1.
Newport News, Virginia
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Newport News is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 180,719, in 2013, the population was estimated to be 183,412, making it the fifth-most populous city in Virginia. Newport News is included in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, the area now known as Newport News was once a part of Warwick County. Warwick County was one of the eight original shires of Virginia, formed by the House of Burgesses in the British Colony of Virginia by order of King Charles I, the county was largely composed of farms and undeveloped land until almost 250 years later. In 1881,15 years of development began under the leadership of Collis P. With the new railroad came a terminal and coal piers where the colliers were loaded, within a few years, Huntington and his associates also built a large shipyard. In 1896, the new incorporated town of Newport News, which had briefly replaced Denbigh as the county seat of Warwick County, had a population of 9,000. In 1958, by mutual consent by referendum, Newport News was consolidated with the former Warwick County, the more widely known name of Newport News was selected as they formed what was then Virginias third largest independent city in population. The location on the harbor and along the James River facilitates a large boating industry which can take advantage of its miles of waterfront. Newport News also serves as a junction between the rails and the sea with the Newport News Marine Terminals located at the East End of the city. Served by major east-west Interstate Highway 64, it is linked to others of the cities of Hampton Roads by the circumferential Hampton Roads Beltway, part of the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport is in the city limits. The original area near the mouth of the James River was first referred to as Newportes Newes as early as 1621, the source of the name Newport News is not known with certainty. Several versions are recorded, and it is the subject of popular speculation locally, the new governor ordered them to turn around, and return to Jamestown. Under this theory, the community was named for Newports good news, another possibility is that the community may have derived its name from an old English word news meaning new town. At least one source claims that the New arose from the settlements being rebuilt after a fire. Another source gave the name as New Port Newce, named for a person with the name Newce. The namesake, Sir William Newce, was an English soldier, there he had established Newcestown near Bandon, County Cork. He sailed to Virginia with Sir Francis Wyatt in October 1621 and was granted 2,500 acres of land and his brother, Capt. Thomas Newce, was given 600 acres at Kequatan, now called Elizabeth Cittie
2.
Beverly Hills, California
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Beverly Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, surrounded by the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood. By 2013, its population had grown to 34,658, sometimes referred to as 90210, one of its primary ZIP codes, it was home to many actors and celebrities throughout the 20th century. The city includes the Rodeo Drive shopping district and the Beverly Hills Oil Field, gaspar de Portolá arrived in the area that would later become Beverly Hills on August 3,1769, travelling along native trails which followed the present-day route of Wilshire Boulevard. The area was settled by Maria Rita Quinteros de Valdez and her husband in 1828 and they called their 4,500 acres of property the Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas. in 1854, she sold the ranch to Benjamin Davis Wilson and Henry Hancock. By the 1880s, the ranch had been subdivided into parcels of 75 acres and was being bought up by anglos from Los Angeles. Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker acquired most of it, at this point, the area was known as the Hammel and Denker Ranch. By 1888, Denker and Hammel were planning to build a town called Morocco on their holdings and they did not find enough to exploit commercially by the standards of the time, though. In 1906, therefore, they reorganized as the Rodeo Land and Water Company, renamed the property Beverly Hills, subdivided it, the development was named Beverly Hills after Beverly Farms in Beverly, Massachusetts and because of the hills in the area. The first house in the subdivision was built in 1907, although sales remained slow, Beverly Hills was one of many all-white planned communities started in the Los Angeles area around this time. Restrictive covenants prohibited non-whites from owning or renting property unless they were employed as servants by white residents and it was also forbidden to sell or rent property to Jews in Beverly Hills. Burton Green began construction on The Beverly Hills Hotel in 1911, the hotel was finished in 1912. The visitors drawn by the hotel were inclined to purchase land in Beverly Hills and that same year, the Rodeo Land and Water Company decided to separate its water business from its real estate business. The Beverly Hills Utility Commission was split off from the company and incorporated in September 1914, buying all of the utilities-related assets from the Rodeo Land. In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford bought land on Summit Drive and built a mansion, finished in 1921, the glamor associated with Fairbanks and Pickford as well as other movie stars who built mansions in the city contributed to its growing appeal. By the early 1920s the population of Beverly Hills had grown enough to make the water supply a political issue, in 1923 the usual solution, annexation to the city of Los Angeles, was proposed. There was considerable opposition to annexation among such famous residents as Pickford, Fairbanks, Will Rogers, the Beverly Hills Utility Commission, opposed to annexation as well, managed to force the city into a special election and the plan was defeated 337 to 507. In 1925, Beverly Hills approved an issue to buy 385 acres for a new campus for UCLA. The cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Venice also issued bonds to pay for the new campus
3.
Ray Brown (musician)
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Raymond Matthews Ray Brown was an American jazz double bassist and cellist, known for extensive work with Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and took lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone but was unable to afford one. With a vacancy in the school jazz orchestra, he took up the upright bass. A major early influence on Browns bass playing was Jimmy Blanton, as a young man Brown became increasingly well known in the Pittsburgh jazz scene, with his first experiences playing in bands with the Jimmy Hinsley Sextet and the Snookum Russell band. After graduating high school, having heard stories about the jazz scene on 52nd Street in New York City. He arrived in New York at the age of 20, met up with Hank Jones, with whom he had worked, and was introduced to Dizzy Gillespie. Gillespie hired Brown on the spot, and he played with such established musicians as Art Tatum. From 1946 to 1951 Brown played in Gillespies band, Brown, along with the vibraphonist Milt Jackson, drummer Kenny Clarke, and pianist John Lewis formed the rhythm section of the Gillespie band. Lewis, Clarke, and Jackson eventually formed the Modern Jazz Quartet, Brown became acquainted with singer Ella Fitzgerald when she joined the Gillespie band as a special attraction for a tour of the southern United States in 1947. Around this time Brown was also appearing in Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts and it was at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in 1949 that Brown first worked with the jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, in whose trio Brown would play from 1951 to 1966. Between 1957 and 1959, Brown appeared on Blossom Dearies first five recordings for Verve Records, after leaving the Trio he became a manager and promoter as well as a performer. In 1966, he settled in Los Angeles, where he was in high demand working for television show orchestras. He also accompanied some of the artists of the day, including Tony Bennett, Billy Eckstine, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan. Also in Los Angeles he composed music for films and television shows, from 1974 to 1982, Brown performed and recorded a series of albums with guitarist Laurindo Almeida, saxophonist and flautist Bud Shank, and drummer Shelly Manne under the name The L. A. Four. Brown guested as a player on Razor Boy, the second track on Steely Dans second album, Countdown to Ecstasy. Brown appeared on four tracks from the soundtrack to Clint Eastwoods biopic about Charlie Parker, although all of the saxophone parts are Birds original playing, the accompaniment was re-recorded in order to beef up the sound, using Brown and, among others, John Guerin on drums. In the 1980s and 1990s Brown led his own trios and continued to refine his bass playing style, in his later years he recorded and toured extensively with pianist Gene Harris
4.
Ray Brown Jr.
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Ray Brown Jr. is an American jazz and blues pianist and singer. The adopted son of Ray Brown and Ella Fitzgerald, he was born in New York City, nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and many others were regular visitors during his childhood. After moving to California when he was 10, Ray discovered a passion for the drums and he attended Beverly Hills High School where he sang with school groups which toured at local festivals and hospitals. His father arranged for him to study with jazz percussionists Bill Douglass, despite his jazz roots he admits that his interest in performing rock music was an act of rebellion. I used to drive my parents crazy with this, I told my father a few years before he died, you know a lot of times I played that music cause I just wanted to see the look on your face. His mothers 1964 single Ringo Beat was inspired by her sons interest in rock music and he moved to Seattle in 1971, studying with another drummer, Bill Coleman Sr. It was at time that Brown began writing songs in addition to playing drums. In the late 1980s Brown toured the Pacific Northwest, Canada, Alaska, Japan, Korea, like his famous parents, Brown says he loves performing on the road. He states, I love to tour, ive been able to see a lot of the world and I just absolutely enjoyed being able to be with different types of people, different cultures and to see the world. Its just kind of broadened who I am as a person, which eventually filter down into the music. In 2001, Brown recorded his debut album Slow Down for Love on SRI Jazz and his second album, Committed from the Heart, was released in 2003. His sound has been described as a contemporary pop sound layered with R&B. Brown wrote. Additionally in 2003, Brown debuted on the Las Vegas Strip, performing five nights a week in the Le Bistro Theater at the Riviera hotel, in 2007 he released the album Stand by Me. In September 2008, Ray Brown Jr. released an album, Friends and Family, produced by Shelly Liebowitz, on SRI Jazz. Vocal artists on this album include Jane Monheit, Melba Moore, James Moody, Maria Muldaur, Dr. John, Dionne Warwick, Freda Payne, hawkins, Paul Williams, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Dave Somerville, Kim Hoyer, and Sally Kellerman. Additional instrumental performances appear on some of the tracks with artists David Fathead Newman, James Moody, Dr. John, Dr. Lonnie Smith. Also included on the album is Browns daughter Haylee singing A-Tisket, A-Tasket, there is also a bonus track with Rays parents in a live version of How High The Moon, with Ella Fitzgerald and Brown Jr. on vocals and Ray Brown playing bass. His style has been described as more RnB influenced material, in 1998, Brown attended the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation ceremony honoring his mother, Ella Fitzgerald
5.
