Results for "Lena Horne"

Lena Horne

Lena Horne, the beautiful, elegant, talented singer and actress has become a legend. Her strong sense of her own identity, of justice, and of dignity forced her to struggle against social adversity, and allowed her to triumph. Music is just a part of her story. Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born on June 30, 1917, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, her parents separated by the time she was three years old, and she lived for several years with her paternal grandparents. Her early life was nomadic: Horne's mother, who was a fairly unsuccessful stage performer, took the young Lena on the road with her, and they lived in various parts of the South before returning to Horne's grandparents' home in Brooklyn in 1931 Horne had early ambitions to be a performer--against the wishes of her family, who believed that she should aspire to greater heights

2020: The Year in Jazz

By KEN FRANCKLING

The COVID-19 pandemic put the jazz world in a tailspin, just like the world at large, in 2020. And there is plenty of uncertainty going into the new year about what “new normal: might emerge from the darkness. International Jazz Day, like so many other things, became an online virtual event this time around. Pianist Keith ...

Mike Renzi with Jim Porcella: Christmas Is: December Duets

By DAN BILAWSKY

Now here's some music to cozy up to. You can almost feel the warmth of a fire place, smell some spruce and pine, see the falling snowflakes and taste the heaven of hot chocolate in these sounds. Master pianist Mike Renzi, a septuagenarian mainstay of the vocal community whose work has supported everyone from Mel Torme ...

Marvin Stamm: Team Player

By R.J. DELUKE

Trumpeter Marvin Stamm is known for being part of a gazillion albums, having that ability to go into a studio and play exactly what's required, whether it's for a records by pop singers, jazz artists, Paul McCartney, Donny Hathaway or touring with Frank Sinatra. It's a reputation the highly skilled player earned with hard work.

Struttin With Some Barbeque - Celebrating July 4 with Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne and Friends

By MARY FOSTER CONKLIN

The Independence Day broadcast included new releases from Jimmy Heath featuring Cecile McLorin Salvant, vocalists Kathleen Grace, Melody Gardot and drummer Jake Reed with birthday shoutouts to Rhoda Scott, Lena Horne, Natalie Cressman and Louis Armstrong (yes we know, it's really in August but he claimed July 4 for his own and who are we to ...

Naama Gheber: Dearly Beloved

By JIM TRAGESER

Cabaret singer? Jazz singer? Pop singer? The splendid debut from Israeli singer Naama Gheber recalls a time when such distinctions were utterly without meaning. “Dearly Beloved" finds her inhabiting the same territory as such classic crossover singers as June Christy, Peggy Lee and Lena Horne. Of course, for that generation, jazz WAS ...

Clairdee: A Love Letter To Lena

By NICHOLAS F. MONDELLO

Revered decades after her passing, Lena Horne has remained an icon in the realms of music, stage & screen, and civil rights activism. With A Love Letter to Lena, San Francisco-based vocalist Clairdee assumes the task of saluting Horne by way of selections from Billy Strayhorn and other great American composers. And the inclusion of narration ...

Clairdee: A Love Letter To Lena

By DAN BILAWSKY

A fixture on the Bay Area jazz scene, Clairdee has established herself as a self-assured singer and an artist who's never content in repeating an idea. Her first three albums move from the studio to the holidays to the stage, demonstrating a high level of comfort in disparate settings and seasons. This fourth project—a tribute to ...