From Birdland to Broadway

From Birdland to Broadway PDF Author: Bill Crow
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199879737
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
In the 1950s, New York City's Birdland was the center of the world of modern jazz--and a revelation to Bill Crow, a wet-behind-the-ears twenty-two-year-old from Washington State. Located on Broadway between 52nd and 53rd streets, the club named for the incomparable Charlie "Bird" Parker boasted lifesize photo murals of modern jazzmen like Dizzy Gillespie, Lennie Tristano, and, of course, Bird himself, looming large against jet black walls. Exotic live birds perched in cages behind the bar. The midget master of ceremonies, 3'9" Pee Wee Marquette, dressed in a zoot suit and loud tie, smoked huge cigars and screeched mispronounced introductions into the microphone. And the jazz-struck young Crow would park in the bleachers till 4 am, blissfully enveloped by the heady music of Bird, Bud Powell, Max Roach, and a host of other jazz giants. From Birdland to Broadway is an enthralling insider's account of four decades of a life in jazz. Bill Crow, journeyman bass player, superb storyteller, and author of the successful Jazz Anecdotes, here narrates many moving and delightful tales of the pioneers of modern jazz he played with and was befriended by. We find Dizzy Gillespie, with whom Crow, because of prior commitments, regretfully declined steady work, dancing at the Royal Roost, Stan Getz sadly teetering on the brink of losing himself to drugs, and Harry Belafonte (known then as "the Cinderella Gentleman") running a lunch counter in New York's Sheridan Square between music dates. And we also witness many of the highlights of Crow's career, such as in 1955 when the Marian McPartland Trio (with Crow on bass) was named "Small Group of the Year" by Metronome; Crow playing with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet at venues like Storyville in Boston and Harlem's Apollo Theater (where they appeared with Dinah Washington); and the tour of the Soviet Union with Benny Goodman, a journey that might have been a high point of Crow's travels abroad but was marred by Goodman's legendary mistreatment of his band. Moving beyond jazz clubs to the Broadway concert pit and a variety of studio gigs in the '60s, Crow encounters actors such as Yul Brynner and pop-rock acts like Simon and Garfunkel. From the great to the near-great, from Billie Holiday to Judy Holliday, Bill Crow's wealth of personal anecdotes takes the reader from Birdland, to the Half Note, to the Playboy Club, to the footlights of Broadway. This revealing book is a marvelous portrait of the jazz world, told by someone who's been there.

From Birdland to Broadway

From Birdland to Broadway PDF Author: Bill Crow
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199879737
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
In the 1950s, New York City's Birdland was the center of the world of modern jazz--and a revelation to Bill Crow, a wet-behind-the-ears twenty-two-year-old from Washington State. Located on Broadway between 52nd and 53rd streets, the club named for the incomparable Charlie "Bird" Parker boasted lifesize photo murals of modern jazzmen like Dizzy Gillespie, Lennie Tristano, and, of course, Bird himself, looming large against jet black walls. Exotic live birds perched in cages behind the bar. The midget master of ceremonies, 3'9" Pee Wee Marquette, dressed in a zoot suit and loud tie, smoked huge cigars and screeched mispronounced introductions into the microphone. And the jazz-struck young Crow would park in the bleachers till 4 am, blissfully enveloped by the heady music of Bird, Bud Powell, Max Roach, and a host of other jazz giants. From Birdland to Broadway is an enthralling insider's account of four decades of a life in jazz. Bill Crow, journeyman bass player, superb storyteller, and author of the successful Jazz Anecdotes, here narrates many moving and delightful tales of the pioneers of modern jazz he played with and was befriended by. We find Dizzy Gillespie, with whom Crow, because of prior commitments, regretfully declined steady work, dancing at the Royal Roost, Stan Getz sadly teetering on the brink of losing himself to drugs, and Harry Belafonte (known then as "the Cinderella Gentleman") running a lunch counter in New York's Sheridan Square between music dates. And we also witness many of the highlights of Crow's career, such as in 1955 when the Marian McPartland Trio (with Crow on bass) was named "Small Group of the Year" by Metronome; Crow playing with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet at venues like Storyville in Boston and Harlem's Apollo Theater (where they appeared with Dinah Washington); and the tour of the Soviet Union with Benny Goodman, a journey that might have been a high point of Crow's travels abroad but was marred by Goodman's legendary mistreatment of his band. Moving beyond jazz clubs to the Broadway concert pit and a variety of studio gigs in the '60s, Crow encounters actors such as Yul Brynner and pop-rock acts like Simon and Garfunkel. From the great to the near-great, from Billie Holiday to Judy Holliday, Bill Crow's wealth of personal anecdotes takes the reader from Birdland, to the Half Note, to the Playboy Club, to the footlights of Broadway. This revealing book is a marvelous portrait of the jazz world, told by someone who's been there.