Swing music
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Swing music, or simply swing, is a form of American music that dominated in the 1930s and 1940s. The name swing came from the swing feel where the emphasis is on the off–beat or weaker pulse in the music, Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, the verb to swing is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Notable musicians of the era include Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Woody Herman. Swing has roots in the late 1920s as larger ensembles began using written arrangements, a typical song played in swing style would feature a strong, anchoring rhythm section in support of more loosely tied wind and brass. The most common style consisted of having a soloist take center stage, Swing music began to decline in popularity during World War II because of several factors. By the late 1940s, swing had morphed into traditional pop music, or evolved into new styles such as jump blues, Swing music saw a revival in the late 1950s and 1960s with pop vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald. Swing blended with other genres to create new styles, in country music, artists such as Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican and Bob Wills introduced many elements of swing along with blues to create a genre called western swing. Gypsy swing is an outgrowth of Venuti and Langs jazz violin swing, in the 1970s, and 1980s, fans of big band music attended swing music performances at supper clubs. In the late-1980s a trendier, more urban-styled swing-beat emerged called new jack swing, in the late 1990s and into the 2000s there was a swing revival, led by Squirrel Nut Zippers, Brian Setzer, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Lavay Smith. In Canada, some of the early 2000s records by The JW-Jones Blues Band included swing revival elements, the 1920s saw parallel trends in jazz and popular music that would later converge into the swing style. New Orleans style jazz was based on a meter and contrapuntal improvisation led by a trumpet or cornet, typically followed by a clarinet. The rhythm section consisted of a tuba and drums, and sometimes a banjo, by the early 1920s guitars and pianos sometimes substituted for the banjo and a string bass sometimes substituted for the tuba. Further innovations in small ensemble playing led to development of the Chicago style identified with Louis Armstrong, a stint with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra familiarized him with arranged ensemble playing that differed from the New Orleans style, in which saxophones became the dominant sound among the reeds. Armstrong brought those back to his smaller ensembles, the soloist played over an ensemble relegated to a supporting role in the background. The string bass also lent itself to playing in a 4/4 rhythm rather than the 2/4 rhythm dictated by the tuba. The new format gave the soloist the opportunity to play with more rhythmic freedom, but playing with swing remained the province of the soloist, not the ensemble. The late 1920s saw increasingly sophisticated arrangements used by bigger ensembles, some arrangements used call-response between horn sections to build the melody
6.
Bebop
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As bebop was not intended for dancing, it enabled the musicians to play at faster tempos. Bebop musicians explored advanced harmonies, complex syncopation, altered chords, extended chords, chord substitutions, asymmetrical phrasing, Bebop groups used rhythm sections in a way that expanded their role. The term bebop is derived from nonsense syllables used in scat singing and it appears again in a 1936 recording of Ise a Muggin by Jack Teagarden. A variation, rebop, appears in several 1939 recordings, the first, known print appearance also occurred in 1939, but the term was little-used subsequently until applied to the music now associated with it in the mid-1940s. Some researchers speculate that it was a used by Charlie Christian because it sounded like something he hummed along with his playing. Another theory is that it derives from the cry of Arriba, used by Latin American bandleaders of the period to encourage their bands. At times, the bebop and rebop were used interchangeably. By 1945, the use of bebop/rebop as nonsense syllables was widespread in R&B music, ability to play sustained, high energy, and creative solos was highly valued for this newer style and the basis of intense competition. Swing-era jam sessions and cutting contests in Kansas City became legendary, the Kansas City approach to swing was epitomized by the Count Basie Orchestra, which came to national prominence in 1937. One young admirer of the Basie orchestra in Kansas City was an alto saxophone player named Charlie Parker. Young was equally daring with his rhythm and phrasing as with his approach to harmonic structures in his solos and he would frequently repeat simple two or three note figures, with shifting rhythmic accents expressed by volume, articulation, or tone. His phrasing was far removed from the two or four bar phrases that players had used until then. They would often be extended to an odd number of measures and he would take a breath in the middle of a phrase, using the pause, or free space, as a creative device. The overall effect was that his solos were something floating above the rest of the music, Parker played along with the new Basie recordings on a Victrola until he could play Youngs solos note for note. That understatement of harmonically sophisticated chords would soon be used by young musicians exploring the new language of bebop. That solo showed a sophisticated harmonic exploration of the tune, with implied passing chords, Hawkins would eventually go on to lead the first formal recording of the bebop style in early 1944. As the 1930s turned to the 1940s, Parker went to New York as a player in the Jay McShann Orchestra. Guitarist Charlie Christian, who had arrived in New York with the Benny Goodman Orchestra in 1939 was, like Parker, christians major influence was in the realm of rhythmic phrasing
7.
Blues
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Blues is a genre and musical form originated by African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the end of the 19th century. The genre developed from roots in African musical traditions, African-American work songs, spirituals, Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. Blue notes, usually thirds or fifths flattened in pitch, are also a part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove, Blues as a genre is also characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times, Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the troubles experienced in African-American society. Many elements, such as the format and the use of blue notes. The origins of the blues are closely related to the religious music of the Afro-American community. The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after the ending of slavery and, later and it is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century, the first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a variety of styles and subgenres. Blues subgenres include country blues, such as Delta blues and Piedmont blues, as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago blues, World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a form called blues rock evolved. The term blues may have come from blue devils, meaning melancholy and sadness, the phrase blue devils may also have been derived from Britain in the 1600s, when the term referred to the intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal. As time went on, the phrase lost the reference to devils, by the 1800s in the United States, the term blues was associated with drinking alcohol, a meaning which survives in the phrase blue law, which prohibits the sale of alcohol on Sunday. Though the use of the phrase in African-American music may be older, it has been attested to in print since 1912, in lyrics the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood. The lyrics of traditional blues verses probably often consisted of a single line repeated four times. Two of the first published songs, Dallas Blues and Saint Louis Blues, were 12-bar blues with the AAB lyric structure. Handy wrote that he adopted this convention to avoid the monotony of lines repeated three times, the lines are often sung following a pattern closer to rhythmic talk than to a melody
8.
Decca Records
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Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U. S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis along with American Deccas first president Jack Kapp and later American Decca president Milton Rackmil. In 1937, as a result of anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca, the British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group, which is owned by Vivendi, the US Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG. The name Decca was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the word Mecca with the initial D of their logo Dulcet or their trademark Dulcephone, Samuel, a linguist, chose Decca as a brand name as it was easy to pronounce in most languages. The name dates back to a gramophone called the Decca Dulcephone patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel. That company was renamed the Decca Gramophone Co. Ltd. Within years, Decca Records Ltd. was the second largest record label in the world, Decca bought the UK branch of Brunswick Records and continued to run it under that name. In the 1950s the American Decca studios were located in the Pythian Temple in New York City, in classical music, Decca had a long way to go from its modest beginnings to catch up with the established HMV and Columbia labels. The pre-war classical repertoire on Decca was not extensive, but was select, heinrich Schlusnus made important pre-war lieder recordings for Decca. John Culshaw, who joined Decca in 1946 in a junior post and he revolutionised recording – of opera, in particular. Hitherto, the practice had been to put microphones in front of the performers, Culshaw was determined to make recordings that would be a theatre of the mind, making the listeners experience at home not second best to being in the opera house, but a wholly different experience. To that end he got the singers to move about in the studio as they would onstage, used sound effects and different acoustics. His skill, coupled with Decca engineering, took Decca into the first flight of recording companies and his pioneering recording of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Georg Solti was a huge artistic and commercial success. In the wake of Deccas lead, artists such as Herbert von Karajan, Joan Sutherland, however, Culshaw was, strictly speaking, not the first to do this. Far from being a mere rendering of the score, the 3-LP album set used sound effects to recreate the production as if the listener were watching a stage performance of the work. Until 1947, American Decca issued British Decca classical music recordings, afterwards, British Decca took over distribution through its new American subsidiary London Records. American Decca actively re-entered the classical music field in 1950 with distribution deals from Deutsche Grammophon, American Decca began issuing its own classical music recordings in 1956 when Israel Horowitz joined Decca to head its classical music operations
9.
Verve Records
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Verve Records is an American record company operating under the newly-founded Verve Label Group distributed by Interscope Geffen A&M Records. It was founded in 1956 by Norman Granz and it absorbed the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records, and material previously licensed to Mercury Records. It has been under ownership of Universal Music Group and has expanded to scope newer artists. Norman Granz created Verve to produce new recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, whom he managed, the catalog grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s to include Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Ben Webster, and Lester Young. Milton Rudin, his attorney, represented Frank Sinatra and knew that Sinatra wanted his own label, Sinatra and Granz made a handshake deal, but negotiations broke down over price and Sinatras desire that Granz remain head of the label. Granz sold Verve to MGM in 1961, Sinatra established Reprise Records and hired Mo Ostin, an executive at Verve, to run it. At Verve, Creed Taylor was made head producer, Taylor adopted a more commercial approach, canceling several contracts. He brought bossa nova to America with the release of Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Getz/Gilberto, Verves notable arrangers included Claus Ogerman and Oliver Nelson. According to Ogerman in Jazzletter, he arranged 60–70 albums for Verve from 1963–1947, in 1964, Taylor supervised the creation of a folk music subsidiary named Verve Folkways, later renamed Verve Forecast. Taylor left Verve in 1967 to form CTI Records, aside from jazz, Verves catalogue included the Righteous Brothers, the Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, and the Blues Project. In the 1970s, Verve became part of the PolyGram, incorporating the Mercury/EmArcy jazz catalog, Verve Records became the Verve Music Group after PolyGram was merged with Seagrams Universal Music Group in 1998. The jazz holdings from the companies were folded into this sub-group. When Universal and Polygram merged in 1998, Verves holdings were merged with Universals GRP Recording Company to become Verve Music Group, after forays into Americana and adult contemporary music, Verve was corporately aligned with Universal Music Enterprises, and was no longer a stand-alone label within UMG. The Verve imprint itself manages much of the catalog that once belonged to PolyGram. Meanwhile, GRP manages the rest of MCA/Universals jazz catalog, including releases once issued on the Decca, the Verve Music Group has expanded its output beyond jazz to include crossover classical music, progressive pop and show tunes. Official site Article about Creed Taylor
10.
