1.
Jazz
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Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in Blues and Ragtime. Since the 1920s jazz age, jazz has become recognized as a form of musical expression. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience, intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as one of Americas original art forms. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging musicians music which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed in the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments. In the early 1980s, a form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Latin, the question of the origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm, a term dating back to 1860 meaning pep. The use of the word in a context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a context in New Orleans was in a November 14,1916 Times-Picayune article about jas bands. In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, When Broadway picked it up. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz has proved to be difficult to define, since it encompasses such a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, in the opinion of Robert Christgau, most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz. As Duke Ellington, one of jazzs most famous figures, said, although jazz is considered highly difficult to define, at least in part because it contains so many varied subgenres, improvisation is consistently regarded as being one of its key elements
2.
Classical music
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Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western music, including both liturgical and secular music. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period, Western staff notation is used by composers to indicate to the performer the pitches, tempo, meter and rhythms for a piece of music. This can leave less room for such as improvisation and ad libitum ornamentation. The term classical music did not appear until the early 19th century, the earliest reference to classical music recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836. This score typically determines details of rhythm, pitch, and, the written quality of the music has enabled a high level of complexity within them, J. S. The use of written notation also preserves a record of the works, Musical notation enables 2000s-era performers to sing a choral work from the 1300s Renaissance era or a 1700s Baroque concerto with many of the features of the music being reproduced. That said, the score does not provide complete and exact instructions on how to perform a historical work, even if the tempo is written with an Italian instruction, we do not know exactly how fast the piece should be played. Bach was particularly noted for his complex improvisations, during the Classical era, the composer-performer Mozart was noted for his ability to improvise melodies in different styles. During the Classical era, some virtuoso soloists would improvise the cadenza sections of a concerto, during the Romantic era, Beethoven would improvise at the piano. The instruments currently used in most classical music were largely invented before the mid-19th century and they consist of the instruments found in an orchestra or in a concert band, together with several other solo instruments. The symphony orchestra is the most widely known medium for music and includes members of the string, woodwind, brass. The concert band consists of members of the woodwind, brass and it generally has a larger variety and number of woodwind and brass instruments than the orchestra but does not have a string section. However, many bands use a double bass. Many of the used to perform medieval music still exist. Medieval instruments included the flute, the recorder and plucked string instruments like the lute. As well, early versions of the organ, fiddle, Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self accompanied with a drone note, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century there was a division of instruments into haut, during the earlier medieval period, the vocal music from the liturgical genre, predominantly Gregorian chant, was monophonic, using a single, unaccompanied vocal melody line. Polyphonic vocal genres, which used multiple independent vocal melodies, began to develop during the medieval era, becoming prevalent by the later 13th
3.
Double bass
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The double bass, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. It is an instrument and is typically notated one octave higher than sounding to avoid excessive ledger lines below the staff. The double bass is the modern bowed string instrument that is tuned in fourths, rather than fifths, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2. The instruments exact lineage is still a matter of some debate, the double bass is a standard member of the orchestras string section, as well as the concert band, and is featured in concertos, solo and chamber music in Western classical music. The bass is used in a range of genres, such as jazz, 1950s-style blues and rock and roll, rockabilly, psychobilly, traditional country music, bluegrass, tango. The double bass is played either with a bow or by plucking the strings, in orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed. In jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm, Classical music uses just the natural sound produced acoustically by the instrument, so does traditional bluegrass. In jazz, blues, and related genres, the bass is typically amplified with an amplifier and speaker, the double bass stands around 180 cm from scroll to endpin. However, other sizes are available, such as a 1⁄2 or 3⁄4 and these sizes do not reflect the size relative to a full size, or 4⁄4 bass, a 1⁄2 bass is not half the size of a bass but is only slightly smaller. It is typically constructed from several types of wood, including maple for the back, spruce for the top and it is uncertain whether the instrument is a descendant of the viola da gamba or of the violin, but it is traditionally aligned with the violin family. While the double bass is nearly identical in construction to other violin family instruments, like other violin and viol-family string instruments, the double bass is played either with a bow or by plucking the strings. In orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed, in jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm, except for some solos and also occasional written parts in modern jazz that call for bowing. In classical pedagogy, almost all of the focus is on performing with the bow and producing a good bowed tone, some of these articulations can be combined, for example, the combination of sul ponticello and tremolo can produce eerie, ghostly sounds. Classical bass players do play pizzicato parts in orchestra, but these parts generally require simple notes, vibrato is used to add expression to string playing. In general, very loud, low-register passages are played with little or no vibrato, mid- and higher-register melodies are typically played with more vibrato. The speed and intensity of the vibrato is varied by the performer for an emotional and musical effect, in jazz, rockabilly and other related genres, much or all of the focus is on playing pizzicato. In jazz and jump blues, bassists are required to play extremely rapid pizzicato walking basslines for extended periods, as well, jazz and rockabilly bassists develop virtuoso pizzicato techniques that enable them to play rapid solos that incorporate fast-moving triplet and sixteenth note figures. In jazz and related styles, bassists often add semi-percussive ghost notes into basslines, to add to the rhythmic feel and to add fills to a bassline
4.
Tony Oxley
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Tony Oxley is an English free-jazz drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records. Tony Oxley was born in Sheffield, England, a self-taught pianist by the age of eight, he first began playing the drums at seventeen. In Sheffield he was taught by well respected local drummer Haydon Cook, while in the Black Watch military band from 1957 to 1960 he studied music theory and improved upon his drumming technique. From 1960 to 1964 he led his own quartet which performed locally in England and he was also a member of various groups led by musicians such as Gordon Beck, Alan Skidmore and Mike Pyne. Following this album the group was joined by Paul Rutherford on trombone and became a sextet and that same year Oxley helped found Incus Records along with Bailey and others and also the Musicians Cooperative. He also received a three-month artist-in-residence at the Sydney Conservatorium in Australia in 1970, around this time he joined the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and also got involved with collaborations with Howard Riley. In 1973 he became a tutor at the Jazz Summer School in Barry, South Wales, through the 1980s he worked with various musicians, including Tony Coe and Didier Levallet, also forming his own Celebration Orchestra during the latter half of that decade. Oxley also did extensive touring with Anthony Braxton in 1989, the Baptised Traveller 4 Compositions for Sextet Ichnos February Papers Oxley, Tony. Enchanted Messenger, Live from Berlin Jazz Festival, how Many Clouds Can You See. Barry Guy/The London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Ode Kenny Wheeler, Song for Someone Oxley, Tony, Davie, the Tony Oxley Alan Davie Duo. a/l/l. Oxley, Tony, Winstone, Norma, Wheeler, Kenny, Taylor, John, Fresu, Paolo, Damiani, guy, Barry, London Jazz Composers Orchestra. Anthony Braxton, Seven Compositions 1989 Battaglia, Stefano, Oxley, John Surman, Adventure Playground The Feel Trio. Tomasz Stańko, Matka Joanna Lindsay Cooper/Trio Trabant a Roma, Bill Dixon, Vade Mecum Bill Dixon, Vade Mecum II Tomasz Stańko, Leosia Paul Rutherford & Iskra 1912. Paul Bley, Chaos with Furio Di Castri Alex, Schlippenbach, Bill Dixon, Papyrus Volume I Bill Dixon, Papyrus Volume II Riley, Howard. Taylor, Cecil, Dixon, Bill, Oxley, Tony, gratkowski, Frank, Van Hove, Fred, Oxley, Tony. Complete February 1972 Paris ORTF Performance, Surman, John, Oxley, Tony, Skidmore, Alan, Wheeler, Kenny. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Carr, Ian, Fairweather, Digby, Priestley, the Rough Guide to Jazz, 3rd Edition. Audio Culture, Readings in Modern Music
5.
