Coordinates	32°13′0″N76°19′0″N
Name	Count Basie
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	William James Basie
Born	August 21, 1904Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	April 26, 1984Hollywood, Florida, U.S.
Instrument	Piano, organ
Genre	Swing, big band, piano blues
Occupation	Musician, bandleader, composer
Years active	1924–1984

William "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. Basie's theme songs were "One O'Clock Jump" and "April In Paris".

Biography

Early life

William James Basie was born to Harvey Lee Basie, and Lillian Ann Childs, who lived on Mechanic Street in Red Bank, New Jersey. They played together in venues until Greer set out on his professional career. By then Basie was playing with pick-up groups for dances, resorts, and amateur shows, including Harry Richardson's "Kings of Syncopation".

Count Basie and His Orchestra

The musicians associated with Count Basie over the years included the following:

c.1937: Joe Keyes, Buck Clayton, Carl Smith, George Hunt, Dan Minor, Caughey Roberts, Herchel Evans, Lester Young, Jack Washington, Claude Williams, Walter Page, Jo Jones.

c.1939: Ed Lewis, Buck Clayton, Shad Collins, Harry Edison, Earle Warren, Buddy Tate, Benny Morton, Dicky Wells, Freddie Green.

1940: Al Killian, Vic Dickenson.

1943: Joe Newman, Snooky Young, Eli Robinson, Robert Scott, Louis Taylor, Jimmy Powell, Rudy Rutherford, Rodney Richardson.

The Singers

Basie hitched his star to some of the most famous vocalists of the 1950s and 1960s, which helped keep the Big Band sound alive and added greatly to his recording catalog. Jimmy Rushing sang with Basie in the late 1930s. Joe Williams toured with the band and was featured on the 1957 album One O'Clock Jump, and 1956's Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings, with "Every Day (I Have the Blues)" becoming a huge hit. With Billy Eckstine on the album Basie-Eckstine Inc., in 1959. Ella Fitzgerald made some memorable recordings with Basie, including the 1963 album Ella and Basie!. With the 'New Testament' Basie band in full swing, and arrangements written by a youthful Quincy Jones, this album proved a swinging respite from her Songbook recordings and constant touring she did during this period. She even toured with the Basie Orchestra in the mid-1970s, and Fitzgerald and Basie also met on the 1979 albums A Classy Pair, Digital III at Montreux, and A Perfect Match, the last two also recorded live at Montreux. In addition to Quincy Jones, Basie was using arrangers such as Benny Carter (Kansas City Suite), Neal Hefti (The Atomic Mr Basie), and Sammy Nestico (Basie-Straight Ahead).

Frank Sinatra recorded for the first time with Basie on 1962's Sinatra-Basie and for a second studio album on 1964's It Might as Well Be Swing, which was arranged by Quincy Jones. Jones also arranged and conducted 1966's live Sinatra at the Sands. In May 1970, Sinatra performed in London's Royal Festival Hall with the Basie orchestra, in a charity benefit for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Sinatra later said of this concert "I have a funny feeling that those two nights could have been my finest hour, really. It went so well; it was so thrilling and exciting".

Basie also recorded with Tony Bennett in the early 1960s — their albums together included the live recording at Las Vegas and Strike Up the Band, a studio album. Basie also toured with Bennett, including a date at Carnegie Hall. Other notable recordings were with Sammy Davis, Jr., Bing Crosby, and Sarah Vaughan. One of Basie's biggest regrets was never recording with Louis Armstrong, though they shared the same bill several times.

Legacy

Count Basie introduced several generations of listeners to the Big Band sound and left an influential catalog. Basie is remembered by many who worked for him as being considerate of musicians and their opinions, modest, relaxed, fun-loving, dryly witty, and always enthusiastic about his music. As he summed up the key to his understated style, in his autobiography, "I think the band can really swing when it swings easy, when it can just play along like you are cutting butter".

Other cultural connections include Jerry Lewis using "Blues in Hoss' Flat" from Basie's Chairman of the Board album, as the basis for his own "Chairman of the Board" routine in the movie The Errand Boy, in which Lewis pantomimed the movements of a corporate executive holding a board meeting. (In the early 1980s, Lewis revived the routine during the live broadcast of one of his Muscular Dystrophy Association telethons). Blues in Hoss' Flat, composed by Basie band member Frank Foster, was also the longtime theme song of San Francisco and New York radio DJ Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins. In addition, Basie is one of the producers of the "world's greatest music" that Brenda Fricker's "Pigeon Lady" character claims to have heard in Carnegie Hall in 1992's . Drummer Neil Peart of the Canadian rock band Rush recorded a version of "One O'Clock Jump" with the Buddy Rich Big Band, and has used it at the end of his drum solos on the 2002 Vapor Trails Tour and Rush's .

The Count Basie Theatre and Count Basie Field in his hometown of Red Bank, New Jersey were named in his honor. The street on which he lived, Mechanic Street has the honorary title of Count Basie Way.

