Results for "piano"

Kenny Werner

Born: November 19, 1951

Kenny Werner is a world-class pianist and composer. His prolific output of compositions, recordings and publications continue to impact audiences around the world. Kenny was recently awarded the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship Award for his seminal work, No Beginning No End. No Beginning No End is a musical journey exploring tragedy and loss, death and transition, and the path from one lifetime to the next. Utilizing over 70 musicians, Kenny’s third album for Half Note Records is an expansive composition featuring Joe Lovano, Judy Silvano, Wind Ensemble, Choir and String Quartet. Born in Brooklyn, NY on November 19, 1951 and then growing up in Oceanside, Long Island, Kenny began playing and performing at a young age, first recording on television at the age of 11

Dick Wellstood

Born: November 25, 1927

One of the two great stride pianists (along with Ralph Sutton) to emerge during the 1940s when members of their generation were generally playing bebop, Wellstood kept an open mind toward later styles (he loved Monk) while sounding at his best playing classic jazz. A little more subtle than Sutton, Wellstood was also a powerful pianist who was a superb interpreter of the music of James P. Johnson and his contemporaries. He came to New York with Bob Wilber's Wildcats in 1946 and caught on in the trad jazz scene quickly. By 1947 he was playing with Sidney Bechet, and in the 1950s he mostly worked with veteran players including trumpeters Roy Eldridge, Rex Stewart, and Charlie Shavers and the Eddie Condon gang

George Wein

Born: October 3, 1925

George Wein was the man who is arguably the father of the jazz festivals movement. Though he is known first and foremost for his long career as a jazz producer and impresario, George Wein is also a jazz musician. Though his far-flung activities have not afforded him a full-fledged career as a performer and recording artist, he has long been an active pianist in a swing/proto-bebop mode, making tours with his own all star bands. But it is as festival pioneer, producer, and all-around impresario that George Wein has made his principle mark. His company, Festival Productions Inc., has produced jazz festivals and concerts around the globe. Wein first studied music with the noted Margaret Chaloff in Boston, later falling under the tutelage of Teddy Wilson at Julliard

Katie Webster

Born: January 11, 1936

At the time of her death in 1999 at the age of 63, Katie Webster was acknowledged as the one of the premier blues artists of her generation. Webster's sassy and sensuous blend of barrelhouse boogie-woogie, New Orleans R&B, Gulf Coast swamp-pop, deep bayou blues and Southern gospel-flavored soul placed her among the most in-demand blues artists in the country and made her a favorite at festivals and concert halls all over the world. As a teen, Webster was already hailed as South Louisiana's reigning piano queen. She recorded on more than 500 singles during the 1950s and 1960s. She joined Otis Redding's touring band in 1965 and enjoyed a successful solo career in the 1980s, releasing albums on Arhoolie and a number of European labels

Teddy Weatherford

Born: October 11, 1903

Teddy Weatherford, a highly rated and legendary pianist, has been an obscure and mysterious figure whose few records are prized by collectors. His resume and career traverse international boundaries in his quest to present American jazz in the far corners of the globe. Back then, when the "jazz" label got pasted on any music that moved, there was some confusion abroad about just what jazz was. Was its essence syncopation or improvisation? Was it considered futuristic, or a novelty act with drummers doing tricks with sticks? Was it folk music or a more refined expression? For that reason, American musicians on foreign soil were enormously important locally, even if little remembered back home. Theodore Weatherford was born on Oct

Barbara Januszkiewicz

Born: February 23, 1955

Mankind’s ultimate capital asset is creative vision.- Barbara Januszkiewicz "Creativity is not being afraid to be different. It takes madness to jump at an idea that no one else believes in. So let's be mad.”- Barbara Januszkiewicz Jazz visual artist. Her art has consistently advocated spreading art outside of preconceived boundaries, to inspire creativity in all areas of life, similarly to the style of Joseph Beuys. She is driven to take risks and see opportunities in alternative approaches and expressions in both her visual and musical aesthetics. "The excitement and the unexpected risks are what attract me to avant-garde, free jazz and fusion jazz

Tuts Washington

Born: January 24, 1907

Isadore ‘Tuts’ Washington provides a wider perspective on the phenomenon of New Orleans piano that is called the Storyville tradition. Storyville was an upscale brothel district that operated in New Orleans until 1917. Every first class whorehouse had one or more pianists, who were called the Professors. Since the clients were white and often made requests, the Professors developed a repertoire much more diverse than the barrelhouse players, including ragtime and the popular music of the day. Although Tuts came along slightly after Storyville, he was an example of the wide range of musicianship characteristic of the tradition

Cedar Walton

Born: January 17, 1934

For over 25 years, pianist Cedar Walton has enjoyed an uptempo career, which never seems to slow down. Maintaining a non-stop itinerary, Walton has accompanied a litany of Jazz greats while also fronting his own successful groups. Born January 17, 1934 in Dallas, Texas, Walton set his sights on a career in music at an early age. An after- hours gig at the Denver Club introduced him to notable musicians like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane, who would sit in with Walton's group when they passed through town.

From there, Walton ventured to New York and began to work locally with Lou Donaldson, Gigi Gryce, Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham before landing his first touring job with J.J. Johnson. Soon after, the pianist made his recording debut backing Kenny Dorham on the Riverside album Kenny Dorham Sings. He also made two records with J.J. Johnson' s group on Columbia Records before joining the Art Farmer/Benny Golson Jazztet, a group he toured and recorded with for two years. Walton's next major musical association was with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. During his three years tenure with Blakey, Walton stepped forward a composer, contributing originals like Mosaic and The Promised Land to the group's recordings for the Blue Note and Riverside labels.

Mercy Dee Walton

Born: August 3, 1915

Mercy Dee Walton was a Texas bluesman, who had played barrelhouse piano around Waco from the age of 13 before hitting the West Coast in 1938. He debuted on record in 1949 with “Lonesome Cabin Blues” for the tiny Spire logo, which became a national R&B hit, when picked up by Specialty. Those sides were cut in Fresno, but Los Angeles hosted some of the pianist’s best sessions for Imperial in 1950 and Specialty in 1952-53. Riding on the success of “Lonesome Cabin Blues,” Mercy Dee went on tours across the country playing auditoriums and dancehalls. On the west coast he toured a lot with the band of Big Jay McNeely, and was on the same bill as T- Bone Walker, another Texan who made it big out on the coast

Fats Waller

Born: May 21, 1904

Jazz music's first organist and one of the giants of piano jazz Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller was born on May 21, 1904 in Harlem into a musical family. His grandfather was an accomplished violinist and his mother was the church organist. His family had moved to New York City from Virginia in the late 1880s and his father was the pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. His first exposure of music was in the form of church hymns and organ music, an instrument that he was taught to play by his mother and the church musical director. The latter introduced him to the works of J.S. Bach which he played on and off for the rest of his life