John Surman
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John Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet, and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music. He has composed and performed music for performances and film soundtracks. Surman was born in Tavistock, Devon and he initially gained recognition playing baritone saxophone in the Mike Westbrook Band in the mid-1960s, and was soon heard regularly playing soprano saxophone and bass clarinet as well. His first playing issued on a record was with the Peter Lemer Quintet in 1966, after further recordings and performances with jazz bandleaders Mike Westbrook and Graham Collier and blues-rock musician Alexis Korner, he made the first record under his own name in 1968. In 1969 he founded the well-regarded and influential group The Trio along with two expatriate American musicians, bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Stu Martin. In the mid-1970s he founded one of the earliest all-saxophone jazz groups, S. O. S. along with alto saxophonist Mike Osborne, by 1972 he had begun experimenting with synthesizers. That year he recorded Westering Home, the first of solo projects on which he played all parts himself via overdubbing. He recorded his album with Mike Westbrook, Citadel/Room 315 in 1975. Many of the relationships he established during the 1970s have continued to the present. Way Back When, free jazz session with John Taylor on electric piano, drummer John Marshall, absalom Dawe, overdubbed solo clarinets, saxophones and keyboards. The Rainbow Band Sessions, big band recorded 2006–07 at the Rainbow Studio, songs About This And That, feat. Karin Krog, including with Ivar Kolve, Bjørn Klakegg, Terje Gewelt & Tom Olstad Rarum, Vol
6.
David Gilmour
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David Jon Gilmour, CBE is an English singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He joined the rock band Pink Floyd as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1968, effectively as a replacement for founder Syd Barrett. Pink Floyd subsequently achieved success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals. Following the departure of founder member, Roger Waters, Gilmour assumed leadership of Pink Floyd in 1985. As a member of Pink Floyd, he was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, in 2005, Gilmour was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to music. He was awarded with the Outstanding Contribution title at the 2008 Q Awards, in 2011, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 14 in their list of the greatest guitarists of all time. Additionally, Gilmour was voted number 36 in the greatest voices in rock by Planet Rock listeners in 2009 and he has married twice and is the father of eight children. David Jon Gilmour was born on 6 March 1946, in Cambridge, England. His father, Douglas Gilmour, eventually became a lecturer in zoology at the University of Cambridge. At the time of Gilmours birth they lived in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, but in 1956, after several relocations, Gilmours parents encouraged him to pursue his interest in music, and in 1954 he bought his first single, Bill Haleys Rock Around the Clock. His enthusiasm for music was stirred the following year by Elvis Presleys Heartbreak Hotel and he then borrowed one from his neighbour, but never gave it back. Soon afterward, he started teaching himself to using a book. At age 11, Gilmour began attending the Perse School on Hills Road, Cambridge, while there he met future Pink Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett and bass guitarist Roger Waters, who attended Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, which was also situated on Hills Road. In 1962, Gilmour began studying A-Level modern languages at Cambridge Technical College, despite not finishing the course, he eventually learnt to speak fluent French. Barrett was also a student at the college, and he spent his lunchtimes practising guitar with Gilmour, in late 1962, Gilmour joined the blues rock band Jokers Wild. They recorded an album and a single at Regent Sound Studio, in west London. In August 1965, Gilmour busked around Spain and France with Barrett and some other friends and they were not very successful, getting arrested on one occasion and living a virtually hand-to-mouth existence, which resulted in Gilmour requiring treatment in a hospital for malnutrition. He and Barrett later trekked to Paris, where they camped outside the city for a week, during that time Gilmour worked in various places, most notably as the driver and assistant for fashion designer Ossie Clark
7.
On an Island
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On an Island is the third solo album by Pink Floyd member David Gilmour. It was released in the UK on 6 March 2006, Gilmours 60th birthday and it was his first solo album in twenty two years since 1984s About Face and twelve years since 1994s Pink Floyd album The Division Bell. Chris Thomas and Roxy Musics Phil Manzanera assisted with production, the lyrics were principally written by Gilmours wife, Polly Samson. Much of the album was recorded in Gilmours private studio aboard his houseboat Astoria, the track Smile was heard briefly in an unmastered form on the BBC2 show Three Men in a Boat which retraced a trip on the River Thames that passed the houseboat. The orchestra was recorded at Abbey Road Studios by Simon Rhodes, the album also produced two singles, the title track On an Island and Smile, the latter peaking at #72 on the UK Singles Chart. On an Island also peaked at #27 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, promo Single edits of Take a Breath and This Heaven were issued to coincide with the US leg of the tour, while Smile was the second single in the UK. The album was re-released in November 2006 with a bonus DVD of live tracks, on an Island entered the UK charts at #1, giving Gilmour his first ever chart-topping album outside of Pink Floyd. It reached #1 on the European Chart, and #2 in Canada, Portugal and it has also provided Gilmour with his first US Top 10 album, reaching #6. The album has achieved status in Canada and has sold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide. All music written by David Gilmour, Island Jam Island Jam was recorded as the b-side to the Smile single. The track was produced by Gilmour, Gilmour toured the album with Richard Wright, Phil Manzanera and long-time members of the live Pink Floyd band, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin. Steve DiStanislao was brought in as drummer, the shows included the entire On an Island album plus Pink Floyd songs such as Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Echoes, Arnold Layne, High Hopes, Wish You Were Here and Comfortably Numb among others. No songs from Gilmours two previous albums were played. The tour is documented on the DVD/Blu-ray Remember That Night and the live album & DVD Live in Gdansk, the song Castellorizon received a Grammy Award nomination for best rock instrumental. The album has achieved status in Canada for shipping 100,000 units
8.
Columbia Records
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Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
9.
