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Results for "Mary Lou Williams"
TJI Ellington Big Band: Things to Come
by Dan Bilawsky
Since the advent of Jazz At Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington program in 1995, schools across America have had the chance to dig into real deal charts, exploring note-for-note transcriptions of tunes written by--or associated with--Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Mary Lou Williams and Benny Carter. This music, written by the best-of-the-best for the-best-of-the-best, was never ...
Firey String Sistas!: Firey String Company Book 1: The Blues Series
by Chris Becker
The New York-based acoustic string ensemble Firey String Sistas! includes violin, viola, cello, double bass and harp and can, depending on the demands of the music it performs, expand from four to six to 10 pieces. What sets it apart from a growing number of chamber groups that program and play jazz, contemporary classical and other ...
Orchester Kurt Edelhagen: Big Bands Live
by Jack Bowers
Maestro Kurt Edelhagen's Orchestra was a band for its time, deftly blending elements of swing, pop and jazz to help move Germany--at least the Western part of it--away from Nazi strictures and toward a more open-handed environment that not only tolerated but nourished the country's alliance to big-band music that spawned a wide array of world-class ...
UNI Jazz Band: The Hard Way
by Jack Bowers
UNI stands for the University of Northern Iowa whose tradition of producing first-rate big-band recordings spans more than two decades, first under director Bob Washut and more recently under his successor, Chris Merz (The Hard Way is the twentieth album by the university's Jazz Band One in my library). This is a “semi-live" date on which ...
A Great Day in Harlem: The Spirit Lives - 50 Years On
by Ian Patterson
This encore presentation from January 2009 celebrates Jean Bach, director of A Great Day in Harlem. Ms. Bach died on May 27th at her home in Manhattan. She was 94.It is probably the most celebrated ensemble jazz portrait of all time. Fifty-seven of the greatest jazz musicians gathered together on the steps of a ...
Geri Allen: Apollo's Muse
by Bob Kenselaar
Pianist/composer Geri Allen is gearing up for her role as artistic director for an especially ambitious production of the 2013 Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival at the Apollo Theater. Presented as “Geri Allen & Friends Celebrate the Great Jazz Women of the Apollo," the program will offer two shows on May 11, 2013 that explore the legacy ...
Geof Bradfield: Melba!
by Dan McClenaghan
Melba Liston (1926-1999) isn't one of the big names that comes up when great jazz composer/arrangers are mentioned, but it should be. Starting as a trombonist with some of the greats--Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Count Basie, Art Blakey--she soon began working with Randy Weston, arranging the pianist's composition on Uhuru Africa, (Roulette Records, 1960) and Highlife ...
Eli Yamin and Evan Christopher: Louie's Dream: For Our Jazz Heroes
by Dan Bilawsky
Hero worship has long been a magnetic force that helps to draw in the next generation of musicians, yet this very concept is often pooh-poohed by a segment of the musical and artistic community. These people feel that new is always better, and that originality can't thrive if artists acknowledge their forefathers and wear their influences ...
Jazzfest Berlin 2012: Berlin, Germany, November 1-4, 2012
by Henning Bolte
Jazzfest Berlin 2012Berlin, GermanyNovember 1-4, 2012In 1964, famous pioneering jazz aficionado and impresario Joachim E. Behrendt founded the legendary Berlin Jazztage. The event, nowadays named Jazzfest Berlin, with its tumultuous history and multitude of faces, has since worked with a variety of different artistic directors. This year was the beginning of a new ...
R3: Special Big Band / Gull Lake Jazz Orchestra / Empire Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
R3: Special Big BandR3Summit Records2012 The “R3" in this Brazilian-based band's name refers to brothers Rafael, Renato and Roger Rocha who together comprise its heart and soul. The “Special" pertains to just about everything else on this impressive debut album. Indeed, there could be even more “R's" in ...