Capitol Records
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Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label which operates as a division of the Capitol Music Group. The label was founded as the first West Coast-based record label in the United States in 1942 by three industry insiders named Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs, in 1955, the label was acquired by the British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary. EMI was later acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the company in 2013, making Capitol Records, Capitol Records circular headquarter building located in Los Angeles is a recognized landmark of California. Mercer first raised the idea of starting a company while golfing with Harold Arlen. By 1941, Mercer was a songwriter and a singer with multiple successful releases. Mercer next suggested the idea to Wallichs while visiting his record store, Wallichs expressed interest in the idea and the pair negotiated an agreement whereby Mercer would run the company and identify their artists, while Wallichs managed the business side. On February 2,1942, Mercer and Wallichs met with DeSylva at a Hollywood restaurant to inquire about the possibility of investment of the company from Paramount Pictures, while DeSylva declined the proposal, he handed the pair a check worth $15,000. On March 27,1942, the three men incorporated as Liberty Records, in May 1942, the application was amended to change the companys name to Capitol Records. On April 6,1942, Mercer supervised Capitols first recording session where Martha Tilton recorded the song Moon Dreams, on May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks in the studio, one with the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse called Cow-Cow Boogie, on June 4,1942, Capitol opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On that same day, Wallichs presented the companys first free record to Los Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter, on June 5,1942, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio. On June 12, the recorded five more songs in the studio. On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded Jingle Jangle Jingle and Goodbye My Little Cherokee for his first Capitol recording session, and the songs formed Capitols 110th produced record. 133 - Get On Board Little Chillun - July 31,1942 - is a Freddie Slack/Ella Mae Morse/Mellowaires recording that might be the first rock n roll record and she has sometimes been called the first rock n roll singer. A good example is her 1942 recording of song which, with strong gospel, blues, boogie. Bone Walker recorded Mean Old World a pioneering example of the use of electric guitar. The earliest recording artists included co-owner Mercer, Whiteman, Tilton, Morse, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, Johnnie Johnston, Tex Ritter, Capitols first gold single was Morses Cow Cow Boogie in 1942. Capitols first album was Capitol Presents Songs By Johnny Mercer, a three 78-rpm disc set with recordings by Mercer, Stafford and the Pied Pipers, all with Westons Orchestra
11.
Reprise Records
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Reprise Records /rəˈpriz/ is an American major record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It was mostly inactive from 1976 to 1987 and it is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Bros. Reprise Records was formed in 1960 by Frank Sinatra in order to more artistic freedom for his own recordings. Hence, he garnered the nickname The Chairman of the Board, having left Capitol/EMI, and after trying to buy Norman Granzs Verve Records, the first album Sinatra released on Reprise was Ring-a-Ding-Ding. As CEO of Reprise, Sinatra recruited several artists for the label, such as fellow Rat Pack members Dean Martin and Sammy Davis. The original roster from 1961 to 1963 included Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney, Nancy Sinatra, Esquivel, the label still issues any Sinatra work recorded while on the label and, after his death in 1998, it had great success with his greatest hits collections. One of the founding principles under Sinatras leadership was that each artist would have full creative freedom. This is the reason why recordings of early Reprise artists are distributed through other labels. In Martins case, his Reprise recordings were out of print for nearly 20 years before a deal was struck with Capitol Records, in 1963, as part of a film deal, Warner Bros. purchased Reprise from Sinatra, who nonetheless retained a 20% interest in the label. Many of the artists on the label were dropped by Warner Bros. Reprise president Mo Ostin was retained as the head of the label, warner-Reprise executives began targeting younger acts, beginning by securing the American distribution rights to the Pye Records recordings by the Kinks in 1964. Reprise would soon add teen-oriented pop acts like Dino, Desi & Billy to the roster, as well, Franks own daughter Nancy Sinatra would be retained by Ostin, becoming a major pop star starting in late 1965. The label moved almost exclusively to rock-oriented music in the late 1960s, rex, the Meters, John Cale, Gordon Lightfoot, Michael Franks, Richard Pryor, Al Jarreau, Fleetwood Mac, Fanny, and the Beach Boys. In 1976, the Reprise label was deactivated by Warner Bros. an unconfirmed explanation for this move is that Sinatra wanted to be the only artist on Reprise, and Young is said to have been the only Reprise act who refused to agree to a change in labels. In late 1985, some copies of the Dream Academys hit single Life in a Northern Town were pressed with Warner Bros. labels bearing a Reprise logo,1986 saw releases bearing Reprise labels from the Dream Academy as well as Dwight Yoakam. Vice President of Promotion Rich Fitzgerald was appointed as label Vice-President and it was formerly home to the Jimi Hendrix and the Barenaked Ladies catalogs in the U. S. When the Bee Gees back catalog was remastered by Rhino Records in the 2000s, neil Young stated in a documentary about his life that Marilyn Manson was turned down by Reprise. In September 2011, several took place at Reprise Records
12.
Intonation (music)
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Intonation, in music, is a musicians realization of pitch accuracy, or the pitch accuracy of a musical instrument. Intonation may be flat, sharp, or both, successively or simultaneously, the lower or upper pitch of an interval may be sharp or flat, or both pitches of an interval may be out of tune. Intervals are conventionally measured from the bottom, as such in an interval that is too wide the upper pitch is thus sharp, for example, the flat fifth of meantone temperament. However, the interval itself may be in tune, in relation to itself, a melody or harmony is flat or sharp if it is too low or high, respectively. A melody may be successively both sharp and flat, a harmony may be simultaneously and successively both sharp and flat. The pleasantly alive sound of a string section results from the amount by which each stringed instrument is slightly out of tune. Several factors affect fretted instrument intonation, including depth of the slots in the nut, bridge saddle position, the position of the frets themselves. If the instrument doesnt compensate for this with an increase in the distance from the bridge saddle to the fret. Most electric fretted string instruments have individually adjustable bridge saddles, adjustable with a driver or Allen wrench. Acoustic fretted instruments typically have either a bridge, held in place by string tension, or a fixed bridge. A luthier or technician adjusts a floating bridge simply by changing its position until the intonation is correct. Adjusting intonation on a fixed bridge involves carefully shaping the bridge saddle with a file to alter the strings contact point, another cause of poor intonation on a fretted instrument is that the maker didnt cut the string slots in the nut deep enough. If the string is higher than fret height at the nut, like unfretted string instruments, the trombone relies on the musician precisely positioning something, in this case the trombones slide. The slides pitch adjustment on a single partial is approximately the interval of a tritone on a length of over 80 centimeters. The trombonist may use his/her ear to minutely adjust pitch on sustained notes, by coincidence, the position of the bell on most trombones provides a reference for third position, but this is not accessible during fast passages. Articulation is also an important consideration when playing trombone, imprecise articulation may add unwanted glissando to a note not requiring it, woodwinds are manufactured with holes that must be covered or uncovered to shorten or lengthen the bore to change pitch, and require register keys to change octaves. By theory, there should be one key for each of the twelve pitches. This causes certain notes to be out of tune, so the musician must understand where these are
13.
Scat singing
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In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing is a technique that requires singers with the ability to sing improvised melodies. Though scat singing is improvised, the lines are often variations on scale and arpeggio fragments, stock patterns and riffs. As well, scatting usually incorporates musical structure, will Friedwald has compared Ella Fitzgerald to Chuck Jones directing his Roadrunner cartoon—each uses predetermined formulas in innovative ways. The deliberate choice of scat syllables also is a key element in vocal jazz improvisation, syllable choice influences the pitch articulation, coloration, and resonance of the performance. Syllable choice also differentiated jazz singers personal styles, Betty Carter was inclined to use sounds like louie-ooie-la-la-la while Sarah Vaughan would prefer shoo-doo-shoo-bee-ooo-bee, the choice of scat syllables can also be used to reflect the sounds of different instruments. Humor is another important element of scat singing, cab Calloway exemplified the use of humorous scatting. In addition to such uses of language, humor is communicated in scat singing through the use of musical quotation. Leo Watson, who performed before the canon of American popular music and this is called using a compression. The 1958 song The Witch Doctor by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. creator of Alvin, Ella Fitzgerald, who performed later, was able to draw extensively on popular music in her singing. For example, in her 1960 recording of How High the Moon live in Berlin, she quotes over a dozen songs, including The Peanut Vendor, Heat Wave, A-Tisket, A-Tasket, and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Though Louis Armstrongs 1926 recording of Heebie Jeebies is often cited as the first song to employ scatting, one early master of ragtime scat singing was Gene Greene who recorded scat choruses in his song King of the Bungaloos and several others between 1911 and 1917. Entertainer Al Jolson scatted through a few bars in the middle of his 1911 recording of That Haunting Melody, Gene Greens 1917 From Here to Shanghai, which featured faux-Chinese scatting, and Gene Rodemichs 1924 Scissor Grinder Joe and Some of These Days also pre-date Armstrong. Cliff Ukulele Ike Edwards scatted an interlude on his 1923 Old Fashioned Love in lieu of using an instrumental soloist, harry Barris, one of Paul Whitemans The Rhythm Boys, along with Bing Crosby, scatted on several songs, including Mississippi Mud, which Barris wrote in 1927. One of the female singers to use scat was Aileen Stanley. Jelly Roll Morton credited Joe Sims of Vicksburg, Mississippi, as the creator of scat around the turn of the 20th century. Morton, Oh and that was way before Louis Armstrongs time. By the way, scat is something that a lot of people dont understand, but I must take the credit away, since I know better. The first man ever did a scat number in history of this country was a man from Vicksburg, Mississippi, by the name of Joe Sims
14.
