Results for "John Lewis"

Ron Carter's Great Big Band: Ron Carter's Great Big Band

by Dan McClenaghan
November 3, 2011

Bassist Ron Carter rode to high profile during his stint with trumpeter Miles Davis' second great quintet, the stellar mid-1960s ensemble that also included pianist Herbie Hancock, drummer Tony Williams and saxophonist Wayne Shorter--all of whom, like Carter, went on to create great things. Carter also used the opportunity afforded by the Davis boost to become ...

George Russell: The Story of an American Composer

by Duncan Heining
October 27, 2011

This article, adapted by the author, appears in Chapter 4 of George Russell: The Story of an American Composer, by Duncan Heining (Scarecrow Press, 2010). New York, NY It was May 1945, the war was still on, Bebop was at its height in New York and George Russell and his two ...

Tom Everett: Jazz at Harvard

by Andrew J. Sammut
October 18, 2011

It's no accident that forty years of jazz at Harvard coincides with forty years of Tom Everett at the esteemed university. Everett founded Harvard University's first student jazz band, taught its first jazz history course and welcomed the campus' first visiting jazz artist. He now leads two jazz bands at the prestigious university, continues to teach ...

Gunther Schuller: A Life in Pursuit of Music & Beauty

October 11, 2011

Simultaneously the memoir of a famed composer, conductor, and music educator, and an important historical sourcebook on the American musical scene during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, the autobiography of Gunther Schuller chronicles the first thirty-five years of this multifaceted and expansive figure's life and work. Schuller began composing music at an early age ...

Randy Weston: Blue Moses

by Eugene Holley, Jr.
August 30, 2011

Brooklyn-born, six-foot-seven octogenarian pianist/composer Randy Weston has literally been a larger-than-life jazz force for six decades: his percussive pianism was forged from a distinguished keyboard continuum, ranging from Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk to John Lewis; his “Little Niles" and “Hi-Fly" are well-worn jazz standards; and the pianist may well be the greatest exponent of the ...

Modern Jazz Quartet: The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings 1956-64

by Eugene Holley, Jr.
August 12, 2011

The Modern Jazz Quartet The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings of The Modern Jazz Quartet 1956-64 Mosaic Records 2011 They were diverse in talent and temperament. John Lewis, the quiet and determined westerner, who told sound stories with his linear and logical blues-based pianisms; Milt “Bags" Jackson, the baggy eyed, Motor ...

Modern Jazz Quartet: The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings 1956-64

by John Kelman
August 3, 2011

Even now, nearly sixty years later, it seems improbable that a group which came together as the rhythm section for one of the hottest players in bebop's genesis era, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, could morph into a standalone group that was the epitome of grace, elegance and cool dignity. But that's exactly what happened when Gillespie recruited ...

Ryan Truesdell: The Gil Evans Project

by Victor L. Schermer
July 25, 2011

Imagine the commotion when previously unknown manuscripts of Beethoven or Bach were discovered. In the jazz world, the equivalent of such an event might occur with regard to the music of innovators like Duke Ellington or Gil Evans. Indeed, that is exactly what composer-arranger-conductor-producer Ryan Truesdell has uncovered with Evans' music. He researched and found a ...

Paul Motian: New York, NY, May 20 2011

by Warren Allen
June 8, 2011

Paul Motian Quartet “Tribute to the MJQ"Village VanguardNew York, NYMay 20, 2011 The boundary between past and present in jazz has, over the years, become a source of overwrought debate. The rise of “Tribute" shows at New York City's big name clubs gives ammunition to those who say that jazz ...

Billy Taylor Presents: John Lewis

Featuring the music of John Lewis
Duration: 5:07
May 6, 2011