Results for "violin"

Leroy Jenkins

Born: March 11, 1932

Born in Chicago, composer and violinist Leroy Jenkins was one of the most important musicians to emerge from the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), the legendary collective of which he was a member until his death in 2007. Like many of the Association's members, Jenkins studied under the legendary Walter Dyett at DuSable High School, where he learned the alto saxophone. He received a music degree (in violin) from Florida A&M University, where he studied composition and the classical masters of the violin. Subsequently, he taught music both in Mobile, Alabama (1961-5) and in the Chicago schools (1965-9)

Stephane Grappelli

Born: January 26, 1908

Stephane Grappelli (originally surname was spelled with a 'Y') would have earned himself a place in Jazz History books if only for his important role in the Quintette of the Hot Club of France, featuring the dazzling virtuosity of Django Reindhart. Grappelli's violin was the perfect foil to Reindhart's guitar in this piano-less group. Fired by Reindhart's tremendous rhythmic powers, Grappelli's contributions to recordings by the Quintette like Lime House Blues, China Boy and It Don't Mean A Thing (all 1935) and Them There Eyes, Three little Words and Swing '39 (these latter three tracks from 1938-39) were admirable in their execution. Occasionally Grappelli would play piano, as when harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler recorded with the group in 1939, the year when Reindhart and Grappelli, violin, recorded (with delightful results) as a duo (all Django Reindhart). Grappelli born (1908) and raised in Paris was involved with music at a very early age

Mark Feldman

After three albums with John Abercrombie--"Open Land", "Cat 'n' Mouse", and "Class Trip"--and the trio recording "Abaton" with Sylvie Courvoisier and Erik Friedlander, this is the first ECM leader date for violinist Mark Feldman. Feldman is established now as one of jazz's finest string players, but "What Exit" frequently leaves 'jazz' behind, as his pieces--there are eight originals here - establish climates more frequently associated with contemporary composition. At the same time, interaction is paramount in this music and solo skills as crucial as ensemble awareness. Five years ago in an interview with the Boston Globe's Bob Blumenthal, Feldman spoke of his goal as "integration, without it being a frivolous 'crossover' thing--the real organic integration of classical and modern jazz." "What Exit" takes large steps toward the realisation of this ambition, which is itself the logical outcome of Feldman's idiosyncratic journey through the genres over the last thirty years. He is joined on "What Exit", recorded at New York's Avatar Studio last year, by a special group of players assembled for the project--England's John Taylor on piano, the Swedish bassist Anders Jormin and drummer Tom Rainey, California-born but, like Feldman himself, long established as a central figure in New York's improvising circles

Joe Deninzon

Born: December 3, 1974

JOE DENINZON
www.joedeninzon.com

Joe Deninzon has been hailed by critics as “The Jimi Hendrix of the Violin,” because of his innovative style on the “Viper” seven-string electric violin. In addition to leading Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, Joe is the violinist/guitarist for classic rock band Kansas.

He has worked with the Who, Bruce Springsteen, 50 Cent, Sheryl Crow, Ritchie Blackmore, Alex Skolnick, Smokey Robinson, Les Paul, Peter Criss from KISS, Michael Sadler, Renaissance with Annie Haslam, Phoebe LeGere, Kurt Elling, and as a soloist with Jazz at Lincoln Center and the New York City Ballet.

David Cross

Born: April 23, 1949

Early days: 1949-1960 Father was a church and cinema organist and played piano in dance bands. David started learning violin at the age of nine. First violin bought from a junk shop for £1.00. Played right back for school football team. Education: 1960-1967 Secondary school: A levels in Latin, Greek and Ancient History. Rugby player (Captain and Scrum-half). Started improvising. 1967-1970 Certificate of Education specialising in Music and Drama. Leader of College Orchestra. Formed folk rock band. 1993-1995 M.A. in Performing Arts (interdisciplinary performances, papers on structure in post-modern art music, the hermeneutics of rock journalism). Career: 1970-1972 Musician, Composer

Sara Caswell

2018 Grammy Nominee Sara Caswell “is a brilliant world-class violinist…one of the very best of the present generation of emerging young jazz stars” according to the late David Baker, internationally-renowned jazz educator and former Director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Rooted in an early exposure to a variety of musical genres, Sara’s technical facility intertwined with her gift for lyricism continue to attract growing attention to her artistry as a jazz soloist, sideman, and teacher. Recognized as a “Rising Star” in the DownBeat Magazine Critics and Readers Polls every year since 2013, Sara’s two groups (the Sara Caswell Quartet and the Caswell Sisters Quintet) have been heard in venues ranging from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club to university concert halls nationwide

Regina Carter

Born: August 6, 1966

Regina Carter combines exciting technical proficiency and improvisation with an aggressive approach to her instrument, adding multicultural influence. Her playing is melodic, yet percussive. "People are only used to hearing violin in European classical music or country music," says Carter, "and so we get stuck in this idea that this is what a violin is supposed to do. And it's such a precious instrument and such a delicate instrument... That's what people think: it's such a small, delicate little thing. Even sometimes I play with classical players in a quartet and part of the piece might call to use the back of the bow, the wood, to hit on the string to get a percussive effect or to get a different sound, and they'll say, 'I'm not going to bang on my instrument like that. This violin cost way too much money.'They don't think of it as another way of playing the instrument

John Blake

Born: July 3, 1947

John Blake, Jr. has been one of the world’s leading jazz violinists for over four decades. A four-time winner of the Down Beat Critics’ Poll Violinist Deserving Wider Recognition category he was also one of the top two jazz violinists in the 49th, 50th, and 51st Down Beat Readers’ Poll, Classically trained, Blake first gained recognition on early-'70s recordings he made with Archie Shepp and in the mid-70s became established with a global audience during three years recording and touring as a member of Grover Washington, Jr.’s popular “crossover” jazz band. He then spent five years working extensively as a member of various ensembles led by pianist McCoy

Eddie South

Born: November 27, 1904

Eddie South - violin, bandleader (1904 - 1962) Rarely mentioned now, the violin was an important part of Jazz during it's formative years! It was heard in the earliest New Orleans bands and was present in most all the new 'Dance' bands at the start of the 20th Century. In fact, violin sections continued to be a part of the jazz music scene right on up to the Swing Era. Eddie South born on Nov 27, 1904, in Louisiana, MO, began his career in the 1920s. Due to his Classical Music training, (from Chicago Music College) he would probably have chosen to be a 'classical' musician, but, unfortunately, in those days the color of his skin precluded that option. Starting in the early 1920s, South worked in such Chicago bands as Jimmy Wade's Syncopators, the Charlie Elgar Band, and Erskine Tate

Stuff Smith

Born: August 14, 1909

In the era of early jazz and swing, the violin was often an instrument that carried a hint of an old-fashioned sound—a suggestion of classical music, of the high-society dance orchestra, of the gypsy café music of Europe. But Stuff Smith, considered one of the most important jazz violinists of his time, made music that told a different story: Smith's violin was raucous, rhythmically daring, and bluesy, looking toward the future, not the past. Like most great jazz players, Smith pushed the envelope in his playing, and later in his career he adapted with little difficulty to the new musical language of bebop