Chick Webb
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William Henry Webb, often known as Chick Webb was an American jazz and swing music drummer as well as a band leader. Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William H. from childhood, he suffered from tuberculosis of the spine, leaving him with short stature and a badly deformed spine, which caused him to appear hunchbacked. The idea of playing an instrument was suggested by his doctor to loosen up his bones and he supported himself as a newspaper boy to save enough money to buy drums, and first played professionally at age 11. Webb had three sisters, Bessie, Mabel and Ethel, Mabel married Wilbur Porter around 1928. At the age of 17 he moved to New York City, jazz drummer Tommy Benford said he gave Webb drum lessons when he first reached New York. He alternated between band tours and residencies at New York City clubs through the late 1920s, in 1931, his band became the house band at the Savoy Ballroom. He became one of the bandleaders and drummers of the new swing style. Drummer Buddy Rich cited Webbs powerful technique and virtuoso performances as heavily influential on his own drumming, Webb was unable to read music, and instead memorized the arrangements played by the band and conducted from a platform in the center. He used custom-made pedals, goose-neck cymbal holders, a 28-inch bass drum, although his band was not as influential and revered in the long term, it was feared in the battle of the bands. The Savoy often featured Battle of the Bands where Webbs band would compete with top bands from opposing bandstands. By the end of the battles the dancers seemed always to have voted Chicks band as the best. As a result, Webb was deemed the most worthy recipient to be crowned the first King of Swing, notably, Webb lost to Duke Ellington in 1937. Webb married Martha Loretta Ferguson, and in 1935 he began featuring a teenaged Ella Fitzgerald as vocalist, together Chick and Ella would electrify the Swing Era of jazz with hits such as A-Tisket a Tasket, which was composed by Van Alexander at Fitzgeralds request. Despite rumors to the contrary, Ella was not adopted by Webb, nor did she live with him and his wife, Sallye, according to Stuart Nicholson in his Fitzgerald biography. In November 1938, Webbs health began to decline, for a time, however, he continued to play and he disregarded his own discomfort and fatigue, which often found him passing out from physical exhaustion after finishing sets. Finally, he had an operation at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in 1939. William Henry Chick Webb died from tuberculosis on June 16,1939. Reportedly his last words were, Im sorry, Ive got to go and he was roughly 34 years old
15.
Savoy Ballroom
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The Savoy Ballroom was a large ballroom for music and public dancing located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Lenox Avenue was the main thoroughfare through upper Harlem, poet Langston Hughes calls it the Heartbeat of Harlem in Juke Box Love Song, and he set his work Lenox Avenue, Midnight on the legendary street. The Savoy was one of many Harlem hot spots along Lenox and it was opened and owned by white entrepreneur Jay Faggen and Jewish businessman Moe Gale. It was managed by African-American business man and civic leader Charles Buchanan, the Savoy was modeled after Faggens downtown venue, Roseland Ballroom. The Roseland was a swanky, mostly white swing dance club. The Savoys ballroom, which was 10,000 square feet in size, was on the second floor and it could hold up to 4,000 people. The interior was painted pink and the walls were mirrored. Colored lights danced on the sprung layered wood floor, in 1926, the Savoy contained a spacious lobby framing a huge, cut-glass chandelier and marble staircase. Leon James is quoted in Jazz Dance as saying My first impression was that I had stepped into another world, I had been to other ballrooms, but this was different – much bigger, more glamour, real class. The Savoy was extremely popular from the start, a headline from the New York Age March 20,1926, reads Savoy Turns 2,000 Away On Opening Night – Crowds Pack Ball Room All Week. The ballroom did not go dark a single night of the week, the Savoy was unique in having the constant presence of a skilled elite of the best Lindy Hoppers, known as Savoy Lindy Hoppers. Occasionally, groups of dancers such Whiteys Lindy Hoppers turned professional and performed in Broadway, Whitey turned out to be quite a successful agent, and in 1937, the Marx Brothers movie A Day at the Races featured the group. Herbert White was a bouncer at the Savoy who was made manager in the early 30s. He was sometimes known as Mac, but with his ambition to scout dancers at the ballroom to form his own group and he looked for dancers who were young, stylized, and, most of all, they had to have a beat, they had to swing. The Savoy held a yearly dancing festival called the Harvest Moon Ball featuring lindy dancers, the first Ball was held in 1935, and the contestants introduced the Lindy Hop to Europe the next year. Unlike many ballrooms such as the Cotton Club, the Savoy always had a no-discrimination policy, generally, the clientele was 85% black and 15% white, although sometimes there was an even 50/50 split. Somebody else said, Oh, yeah, can he dance, All they wanted to know when you came into the Savoy was, do you dance. Virtuosic dancers, however, excluded others from the northeast corner of the floor, now referred to as the Cats Corner. This part of the floor where the professional Lindy dancers ruled was on the 141st street side of the room and was referred as the corner. Only Whiteys Lindy Hoppers could dance and work routines there, competition was huge in the corner and every serious hopper awaited the nightly showtime
16.
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
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A Tisket A Tasket is a nursery rhyme first recorded in America in the late nineteenth century. It was used as the basis for a successful and highly regarded 1938 recording by Ella Fitzgerald. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13188, the rhyme was first noted in the United States in 1879 as a childrens rhyming game. It was sung while children danced in a circle, one of the number ran on the outside of the circle and dropped a handkerchief. The nearest child would then pick it up and chase the dropper, if caught the dropper either was kissed, joined the circle, or had to tell the name of their sweetheart. An early noted version had the lyrics, A-tisket a-tasket A green and yellow basket I wrote a letter to my love And on the way I dropped it, I dropped it, I dropped it, a little boy he picked it up And put it in his pocket. In some variants, the line is I lost my yellow basket. In other variants, the last line is A little girl picked it up and put it in her pocket. I sent a letter to my love, I carried water in my glove, And by the way I dropped it, I did so, I did so, I had a little cat that said meow-meow. Shant bite you, shant bite you, Shall bite you, I dropt it, I dropt it, And by the way I lost it. Ella Fitzgerald, in conjunction with Al Feldman, extended and embellished the rhyme into a piece that was her breakthrough hit with the Chick Webb Orchestra in 1938. It has since become a jazz standard, a follow-up song written by Fitzgerald and Webb entitled I Found My Yellow Basket was less successful. The song was a hit of the pre-chart era, reaching number one in Billboards sheet music and Record Buying Guide charts. Stevie Ray Vaughan referenced the rhyme in his rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb, tommy Walshs Eco House by the band Half Man Half Biscuit on their 2011 album 90 Bisodol quotes the song. In Ganksta N-I-Ps Horror Movie Rap, from his 1992 debut album The South Park Psycho, the Shangri-Las sing about a tisket a tasket a green and yellow basket in their 1966 song Past, Present and Future. The phrase A-tisket a-tasket is used in Scarfaces song, Jesse James, the phrase A-tisket a-tasket is used in Eminems song Without Me. Curly Howard recites a paraphrase of the rhyme in The Three Stooges short We Want Our Mummy, the music for the song was used in the opening scene of John Fords 1940 film The Grapes of Wrath to help establish the contemporary time frame of the events of the film. Ella Fitzgerald performed the song in the Abbott and Costello film, a rendition of the song was also performed in the Paul Thomas Anderson movie The Master
17.
Norman Granz
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Norman Granz was an American jazz music impresario. Granz was a figure in American jazz, especially from about 1947 to 1960. He was the founder of five labels, Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve. Granz was acknowledged as the most successful impresario in the history of jazz, Granz is also known for his anti-racist position and for integrating audiences. Born in Los Angeles, the son of Jewish immigrants from Tiraspol, After school, when America joined the Second World War, he was drafted into the US Army Air Force. Subsequently, he was posted to the Morale branch, the department charged with troops entertainment, the title of the concert, A Jazz Concert at the Philharmonic Auditorium, had been shortened by the printer of the advertising supplements to Jazz at the Philharmonic. Only one copy of the very first concert program is known to exist, Norman Granz had organised the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert with about $300 of borrowed money. Later known as JATP, the group recorded and toured extensively. After several JATP concerts in Los Angeles in 1944 and 1945, Granz began producing JATP concert tours, from fall of 1945 to 1957 in USA and Canada. They featured swing and bop musicians and were among the first high-profile performances to feature racially integrated bands, Granz actually cancelled some bookings rather than have the musicians perform for segregated audiences. He recorded many of the JATP concerts, and from 1945 to 1947 sold/leased the recordings to Asch/Disc/Stinson Records, in 1948 Granz signed an agreement with Mercury Records for the promotion and the distribution of the JATP recordings and other recordings. After the agreement expired in 1953 he issued the JATP recordings and other recordings on Clef Records, down Home Records was intended for traditional jazz works. Jazz at the Philharmonic ceased touring the United States and Canada, after the JATP concerts in the fall of 1957 and he died on November 22,2001, aged 83, in Geneva, Switzerland. Granz saw to it that his musicians were well paid, in the segregated society of the 1940s, he insisted on equal pay and accommodation for white and black musicians. He refused to take his hugely popular concerts to places which were segregated, even if he had to cancel concerts and it was in 1956 that the popular singer Ella Fitzgerald finally joined Norman Granzs label. Granz had been her manager for some time, and unified his activities under the label of Verve Records. Granz became Fitzgeralds manager, and remained so until the end of her career, Fitzgeralds memorable series of eight Songbooks, together with the duet series achieved wide popularity and brought acclaim to the label and to the artists. Granz was also the manager of Oscar Peterson, another lifelong friend, in 1959, Norman Granz moved to Switzerland
18.