Fish and Wildlife News

Fish and Wildlife News PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Wildlife management
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description


The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets

The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets PDF Author: Alyn Shipton
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197579752
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
The Gerry Mulligan Quartet, founded in Los Angeles in 1952, was widely acclaimed as the first small ensemble in jazz that did not include a chordal instrument such as a piano or guitar. Using original scores and detailed transcriptions of Mulligan's early work, The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets offers an intimate look at Mulligan's musical development from his teenage years to adulthood, analyzing the ways in which his compositions and arrangements evolved through collaborations with Elliot Lawrence, Gene Krupa, and Claude Thornhill, culminating with Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool nonet. Featuring original interviews with Mulligan's associates, author Alyn Shipton presents a fresh take on Mulligan's harmonic creativity, in the process tracing the ups and downs of Mulligan's personal life, heroin addiction, imprisonment, and eventual sobriety.

The Music and Life of Theodore "Fats" Navarro

The Music and Life of Theodore Author: Leif Bo Petersen
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810867214
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
The Music and Life of Theodore 'Fats' Navarro: Infatuation is the first comprehensive study of the jazz trumpeter Theodore 'Fats' Navarro. It provides biographical and discographical information on this talented musician, whose premature death from tuberculosis at 26 robbed the jazz world of his brilliance. Through an analysis of his recorded legacy, this book offers new perspectives on Navarro's role in the history and emergence of Bebop. Through years of study and collecting ephemera, some of which is reprinted here, Leif Bo Petersen and Theo Rehak depict an inclusive history of Navarro and his music. Their information is based on interviews with musicians and people in the music business, contemporary newspaper and magazine articles, and the music itself, which has not been commonly known or described until now. The book features images, musical examples, and depictions of Navarro's recordings, and it provides several appendixes, including explanations of contemporary recording techniques and discographical terms, lists of Navarro's recordings and compositions, and a chronological overview of Navarro's performances, recording sessions, and engagements. Complete with a comprehensive list of sources and a full index, this volume presents a host of new and useful information for anyone interested in jazz and its history.

The John Coltrane Reference

The John Coltrane Reference PDF Author: Lewis Porter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135112576
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 834

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Book Description
The BBC's Jazz Book of the Year for 2008. Few jazz musicians have had the lasting influence or attracted as much scholarly study as John Coltrane. Yet, despite dozens of books, hundreds of articles, and his own recorded legacy, the "facts" about Coltrane's life and work have never been definitely established. Well-known Coltrane biographer and jazz educator Lewis Porter has assembled an international team of scholars to write The John Coltrane Reference, an indispensable guide to the life and music of John Coltrane. The John Coltrane Reference features a a day-by-day chronology, which extends from 1926-1967, detailing Coltrane's early years and every live performance given by Coltrane as either a sideman or leader, and a discography offering full session information from the first year of recordings, 1946, to the last, 1967. The appendices list every film and television appearance, as well as every recorded interview. Richly illustrated with over 250 album covers and photos from the collection of Yasuhiro Fujioka, The John Coltrane Reference will find a place in every major library supporting a jazz studies program, as well as John Coltrane enthusiasts.

