Results for "Keyboard"

Peter Lemer

Born: June 14, 1942

Peter Lemer is an English improvisational pianist, drawing on jazz, classical, world music . He worked with the Pete Lemer Quintet, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Annette Peacock, Harry Beckett, Gilgamesh, Baker Gurvitz Army, Seventh Wave, Harry Beckett's Joy Unlimited, Pierre Moerlen's Gong, Mike Oldfield, Miller/Baker/Lemer. Peter Lemer Trio/Quartet, and the Peter Lemer-Billy Thompson Quartet and Duo. He toured and recorded many albums with the late Phil Miller's In Cahoots, and was a long-term member of Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia. He is now coaching piano, improvisation, music technology as well as being actively involved in lobbying to end global hunger

Joe Zawinul

Born: July 7, 1932

It may be a word overused but there isn't truly a more appropriate way to describe keyboardist/composer Joe Zawinul.

Austrian born, Joe Zawinul emigrated to the US in 1959 where he played with Maynard Ferguson and the great Dinah Washington before joining alto saxophonist great Cannonball Adderley in 1961 for nine years. With Adderley, Zawinul wrote several important songs, primarily the slow and funky hit "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" which reached the top on the Billboard magazine Pop Charts in 1967.

Zawinul then moved on to a brief but fateful encounter and collaboration with Miles Davis, just at the time Miles was moving into the electric arena. It was Zawinul’s tune "In a Silent Way", in fact, which served as the title track of Miles’ first electric foray, and Zawinul had a potent impact on Bitches Brew, as well.

Michael Wolff

Born: July 31, 1952

Michael Wolff is a genuine hipster -- a Manhattan-based family man and internationally acclaimed pianist-composer-bandleader who returns to his roots with the release of his eleventh album, 'jazz, JAZZ, jazz'. This soulful, instrumental collection is everything fans have come to embrace in Wolff's virtuoso jazz piano playing. A baby boomer in his prime, Wolff is renown for his old school jazz roots, melodically fresh and rhythmically compelling multi-keyboard style, and ever-expanding media presence. A New Orleans native who’s father taught him blues on piano before he began classical lessons at age eight, Michael also grew up in Memphis and Berkeley, California, getting his first significant professional gig when he was 19 from Latin jazz vibist Cal Tjader

Charles Williams

Born: August 13, 1955

Charles D. Williams, is a native of Kansas City, Kansas. Mr.Williams has played piano for over 40 years. As a trombonist, he studied under Mr. Leon Brady at Sumner High School and supplemented this training with musical studies under the tutelage of the late Mr.Reginald Buckner. Mr.Williams was a member of the award-winning Sumner Jazz Band that also attended the Paris International Jazz festival in Paris France in 1972, and was auspiciously judged to be “the best High School Band in the World. Mr. Williams also had the pleasure of participating in the Turner House Jazz series in the 70’s – having opportunity to play with such great jazz artist as: Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Roy Ayers, Cannonball and Nat Adderley, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, Ernie Wilkins, Rich Matteson, and many more. Today, Mr

Ram Ramirez

Born: September 15, 1913

Rogelio Ramirez (also known as Roger or "Ram") was born in San Juan on September 15, 1913. He arrived on Ellis Island in 1920.He was raised in New York, was recognized as a prodigious talent and by 13 was a professional musician, and a member of the American Federation of Musicians. Ramirez worked with the Louisiana Stompers, The Spirits of Rhythm, and Monette Moore in 1933. The following year, he joined trumpeter Rex Stewart for a set of recordings that are available today on the Columbia and Classic labels. In 1935, he joined Willie Bryant and in 1937, he went to Europe with a group led by Bobby Martin

Sun Ra

Born: May 22, 1914

Eclectic, outrageous, sometimes mystifying but always imbued with a powerful jazz consciousness, the music of Sun Ra has withstood its skeptics and detractors for nearly three generations. And well it should, since Sun Ra has been both apart of and ahead of the jazz tradition during that time. Like Duke Ellington and swing-era pioneer Fletcher Henderson, Sun Ra learned early on to write music in an arranged form that showcased the specific talents of his individual Arkestra members, and he has retained the services of some of these musicians to this day: John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Julian Priester for example since they first joined in the 1950's

Don Preston

Born: September 21, 1932

Donald Ward Preston also known as Dom DeWilde or Biff Debrie born September 21, 1932 in Flint, Michigan. Preston is an American rock and roll musician. Preston was born into a family of musicians and began studying music at an early age. His father was the composer-in-residence for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. At 12 years old he was thrown out of school for hypnotizing several students and a nun. The nuns used to beat his hands with a big ruler when he made mistakes playing the piano. Because of this weird treatment he began to like strange and dissonant music. Preston later did a stint in the army, serving in Trieste, Italy

Frank McComb

Born: July 15, 1970

FRANK McCOMB is a divine soul man who speaks with the native tongue of soul, jazz, blues and pop. His virtuoso vocal and piano work has made him not only an indispensable and highly sought after session musician, but a favorite on the soul, Jazz and R&B scenes. Frank has worked with many of the entertainment industry’s giants including but not limited to: Prince, Branford Marsalis, George Duke, Patrice Rushen, Gerald Levert, The Rude Boys, Phil Perry, Tommy Davidson, Fred Hammond, John P. Kee, Chaka Khan, Songwriting duo Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (Will Smith), Frankie Beverly and Maze, Teena Marie, Lalah Hathaway, Terri Lynn Carrington, Phyllis Hyman,​ ​Valerie Simpson,​ American Idol's Rickey Minor, Philip Bailey, Teddy Pendergrass and more.​ Signed to Motown’s short-lived jazz label “MoJazz” from 1992 until 1994.​ In 1994, Frank left Motown and joined Branford Marsalis' versatile and eclectic band​ ​Buckshot LeFonque​ where he was able to lend his vocal chops to the hit song “Another Day”

Lyle Mays

Born: November 27, 1953

Anyone who has seen the Pat Metheny Group in concert knows how the brilliant keyboard artistry of {{m: Lyle Mays = 9197}} is integral to their sound. While Mays has made his mark in the jazz idiom, he counts Bartok, Stravinsky, Berg, and Ravel among his musical inspirations.

As a key collaborator with Metheny on their multi-Grammy winning albums and record-breaking Pat Metheny Group tours, Mays found the time to step out to feature his own solo work. When he does, as his “Solo “ Improvisations For Expanded Piano” illustrated, Mays stands out as one of the masters of the instrument

Jeff Lorber

Born: November 4, 1952

Over three decades after breaking ground as leader of the pioneering Jeff Lorber Fusion, the Philly-born and bred composer, producer and keyboard legend is still keeping the vibes fresh and the grooves funky. On Heard That, his Peak Records debut, Lorber keeps the soulful momentum going, collaborafting brilliantly on pop, jazz, R&B and blues-influenced tracks–and even harkening back a bit to his early 80s Fusion heyday–with one of urban jazz’s top hit makers and sonic architects, Rex Rideout. Highlighted by the first single, a swinging, bluesy-brass twist on Amy Winehouse’s Grammy winning “Rehab,” Heard That features a typically vibrant Lorber all-star guest list, including trumpet great Rick Braun, guitarist Paul Jackson, Jr., saxman Gary Meek, bassist Alex Al, trumpeter Ron King, guitarist Darrell Crooks and Peak labelmates, saxman Gerald Albright