean Farrugia, is reminiscent of the popular ...