Great American Songbook
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The Great American Songbook, also known as American Standards, is the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century. They have been recorded and performed by a number and wide range of singers, instrumental bands. The Songbook comprises standards by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin, and also Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, there is no consensus on which songs are in the Great American Songbook. Several music publishing companies, including Hal Leonard, J. W. Pepper & Son, Alfred Music lists the Songbook as its own genre. Music critics have attempted to develop a canon, a composer, Wilder emphasized analysis of composers and their creative efforts in this work. Wilder devotes whole chapters to only six composers, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, vincent Youmans and Arthur Schwartz share a chapter, Burton Lane, Hugh Martin and Vernon Duke are covered together in another. Whiting, Ray Noble, John Green, Rube Bloom and Jimmy Van Heusen, Wilder concludes with a catch-all 67-page chapter entitled Outstanding Individual Songs,1920 to 1950, which includes additional individual songs which he considers memorable. From some perspectives, the Songbook era ended with the advent of rock and roll, Radio personality and Songbook devotee Jonathan Schwartz has described this genre as Americas classical music. What makes these songs classic is their lasting value, the following writers and songs are often included in the Great American Songbook, Harold Arlen Irving Berlin Nacio Herb Brown with lyricist Arthur Freed Hoagy Carmichael Cy Coleman J. Many of the songs in the Great American Songbook are in thirty-two-bar form, many were composed for musicals, and some originally included an introductory sectional verse. The sectional verse is an introduction that typically has a free musical structure, speech-like rhythms. The song itself is usually a 32-bar AABA or ABAC form, and the lyrics refer to more universal and timeless situations and themes – typically, for instance. This universality made it easier for songs to be added to or subtracted from a show, a few of the songs which were written with an introductory sectional verse are nearly always performed in full with the introduction. However, the verse, if it exists, is often dropped in performances of Great American Songbook songs outside their original stage or movie context. Whether or not the verse is sung often depends on what the song is. For example, Frank Sinatra never recorded Fly Me to the Moon with the sectional verse. Since the 1930s, many singers have recorded or performed large parts of the Great American Songbook, ella Fitzgeralds popular and influential Songbook series on Verve in the 1950s and 1960s collated 252 songs from the Songbook. These eight collections paid tribute to Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, since the late 20th century, there has been a revival of the Songbook by contemporary singers
19.
Louis Armstrong
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Louis Armstrong, nicknamed Satchmo or Satch, was an American trumpeter, composer, singer and occasional actor who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s and he was also skilled at scat singing. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to cross over and he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African Americans, but took a well-publicized stand for desegregation in the Little Rock crisis. His artistry and personality allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society which were restricted for black men of his era. Armstrong often stated that he was born on July 4,1900, although he died in 1971, it was not until the mid-1980s that his true birth date, August 4,1901, was discovered by the researcher Tad Jones through the examination of baptismal records. Armstrong was born into a family in New Orleans, Louisiana. He spent his youth in poverty, in a neighborhood known as the Battlefield. His father, William Armstrong, abandoned the family when Louis was an infant and his mother, Mary Mayann Albert, then left Louis and his younger sister, Beatrice Armstrong Collins, in the care of his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong, and at times his uncle Isaac. At five, he moved back to live with his mother, her relatives and he attended the Fisk School for Boys, where he most likely had early exposure to music. He hung out in dance halls close to home, where he observed everything from licentious dancing to the quadrille, after dropping out of the Fisk School at age eleven, Armstrong joined a quartet of boys who sang in the streets for money. He also started to get into trouble, Cornet player Bunk Johnson said he taught Armstrong to play by ear at Dago Tonys Tonk in New Orleans, although in his later years Armstrong gave the credit to Oliver. It has given me something to live for and he also worked for a Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant family, the Karnofskys, who had a junk-hauling business and gave him odd jobs. They took him in and treated him like family, knowing he lived without a father and he later wrote a memoir of his relationship with the Karnofskys, Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La. the Year of 1907. Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life and wrote about what he learned from them, how to live—real life, professor Peter Davis instilled discipline in and provided musical training to the otherwise self-taught Armstrong. Eventually, Davis made Armstrong the band leader, the home band played around New Orleans and the thirteen-year-old Louis began to draw attention by his cornet playing, starting him on a musical career. At fourteen he was released from the home, living again with his father and new stepmother, Gertrude, Armstrong got his first dance hall job at Henry Ponces, where Black Benny became his protector and guide. He hauled coal by day and played his cornet at night, later, he played in brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans, and began traveling with the well-regarded band of Fate Marable, which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River. He described his time with Marable as going to the University, in 1919, Joe Oliver decided to go north and resigned his position in Kid Orys band, Armstrong replaced him
20.
Duke Ellington
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Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death in a career spanning over fifty years. Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onward, in the 1930s, his orchestra toured in Europe. Some of the musicians who were members of Ellingtons orchestra, such as saxophonist Johnny Hodges, are considered to be among the best players in jazz, Ellington melded them into the best-known orchestral unit in the history of jazz. Some members stayed with the orchestra for several decades, a master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington often composed specifically to feature the style and skills of his individual musicians. Ellington also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, for example Juan Tizols Caravan, and Perdido, after 1941, Ellington collaborated with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed many extended compositions, or suites, following an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, in July 1956, Ellington and his orchestra enjoyed a major career revival and embarked on world tours. Ellington recorded for most American record companies of his era, performed in films, scoring several. His reputation continued to rise after he died, and he was awarded a special posthumous Pulitzer Prize for music in 1999, Ellington was born on April 29,1899, to James Edward Ellington and Daisy Ellington in Washington, D. C. Daisy primarily played parlor songs and James preferred operatic arias and they lived with his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ida Place, NW, in the West End neighborhood of Washington, D. C. Dukes father was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, on April 15,1879, Daisy Kennedy was born in Washington, D. C. on January 4,1879, the daughter of a former American slave. James Ellington made blueprints for the United States Navy, when Ellington was a child, his family showed racial pride and support in their home, as did many other families. African Americans in D. C. worked to protect their children from the eras Jim Crow laws, at the age of seven, Ellington began taking piano lessons from Marietta Clinkscales. Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women to reinforce his manners, Ellingtons childhood friends noticed that his casual, offhand manner, his easy grace, and his dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman, and began calling him Duke. Ellington credited his chum Edgar McEntree for the nickname, I think he felt that in order for me to be eligible for his constant companionship, I should have a title. Though Ellington took piano lessons, he was interested in baseball. President Roosevelt would come by on his horse sometimes, and stop and watch us play, Ellington went to Armstrong Technical High School in Washington, D. C. He gained his first job selling peanuts at Washington Senators baseball games, in the summer of 1914, while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Café, Ellington wrote his first composition, Soda Fountain Rag. He created the piece by ear, as he had not yet learned to read, I would play the Soda Fountain Rag as a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango, and fox trot, Ellington recalled
21.
The Ink Spots
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The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style led to the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, the Ink Spots were widely accepted in both the white and black communities, largely due to the ballad style introduced to the group by lead singer Bill Kenny. In 1989, the Ink Spots were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1999 they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Since the Ink Spots disbanded in 1954, there have been well over 100 vocal groups calling themselves The Ink Spots without any right to the name and these groups often have claimed to be 2nd generation or 3rd generation Ink Spots. The Ink Spots formed in the early 1930s in Indianapolis, the founding members were, Hoppy Jones sang bass. He played cello in the manner of a stand up bass, Deek Watson sang tenor and played tenor guitar. Jerry Daniels sang tenor and played guitar and ukulele, Charlie Fuqua had a baritone voice and played guitar and tenor guitar As Jerry and Charlie, Jerry Daniels and Charlie Fuqua had formed a vocal duo performing in the Indianapolis area around 1931. About the same time, Jones and Watson were part of a quartet, The Four Riff Brothers, who appeared regularly on radio station WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1933, that disbanded, and Watson, Daniels and Fuqua got together to form a new vocal, instrumental and comedy group, which was initially called King, Jack. They continued to regularly on radio in Ohio, and became a foursome when Jones was added to the group the following year. In July 1934 they accepted a booking at the Apollo Theater, New York, at this point they had changed their name to The 4 Ink Spots. Their first recordings included songs such as Swingin On The Strings, Your Feets Too Big, Dont Low No Swingin In Here and Swing, Gate, Swing. In 1936, Jerry Daniels was replaced by a 21-year-old singer from Baltimore, Bill Kenny, Three years later Kenny would be credited for bringing the group to global success with his unusual high tenor ballad singing. In 1938, after being in the group for two years, Bill Kenny started to introduce the group to a new format that he called Top & Bottom and this format was used primarily for ballads rather than the uptempo jive songs the group was used to performing. This format called for the tenor to sing the lead for one chorus followed by a chorus performed by Bass singer Hoppy Jones where he would recite the lyrics rather than sing them. After a chorus of the bass the lead tenor would carry out the rest of the song until the end. The earliest example of their Top & Bottom format is from a radio broadcast from 1938, the song entitled Tune In on My Heart features Bill Kenny taking the lead and Hoppy Jones performing the talking bass. The year 1938 also saw Bill Kenny taking his first feature solo in Decca studios and his feature was on a song entitled I Wish You the Best of Everything
22.
Dream a Little Dream of Me
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Dream a Little Dream of Me is a song, from circa 1931, with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was first recorded in February 1931 by Ozzie Nelson and also by Wayne King and His Orchestra, with vocal by Ernie Birchill. A popular standard, it has more than 60 other versions recorded. Dream a Little Dream of Me was recorded by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra, two days later, Wayne King and His Orchestra, with vocal by Ernie Birchill, recorded the song for Victor Records. Dream a Little Dream of Me was also a signature tune of Kate Smith. Other traditional pop acts to record Dream a Little Dream of Me include Louis Armstrong, Barbara Carroll, Nat King Cole, Doris Day, Joni James, and Dean Martin. The song was recorded in 1968 by Mama Cass Elliot with The Mamas & the Papas. More than 40 other versions followed, including by the Mills Brothers, Sylvie Vartan, Henry Mancini, The Beautiful South, Anne Murray, Erasure, Michael Bublé, and Italian vocal group Blue Penguin. Dream a Little Dream of Me was recorded for the Mamas & the Papas April 1968 album release The Papas & The Mamas, Mama Cass Elliot suggested to group leader John Phillips that the group record Dream a Little Dream of Me. According to him she was unhappy while recording the song, objecting to its campiness, however, Elliot herself would later tell Melody Maker, I tried to sing it like it was 1943 and somebody had just come in and said, Heres a new song. I tried to sing it as if it were the first time, in the album version, recorded with the Mamas and the Papas, a spoken introduction from an engineer is heard mentioning a drink, and then concluding with the words, And now introducing, Mama Cass. Only the last part was heard on the version of the song. Cass did her own whistling, which is heard before the songs fade, by the time of the albums release, there were strong indications that the Mamas & the Papas were set to disband, a perception strengthened by the failure of the lead single Safe in My Garden. The Billboard Easy Listening chart ranked the single as high as #2, in the UK Dream a Little Dream of Me reached #11 that September, the track also afforded Mama Cass a hit in Ireland and South Africa. In Australia the Go-Set Top 40 chart ranked Dream a Little Dream of Me at #1 for the weeks of 4 &11 September 1968, in Australia the song spent two weeks at #1, and was the 16th biggest hit of 1968. A slightly different version of Dream a Little Dream of Me was included on Elliots solo debut album, Both Casss and Harriss versions of the song have an inaccurate rendering of the middle eight bars. English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams recorded Dream a Little Dream of Me for his studio and second swing album. While the album version is a duet with Lily Allen, she was omitted from the single version, the video features Williams singing the song whilst presenting a Christmas show in the style of The Dean Martin Show
23.