Rattle That Lock
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Rattle That Lock is the fourth solo studio album by the English singer and musician David Gilmour. It was originally released in September 2015, on the label Columbia, the artwork for the album was created by Dave Stansbie from The Creative Corporation under the direction of Aubrey Powell, who has worked with David Gilmour and Pink Floyd since the late 1960s. The album was recorded at Gilmours recording studios, most of the album was recorded at Medina Studio, in Hove – the additional recording was at the Astoria houseboat studio. The final Pink Floyd album, The Endless River, was recorded and produced using a combination of the two studios. Orchestra parts were recorded at AIR Studios in London and the Liberty Choir were recorded in a South London church, the album was mixed at Astoria and mastering for all formats was performed by James Guthrie and Joel Plante at das boot recording in Lake Tahoe, California. The title track Rattle That Lock was inspired by and makes use of the SNCF jingle, Gilmour heard and recorded the jingle on his iPhone at Aix-en-Provence station while travelling to visit friends. When Boumendil first got a message from Gilmour, he thought it might be a prank. The lyrics for the track were written by Gilmours wife and long time collaborator, the musicians Mica Paris and Louise Marshall, together with the Liberty Choir perform on the track. Davids son Gabriel performs piano on the song In Any Tongue, Rattle That Lock was the first single released from the album, it had its first radio airplay on BBC Radio 2s The Chris Evans Breakfast Show during the morning of 17 July 2015. The single was available for digital download immediately afterwards. Also, David granted US rock radio legend Redbeard an interview, for the week beginning on 3 August 2015, BBC Radio 2 made Rattle That Lock their Record of the Week, guaranteeing the song at least one play per day. On 31 July 2015, a video for Rattle That Lock was released on Gilmours website. The video was created by Trunk Animation under direction from Alasdair Brotherston and Jock Mooney, produced by Richard Barnett and involved 12 animators, artists, Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis served as Creative Director for the video. The albums cover features a photograph by Rupert Truman of StormStudios with painted corvidaes escaping a locked cage. The album books photographs were taken by Kevin Westenberg with Polly Samson contributing recording session photographs, Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis is credited as creative director. The Rattle That Lock tour was scheduled to begin on 12 September 2015 in Pula, Croatia with an album preview show on 5 September 2015 in Brighton. It ended on 12 April 2016 in New York City, U. S. with a break between the South American and American legs. Gilmour also performed a charity show at Wrocław, Poland on 25 June 2016
10.
Barry Guy
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Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation and he also taught at Guildhall School of Music. Born in London, Guy came to the fore as an improvising bassist as a member of a trio with pianist Howard Riley and he also became an occasional member of John Stevens ensembles in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. In the early 1970s, he was a member of the free improvisation group Iskra 1903 with Derek Bailey. He was briefly a member of the Michael Nyman Band in the 1980s, Guys interests in improvisation and formal composition received their grandest form in the London Jazz Composers Orchestra. Originally formed to perform Guys composition Ode in 1972, it one of the great large-scale European improvising ensembles. Early documentation is spotty – the only recording from its early years is Stringer –. The groups activities subsided in the mid-1990s, but it was never formally disbanded, in the mid-1990s Guy also created a second, smaller ensemble, the Barry Guy New Orchestra. Guy has also written for other large improvising ensembles, such as the NOW Orchestra and his current improvising activities include piano trios with Marilyn Crispell and Agusti Fernandez. He has also recorded albums for ECM, which often focus on the interface between improvisers and electronics, including his work in Evan Parkers Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and his own Ceremony. Guys session work in the pop field includes playing bass on the song Nightporter. He is married to the early music violinist Maya Homburger, after spending some years in Ireland, they now live in Switzerland. They run the small label Maya, which releases a variety of records in the genres of free improvisation, baroque music and his improvisations are often percussive and unpredictable, inhabiting no discernible harmonic territory and pushing into unknown regions. However, they can also be melodious and tender with due regard for harmonic integration with other players, similarly, in his concert works, Guy manages to alternate harmonic and rhythmic complexity worthy of 1960s experimentalists such as Penderecki and Stockhausen with joyous, often ecstatic, melody. Works such as Flagwalk for string orchestra and Fallingwater – Concerto for Orchestra display Guys compositional skill in handling extended forms, incontri Anna Flagwalk Songs from Tomorrow Voyages of the Moon The Eye of Silence UM1788 After the Rain Concerto for Orchestra, Fallingwater Bitz. Play Statements II – Ex Works for 2–6 Players, Bubblets Buzz Eos X The Eye of Silence (1989 Four Miniatures Games Mobile Herbarium Pfiff Redshift rondOH, benjamin Dwyer, An Interview with Barry Guy, in, B. Irish Music and Music in Ireland, p. 133–142, London Jazz Composers Orchestra The website of Maya Recordings, Maya Homburger and Barry Guy. Featuring articles, biographies, discographies, news & diary, reviews and photogallery
11.
Michael Nyman
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He has written six concerti, four string quartets, and many other chamber works, many for his Michael Nyman Band. He is also a performing pianist, Nyman prefers to write opera rather than other forms of music. Nyman was born in Stratford, London to a family of Polish secular Jewish furriers, Nyman was educated at the Sir George Monoux Grammar School, Walthamstow. He won the Howard Carr Memorial Prize for composition in July 1964, in 1965–66 Nyman secured a residency in Romania, to study folk-song, supported by a British Council bursary. It subsequently became the base for his 1977 piece In Re Don Giovanni and he wrote introductions for George Frideric Handels Concerti Grossi, Op.6 and conducted the most important interview with George Brecht in 1976. He wrote settings to various texts by Mozart for Letters, Riddles and Writs and he also produced a soundtrack for the silent film Man with a Movie Camera. Nymans popularity increased after he wrote the score to Jane Campions award-winning 1993 film The Piano, the album became a classical music best-seller. He was nominated for both a British Academy Award and a Golden Globe and his few forays into Hollywood have been Gattaca, Ravenous, and The End of the Affair. In 2000, he produced a new opera on the subject of cloning on a libretto by Victoria Hardie titled Facing Goya, the lead, a widowed art banker, is written for contralto and the role was first created by Hilary Summers. His newest operas are Man and Boy, Dada and Love Counts and he has also composed the music for the childrens television series Titch which is based on the books written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins. Many of Nymans works are written for his own ensemble, the Michael Nyman Band and this line up has been variously altered and augmented for some works. Nyman also published a book in 1974 on experimental music called Experimental Music, Cage and Beyond. In the 1970s, Nyman was a member of the Portsmouth Sinfonia – the self-described Worlds Worst Orchestra – playing on their recordings, Nyman created a similar group called Fosters Social Orchestra, which specialised in the work of Stephen Foster. One of their pieces appeared in the film Ravenous and a work, not used in the film. He has also recorded pop music with the Flying Lizards, a version of his Bird List from the soundtrack to Peter Greenaways The Falls appears on their album Fourth Wall as Hands 2 Take, on 7 July 2007, Nyman performed at Live Earth in Japan. On 2008 Nyman realised, in collaboration with the cultural association Volumina, Sublime, in October 2009, Nyman released The Glare, a collaborative collection of songs with David McAlmont, which cast his work in a new light. The album – recorded with the Michael Nyman Band – finds McAlmont putting lyrics based on news stories to 11 pieces of Nyman music drawn from different phases of his career. In 2012, he made a soundtrack for film Everyday, keith H. Yoo in 2012 commissioned Nyman to write a 26 minutes long piano quintet in four movements titled Through the Only Window
12.
