Posts Tagged: jazz
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue: One Night Only and Hurricane Season
This is the first trombone player featured at TDMB. It’s nice that he is a next step in the proud tradition of New Orleans horn players. Indeed, he seems to play trumpet — which of course is the heart of that tradition — as much as the bones.
Here is the beginning of his Wikipedia entry:
Troy Andrews (born January 2, 1986), also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty is a trombone and trumpet player from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He has worked in jazz, funk and rap music. Andrews is the younger brother of trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews as well as the grandson of singer and songwriter Jessie Hill. Andrews began playing trombone at age six, and since 2009 has toured with his own band, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. (Continue Reading…)
NPR did an interview with Trombone (I guess that his operative first name). CBS did a nice segment on him as well.
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If You Visit New York…
Visitors to New York should keep in mind that lots of great sites are outside of Manhattan. One of those is the Louis Armstrong House, which is in Corona, Queens. It’s a museum that is housed in the only home that Armstrong owned, and it is kept as it was when he passed away. It is not far from Citi Field.
Check out this nice feature from a while back at Retro Renovation.
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The Great Anthony Dominick Benedetto
Like so many folks who had stellar careers and have been around forever, Tony Bennett’s early story is filled with familiar names:
The young singer was discovered by Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village and subsequently hired by Bob Hope in 1949. Hope advised him to take the name Tony Bennett (rather than the name he had been using, Joe Bari) and put him in his road show. Bennett told Billboard in 1997, “I’ve been on the road ever since.” He signed with Columbia Records in 1950 and started working with record producer Mitch Miller. His early hits included “Rags To Riches,” “Because of You,” and “Stranger in Paradise.” His most famous song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” was released in 1962 as a B-side on a single; it also earned Bennett his first Grammy award. (Continue Reading…)
Doing a post about Bennett without using I Left My Heart in San Francisco probably breaks some sort of law. It’s above. Bennett loves duets. An early and absolutely terrific one, with Andy Williams, is below. They sing The Gypsy in Me; My Kind of Town (Chicago is); San Francisco and I Left My Heart in San Francisco.
A funny bit of banter: Williams hears the first notes of Bennett’s signature song and says, “I know where we’re going…up north by the big bridge.” Bennett’s reply: “Where all the residuals are.”
Bennett’s site is here.
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Happy Birthday, Al Hirt
The great trumpeter was born on this day in 1922. He passed away in 1999. The clip of Java is from The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963.
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Miles Davis: Autumn Leaves
Many folks reading this post know more about Miles Davis than I do. So it makes little sense for me to write anything about the second most important trumpet player who ever lived.
One quote seems appropriate. It is from Jon Pareles and ran in The New York Times obit that was published on August 29, 1991, the day after Davis died:
His solos, whether ruminating on a whispered ballad melody or jabbing against a beat, have been models for generations of jazz musicians. Other trumpeters play faster and higher, but more than in any technical feats Mr. Davis’s influence lay in his phrasing and sense of space. “I always listen to what I can leave out,” he would say.
Equally important, Mr. Davis never settled into one style; every few years he created a new lineup and format for his groups. Each phase brought denunciations from critics; each, except for the most recent one, has set off repercussions throughout modern jazz. “I have to change,” he once said. “It’s like a curse.”
Here are All Blues, Agitation, a very late version of Summertime and Freddie Freeloader. Information on Davis can be found at dozens of sites, including NPR and Miles Ahead. Don’t laugh–a good condensed bio for those unfamiliar with the outlines of the Davis story is at PBS Kids.
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Buddy Rich: Birdland
People who know put Buddy Rich at or near the top of the list of jazz drummers.
Two things are evident in this interesting interview from 1956: Both Rich and Gene Krupa, another drumming legend, seemed like very nice guys.
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Clifford Brown: Oh, Lady Be Good
Clifford “Brownie” Brown was only 25 years old when he died. The above clip, which is introduced by a very young looking Soupy Sales, was the only one of Brown that I could find.
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