Grammy Award
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A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4,1959, to honor, following the 2011 ceremony, The Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 59th Grammy Awards, honoring the best achievements from October 2015 to September 2016, was held on February 12,2017, the Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating a given by their industry similar to the Oscars. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts, after it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it, one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, the number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, the gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, Billings developed a zinc alloy named grammium, which is trademarked. The trophies with the name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements. By February 2009,7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded, the General Field are four awards which are not restricted by genre. Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a full album if other than the performer. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a single song if other than the performer. Song of the Year is awarded to the writer/composer of a single song, Best New Artist is awarded to a promising breakthrough performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist. The only two artists to win all four of these awards are Christopher Cross, who won all four in 1980, and Adele, who won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and 2017. Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other such as artwork. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry, the many other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony earlier in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast
24.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
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The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with the comparable Congressional Gold Medal—the highest civilian award of the United States. The award is not limited to U. S. citizens and, while it is an award, it can also be awarded to military personnel. It was established in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy established the current decoration in 1963 through Executive Order 11085, with unique and distinctive insignia, vastly expanded purpose, and far higher prestige. It was the first U. S. civilian neck decoration and, in the grade of Awarded With Distinction, is the only U. S. sash and star decoration. The Executive Order calls for the medal to be awarded annually on or around July 4, and at other convenient times as chosen by the president, Recipients are selected by the president, either on his own initiative or based on recommendations. The order establishing the medal also expanded the size and the responsibilities of the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board so it could serve as a source of such recommendations. The medal may be awarded to a more than once. It may also be awarded posthumously, examples include John F, golden American bald eagles with spread wings stand between the points of the star. It is worn around the neck on a ribbon with white edge stripes. When the medal With Distinction is awarded, the star may be presented descending from a neck ribbon, the sash and medal of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction has never been worn in public since its inception. Andrew Presidential Medal of Freedom, an article from jfklibrary. org, Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients, a list of recipients from May 5,1993, through August 19,2009, from senate. gov, the U. S. Senates official website. Hosted on georgewbush-whitehouse. archives. gov, a section of the U. S. National Archives, Medal of Freedom Ceremony, a news release, August 12,2009, from the White House Press Secretary at whitehouse. gov, the White Houses official website. War Figures Honored With Medal of Freedom, The New York Times, December 15,2004
25.
Yonkers, New York
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Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the U. S. state of New York, and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976. It is an suburb of New York City, directly to the north of the Bronx. Yonkerss downtown is centered on a known as Getty Square. The area also houses significant local businesses and non-profits, and serves as a retail hub for Yonkers. This grant was purchased in July 1645 by Adriaen van der Donck, van der Donck was known locally as the Jonkheer or Jonker, a word from which the name Yonkers is directly derived. Van der Donck built a saw mill near where the Nepperhan Creek met the Hudson, van der Donck was killed in the Peach War. His wife, Mary Doughty, was taken captive and ransomed later, near the site of van der Doncks mill is Philipse Manor Hall, a Colonial-era manor house which today serves as a museum and archive, offering many glimpses into life before the American Revolution. The original structure was built around 1682 by Frederick Philipse and his wife Margaret Hardenbroeck, Frederick was a wealthy Dutchman who by the time of his death had amassed an enormous estate, which encompassed the entire modern City of Yonkers, as well as several other Hudson River towns. Philipses great-grandson, Frederick Philipse III, was a prominent Loyalist during the American Revolution, all the lands that belonged to the Philipse family were confiscated and sold. For its first two hundred years, Yonkers was a farming town with an active industrial waterfront. Yonkerss later growth rested largely on developing industry, in 1853, Elisha Otis invented the first safety elevator and the Otis Elevator Company, opened the first elevator factory in the world on the banks of the Hudson near what is now Vark Street. It relocated to larger quarters in the 1880s, the community was incorporated as a village in the northern part of the Town of Yonkers in 1854 and as a city in 1872. In 1874 the southern part of Yonkers, including Kingsbridge and Riverdale, was annexed by New York City as The Bronx, in 1898, Yonkers voted on a referendum to determine if they wanted to become part of New York City. Still, some call the city the Sixth Borough referring to its location on the New York City border, its urban character. The New York City and Northern Railway Company connected Yonkers to Manhattan, a three-mile spur to Getty Square existed until 1943. Aside from being a center, Yonkers also played a key role in the development of entertainment in the United States. In 1888, Scottish-born John Reid founded the first golf course in the United States, St. Andrews Golf Club, bakelite, the first completely synthetic plastic, was invented in Yonkers circa 1906 by Leo Baekeland, and manufactured there until the late 1920s. Early in the 20th century, Yonkers also hosted a brass era automobile maker, Colt Runabout Company, despite the cars seemingly glowing performance, Yonkers was also the headquarters of the Waring Hat Company, at the time the nations largest hat manufacturer
26.
Great Migration (African American)
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The Great Migration was the movement of 5 million African-Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West that occurred between 1915 and 1960. Until 1910, more than 90 percent of the African-American population lived in the American South, in 1900, only one-fifth of African-Americans living in the South were living in urban areas. By 1970, more than 80 percent of African-Americans lived in cities, in sheer numbers it outranks the migration of any other ethnic group—Italians or Irish or Jews or Poles—to. For blacks, the migration meant leaving what had always been their economic and social base in America, some historians differentiate between a first Great Migration, which saw about 1. Since 1965, a migration has gathered strength. Dubbed the New Great Migration, it has seen many African-Americans move to the South, as early as 1975 to 1980, seven southern states were net African-American migration gainers. African-American populations have continued to drop much of the Northeast, especially the state of New York and northern New Jersey. James Gregory calculates decade-by-decade migration volumes in his book, The Southern Diaspora, Black migration picked up from the start of the new century, with 204,000 leaving in the first decade. The pace accelerated with the outbreak of World War I and continued through the 1920s, by 1930, there were 1.3 million former southerners living in other regions. The Great Depression wiped out job opportunities in the industrial belt, especially for African Americans. A second and larger Great Migration began around 1940 as defense industries geared up for World War II. 1.4 million black southerners moved north or west in the 1940s, followed by 1.1 million in the 1950s, by the late 1970s, as deindustrialization and the Rust Belt crisis took hold, the Great Migration came to an end. African-Americans moved from the 14 states of the South, especially Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, based on the total populations in each of the four states, only Georgia showed a net decrease in its African American population in 1950 compared to 1920. Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi showed net increases in their African American populations in 1950 compared to 1920, big cities were the principal destinations of southerners throughout the two phases of the Great Migration. In the first phase, eight major cities attracted two-thirds of the migrants, New York and Chicago, followed in order by Philadelphia, St. Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis. The Second great black migration increased the populations of cities while adding others as destinations. Cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Phoenix, Seattle, there were clear migratory patterns that linked particular states and cities in the South to corresponding destinations in the North. Almost half of those who migrated from Mississippi during the first Great Migration, for example, ended up in Chicago, for the most part, these patterns were related to geography, with the closest cities attracting the most migrants
27.
African Americans
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African Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The term may also be used to only those individuals who are descended from enslaved Africans. As a compound adjective the term is usually hyphenated as African-American, Black and African Americans constitute the third largest racial and ethnic group in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved peoples within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of 73. 2–80. 9% West African, 18–24% European, according to US Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants identify instead with their own respective ethnicities, immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American and South American nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with the term. After the founding of the United States, black people continued to be enslaved, believed to be inferior to white people, they were treated as second-class citizens. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U. S. citizenship to whites only, in 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony, the ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterwards of an epidemic, the settlers and the slaves who had not escaped returned to Haiti, whence they had come. The first recorded Africans in British North America were 20 and odd negroes who came to Jamestown, as English settlers died from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. Typically, young men or women would sign a contract of indenture in exchange for transportation to the New World, the landowner received 50 acres of land from the state for each servant purchased from a ships captain. An indentured servant would work for years without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland was similar to slavery, servants could be bought, sold, or leased and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or running away. Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom and they raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or English settlers. By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of slavery when they sentenced John Punch. One of Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson, would own one of the first black slaves, John Casor
28.
