Results for "Ray Anthony"

Ray Anthony

Ray Anthony has been one of Big Band music's most dedicated ambassadors. For sixty years he has helped keep alive the sounds of America's golden age of jazz and pop music. Born in 1922, Anthony began his musical career at age five, playing in his family's group, the Antonini Family Orchestra. During high school he worked with local bands in the Cleveland, Ohio, area and later made his professional debut with Al Donahue in 1940. After only a short time with Donahue, Anthony was hired by Glenn Miller but left after six months, unable to get along with the famous orchestra leader. He then played briefly with Jimmy Dorsey before forming his own group, which featured unique instrumentation -- one trumpet, one French horn, five saxes, and three rhythm. In 1942 he entering the Navy, where he led a service group in the Pacific

US Military Service Bands: Histories & Heroes

By CHRIS M. SLAWECKI

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 US Air Force Airmen of Note The premier jazz ensemble of the US Air Force, the Airmen of Note is one of six musical ensembles that comprise The US Air Force Band. Created in 1950 to continue the tradition of Major Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces ...

All Angles Orchestra: New Angle

By JACK BOWERS

There was a time not long ago when most big bands fell more or less into fairly well-defined cubicles. There were, for example, those that were best known as dance bands (Glenn Miller, Harry James, the Dorsey brothers, Artie Shaw, Ray Anthony and so on), and, on the other hand, those whose raison d'etre was jazz ...

Chris Smith: At The Intersection Of Scholarship, Performance and Pedagogy

By DAVID A. ORTHMANN

In the introduction to his book Jazz Matters (University Of California Press, 2010), David Ake writes about bringing “together the practical side of making jazz, the pedagogical side of teaching it, and the academic side of writing about it." (p. 12) “Nothing but good," Ake adds, “can come if we increase the numbers of scholars who ...

The View From The Back Of The Band: The Life And Music Of Mel Lewis

By DAVID A. ORTHMANN

The View From The Back Of The Band: The Life And Music Of Mel Lewis Chris Smith 399 pages ISBN: #978-1-57441-574-2 University Of North Texas Press 2014 “Good drummers were a rarity and that's all there was to it. There's no ego problem involved, it's just there weren't ...

Big Band Jazz: It's Not Just for Guys Anymore

By JACK BOWERS

Back in the early '90s, Stanley Kay, one-time back-up drummer for the incomparable Buddy Rich, later a manager of such artists as Maurice Hines, Michelle Lee and Paul Burke and the entertainment director for the New York Yankees, had a good idea: the time had come, he reasoned, to assemble an all-woman big band that would ...

Jack's Gone! No He Isn't; Yes He Is; No He Isn't...!

By JACK BOWERS

As I sat down to write this month's column, word came that trumpeter Jack Sheldon had died. No sooner had I written a few words about that when word came that trumpeter Jack Sheldon had not died. After some back-and-forth on the internet (is he or isn't he?), the last report, it seems, was the true ...

It's Time for the News! But First, a Brief Report from Sick Bay...

By JACK BOWERS

August 2010 has been an interesting month. A few weeks ago I noticed a slight twinge in the right shoulder. The twinge soon became an ache, followed by loss of mobility and muscle tone in the right arm. The pain varies but is always there. As this is being written, I can raise the right arm ...