Results for "Marlena Shaw"

Larry Fuller: It's a Dream to Play with Ray

by Jason West
April 15, 2001

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Larry Fuller began playing the piano at the age of 11. The son of a factory worker, Fuller was the sole musician in his parents' blue-collar family. He earned his first big break in 1988 accompanying jazz vocalist Ernestine Anderson. Their musical partnership continued until 1994 when Fuller joined Jeff Hamilton's trio. ...

Fire Music: When Jazz Speaks Out - Part 1

by Ludovico Granvassu
June 10, 2020

Music often distills the truth in ways that make it hard to ignore. The history of jazz is intertwined with the struggle for the advancement of the African-American society that birthed it. Many of its masterpieces were inspired by events that marked the civil rights movement, which, in turn, drew inspiration from them. Let's look back ...

Marlena Shaw

Born: September 22, 1942

She's known as a jazz artist, but some only knew her as a disco artist, while others yet think of her in an R&B mode. So who is Marlena Shaw? Well... she is all of these. Ask Marlena and she'll flat out tell you she's a jazz artist, yet there's no denying her R&B sides and her disco undertakings.

Born Marlina Burgess on September 22, 1942 in New Rochelle, New York, she inherited her love of music and jazz in particular from her uncle. After her uncle, Jimmy Burgess, introduced her to the recordings of Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, she caught the jazz bug, and purchased records by Al Hibbler, a vocalist who had a big influence on her singing style. When she was ten she performed at Harlem's Apollo Theater, and despite the enthusiastic reception she received in front of one of the world's toughest audiences, her mother refused to let her go on the road with her uncle, a trumpet player.

It's Christmas Again

by Marc Cohn
December 23, 2019

So, we've got our usual group of holiday favorites. But wait! There's more. We've got a new Eight Track Christmas from guitarist Dave Stryker, a stupendous live Jazzy Christmas concert from trumpeter Paolo Fresu (and I mean truly stupendous! I've listened to the CD at least six times while putting this show together). And it's a ...

Buddy Montgomery Jazz Legacy Project Benefit & Concert

by Walter Atkins
October 10, 2016

Buddy Montgomery Jazz Legacy Project Benefit & Concert Hillside Club Berkeley California September 10, 2016 The sold out first annual Buddy Montgomery Jazz Legacy Project Awards Benefit and Concert (BMJLP) was an exquisite evening that fulfilled the long held vision of Charles “Buddy" Montgomery. It recognized well deserving Bay ...

Notable and Nearly Missed 2014

by C. Michael Bailey
January 4, 2015

As I have grown older, I have come to the startling and disheartening realization that I will not be able to read all the books there are, and, more importantly, listen to all the music there is (much less write about it). I otherwise appreciate a finite lifespan, but not when it comes to books and ...

DIVA: A Swingin' Life

by Jack Bowers
November 23, 2014

As if being the premier all-female big band on the planet weren't enough, DIVA has enlisted the services of two purebred divas--Nancy Wilson and Marlena Shaw--to enrich its latest album, A Swingin' Life, recorded live at Pittsburgh's Manchester Craftsmen's Guild (November 2011) and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center (September 2012). ...

Diva: A Swingin' Life

by Richard J Salvucci
November 9, 2014

Back in 1967, Buddy Rich was one of the headliners on a summer replacement television broadcast for “The Jackie Gleason Show." If I remember correctly, the show's theme, which Rich and the band did was “Away We Go." It was subsequently released on a Pacific Jazz record The New One. Why is it that the opening ...

Diva: A Swingin' Life

by Edward Blanco
September 20, 2014

What do you get when you have fifteen talented and swinging female jazz musicians in an orchestral setting? The answer, drummer Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra offering A Swingin' Life as proof that hard-charging big band music is not the exclusivity of the male gender. Building upon the work of more than a dozen ...

Freda Payne: Come Back to Me Love

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
July 20, 2014

In 1970, the spirited R&B/pop singer Freda Payne had a monster success with “Band of Gold," a bouncy love-gone-wrong song that was probably the first top-40 hit ever written about impotence. Decades later, with undiminished pipes, beauty, and impressive energy, Payne returns to the spotlight with this big-band outing from Mack Records on its Artistry Music ...