Virgin Records
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Virgin Records is a British-founded record label originally founded by English entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman in 1972. It was later sold to Thorn EMI in 1992, today, the operations of Virgin Records America, Inc. are still active and headquartered in Hollywood, California, as it operates exclusively under the Capitol Music Group since 2007. US artists include Knox Hamilton, LTric and Rise Against, in fact the first real store was above a shoe shop at the Tottenham Court Road end of Oxford Street. After making the shop into a success, they turned their business into a fully fledged record label, the name Virgin, according to Branson, arose from Tessa Watts, a colleague of his, when they were brainstorming business ideas. She suggested Virgin – as they were all new to business – like virgins, the original Virgin logo was designed by English artist and illustrator Roger Dean, a young naked woman in mirror image with a large long-tailed serpent and the word Virgin in Deans familiar script. A variation on the logo was used for the spin-off Caroline Records label and this was soon followed by some notable krautrock releases, including electronic breakthrough album Phaedra by Tangerine Dream, and The Faust Tapes and Faust IV by Faust. The Faust Tapes album retailed for 49p and as a result allowed this relatively unknown band to reach number 12 in the album charts, other early albums include Gongs Flying Teapot, which Daevid Allen has been quoted as having never been paid for. Under the guidance of Tessa Watts, Virgins Head of Publicity, shortly afterwards, the Notting Hill record shop was raided by police for having a window display of the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Heres the Sex Pistols in the window. After modified versions of the label came the red, white and blue design introduced in 1975. The current Virgin logo was created in 1978, commissioned by Simon Draper, brian Cooke of Cooke Key Associates commissioned a graphic designer to produce a stylised signature. In 1983 Virgin purchased Charisma Records, renaming it Charisma/Virgin, then later Virgin/Charisma, before folding the label in 1986, in the process they acquired Genesis and comedy group Monty Python. The Charisma label was reactivated in the US in 1990 and enjoyed success with such as Maxi Priest, Right Said Fred,38 Special. When this Charisma label was retired in 1992, all of its artists were, as before, in 1987, Venture Records was created for new age and modern classical artists including Klaus Schulze, who had been associated with Virgin since the early 1970s. 10 Records Immortal Records Delabel Caroline Records was a label used from 1973 to 1977. The name and logo were used for some American editions of Virgin records in the 1980s and 1990s. Caroline was primarily used for independent distribution until the label was reactivated in 2013, today, Caroline Records acts as an independent label taking the place of EMI Label Services, after Virgins former parent company EMI was purchased by Universal Music Group. Front Line Records was a label for issuing Jamaican and English reggae music from 1978 to approximately 1987, a short-lived associated label, Dindisc, had Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and The Monochrome Set during its brief existence, after which its recordings became part of Virgins catalogue. Noo Trybe Records was a hip hop label that existed from 1994 to 1999
13.
The End of the Affair (1999 film)
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The End of the Affair is a 1999 drama film directed by Neil Jordan and starring Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore and Stephen Rea. The film is based on The End of the Affair, a 1951 novel by British author Graham Greene, novelist Maurice Bendrix narrates the film as he begins a book with the line This is a diary of hate. On a rainy London night in 1946, Bendrix has a meeting with Henry Miles, husband of his former mistress Sarah. Bendrixs obsession with Sarah is rekindled, he succumbs to his own jealousy, as the story unfolds in 1946, we also see flashbacks of Bendrix with Sarah as they began their affair during World War II. Henry tells Bendrix that he believes Sarah is having an affair, so Bendrix hires the bumbling but amiable Parkis, Sarah asks Bendrix to meet to talk about Henry and the cold tentativeness of their interaction is contrasted with the passion of their earlier encounters. Bendrix learns from Parkis that Sarah has been making regular visits to a priest under the guise of false dentist visits, flashbacks show Bendrix expressing jealousy of Henry and asking Sarah to leave him. Though Sarah and Bendrix express love to other, the affair ends abruptly when a V-1 flying bomb explodes near Bendrixs building as he is out in the hallway. Bendrix falls down a staircase and awakes later, bloodied but not seriously hurt and he walks upstairs, where Sarah is shocked that he is alive. Bendrix accuses Sarah of being disappointed that he survived and she leaves, telling him Love doesnt end, in 1946, Parkis obtains Sarahs diary and passes it on to Bendrix, it shows the affair from her perspective. After Bendrix is hurt by the bomb, Sarah runs downstairs and finds him still, after trying to revive him, she runs back upstairs and begins to pray for Bendrixs life. Just as she says to God that she stop seeing Bendrix if he is brought back. Now knowing why Sarah ended the affair, Bendrix follows Sarah, Sarah tells Bendrix that she has felt dead without him and can no longer keep her promise to God. Henry, who has figured out that it is Bendrix who was Sarahs lover, but, with more persuasion from Bendrix, Sarah agrees to go away with him for a weekend. Henry tracks the couple down to them that Sarah has a terminal illness. Bendrix stays with Henry and Sarah over her days and at her funeral. At Henry and Sarahs house, Bendrix completes his book and it is revealed that his diary of hate is directed toward God, while Sarah doesnt need to see God to love Him, Bendrix prays God will leave him alone, thereby finally acknowledging His existence. Neil Jordan won a BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay, Neil Jordan was nominated for the Best Director Golden Globe and Julianne Moore was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama. Ralph Fiennes also won the best eyewear award at the GQ Men of 2000 Awards for the pair of National Health Service spectacles he sported in the film
14.
Sony Classical Records
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Sony Classical Records is an American record label. It was started in 1927 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of the American Columbia Records, in 1948, it issued the first commercially successful long-playing 12 record. Over the next decades its artists included Isaac Stern, Pablo Casals, Glenn Gould, Eugene Ormandy, Vangelis, Elliot Goldenthal, Leonard Bernstein, parent CBS also featured the Masterworks name on its consumer electronics equipment. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed CBS Masterworks Records, the Sony Classical label is listed today as a sister label of Masterworks
15.