You Fascinate Me So

You Fascinate Me So PDF Author: Andy Propst
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1495026035
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
He penned songs such as “Witchcraft” and “The Best Is Yet to Come” (signature tunes for Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, respectively) and wrote such musicals as Sweet Charity, I Love My Wife, On the Twentieth Century, and The Will Rogers Follies – yet his life has gone entirely unexplored until now. You Fascinate Me So takes readers into the world and work of Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning composer/performer Cy Coleman, exploring his days as a child prodigy in the 1930s, his time as a hot jazz pianist and early television celebrity in the 1950s, and his life as one of Broadway's preeminent composers. This first-time biography of Coleman has been written with the full cooperation of his estate, and it is filled with previously unknown details about his body of work. Additionally, interviews with colleagues and friends, including Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Ken Howard, Michele Lee, James Naughton, Bebe Neuwirth, Hal Prince, Chita Rivera, and Tommy Tune, provide insight into Coleman's personality and career.

Lullaby of Birdland

Lullaby of Birdland PDF Author: George Shearing
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 9780826460158
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Pianist George Shearing is that rare thing, a European jazz musician who became a household name in the US, as a result of the "Shearing sound"—the recordings of his historic late 1940s quintet. Together with his unique "locked hands" approach to playing the piano, Shearing's quintet with guitar and vibraphone in close harmony to his own playing revolutionized small group jazz, and ensured that after seven years as Melody Maker's top British pianist, he achieved even greater success in America. His compositions have been recorded by everyone from Sarah Vaughan to Miles Davis, and his best known pieces include "Lullaby of Birdland", "She" and "Conception". His story is all the more remarkable because Shearing was born blind. His candid reminiscences include a behind the scenes experience of New York's 52nd Street in its heyday, as well as memories of a vast roll-call of professional colleagues that includes all the great names in jazz.

Tales of Times Square

Tales of Times Square PDF Author: Josh Alan Friedman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781932595284
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The classic account of New York City's sleaziest district returns with seven new chapters.

Better Git It in Your Soul

Better Git It in Your Soul PDF Author: Krin Gabbard
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520963741
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Charles Mingus is one of the most important—and most mythologized—composers and performers in jazz history. Classically trained and of mixed race, he was an outspoken innovator as well as a bandleader, composer, producer, and record-label owner. His vivid autobiography, Beneath the Underdog, has done much to shape the image of Mingus as something of a wild man: idiosyncratic musical genius with a penchant for skirt-chasing and violent outbursts. But, as the autobiography reveals, he was also a hopeless romantic. After exploring the most important events in Mingus’s life, Krin Gabbard takes a careful look at Mingus as a writer as well as a composer and musician. He digs into how and why Mingus chose to do so much self-analysis, how he worked to craft his racial identity in a world that saw him simply as “black,” and how his mental and physical health problems shaped his career. Gabbard sets aside the myth-making and convincingly argues that Charles Mingus created a unique language of emotions—and not just in music. Capturing many essential moments in jazz history anew, Better Git It in Your Soul will fascinate anyone who cares about jazz, African American history, and the artist’s life.

To and from Gigs

To and from Gigs PDF Author: Herb Hicks
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1475998643
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Herb Hicks is an artist who understands the fear behind painting a self-portrait but who also appreciates that a candid recounting of events in life can provide an emotional catharsis. It is with this theory in mind that he shares his fascinating personal experiences and insight into his views as he recalls a unique journey through a creative life filled with adventures and misadventures. In his memoir, Hicks begins with remembrances from his childhood growing up in North Dakota, where he emulated his cowboy heroes by riding a pretend horse, wearing real bearskin chaps, and firing a Red Ryder BB gun at imaginary desperadoes. As he matured, he found a passion for music, formed his own combo, and began traveling to and from gigs that took him from North Dakota to Montana and beyond. Motivated by his love for music, Hicks eventually landed in California, where he began playing professionally and found a new passion as a visual artist a discovery that leads him down an unforgettable path, questioning his challenges, choices, chances, and changes. To and from Gigs is the intimate memoir of a musician, artist, and teacher who embarked on a lifelong search to find his better self.