Results for "piano"

Carol Liebowitz

Born: 1953

Carol Liebowitz, piano Pianist and singer Carol Liebowitz brings a uniquely expressive and personal sound to the jazz and free improvisation scene. After focusing on classical repertoire at the High School of Performing Arts and NYU, her musical direction turned to improvisation and she began studying with Connie Crothers. Other influential teachers have included Sal Mosca, Jay Clayton and Sheila Jordan. She has performed in Europe and throughout the New York City metropolitan area in venues such as Roulette, The Stone, Cornelia Street Cafe, ibeam, The Firehouse Space, Arts for Art, Spectrum, Galapagos and Birdland

Ramsey Lewis

Born: May 27, 1935

Ramsey Lewis has been an iconic leader in the contemporary jazz movement for over 50 years with an unforgettable sound and outgoing personality that has allowed him to crossover to the pop and R&B charts.

The Ramsey Lewis Trio, with bassist Eldee Young and percussionist Redd Holt, became a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene, releasing their debut album, Ramsey Lewis & His Gentlemen of Jazz, back in 1956.

Lewis earned his first gold record, as well as a Grammy award for Best Jazz Performance, for their swinging version of Dobie Gray’s hit “The In Crowd.” He returned to the pop charts in 1966 with versions of “Hang On Sloopy” and “Wade In The Water.” Throughout the years, Lewis’ trio has undergone membership changes, all the while staying true to Lewis’ high musical standards.

John Lewis

Born: May 3, 1920

The Modern Jazz Quartet managed that rarest feat of all: to make great art that pleased the serious listener as well as it did the general public. The M.J.Q., as they were known, featured vibraphone, bass, drums, and piano, and yet had the breadth of an orchestra and the intimacy of the most delicate chamber ensemble. Even when they played music written by others, it sounded as though it had been written for them, but they played mostly original compositions by musical director John Lewis, about whom too much can never be said. His was one of those quintessentially American lives a tale of someone who truly invented a life based on a love of music. John Lewis is certainly a unique figure in American music

Meade Lux Lewis

Born: September 4, 1905

The driving left-hand blues style known as boogie-woogie appeared around 1900 It began to surface in saloons, honky-tonks, bawdy houses, and "barrelhouses" in the South and Midwest around 1912. "Barrelhouse" became synonymous with boogie-woogie. Music was generally supplied by a single pianist on an instrument in a questionable state of repair. The strongest possible expression of rhythm was therefore necessary, and the boogie bass supplied it perfectly. Primitive, gutsy, driving, it could be heard above the noise of the crowd and would work, at least in some keys, if the piano was missing a few keys

Lou Levy

Born: March 5, 1928

A superior bop-based pianist who has worked with a countless number of top jazz artists, Lou Levy started on piano when he was 12. He played with Georgie Auld (1947), Sarah Vaughan, Chubby Jackson (1947-1948), Boyd Raeburn, Woody Herman's Second Herd (1949-1950), Tommy Dorsey (1950), Auld again, and Flip Phillips. Levy was outside of music for a few years (1952-1954) and then gained a strong reputation as a fine accompanist to singers, working with Peggy Lee (on and off during 1955-1973), Ella Fitzgerald (1957-1962), June Christy, Anita O'Day, and Pinky Winters. Levy also played with Shorty Rogers, Stan Getz, Terry Gibbs, Benny Goodman, Supersax, and most of the major West Coast players

Milcho Leviev

Born: December 19, 1937

The clouds of war were gathering over Europe in 1937, when Milcho Leviev was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. His journey to jazz fame had begun and he recalls it thusly: "During W.W.II Bulgaria was, for the most part, a fascist country, on the German side. My father was Jewish, but the Bulgarian Jews didn't go to the gas chambers, they were saved, like the Danish Jews. When the war ended I was 7. I experienced some bombing of my town at the end of the war; Hitler ordered Bulgaria to declare war on the USA! It was proper at that time for middle class family kids, war or no war, to have music lessons, so my brother started first

Mark Levine

Born: October 4, 1938

Mark began playing jazz as a teenager in Daytona Beach, Florida. Continuing his education in Boston and New York, Mark studied with Hall Overton, Herb Pomeroy and Jaki Byard, before moving to California in 1966.

A key phase in Mark's education was a year spent in Woody Shaw's quartet. "Every night was serious school," says Mark.

Mark spent significant time working with Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, David Liebman and Harold Land, composing all the while. Joe recorded two of Mark's tunes on "Canyon Lady," the late tenor giant's only Latin jazz album. Mark returned the favor by playing two of Joe's classic compositions, "Inner Urge," and "A Shade Of Jade," on his 2000 release, "Serengeti."

His interest in Latin jazz led to work with Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Moacir Santos, Francisco Aguabella, Pete Escovedo, and Cal Tjader (including Cal's Grammy- winning Concord Jazz recording "La Onda Va Bien").

Mark has continued to pursue the Latin side of his craft, attending Centro Nacional de Escuela de Arte in Havana, Cuba in 1997.

Twice, Mark has been the recipient of a National Endowment For The Arts Grants (1975 and 1977) and was awarded a "Jammie" as Best Bay Area Jazz trombonist, 1983-1984 (no, he no longer plays trombone, but he has taken up the gimbri, a Moroccan 3-stringed lute).

Uli Lenz

Uli Lenz: pianist, composer and arranger Uli Lenz grew up in a musical family and began with classical piano at the age of four. His father Emanuel Lenz, a professional classical organist, pianist and composer, taught him piano and in the discipline of improvisation and theory of harmony. He was first drawn to jazz through listening to recordings by Earl Hines, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. In the seventies, he studied piano and cello at the Frankfurt Conservatory and subsequently pursued his instrumental and composing academic studies at the Frankfurt Academy of Music and the Performing Arts

Michel Legrand

Born: February 24, 1932

It is difficult to pin the multi-talented Michel Legrand down into one single category. This amazingly versatile French singer, songwriter, composer, arranger, conductor and producer has enjoyed a whirlwind career, excelling in an impressively broad range of domains from film soundtracks and French 'chanson' to jazz and classical music. An international star, who has won as much respect in the States as he has in Europe, Legrand is an insatiable musician whose creativity and ambition appear to know no bounds. Michel Legrand was born in Bécon-les-Bruyères, in the Paris suburbs, on 24 February 1932

Julia Lee

Born: October 31, 1902

A two fisted piano player and consummate performer, Julia Lee ruled in Kansas City, where she shouted blues for more than 30 years. Her black lace gowns, glistening bangs and the artificial flowers in her hair were as familiar as the songs which made her a local legend. "Kansas City's Sweetheart of Song," Julia Lee made her performing debut as a child with her father's string trio. While attending Lincoln High School she began entertaining at house parties and church socials. After her graduation in 1917, she embarked on her professional career as an intermission pianist at Love's Theater and in the clubs lining 12th Street