Methodism
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Methodism, or the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and Johns brother Charles Wesley were also significant leaders in the movement and it originated as a revival within the 18th century Church of England and became a separate Church after Wesleys death. Because of vigorous missionary work, the movement spread throughout the British Empire, Wesleys theology focused on sanctification and the effect of faith on the character of a Christian. Distinguishing Methodist doctrines include an assurance of salvation, imparted righteousness, the possibility of perfection in love, the works of piety and the primacy of Scripture. Most Methodists teach that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for all of humanity and that salvation is available for all, in theology and this teaching rejects the Calvinist position that God has pre-ordained the salvation of a select group of people. However, Whitefield and several others were considered Calvinistic Methodists and held to the latter position, Methodism emphasises charity and support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the works of mercy. These ideals are put into practice by the establishment of hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens and schools to follow Christs command to spread the gospel, the movement has a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from high church to low church in liturgical usage. Denominations that descend from the British Methodist tradition are generally less ritualistic, Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition and Charles Wesley was instrumental in writing much of the hymnody of the Methodist Church. In Britain, the Methodist Church had an effect in the early decades of the making of the working class. In the United States, it became the religion of many slaves who later formed black churches in the Methodist tradition. The Methodist revival began with a group of men, including John Wesley and his younger brother Charles, the Wesley brothers founded the Holy Club at the University of Oxford, where John was a fellow and later a lecturer at Lincoln College. The club met weekly and they set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving Communion every week, fasting regularly, abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury and frequently visited the sick, the fellowship were branded as Methodist by their fellow students because of the way they used rule and method to go about their religious affairs. John, who was leader of the club, took the attempted mockery, unsuccessful in their work, the brothers returned to England conscious of their lack of genuine Christian faith. They looked for help to Peter Boehler and other members of the Moravian Church, at a Moravian service in Aldersgate on 24 May 1738, John experienced what has come to be called his evangelical conversion, when he felt his heart strangely warmed. Charles had reported an experience an few days previously. Considered a pivotal moment, Daniel L. John Wesley came under the influence of the Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius, Arminius had rejected the Calvinist teaching that God had pre-ordained an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally. Conversely, George Whitefield, Howell Harris, and Selina Hastings, George Whitefield, returning from his own mission in Georgia, joined the Wesley brothers in what was rapidly to become a national crusade
29.
African Methodist Episcopal Church
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The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A. M. E. Church, is a predominantly African-American Methodist denomination based in the United States and it is the oldest independent Protestant denomination founded by black people in the world. It was founded by the Rt, Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the mid-Atlantic area that wanted independence from white Methodists. Allen was consecrated its first bishop in 1816 and it began with 8 clergy and 5 churches, and by 1846 had grown to 176 clergy,296 churches, and 17,375 members. The 20,000 members in 1856 were located primarily in the North, AME national membership jumped from 70,000 in 1866 to 207,000 in 1876. The church was not founded in Africa, nor is it exclusively for people of African descent and it is open and welcoming to people of all ethnic groups, origins, nationalities, and colors, although its congregations are predominantly made of up Black Americans. Methodist The churchs roots are in the Methodist church, members of St. Georges Methodist Church left the congregation when faced with racial discrimination, but continued with the Methodist doctrine and the order of worship. Episcopal The AME Church operates under a form of church government. The denomination leaders are bishops of the church, the AME Church grew out of the Free African Society, which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and other free blacks established in Philadelphia in 1787. They left St. Georges Methodist Episcopal Church because of discrimination, although Allen and Jones were both accepted as preachers, they were limited to black congregations. In addition, the blacks were made to sit in a gallery built in the church when their portion of the congregation increased. These former members of St. Georges made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation, although the group was originally non-denominational, eventually members wanted to affiliate with existing denominations. Allen led a group who resolved to remain Methodist. They formed the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1793, in general, they adopted the doctrines and form of government of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1794 Bethel AME was dedicated with Allen as pastor and it began with 8 clergy and 5 churches, and by 1846 had grown to 176 clergy,296 churches, and 17,375 members The 20,000 members in 1856 were located primarily in the North. AME national membership jumped from 70,000 in 1866 to 207,000 in 1876 AME put a premium on education. By 1880, AME operated over 2,000 schools, chiefly in the South, with 155,000 students, after the Civil War Bishop Henry McNeal Turner was a major leader of the AME and played a role in Republican Party politics. In 1863 during the Civil War, Turner was appointed as the first black chaplain in the United States Colored Troops, afterward, he was appointed to the Freedmens Bureau in Georgia
30.
Bing Crosby
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Harry Lillis Bing Crosby, Jr. was an American singer and actor. The first multimedia star, from 1931 to 1954 Crosby was a leader in sales, radio ratings. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations such as the microphone and this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Dean Martin. Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music, in 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. He is one of only 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, Crosby influenced the development of the postwar recording industry. He became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. In addition to his work with early tape recording, he helped to finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, Crosby died at the age of 74 on October 14,1977, from a sudden heart attack in Alcobendas, Spain. Crosby was born on May 2,1903 in Tacoma, Washington, in 1906, Crosbys family moved to Spokane, and in 1913, Crosbys father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Avenue. The house now sits on the campus of Crosbys alma mater Gonzaga University and he was the fourth of seven children, brothers Larry, Everett, Ted, and Bob, and two sisters, Catherine and Mary Rose. His parents were Harry Lowe Crosby, Sr. a bookkeeper, Crosbys mother was a second generation Irish-American. In 1910, seven-year-old Harry Crosby Jr. was forever renamed, the Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review published a feature called The Bingville Bugle. Written by humorist Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosbys enthusiasm for The Bugle, and noting Crosbys laugh, took a liking to him, eventually, the last vowel was dropped and the nickname stuck. Crosby later described Jolsons delivery as electric, Crosby graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1920 and enrolled at Gonzaga University. He attended Gonzaga for three years, but did not earn a bachelors degree, as a freshman, he played on the universitys baseball team. The university granted him a doctorate in 1937. In 1923, Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of school students a few years younger than himself. Al Rinker, Miles Rinker, James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, the group performed on Spokane radio station KHQ, but disbanded after two years
31.
Connee Boswell
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Constance Foore Connee Boswell was an American female vocalist born in Kansas City but raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. With her sisters, Martha and Helvetia Vet Boswell, she performed in the 1930s as The Boswell Sisters and they became a highly influential singing group during this period via recordings and radio. I tried so hard to sound just like her. In 1936, Connees sisters retired and Connee continued on as a solo artist and she was born on December 3,1907 in Kansas City, Missouri. The Boswells came to be known locally while still in their early teens, making appearances in New Orleans theaters. They made their first recordings for Victor Records in 1925, which included Cryin Blues where Connee is featured singing in the style of her early influence, the Boswell Sisters became stage professionals that year when they were tapped to fill in for an act at New Orleans Orpheum Theatre. They received an invitation to come to Chicago and perform in 1928, when their tour ended they traveled to San Francisco. The hotel that had been recommended had a less than savory reputation, and that man, Harry Leedy, part owner of Decca Records, would become the sisters manager on a handshake and Connees husband. The sisters traveled to Los Angeles where they performed on radio and side-miked for the soundies. They did not attain national attention, however, until moved to New York City in 1930. After a few recordings with Okeh Records, they made recordings for Brunswick Records from 1931-1935. In 1935, the sisters had a #1 hit with The Object of My Affection, in 1936, the group signed to Decca Records and after just three releases called it quits. Connee continued to have a solo career as a singer for Decca. In addition to being a co-star on NBC Radios Kraft Music Hall in 1940-41, she subsequently had radio series for CBS Radio Tonight On Broadway and she was interviewed via phone by Bill Fisher on WOWO. The acetate disks label contained no date, but since her then new Decca single of Begin The Beguine was promoted in it, the date should be presumed to be 1952. All through her career with The Boswell Sisters, and into the early 1940s and she later changed the spelling to Connee. Stories vary as to why she made the change, Connee sang from a wheelchair - or seated position - during her career, due to either a childhood bout with polio or a fall from the back of a coaster wagon. The general public was not aware of her condition although Boswell herself did not keep this secret, during World War II, she tried to get involved with the USO tours but was not given permission to travel overseas. The Army thought it not be a morale-booster to have a singer who used a wheelchair perform for the troops
32.
Riverdale, Bronx
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Riverdale is an upper middle class residential neighborhood in the northwest portion of the Bronx, a borough in New York City. Riverdale, which has a population of 47,850 as of the 2000 United States Census, in 1642, Anthony Van Corlaer died while attempting to swim across the Hudson from nearby Spuyten Duyvil. A witness to Van Corlaers death stated that the devil in the shape of a giant fish swam up and proceeded to seize the sturdy Anthony by the leg and this may be the earliest recorded shark attack in the New World. In the late 17th century, Frederick Philipse, the lord of Philipse Manor in Westchester County, received permission to construct a bridge across Spuyten Duyvil Creek, kings Bridge, which was located roughly south of and parallel to where West 230th Street lies today, opened in 1693. At the turn of the century, the new popularity of railroad commute enabled wealthy businessmen to make Riverdale their year-round residence, Fieldston, owned by a private association, is a particularly intact example of a turn-of-the century upper class suburb. The Hudson Hill neighborhood retains many of its historic mansions, Riverdales elite private schools and historic churches also reflect this past. Development of the began in the latter half of the 19th century once the New York Central. This is the still used by Metro-North today. The first house was begun in 1910 and finished in 1911, by the beginning of the 21st century, Fieldston, as the 20th century progressed, upscale apartment buildings and smaller houses were added to the neighborhood. To this day, Riverdale continues to maintain its character as an affluent enclave in the city of New York, the rich history of Riverdale has led to the creation of the Riverdale Historic District. In May 2009, the FBI ran an operation to prevent a bombing plot in which two Riverdale synagogues were the suggested targets. This followed a Molotov cocktail attack in 2000 on a different Riverdale synagogue, on July 26,2010, the National Weather Service confirmed that an EF1 tornado had hit Riverdale the day before. There were no fatalities, but seven people were injured, on December 1,2013, a train derailment near Spuyten Duyvil station resulted in four deaths and over 70 injuries, of which 11 were critical. Riverdale covers about three miles in area. It has one of the highest elevations in New York City, affording it views of the Empire State Building, George Washington Bridge, Hudson River and it is also noted for the numerous parks and expanses of greenery and original forest that complement its hilly landscape. The neighborhood is bordered on the north by the city of Yonkers in Westchester County, and on the west by the Hudson River, the AIA Guide to New York City gives Broadway as the eastern boundary, and the Harlem River as the southern. There is also a 15-acre Riverdale Historic District in the northwest of the neighborhood, Riverdales ZIP codes are 10463 and 10471. While 10471 is entirely in Riverdale,10463 also covers the adjacent neighborhoods of Kingsbridge, administratively, Riverdale is part of Bronx Community Board 8
33.