Love Counts
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Love Counts is a 2005 opera in two acts by Michael Nyman to a libretto by Michael Hastings. The opera premiered 12 March 2005 at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Germany and it was performed in London at the Almeida Theatre on 14 July 2006, directed by Lindsay Posner, designed by Peter McKintosh, and conducted by Paul McGrath. The opera begins with Patsy Bear, a boxer, punching leaves on a tree. Avril Ainger, a lecturer, encounters him while riding her bicycle. The next day, Avril passes by the gym where Patsy fights and he is waiting for the bus, but when the driver arrives, he will not tell Patsy the number, for Patsy is illiterate and has difficulty even recognizing numbers. She accompanies him back to his hut and they learn more about other, Patsys limitations. They go to a restaurant, and Avril tries to help Patsy will the bill and she begins teaching him basic mathematics, starting with familiarizing him with all the digits, but he only wants to make love. The second act is set mostly in Avrils bedroom, jumping backward and forward in time, Avril asks Patsy about the nature of his erections because her previous husband could get them only if he hit her. After they make love for the first time, Patsys manager calls and tells him that a new lad wants him to be his trainer and he compares this to Dr. Ps use of Robert Schumann in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Avril wants Patsy to promise he will not get back in the ring and she takes off her top and hits him, saying she does not want to be hurt again. Patsy asks her to be more ladylike and make love, later, she gets a phone call, and collapses at what she hears. Patsy has fallen into a coma, the doctor says he will regain his memory if she keeps talking to him. In the final scene, Avril pushes Patsy, now in a wheelchair, down the street where they first met, express their desire to make love, and go through their counting routine. A recording based on the Almeida production was released in 2007 featuring Andrew Slater as Patsy Bear and it is the 57th Michael Nyman album
16.
Philips Records
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Not to be confused with Phillips International Records. Philips Records is a label that was founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. In 1946 Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Deccas Dutch outlet in Amsterdam, the record label was started by Philips Phonographische Industrie in June 1950 when it began issuing classical recordings. Recordings were also made with artists of various nationalities and with classical artists from Germany, France. Launched under the slogan Records of the Century, the first releases in Britain appeared at the beginning of January 1953 on 1078 rpm discs, Philips also distributed recordings made by the Columbia Records in the UK and on the European continent. After the separation of the English Columbia label and American Columbia, the first single on the label to chart was Frankie Laines I Believe, which reached the No.1 chart position in the UK that April. Many of the first British recordings on the label were produced by Norman Newell until John Franz was appointed artists, in 1958 Philips created a subsidiary label, Fontana Records, which meant that American-Columbia recordings were being issued on both the Philips and Fontana labels. This arrangement lasted until April 1962 when, under pressure from Columbia in America, Philips then created a label for them. In late 1964, under the stewardship of U. S. President of Columbia Records Goddard Lieberson, CBS Records formed its own international operations, CBS Records set up their UK operation in Theobalds Road in Holborn. Singles and albums on the Philips and Fontana labels by Columbia-owned product were subsequently withdrawn, in 1962, Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon formed the Grammophon-Philips Group joint venture, which later became PolyGram in 1972. UK pressings were manufactured at the large factory based at Walthamstow in N. E. In 1961, after Philips lost its North American distribution deal with Columbia Records, a year later, Philips US affiliate Consolidated Electronics Industries Corp. bought Mercury and its subsidiary labels, such as Smash. Philips classical, jazz and pop records were marketed by Mercury in the US under the Philips label, the Mercury Living Presence team also made classical recordings for Philips, in July 1961. 69 for cello and piano by Richter and Rostropovich, classical groups that Philips heavily recorded included the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Beaux Arts Trio, and the Quartetto Italiano. Violinist Arthur Grumiaux and the pianist Claudio Arrau were under contract to Philips, symphony orchestras under contract, including the LSO, were under the command of prestigious young conductors such as Colin Davis and Bernard Haitink. From 1961 until the late 1980s, Philips Records issued many classical titles in US-specific packaging, the records were pressed at Mercurys plant in Richmond, Indiana, and mastered in New York by George Piros at Fine Recording, using 2-track and mono master tapes provided by Philips. These releases were the PHS900 xxx series for stereo and the 500 xxx series for mono, clair Van Ausdal in Mercurys New York office oversaw the Philips classical US releases through the mid-1960s. These records were made through Mercurys existing jazz operations and produced by Jack Tracy, in addition to jazz and classical music, Philips also became a major player in the world of rock and pop music in the late 1950s till late 1970s
17.
ECM Records
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ECM is an independent record label founded by Manfred Eicher in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for music, the label has released a variety of recordings. ECMs motto is the Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence, according to a 1971 review of ECM releases in CODA, ECM has been distributed in the U. S. by Warner Bros. Records, PolyGram Records, BMG, and, since 1999, Universal Music and its album covers have been profiled in two books, Sleeves of Desire and Windfall Light, both published by Lars Müller. The first ECM release was pianist Mal Waldrons 1969 recording Free at Last. The label has released recordings in the world music genre by artists including Jan Garbarek, Steve Tibbetts, Stephan Micus, Codona, Anouar Brahem, L. Shankar, Jon Hassell. The ECM New Series was created in 1984 to document Western classical works and it has released works by composers from the early to the contemporary. The series was initiated for Arvo Pärts record debut Tabula Rasa, which Eicher recorded and produced in 1977,1983, since then Pärt and Eicher have built a strong relationship, all works premiere on recordings for the label and all are done in presence of the composer. Keith Jarrett, better known as a musician, contributed together with Gidon Kremer amongst others to Tabula Rasa. He later recorded several works by Bach, Mozart, Shostakovich. Several of John Adams works from his minimalist period have been released through the label as well, including Harmonium, garbareks work with guitarist Ralph Towner draws on, and is as apparently influenced by, 20th century chamber music as by any overtly jazz-oriented material. The label has also released unique works that fit into no obvious genre at all, in 2002 and 2004 ECM released a series of compilation CDs titled, rarum. Twenty of the artists were asked to compile a single CD of their work for the label. The typical ECM session is just three days, two days to record, one day to mix, after working as a writer for the Melody Maker Steve Lake first joined the ECM-staff in 1978. In fall 2012 the Munich museum Haus der Kunst opened an exhibition about the work of the label called ECM - A Cultural Archaeology and it pointed out the early jazz-focused years till mid 80s before the New Series was initiated. In close relation with Eicher and ECM the exhibition was created by Okwui Enwezor, some of them, anyway, do have a long past with the label - even if their home is ECM or New Series. The physical catalogue of the exhibition was published by Prestel Verlag in German, another extended exhibition was displayed in Seoul, Korea, from September till November 2013. The label has a special relation towards film and directors, founder Manfred Eicher himself is a very passionate movie viewer and directed in 1990 an adaption of Max Frisch’s Holozän together with Heinz Bütler
18.
