Results for "piano"

Roosevelt Sykes

Born: January 31, 1906

Roosevelt Sykes was one of the greatest blues pianists of all time. In a recording career that extended over five decades, Sykes displays a mastery of performing styles from barrelhouse to stride piano, from St. Louis boogie woogie to New Orleans blues. Considered by musicians and music historians as the father of the modern blues piano style, Roosevelt Sykes possessed a beautiful voice and a unique keyboard style that was often imitated by other blues pianists, and he was the mentor for Memphis Slim. During the 1930s, he performed with sidemen ranging from jazz drummer "Big" Sid Catlett to slide guitarist James "Kokmo" Arnold

Esbjorn Svensson

Born: April 16, 1964

e.s.t. is a phenomenon: A jazz trio, which sees itself as a pop band that plays jazz, which broke with the tradition of leader and sidemen in favor of equality within its members, which not only plays jazz- venues but also venues usually reserved for rock bands, which uses light effects and fog-machines in their live shows, which gets a whole audience to sing-a-long with jazz-standards as eg. Thelonious Monk's "Bemsha Swing", is a trio that goes beyond the scope of the usual classic jazz trio. Their music can be found in the pop-charts and their videos are playing on MTV Scandinavia. With their unique soundscape, combining jazz with drum 'n' bass, electronic elements, funk rhythm, and pop and rock as well as European Classical music, e.s.t

Richard Sussman

Richard Sussman is an accomplished jazz pianist, composer, synthesist, and educator. His varied career as a performer has included performances and/or recordings with such diverse artists as Lionel Hampton, Lee Konitz, Buddy Rich, Houston Person, Randy Brecker, Steve Slagle, Blood Sweat & Tears, David Sanborn, Marty Balin, Country Joe McDonald, Carly Simon, and Donna Summer. His jazz discography includes six albums of original music as a leader, including the critically acclaimed "Free Fall" (Double-Time Records), “Live At Sweet Rhythm” (Origin Records),“Continuum” (Origin), "The Evolution Suite" (Zoho Records), and "Synergy - Bobby Kapp Plays the Music of Richard Sussman". "Synergy" received a 4 1/2 star review in Downbeat.

Sunnyland Slim

Born: September 5, 1907

Sunnyland Slim was one of the key figures in Chicago blues history, one who became a legend long before he died but who really never became a star. The pianist had a prolific recording career that spanned almost 50 years, from the 78rpm on into the digital age. His playing exemplified Chicago blues piano in its combination of percussive attack, rolling, cascading streams of notes, and syncopated rhythmic sophistication. Albert Luandrew (Sunnyland Slim) was born on a farm in Vance, Mississippi on September 5, 1907. He worked on the farm from earliest childhood and, in the evenings, taught himself piano and organ

Billy Strayhorn

Born: November 29, 1915

If you are familiar with the jazz composition, "Take the A Train," then you know something about not only Duke Ellington, but also Billy "Sweet Pea" Strayhorn, its composer. Strayhorn joined Ellington's band in 1939, at the age of twenty-two. Ellington liked what he saw in Billy and took this shy, talented pianist under his wings. Neither one was sure what Strayhorn's function in the band would be, but their musical talents had attracted each other. By the end of the year Strayhorn had become essential to the Duke Ellington Band; arranging, composing, sitting-in at the piano

Peggy Stern

Peggy Stern is as well-known as a composer as she is known for her fine piano playing. She arrived at jazz via classical music, R&B, and salsa. Her music has a particularly broad ethnic base — in addition to European and American classical music, Peggy’s music draws from Brazilian, African, Jewish, Irish, Cuban, and traditional jazz influences. Peggy has composed, played, recorded, and toured in a wide variety of situations: from solos to octets to jazz choruses. Her compositions range from highly original pieces to reharmonized jazz standards. “Everything she writes wants to dance, ” says Ken Dais of Jazziz. Peggy’s background would account for her varied musical tastes

John Stetch

A late bloomer by any stretch of the imagination, this native of Edmonton, Canada, didn’t begin playing piano until age eighteen. However, he did show an interest in music at an early age, and as a result, his father handed down his own clarinet and taught him the basics when John Stetch was nine. A few years later, Stetch switched to alto saxophone and eventually completed his first year of university on classical tenor saxophone. “When I first broached the idea of playing piano, several of my teachers actually chuckled at the idea that I could suddenly take up piano so late in life. Come to think of it, they actually discouraged me. But I knew it was something I had to do … I just felt that the piano was my higher calling. I was inspired by the rhythmic and harmonic potential, and it’s such an enjoyable instrument to work at alone.”

Bobo Stenson

Born: August 4, 1944

Bo Gustav Stenson (mostly known as Bobo Stenson, born in 1944) is a Swedish piano player and jazz musician. Stenson was noted as early as 1963, when he stepped up from the local scene in Västerås to start playing frequently in Stockholm, where he accompanied a long line of visiting American players including Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Gary Burton. He also worked closely with Don Cherry from the beginning of the trumpeter's residency in Scandinavia. The 70's was an intensive period for Bobo Stenson, playing in many constellations, amongst them the long-standing band Rena Rama with Palle Danielsson and a very popular trio with Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen, later also with Jan Garbarek

Speckled Red

Born: October 23, 1892

Another legendary blues and barrelhouse pianist from the era when the music was being invented and performed by authentic musicians who lived the life they sang and played about. Speckled Red (Rufus Perryman) hailed from Monroe, Louisiana, and was a self taught pianist, who was performing professionally by the time he was in his teens. His brother William Lee Perryman also became a blues pianist, he was known as Piano Red. Drawn to the life of a drifting musician, and after continuous travels, Speckled Red wound up in Detroit in the late 1920’s, then it was on to Memphis where he recorded the sides for Brunswick "Wilkins Street Stomp" and the bawdy hit “The Dirty Dozens,” which would be forever associated with him

Otis Spann

Born: March 21, 1930

The music of Otis Spann is immediate and urgent, completely clear in its content. Otis is one of the great and thoroughly authentic blues storytellers. Into his blues piano playing Otis put his soul. As part of the Muddy Waters' band he could frequently be found in Chicago's south side performing nightly with Muddy, who treated Spann as his protégé and referred to him as his half brother. And under Waters guidance, Otis Spann emerged as a top-notched musician, and took command of his own sessions as well. Otis Spann, originally from Jackson, Mississippi, was born March 21, 1930