Carl Van Vechten
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Carl Van Vechten was an American writer and artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein. Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he was the youngest child of Charles and he graduated from Washington High School in 1898, and later the University of Chicago in 1903. In 1906, he moved to New York City and he was hired as the assistant music critic at The New York Times. His interest in opera had him take a leave of absence from the paper in 1907, while in England he married his long-time friend from Cedar Rapids, Anna Snyder. He returned to his job at the New York Times in 1909, at that time, Isadora Duncan, Anna Pavlova, and Loie Fuller were performing in New York City. The marriage to Anna Snyder ended in divorce in 1912 and he wed actress Fania Marinoff in 1914 and their marriage lasted until the end of his life, even while his relationships with men were an open secret. They continued corresponding for the remainder of Steins life, and at her death she appointed Van Vechten her literary executor, several books of Van Vechtens essays on various subjects such as music and literature were published between 1915 and 1920. Van Vechtens controversial novel Nigger Heaven was published in 1926 and his essay Negro Blues Singers was published in Vanity Fair in 1926. Biographer Edward White suggests Van Vechten was convinced that Negro culture was the essence of America, by the start of the 1930s and at age 50, Van Vechten was finished with writing and took up photography, using his apartment at 150 West 55th Street as a studio. After the 1930s Van Vechten published little writing, though he continued writing letters to many correspondents, Van Vechten died in 1964, at the age of 84, in New York City. Most of Van Vechtens personal papers are held by the Beinecke Rare Book, the Beinecke Library also holds a collection titled Living Portraits, Carl Van Vechtens Color Photographs Of African Americans, 1939–1964, a collection of 1,884 color Kodachrome slides. The Library of Congress has a collection of approximately 1,400 photographs, there is also a collection of Van Vechtens photographs in the Prentiss Taylor collection in the Smithsonians Archives of American Art, and a Van Vechten collection at Fisk University. The Museum of the City of New Yorks collection includes 2,174 of Carl Van Vechtens photographs, brandeis Universitys department of Archives & Special Collections holds 1,689 Carl Van Vechten portraits. Van Vechten also donated materials to Fisk University to form the George Gershwin Memorial Collection of Music, the album ’O, Write My Name’, American Portraits, Harlem Heroes was completed in 1983. That year, the National Endowment for the Arts transferred the Eakins Press Foundation’s prototype albums to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, dust Tracks on a Road, An Autobiography. Guide to the Carl Van Vechten papers, 1833–1965, manuscripts and Archives, New York Public Library. Carl Van Vechten collection of papers, 1911–1964, berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library
34.
Harlem
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Harlem is a large neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Since the 1920s, Harlem has been known as a major African-American residential, cultural, originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlems history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, African-American residents began to arrive by a lot in 1905, with numbers fed by the Great Migration. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the focus of the Harlem Renaissance, however, with job losses in the time of the Great Depression and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly. Harlems African-American population peaked in the 1950s, in the second half of the 20th century, Harlem became a major hub of African-American businesses. In 2008, the United States Census found that for the first time since the 1930s, less than half of residents were black, since New York Citys revival in the late 20th century, long-time residents of Harlem have been experiencing the effects of gentrification and new wealth. Harlem is located in Upper Manhattan, often referred to as Uptown by locals. Central Harlem is bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Central Park on the south, Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Avenue and Edgecombe Avenue on the west, and the Harlem River on the north. A chain of three large linear parks—Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Park and Jackie Robinson Park—are situated on steeply rising banks, on the east, Fifth Avenue and Marcus Garvey Park, also known as Mount Morris Park, separate this area from East Harlem. The bulk of the falls under Manhattan Community Board No.10. In the late 2000s, South Harlem, emerged from area redevelopment, the West Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights comprise part of Manhattan Community Board No.9. The two neighborhoods area is bounded by Cathedral Parkway on the South, 155th Street on the North, nicholas/Bradhurst/Edgecome Avenues on the East, and Riverside Park/the Hudson River on the west. Morningside Heights is located in the southern most section of West Harlem, Manhattanville begins at roughly 123rd Street and extends northward to 135th Street. The northern most section of West Harlem is Hamilton Heights, the New York City Police Department patrols six precincts located within Harlem. The New York City Fire Department operates 9 firehouses in Harlem, as many as several hundred farmed the Harlem flatlands. Between 1637 and 1639, a few settlements were established, during the American Revolution, the British burned Harlem to the ground. It took a time to rebuild, as Harlem grew more slowly than the rest of Manhattan during the late 18th century. After the American Civil War, Harlem experienced an economic boom starting in 1868, the neighborhood continued to serve as a refuge for New Yorkers, but increasingly those coming north were poor and Jewish or Italian
35.
Apollo Theater
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It was the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a nationally syndicated television variety show which showcased new talent, from 1987 to 2008, encompassing 1,093 episodes. The theater, which has a capacity of 1,506, opened its doors in 1914 as Hurtig & Seamons New Burlesque Theater and it became the Apollo in 1934, when it was opened to black patrons – previously it had been a whites-only venue. In 1983, both the interior and exterior of the building were designated as New York City Landmarks, and it is estimated that 1.3 million people visit the Apollo every year. The building which became the Apollo Theater was built in 1913-14 and was designed by architect George Keister. It was originally Hurtig and Seamons New Theater, which enforced a strict Whites Only policy, the theatre was operated by noted burlesque producers Jules Hurtig and Harry Seamon, who obtained a 30-year lease. It remained in operation until 1928, when Billy Minsky took over, the song I May Be Wrong by Harry Sullivan and Harry Ruskin, written in 1929, became the theme song of the theater. During the early 1930s, the fell into disrepair and closed once more. The show ran for an engagement and was highly praised by the press. Leo Brechers Harlem Opera House was another competing venue, to improve the shows at the Apollo, Cohen hired noted talent scout John Hammond to book his shows. However, the deal fell through when Cohen died, and the end result was the merger of the Apollo with the Harlem Opera House, the Opera House became a movie theater, but the Apollo, under the ownership of Brecher and Schiffman, continued to present stage shows. Schiffman hired Clarence Robinson as in-house producer, Originally, a show presented at the Apollo was akin to a vaudeville show. As the years progressed, such variety shows were presented less often, comic acts also appeared on the Apollo stage, including those who performed in blackface, such as Butterbeans and Susie, much to the horror of the NAACP and the elite of Harlem. Gospel acts which played the Apollo include the Staple Singers, Mahalia Jackson, The Clark Sisters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Clara Ward and Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers. Performers of soul music on the Apollo stage included Ray Charles, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, and jazz was represented as well, by acts such as Art Blakey and Horace Silver. The theaters audience was often mixed, in the 1940s it was estimated that during the week about 40% of the audience was white, Jazz singer Anita ODay headlined for the week of September 21,1950, billed as the Jezebel of Jazz. Schiffman had first introduced a night at the Lafayette Theater, where it was known as Harlem Amateur Hour. At the Apollo, it was originally called Audition Night, but later became Amateur Night in Harlem, held every Monday evening and broadcast on the radio over WMCA, the Apollo grew to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance of the pre-World War II years. Fitzgeralds performances pulled in an audience at the Apollo and she won the opportunity to compete in one of the earliest of its Amateur Nights
36.
Tiny Bradshaw
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Myron Carlton Tiny Bradshaw was an American jazz and rhythm and blues bandleader, singer, composer, pianist, and drummer. His biggest hit was Well Oh Well in 1950, and the year he recorded The Train Kept A-Rollin, important to the later development of rock and roll, he co-wrote. Myron Carlton Bradshaw was born in Youngstown, Ohio, the son of Cicero P. Bradshaw, Bradshaw graduated from high school in Youngstown. After graduating from Wilberforce University with a degree in psychology, Bradshaw turned to music for a living, in Ohio, he sang and played drums with Horace Hendersons campus oriented Collegians. Then, in 1932, Bradshaw relocated to New York City, where he drummed for Marion Hardys Alabamians, the Charleston Bearcats, and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, and sang for Luis Russell. In 1934, Bradshaw formed his own swing orchestra, which recorded eight sides in two sessions for Decca Records that year in New York City. The bands next recording date was in 1944 for Manor Records, at which point its music was closer to rhythm and he recorded in 1947 for Savoy Records. The band recorded extensively for the rhythm and blues market with King Records between late 1949 and early 1955, and had five hits on the Billboard R&B chart. His most successful record at the time was Well Oh Well, two follow-ups, Im Going To Have Myself A Ball and Walkin The Chalk Line also made the chart before a break of almost two years. What is now Bradshaws best known recording was The Train Kept A-Rollin — not a hit at the time — which passed from rhythm. The song was recorded by Johnny Burnette & The Rock N Roll Trio in 1956 and it was covered again by Aerosmith in 1974 and by Motörhead in 1978. Bradshaw returned to the R&B chart in 1953 with Soft, an instrumental recorded by Bill Doggett. Both of these 1953 hits featured Red Prysock on tenor saxophone, Bradshaws later career was hampered by severe health problems, including two strokes, the first in 1954, that left him partially paralyzed. He made a return to touring in 1958 and his last session that year resulted in two recordings, Short Shorts and Bushes, which proved an unsuccessful attempt to reach out to the emerging teenage record market. Weakened by the successive strokes as well as the rigors of his profession, Bradshaw is remembered for a string of rhythm and blues hits. The Best Of The King Years Westside #WESA-824 The EP Collection
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