Results for "New York City"

Matt Wilson

Born: September 27, 1964

I was born in the prairie town of Knoxville, Illinois September 27th 1964. I was lucky to have cool parents who encouraged me in my creative pursuits where it was music, theater, writing or weird art. I became interested in playing the drums in the third grade after seeing Buddy Rich on the Lucy Show. He was judging a local drum contest featuring Ricky Jr. a fine drummer. Inspired, I pooled together some capital and purchased some Ludwig 9a sticks at the local Byerly Music store. With sticks in hand I began exploring a wide range of suitable cookware and five gallon buckets as sound sources. Soon my parents made in investment in a used of brand snare drum drum and cymbal. My middle brother played the saxophone and we immersed in the local PTA and 4H concert circuit at a very young age. It was quite a duo, Mark with his Beuscher tenor and me with my minimalist set up of orange sparkle snare drum and 10” sheet metal cymbal. We had a book that explored all of the hits of the 60’s and 70’s. (We were serious Herb Alpert afficiandos). We even had some cool schtick: I guess times have not really changed.

Dave Valentin

Born: April 29, 1952

Renown Latin jazz flutist, Dave Valentin, was born of Puerto Rican parents in 1952 in New York City. His love for music started quite early; playing bongos and congas before he was 10 and even working Latin clubs in New York by 12. His talent and interest took him to the well respected High School of Music and Art in New York City, where he began studying percussion. Valentin changed to flute and complemented his formal education at school with private classes under master flutist Hubert Laws. The early influences on Valentin’s development as a flutist came from Latin artists such as Richard Egues but was tempered by American jazz musicians including James Moody, Frank Wess, Joe Farrell and, of course, his mentor, Hubert Laws. Valentin soon began working as a professional musician in Latin bands, developing an unusual technique that featured blowing in a manner that sounded like percussion

Lisa Rich

The release of Lisa Rich’s Long As You’re Living can be thought of as the comeback of the year. The singer’s first new recording since ill health forced her to stop performing in 1991, this rather remarkable album finds Lisa Rich not only in prime form but enthusiastically singing with adventure, daring, swing, and a deep understanding of the lyrics that she interprets.

Ben Perowsky

Born: May 12, 1966

Perowsky’s notable career has placed him among a small vanguard of players able to move between jazz, experimental music and cutting edge pop and rock. As a teen in NYC, he appeared with Dizzy Gillespie as well as Cecil Taylor and was soon playing with artists such as Rickie Lee Jones, John Cale (Velvet Underground), Roy Ayers, James Moody, Bob Berg, Mike Stern and Michael Brecker. Later he played in NY bands Elysian Fields and Joan as Policewoman as well as John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards. He Co-founded the electric jazz group Lost Tribe and has continued to record and perform with Rock, Pop and Jazz legends such as John Scofield, Belle and Sebastian, John Zorn, Darryl Jenifer (Bad Brains), John Medeski (MMW), Dave Douglas, Lou Reed, Mike Stern, Tegan and Sara, Uri Caine, Steven Bernstein, Lizz Wright, Walter Becker (Steely Dan), Vernon Reid, Salif Keita, Loudon, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, and Trixie Whitley

Dave Pell

Born: February 26, 1925

Dave Pell started the octet after playing with most of the bands in the big band era, including Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James and the like, he was a featured star of the Les Brown Band of Renown for 13 years. Shorty Rogers and Marty Paich were the first arrangers that came up with the unique sound of the band that was basically the four soloists from the Les Brown Band and the rhythm section. The Dave Pell Octet was one of the bands credited with the creation of the West Coast Jazz scene in the 1950’s. The band became an instant success and was a showcase for the great new West Coast arrangers, including John Williams, Bill Holman, Bob Florence, Johnny Mandel, Andre Previn, Med Flory and many more

William Parker

Born: January 10, 1952

William Parker is a musician, improviser, composer, educator, and author. He plays the bass, shakuhachi, double reeds, tuba, donso ngoni and gembri. Born in 1952 in the Bronx, New York, he studied bass with Richard Davis, Art Davis, Milt Hinton, Wilber Ware, Jimmy Garrison, and Paul West. During Parker’s prolific career, he has recorded over 150 albums, had countless celebrated stage appearances, and helped shaped the jazz scene for both his peers and the youth. In 2013, Parker received the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award in recognition of his influence and impact on the creative jazz scene over the last 40 years.

Pauline Oliveros

Born: May 30, 1932

Composer/performer Pauline Oliveros based in Kingston, New York since 1981 has performed worldwide as a soloist on her just tuned accordion and with the Deep Listening Band. (Tuning chart) As a composer her recent awards include the Bessie Award from Dance Theater Workshop for Contenders (1991) a work for Susan Marshall Dance Company, A Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1992 for composing Epigraphs in the Time of Aids for the Deep Listening Band and a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance 1994 for her work. Her most recent compact disc Pauline Oliveros and American Voices (1994) is already gathering critical acclaim

Mark Morganelli

Born: May 15, 1955

Trumpeter/Flugelhornist Mark Morganelli began presenting concerts in his first Jazz Forum loft at 50 Cooper Square in June 1979. By the time the second Jazz Forum loft closed its doors in April 1983, recordings, videos, films and radio broadcasts had documented performances by Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Wynton Marsalis, Woody Shaw, Red Rodney, Carmen McRae, Barry Harris, Philly Joe Jones and Max Roach. After residencies at the Village Gate and Entermedia Theater, Thirty-two years ago, Morganelli established Jazz Forum Arts, a not-for-profit arts presenting organization, and in 1985 started the River-side Park Arts Festival, which concluded on its 13th anniversary in August 1997. Morganelli has produced over sixty compact discs, most for Candid Records, twenty of which were recorded "Live" at NYC’s Birdland club, where he was the music coordinator for five years

Ben Monder

Born: May 24, 1962

A musician in the New York City area for over 30 years, Ben Monder has performed with a wide variety of artists, including Jack McDuff, Marc Johnson, Lee Konitz, Billy Childs, Andrew Cyrille, George Garzone, Paul Motian, Maria Schneider, and Marshall Crenshaw. He also contributed guitar parts to the last David Bowie album, "Blackstar". Ben conducts clinics and workshops around the world, and has served on the faculties of the New England Conservatory, NYU and the New School. He was the recipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award in 2014, and a Shifting Foundation grant in 2013. Ben continues to perform original music internationally in solo and trio settings, and in a long standing duo project with vocalist Theo Bleckmann

Microscopic Septet

The music of The Microscopic Septet was the sound of jazz in 20th C. America: all of it, from Ellington to Ayler, bebop to Zorn, Dixieland to experimental, captured in a microcosm. It distilled the essence of jazz as a popular music into a sound that swung, a music that was intelligent, sometimes smart-aleck, and always good clean fun. Optimistic and upbeat, full of innocent confidence, the Microscopic Septet captured not only the sound of jazz, but also the sound - or soundtrack - of 20th Century America. No wonder, then, that when National Public Radio (NPR) needed a new theme song for one of its most popular shows, "Fresh Air, with Terry Gross", broadcast to every home in America, it asked this band to compose the tune and has used it ever since. Active from 1980-1992, The Microscopic Septet was part of New York's emerging Downtown Music Scene, a diverse group of artists on the fringes of jazz, rock, and improv that would converge in the Knitting Factory when the club opened in 1987