John Taylor (jazz)
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John Taylor was a British jazz pianist born in Manchester, England, who occasionally performed on the organ and the synthesiser. John Taylor was a self taught pianist, with his family, he moved from Manchester, first to the Midlands and then to Hastings where he played locally. In 1964 Taylor became a servant, moved to London. Taylor first came to the attention of the community in 1969 when he partnered with saxophonists Alan Skidmore. He was later reunited with Surman in the short-lived group Morning Glory, in the early 1970s, Taylor was accompanist to the singer Cleo Laine and started to compose for his own sextet. He also worked with visiting artists at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in London. In 1977 Taylor formed the trio Azimuth, with Norma Winstone, on some of the groups recording Taylor played synthesiser and organ. The group was described by Richard Williams as one of the most imaginatively conceived, the trio made several recordings for ECM Records and performed in Europe, the USA and Canada. The 1980s saw Taylor working with groups led by Jan Garbarek, Enrico Rava, Gil Evans, Lee Konitz and Charlie Mariano as well as performing in duos with Tony Coe and Steve Arguelles. Composing projects included a commission for the English choir Cantamus Girls Choir with Lee Konitz, Taylor also performed on David Sylvians song Laughter and Forgetting, on which Kenny Wheeler also featured. From 2006, Taylor was a member of Kenny Wheelers quartet and large ensemble and performed in duo and quartet settings with John Surman, in 1996 Taylor played organ on Surmans choral work Proverbs and Songs from Salisbury Cathedral, later released on ECM Records. During the 1990s he made several recordings also for ECM with Peter Erskines trio with Palle Danielsson on bass, in 2000 Taylor made a new collaboration with Azimuth and the Smith Quartet for the Weimer Festival. Also in that year he recorded Verso with Maria Pia De Vito, Taylor celebrated his 60th birthday in 2002 with a Contemporary Music Network Tour in which he presented his new trio with drummer Joey Baron and Marc Johnson on bass. The tour also featured the Creative Jazz Orchestra playing Taylors composition The Green Man Suite, in July 2002 Taylor received the BBC Jazz Award for Best New Work for this suite. Taylors trio recording with Johnson and Baron was released early in 2003, John Fordham wrote in The Guardian, This is one of contemporary jazzs great performers at work. A beautiful solo statement by a very modest star, in 2004 Taylor recorded Where Do We Go from Here. In duo with Kenny Wheeler and Nightfall with bassist Charlie Haden and they subsequently performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Also that year Taylor formed a new trio with Palle Danielsson and they performed at the Vancouver Jazz Festival and recorded Angel of the Presence for CAM Jazz
19.
Kenny Wheeler
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Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U. K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was active in free improvisation. Wheeler wrote over one hundred compositions and was an arranger for small groups. Wheeler was the patron of the Royal Academy Junior Jazz course, Wheeler was born in Toronto, Ontario, on 14 January 1930. Growing up in Toronto, he began playing cornet at age 12, Wheeler spent a year studying composition at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto in 1950. In 1952 he moved to Britain and he found his way into the London jazz scene of the time, playing in groups led by Tommy Whittle, Tubby Hayes, and Ronnie Scott. In the late 1950s, he was a member of Buddy Featherstonhaughs quintet together with Bobby Wellins, in 1968, Wheeler appeared on guitarist Terry Smiths first solo album, Fall Out. A CD was released by BGO Records in September 2010 and it has subsequently been reissued on CD by Parkers Psi label. Despite the above-noted accomplishments, much of his reputation rests on his work with jazz groups. Wheelers first small group recordings to gain significant critical attention were Gnu High and Deer Wan, one exception from the ongoing collaboration with ECM was his rare album on CBC called Ensemble Fusionaire in 1976. This had three other Canadian musicians and was recorded in St. Marys Church in Toronto for a different character to the sound than on the ECM recordings. Wheeler was the player in the Anthony Braxton Quartet from 1971 to 1976. In 1997 Wheeler received widespread praise for his album Angel Song. Wheeler died after a period of frail health at a nursing home in London on 18 September 2014. Never Again with The Maritime Jazz Orchestra, Sirens Song wrote/arranged Ballad to Max on Maynard Fergusons album M. F. F. C. S, with Graham Collier Deep Dark Blue Centre Hoarded Dreams With John Dankworth With Pierre Favre Window Steps What the Dickens
20.
John Williams (guitarist)
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John Christopher Williams is an Australian virtuosic classical guitarist renowned for his ensemble playing as well as his interpretation and promotion of the modern classical guitar repertoire. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award in the Best Chamber Music Performance category with fellow guitarist Julian Bream for Julian, guitar historian Graham Wade has said, John is perhaps the most technically accomplished guitarist the world has seen. In 1952, the moved to England, where he attended Friern Barnet Grammar School. Williams was initially taught guitar by his father, who was an accomplished guitarist, from the age of 11, Williams attended summer courses with Andrés Segovia at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Later, he attended the Royal College of Music in London, from 1956 to 1959, upon graduation, he was invited to create such a department. He took the opportunity and ran the department for its first two years, Williams has maintained links with the college ever since. Williams first professional performance was at the Wigmore Hall in London on 6 November 1958, since then, he has been performing throughout the world and has made regular appearances on radio and TV. He has extended the repertoire by commissioning guitar concertos from composers such as Stephen Dodgson, André Previn, Patrick Gowers, Richard Harvey, Williams has recorded albums of duets with fellow guitarists Julian Bream and Paco Peña. Williams is a professor and honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Williams mostly uses Greg Smallman guitars, after using Spanish Fleta during the 1970s and he also plays a guitar by Paulino Bernabe II. Williams notes that students preoccupied with fingerings and not notes, much less sounds, some are able to play difficult solo works from memory, although Williams is best known as a classical guitarist, he has explored many different musical genres. Between 1978 and 1984 he was a member of the fusion group Sky and he is also a composer and arranger. The duet featured on the album and the film version of the show – bringing Williams to the broader attention of the rock audience. Williams recorded Cavatina by Stanley Myers, the piece originally included only the first few measures but, at Williams request, it was rewritten for guitar and expanded by Myers. After this transformation it was used for a film, The Walking Stick, in 1973, Cleo Laine wrote lyrics and recorded it as the song He Was Beautiful accompanied by Williams. The guitar version became a hit single when it was used as the theme tune to the Oscar-winning film The Deer Hunter. Williams and his wife, Kathy, reside in London. He has a daughter Kate, now a jazz pianist
21.
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
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The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is an English chamber orchestra, based in London. The original group numbered 11, all male, the orchestra gave its first concert on November 13,1959, in the church it was named after. In 1988, the dropped the hyphens from its full name. Marriner held the title of Life President until his death in 2016, the initial performances as a string orchestra at St Martin-in-the-Fields played a key role in the revival of baroque performances in England. The orchestra has since expanded to include winds and it remains flexible in size, changing its make-up to suit its repertoire, which ranges from the Baroque to contemporary works. On recordings, besides Marriner, Iona Brown and Kenneth Sillito have led the orchestra, since 2000, Murray Perahia has held the title of principal guest conductor of the orchestra, and has made commercial recordings with the orchestra as pianist and conductor. The orchestras first recording was for the LOiseau-Lyre label at Conway Hall on March 25,1961 and it has since accumulated an extensive discography, and is one of the most recorded chamber orchestras in the world, with over 500 sessions. Other labels the orchestra has recorded for include Argo, Capriccio, Chandos, Decca, EMI, Hänssler, Hyperion, PENTATONE, the orchestra has also recorded under the names Argo Chamber Orchestra, London String Players, and London Strings. It has played on the soundtracks of Amadeus, and The English Patient. The Academy also helped record the UEFA Champions League Anthem with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Marriner and the Academy – A Record Partnership. London, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields,1999, official Academy of St Martin in the Fields website Music & Vision page on appointment of Johan Duijck
22.
