Results for "Harry James"
Results for pages tagged "Harry James"...
Harry James

Born:
One of the most popular bandleaders of the wartime era, Harry James is best remembered today for his colorful trumpet playing and as the husband of pin-up girl Betty Grable. Born in a run-down hotel next to the city jail in Albany, Georgia, Harry's parents were circus performers -- his mother a trapeze artist and his father the bandleader. James began playing drums at age seven and took up the trumpet at ten, performing for the Christy Brothers circus band. James' family later settled in Beaumont, Texas, and he began playing for local dance bands while in high school. In 1935 he joined Ben Pollack's orchestra, leaving in December 1936 for Benny Goodman
Jazz Musician of the Day: Claudio Roditi

All About Jazz is celebrating Claudio Roditi's birthday today! This Brazilian composer/arranger and trumpet artist has fourteen critically acclaimed albums, a Grammy nomination, and a busy international touring schedule that includes the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world. Claudio Roditi was born May 28th, 1946 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He began his musical studies ...
Harry James, Quentin Baxter & Enrico Pieranunzi

by Joe Dimino
Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi kicks off the 766th Episode of Neon Jazz with music from is release New Visions (2019). We follow that up with music from Pieranunzi's early collaborator, trumpeter Chet Baker. As 2022 marches on, many artists are releasing albums and touring post-COVID restrictions. We profile new music from Quentin E. Baxter, John Lee, ...
Dave Slonaker Big Band: Convergency

by Jack Bowers
While big-band albums generally differ, sometimes widely, in tone and temperament, there are definitive criteria by which every one may be evaluated--arrangements, performers, sound quality, sequencing and, above all, the elusive but imperative swing quotient. Dave Slonaker checks all those boxes and more on Convergency, a superlative successor to his excellent Grammy-nominated debut album, Intrada, released ...
Jazz At Juan-Les-Pins Festival 2022

by Martin McFie
Pinède Gould Jazz à Juan Festival Juan les Pins, South of France July 6-19 2022 Juan-les-Pins is an elegant beach town near Antibes, in the South of France. The stage is set on the Mediterranean sea shore, surrounded by pine trees and sandy beaches. There is no backdrop, so the ...
Take Five With Sylvia Brooks

by AAJ Staff
The content of this article has been updated since its 2009 publish date. Meet Sylvia Brooks: Since the release of her captivating debut, 2009's Dangerous Liaisons, jazz vocalist Sylvia Brooks has displayed a gift for inhabiting different personas, with a subspecialty in film-noir inspired femmes fatale. On her fourth album, Signature, she embraces the ...
Charlie Shavers v. Harry James

Back in early May, I received an email from a reader, Jeremy Mushlin, who had an interesting point: I will go toe to toe with any Harry James fan and argue that Charlie Shavers was his trumpet-playing equal. Charlie just did not get the same opportunities and also wasn't as well organized as James. Compare Harry ...
Jazz Musician of the Day: Claudio Roditi

All About Jazz is celebrating Claudio Roditi's birthday today! This Brazilian composer/arranger and trumpet artist has fourteen critically acclaimed albums, a Grammy nomination, and a busy international touring schedule that includes the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world. Claudio Roditi was born May 28th, 1946 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He began his musical studies ...
The Scott Silbert Big Band: Jump Children

by Jack Bowers
The best music, in jazz or any other genre, is and should be timeless. To prove the point, the Scott Silbert Big Band celebrates the songs of a bygone era on its debut album, Jump Children, refreshing a number of memorable themes from the '30s, '40s and '50s and underscoring their relevance in an ultra-modern twenty-first ...
Take Five with Thomas Manuel of The Jazz Loft

by AAJ Staff
Meet Thomas Manuel Jazz historian, music educator and cornet player Dr. Thomas Manuel holds the endowed Artist in Residence chair within the Jazz department at Stony Brook University. In addition to this he serves as a trustee to the Frank Melville Memorial Foundation, is a member of the Huntington Arts Council Decentralization Advisory Committee, and is ...