Results for "piano"

Bill Evans

Born: August 16, 1929

Who Was Bill Evans?

Bill Evans, one of the most influential and tragic figures of the post-bop jazz piano, was known for his highly nuanced touch, the clarity of the feeling content of his music and his reform of the chord voicing system pianists used. He recorded over fifty albums as leader and received five Grammy awards. He spawned a school of "Bill Evans style" or "Evans inspired" pianists, who include some of the best known artists of our day, including Michel Petrucciani, Andy Laverne, Richard Beirach, Enrico Pieranunzi and Warren Bernhardt. His inescapable influence on the very sound of jazz piano has touched virtually everybody of prominence in the field after him (as well as most of his contemporaries), and he remains a monumental model for jazz piano students everywhere, even inspiring a newsletter devoted solely to his music and influence.

John Erickson

"Some pianists forget: the technique is less important than its use. Silence has musical value, as does echo - blend it properly, and its impact can top the busiest of runs. John Erickson knows." ---John Barrett, Jr. JAZZ IMPROV Magazine. Recognized for his lyrical, understated style, Chicago-based jazz pianist John Erickson has an equal love for the rich harmony and feel of jazz as for the concise, well-crafted pop song. Inspired by the music of artists such as Pat Metheny, Mark Isham, Paul Simon, Neil Finn and Steely Dan, Erickson believes that ultimately melody is king. "I want to give the listener a melody to hum, something to hold onto, " says Erickson, "perhaps even offer a balance between things warm and familiar and things new and surprising." New and surprising indeed was his 2000 debut "Contemplation", an album of solo piano tracks and duets with bassist Steve Rodby, acclaimed bassist with the PAT METHENY GROUP and many other projects. Steve Rodby: "I work on a lot of recordings that take weeks, even months to finish

Duke Ellington

Born: April 29, 1899

By the time of his passing, he was considered amongst the world’s greatestcomposers and musicians. The French government honored him with theirhighest award, the Legion of Honor, while the government of the UnitedStates bestowed upon him the highest civil honor, the Presidential Medal ofFreedom. He played for the royalty and for the common people and by theend of his 50-year career, he had played over 20,000 performancesworldwide. He was The Duke, Duke Ellington.

Edward Kennedy Ellington was born into the world on April 29, 1899 inWashington, D.C. Duke’s parents, Daisy Kennedy Ellington and James EdwardEllington, served as ideal role models for young Duke, and taught himeverything from proper table manners to an understanding of the emotionalpower of music. Duke’s first piano lessons came around the age of seven oreight and appeared not to have had that much lasting effect upon him. Itseemed as if young Duke was more inclined to baseball at a young age.

Eliane Elias

Born: March 19, 1960

Throughout her distinguished career, having recorded more than 26 albums as a leader, the multi-GRAMMY®-winning pianist/singer/songwriter Eliane Elias has consistently displayed her distinctive and immediately recognizable musical style, which blends her Brazilian roots and sensuous, alluring voice with her virtuosic instrumental jazz, classical and compositional skills. As a testament to her immense talent, Elias has sold over 2.2 million albums during the span of her career and has over 30 million digital streams on Spotify alone, but she is not resting on her laurels. Elias is releasing a new Orchestral album in September 2019 (still untitled as of this writing), where once again, her mastery and artistry as a vocalist, pianist, composer, arranger and producer are in full display

Big Joe Duskin

Born: February 10, 1921

Big Joe Duskin, the blues and boogie pianist, was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but grew up in Cincinnati, where he began playing piano in his early teens. His first idol was Fats Waller, whom he heard on the local radio station WLW. What turned his mind towards the intricate art of boogie woogie was hearing the celebrated pianist Pete Johnson on such records as “627 Stomp,” “Rocket 88” and Dive Bomber.” As a young man he played in clubs in Cincinnati and across the Ohio river in Newport, Kentucky, then an "open town" full of casinos. In later years he would reminisce about joints such as the Bucket of Blood, where an evening's playing might earn him two or three dollars in tips

Champion Jack Dupree

Born: July 23, 1909

Born William Thomas Dupree, 4 July 1910, New Orleans, (Dupree's birth date is the matter of some conjecture and is sometimes listed as 23 July 1909). Orphaned in infancy, Dupree was raised in the Colored Waifs Home for Boys until the age of 14. After leaving, he led a marginal existence, singing for tips, and learning piano from musicians such as Willie "Drive-'em-down" Hall. Dupree also became a professional boxer, and blended fighting with hoboing throughout the 30s, before retiring from the ring in 1940, and heading for New York. Initially, he traveled only as far as Indianapolis, where he joined with musicians who had been associates of Leroy Carr

George Duke

Born: January 12, 1946

George Duke was born in San Rafael, California, and reared in Marin City, a working class section of Marin County. When he was just four years old, his mother took him to see Duke Ellington in concert. "I don't remember it too well," says George, "but my mother told me I went crazy. I ran around saying 'Get me a piano, get me a piano!'" He began his piano studies at age seven, absorbing the roots of Black music in his local Baptist church. "That's where I first began to play funky. I really learned a lot about music from the church. I saw how music could trigger emotions in a cause-and-effect relationship." By the age of sixteen, George had played with a number of high school jazz groups

Kenny Drew

Born: August 28, 1928

Kenny Drew was born in New York City in August of 1928. At the age of 5, he began studying classical piano with a private teacher and at 8, gave a recital. This early background is similar to that of Bud Powell, the man who later became his main inspiration as a jazz pianist. After digging Fats Waller, at 12, and then Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson, Drew attended the High School of Music and Art. He was known as a hot boogie woogie player but passed through this phase before graduation. Kenny's first professional job was as accompanist at Pearl Primus' dance school. At the same time, he was alternating with Walter Bishop Jr

Kenny Drew, Jr.

Born: June 14, 1958

Kenny Drew, Jr. was born in New York City in 1958. He started music lessons at the age of four. After studying classical piano with his Aunt Marjorie, he branched out into the area of jazz music. Kenny Jr. has performed worldwide with a comprehensive variety of musicians, including Stanley Jordan, Out of the Blue (OTB), Stanley Turrentine, Slide Hampton and the Jazz Masters, the Mingus Big Band, Steve Grossman, Yoshiaki Masuo, Sadao Watanabe, Smokey Robinson, Frank Morgan, Daniel Schnyder, and many others. Kenny Drew Jr. was the winner of the 1990 Great American jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville FL

Bob Dorough

Born: December 12, 1923

BOB DOROUGH, born in Arkansas and "raised" in Texas, immediately fell in love with music upon joining the Plainview Texas High School Band. He served three years in a Special Services Army Band Unit, gaining much professional experience as arranger, clarinetist, saxophonist, pianist, and entertainer (1943-45). After earning a Bachelor Of Music degree at the University of North Texas (1949), he made a bee-line for New York City where he took classes at Columbia University and immersed himself in the volatile jazz scene then taking place there -the BeBop revolution. In 1952 he turned his back on the academic scene to devote himself to jazz performance, specializing in piano/vocals