Curlew River
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Curlew River – A Parable for Church Performance is an English music drama with music by Benjamin Britten to a libretto by William Plomer. Beyond the noh source dramatic material, Britten incorporated elements of noh treatment of time into this composition. Curlew River marked a departure in style for the remainder of the creative life, paving the way for such works as Owen Wingrave, Death in Venice. Plomer translated the setting of the original into a Christian parable, set in medieval times near the fictional Curlew River. Peter F. Alexander has investigated in detail Plomers contribution to the work, mikiko Ishi has done a comparative study of the weeping mother figures in Sumidagawa, Curlew River, and various religious plays from medieval Europe. Daniel Albright has examined Brittens and Plomers adaptations of aspects of the Sumidagawa original into the context of their own cultural, under Colin Grahams direction, the work was premiered on 13 June 1964 at St Bartholomews Church, Orford, Suffolk, England, by the English Opera Group. The original cast included Britten regulars Peter Pears and Bryan Drake, the United States premiere was presented on June 26,1966 at the Caramoor Summer Music Festival with Andrea Velis as the Madwoman. At a cue from the organ, the Abbot, who acts as a narrator, an unhurried robing ceremony – to stately instrumental accompaniment – follows, after which the play commences. The Madwoman and Traveller wish to cross the Curlew River on the Ferrymans boat, after briefly introducing themselves, the Madwoman explains her quest, she is searching for her child who has been missing for a year. Though the Ferryman is initially reluctant to carry the Madwoman, the characters take pity on her. The boy was sick, and was left by the river by his master, though the boy was looked after by the local people, he died. The Ferryman recounts the words, I know I am dying. Please bury me here, by the path to this chapel, then, if travellers from my dear country pass this way, their shadows will fall on my grave, and plant a yew tree in memory of me. Grief-stricken by this knowledge, she joins the rest of the cast in praying at the boys graveside. At the climactic moment when all the men are chanting together, the voice of the boy is heard echoing them, the dead shall rise again, And in that blessed day, We shall meet in heavn At this point, the Madwoman is redeemed and her madness lifts. Britten depicts the moment with the Madwoman letting out a joyful, melismatic Amen, here, the robing ceremony music returns, as at the start, and the players resume their normal dress. The Abbot reiterates the moral and bids the audience farewell, the full cast then recess to the same plainsong with which the work began. The singers are accompanied by a group of instrumentalists, dressed as lay brothers
23.
Amadeus
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Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer, which gives a highly fictionalized account of the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. First performed in 1979, Amadeus was inspired by a short 1830 play by Alexander Pushkin called Mozart, in the play, significant use is made of the music of Mozart, Salieri and other composers of the period. The premieres of Mozarts operas The Abduction from the Seraglio, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, after being presented successfully at the Royal National Theatre, London in 1979, the play moved to the West End followed by Broadway. Amadeus won the 1981 Tony Award for Best Play and it was adapted by Shaffer for the 1984 Academy Award-winning film of the same name. Since the original run, Shaffer has extensively revised his play, including changes to plot details, at the opening of the tale, Salieri is an old man, having long outlived his fame. Speaking directly to the audience, he claims to have used poison to assassinate Mozart, the action then flashes back to the eighteenth century, at a time when Salieri has not met Mozart in person, but has heard of him and his music. He adores Mozarts compositions, and is thrilled at the chance to meet Mozart in person, Salieri cannot reconcile Mozarts boorish behaviour with the genius that God has inexplicably bestowed upon him. Indeed, Salieri, who has been a devout Catholic all his life, Salieri renounces God and vows to do everything in his power to destroy Mozart as a way of getting back at his Creator. Throughout much of the rest of the play, Salieri masquerades as Mozarts ally to his face while doing his utmost to destroy his reputation, on more than one occasion it is only the direct intervention of the Emperor himself that allows Mozart to continue. Salieri also humiliates Mozarts wife when she comes to Salieri for aid, and smears Mozarts character with the Emperor, the play ends with Salieri attempting suicide with a razor in a last attempt to be remembered, leaving a confession of having murdered Mozart with arsenic. He survives, however, and his confession is met with disbelief, Shaffer used artistic licence in his portrayals of both Mozart and Salieri. While historically there may have been actual rivalry and tension between Mozart and Salieri, there is evidence that they enjoyed a relationship marked by mutual respect. As an example, Salieri later tutored Mozarts son Franz in music and he also conducted some of Mozarts works, both in Mozarts lifetime and afterwards. Cairns also rejects the romantic legend that Mozart always wrote out perfect manuscripts of works already completely composed in his head, citing major and prolonged revisions to several manuscripts. Amadeus was first presented at the Royal National Theatre, London in 1979, directed by Sir Peter Hall and starring Paul Scofield as Salieri, Simon Callow as Mozart and it was later transferred in modified form to the West End, starring Frank Finlay as Salieri. The cast also included Andrew Cruickshank, Basil Henson, Philip Locke, John Normington, the play premiered on Broadway in 1980 with Ian McKellen as Salieri, Tim Curry as Mozart, and Jane Seymour as Constanze. It ran for 1,181 performances and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, in 2015, Curry stated in an interview that the original Broadway production was his favorite stage production that he had ever been in. During the run of the play McKellen was replaced by John Wood, Frank Langella, David Dukes, David Birney, John Horton, Curry was replaced by Peter Firth, Peter Crook, Dennis Boutsikaris, John Pankow, Mark Hamill, and John Thomas Waite
24.
Lena Horne
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Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American jazz and pop music singer, dancer, actress, and civil rights activist. Hornes career spanned over 70 years appearing in film, television, because of the Red Scare and her political activism, Horne found herself blacklisted and unable to get work in Hollywood. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the year starred in a one-woman show, Lena Horne, The Lady and Her Music. She then toured the country in the show, earning numerous awards, Horne continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, disappearing from the public eye in 2000. Horne died of heart failure on May 9,2010. Lena Horne was born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and her mother, Edna Louise Scottron, was a granddaughter of inventor Samuel R. Scottron, she was an actress with a black theatre troupe and traveled extensively. Ednas maternal grandmother, Amelie Louise Ashton, was a Senegalese slave, Horne was mainly raised by her grandparents, Cora Calhoun and Edwin Horne. When Horne was five, she was sent to live in Georgia, for several years, she traveled with her mother. From Fort Valley, southwest of Macon, Horne briefly moved to Atlanta with her mother and she then attended Girls High School, an all-girls public high school in Brooklyn that has since become Boys and Girls High School, she dropped out without earning a diploma. Aged 18, she moved in with her father in Pittsburgh, staying in the citys Little Harlem for almost five years and learning from native Pittsburghers Billy Strayhorn and Billy Eckstine, among others. In the fall of 1933, Horne joined the line of the Cotton Club in New York City. In the spring of 1934, she had a role in the Cotton Club Parade starring Adelaide Hall. A few years later, Horne joined Noble Sissles Orchestra, with which she toured and with whom she made her first records, issued by Decca. After she separated from her first husband, Horne toured with bandleader Charlie Barnet in 1940–41 and she replaced Dinah Shore as the featured vocalist on NBCs popular jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street. The shows resident maestros, Henry Levine and Paul Laval, recorded with Horne in June 1941 for RCA Victor, Hornes songs from Boogie Woogie Dream were later released individually as soundies. Horne made her Hollywood nightclub debut at Felix Youngs Little Troc on the Sunset Strip in January 1942, a few weeks later, she was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In November 1944, she was featured in an episode of the radio series Suspense, as a fictional nightclub singer. In 1945 and 1946, she sang with Billy Eckstines Orchestra, as a result, most of Hornes film appearances were stand-alone sequences that had no bearing on the rest of the film, so editing caused no disruption to the storyline
25.
Sarah Vaughan
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Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by music critic Scott Yanow as having one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century. Nicknamed Sassy and The Divine One, Sarah Vaughan was a four-time Grammy Award winner, the National Endowment for the Arts bestowed upon her its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award, in 1989. Sarah Vaughans father, Asbury Jake Vaughan, was a carpenter by trade and played guitar and her mother, Ada Vaughan, was a laundress and sang in the church choir. Jake and Ada Vaughan had migrated to Newark, New Jersey from Virginia during the First World War, Sarah was their only biological child, although in the 1960s they adopted Donna, the child of a woman who traveled on the road with Sarah Vaughan. The Vaughans lived in a house on Brunswick Street in Newark for Sarahs entire childhood, Jake Vaughan was deeply religious and the family was very active in the New Mount Zion Baptist Church at 186 Thomas Street. Sarah began piano lessons at the age of seven, sang in the choir and occasionally played piano for rehearsals. Vaughan developed a love for popular music on records and the radio. In the 1930s, Newark had an active live music scene and Vaughan frequently saw local. However, her adventures as a performer began to overwhelm her academic pursuits. Around this time, Vaughan and her friends began venturing across the Hudson River into New York City to hear big bands at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, biographies of Vaughan frequently stated that she was immediately thrust into stardom after a winning amateur night performance at Harlems Zeus Theater. In fact, the story that biographer Renee relates seems to be a bit more complex, Vaughan was frequently accompanied by a friend, Doris Robinson, on her trips into New York City. Some time in the fall of 1942, Vaughan suggested that Robinson enter the Apollo Theater Amateur Night contest, Vaughan played piano accompaniment for Robinson, who won second prize. Vaughan later decided to go back and compete herself as a singer, Vaughan sang Body and Soul and won, although the exact date of her victorious Apollo performance is uncertain. The prize, as Vaughan recalled later to Marian McPartland, was $10, after a considerable delay, Vaughan was contacted by the Apollo in the spring of 1943 to open for Ella Fitzgerald. Some time during her week of performances at the Apollo, Vaughan was introduced to bandleader and pianist Earl Fatha Hines, Billy Eckstine, Hines singer at the time, has been credited by Vaughan and others with hearing her at the Apollo and recommending her to Hines. Hines claimed later to have discovered her himself and offered her a job on the spot, regardless, after a brief tryout at the Apollo, Hines officially replaced his current male singer with Vaughan on April 4,1943. Vaughan spent the remainder of 1943 and part of 1944 touring the country with the Earl Hines big band that featured baritone Billy Eckstine. The Earl Hines band in this period is remembered as an incubator of bebop, as it included trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Charlie Parker and trombonist Bennie Green
26.
Harry Beckett
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Harold Winston Harry Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player of Barbadian origin. Born in Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados, Harry Beckett learned to play music in a Salvation Army band, a resident in the UK since 1954, he had an international reputation. In 1961, he played with Charles Mingus in the film All Night Long, in the 1960s he worked and recorded within the band of bass player and composer Graham Collier. Beginning in 1970, he led groups of his own, recording for Philips, RCA and he has also recorded with Keef Hartley, Jah Wobble, David Sylvian and worked with David Murray. His dub-oriented album, The Modern Sound of Harry Beckett, was produced by famed British producer Adrian Sherwood, in 1972, Beckett won the Melody Maker jazz Poll as Top Trumpeter in Britain. He was a member of the Orchestre National de Jazz between 1997 and 2000, Beckett died on 22 July 2010 after suffering a stroke
27.
Michel Legrand
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Michel Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand is a composer, having written over 200 film and television scores. He is best known for his haunting, jazz-tinged film music. His celebrated scores for the films of French New Wave director Jacques Demy, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort, for The Thomas Crown Affair and its title song, The Windmills of Your Mind, Legrand won his first Oscar. Legrand was born in the Bécon les Bruyères district of Courbevoie and his father Raymond Legrand was a conductor and composer renowned for hits such as Irma la douce, and his mother was Marcelle Der Mikaëlian, who married Legrand Senior in 1929. His maternal grandfather was of Armenian descent and considered a member of the bourgeoisie, Legrand has composed more than two hundred film and television scores and several musicals and has made well over a hundred albums. He has won three Oscars and five Grammys and has been nominated for an Emmy and he was 22 when his first album, I Love Paris, became one of the best-selling instrumental albums ever released. He is a jazz and classical pianist and an accomplished arranger. Legrand graduated with top honors as both a composer and a pianist, Legrand has also contributed significant work in jazz. While on a visit to the U. S, the following year, back in Paris with bassist Guy Pedersen and percussionist Gus Wallez, he recorded an album of Paris-themed songs arranged for jazz piano trio, titled Paris Jazz Piano. Nearly a decade later he recorded At Shellys Manne-Hole, a trio session with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne. Legrand also provided an odd scat vocal on My Funny Valentine, Not as well received as his earlier work in the field of jazz was a 1994 album for LaserLight entitled Michel Plays Legrand. More recently, in 2002, he recorded a jazz piano album reworking 14 of his classic songs. His jazz piano style is virtuosic and eclectic, drawing upon such influences as Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, in 1966, he made the arrangements of the international song Cest si bon by Henri Betti and André Hornez for the Barbra Streisand album Color Me Barbra. In 1948, his father Raymond Legrand had conducted the orchestra for the recording of song by Les Soeurs Étienne. A number of his songs, including What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life, watch What Happens, The Summer Knows, and You Must Believe in Spring, have become jazz standards covered frequently by other artists. During various periods of work, Legrand became a conductor for orchestras in St. Petersburg, Florida, Vancouver, Montreal, Atlanta, Pittsburgh. Legrand has also recorded classical piano pieces by Erik Satie and American composers such as Amy Beach, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, John Cage and he is a prolific recorder of jazz, popular and classical music albums, having released over one hundred