On September 26, 2009, Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, were renamed as Paul Robeson Boulevard and Count Basie Place. The corner is the location of 555 Edgecombe Avenue, also known as the Paul Robeson Home, a National Historic Landmark building where Count Basie and Paul Robeson lived.

Discography

The majority of Basie's recordings were made with his big band, see Count Basie Orchestra Discography.

Basie also made several small group recordings without his band:

Count Basie Sextet (1954, Clef)

Count Basie and the Kansas City 7 (1962, Columbia)

Basie Swingin' Voices Singin' (1966, EMI)

Afrique (1971, BMG International)

Loose Walk (with Roy Eldridge) (1972, Pablo)

Basie Jam (1973, Pablo)

The Bosses (with Big Joe Turner) (1973)

For the First Time (1974, Pablo)

Satch and Josh (with Oscar Peterson)

Basie & Zoot (with Zoot Sims) (1975, Pablo)

For the Second Time (1975, Pablo)

Basie Jam 2 (1976, Pablo)

Basie Jam 3 (1976, Pablo)

Kansas City 5 (1977, Pablo)

The Gifted Ones (with Dizzy Gillespie) (1977, Pablo)

(live) (1977, Pablo)

Satch and Josh...Again (with Oscar Peterson) (1977, Pablo)

Night Rider (with Oscar Peterson) (1978, Pablo)

Count Basie Meets Oscar Peterson – The Timekeepers (with Oscar Peterson) (1978, Pablo)

Yessir, That's My Baby (with Oscar Peterson) (1978, Pablo)

(1979, Pablo)

Kansas City 7 (1980, Pablo)

Kansas City 6 (1981, Pablo)

Mostly Blues...and Some Others (1983, Pablo)

Filmography

Sugar Chile Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet (1950) – as himself

Cinderfella (1960) – as himself

Blazing Saddles (1974) – as himself with his orchestra

Awards

Grammy Awards

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan=5 align=center | Count Basie Grammy Award History |- |- ! Year ! Category ! Title ! Genre ! Results |- align=center | 1982 | Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band | Warm Breeze | Jazz | Winner |- align=center | 1984 | Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band | 88 Basie Street | Jazz | Winner |- align=center | 1980 | Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band | On The Road | Jazz | Winner |- align=center | 1977 | Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band | Prime Time | Jazz | Winner |- align=center | 1976 | Best Jazz Performance By A Soloist (Instrumental) | Basie And Zoot | Jazz | Winner |- align=center | 1963 | Best Performance By An Orchestra – For Dancing | This Time By Basie! Hits Of The 50's And 60's | Pop | Winner |- align=center | 1960 | Best Performance By A Band For Dancing | Dance With Basie | Pop | Winner |- align=center | 1958 | Best Performance By A Dance Band | Basie | Pop | Winner |- align=center | 1958 | Best Jazz Performance, Group | Basie | Jazz | Winner |- align=center |}

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Count Basie was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan=5 align=center | Count Basie Grammy Hall of Fame Awards |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! genre ! Label ! Year Inducted |- align=center | 1939 | Lester Leaps In | Jazz (Single) | Vocalion | 2005 |- align=center | 1955 | Everyday (I Have the Blues) | Jazz (Single) | Clef | 1992 |- align=center | 1955 | April in Paris | Jazz (Single) | Clef | 1985 |- align=center | 1937 | One O'Clock Jump | Jazz (Single) | Decca | 1979 |- align=center |}

Honors and Inductions

On May 23, 1985, William "Count" Basie was presented, posthumously, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan. The award was received by his son, Aaron Woodward.

On September 11, 1996 the U.S. Post Office issued a Count Basie 32 cents postage stamp. Basie is a part of the Big Band Leaders issue, which, is in turn, part of the Legends of American Music series.

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan=5 align=center | Count Basie Award History |- ! Year ! Category ! Result ! Notes |- align=center | 2007 | Long Island Music Hall of Fame | Inducted |- align=center | 2005 | Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame | Inducted |- align=center | 2002 | Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award | Winner | |- align=center | 1983 | NEA Jazz Masters | Winner |- align=center | 1981 | Grammy Trustees Award | Winner |- align=center | 1981 | Kennedy Center Honors | Honoree |- align=center | late 1970s | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Honoree | at 6508 Hollywood Blvd. |- align=center | 1970 | Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia | Initiated | Mu Nu Chapter |- align=center | 1958 | Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame | Inducted |- align=center |}

National Recording Registry

In 2005, Count Basie's song "One O'Clock Jump" (1937) was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. The board selects songs in an annual basis that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

References

External links

International Jose Guillermo Carrillo Foundation

Basie biography at swingmusic.net

BBC Profile of Count Basie

Downbeat Magazine

U.S. Postal Service Biography

Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom – May 23, 1985

Basie biography and album list

Category:1904 births Category:1984 deaths Category:People from Red Bank, New Jersey Category:Swing pianists Category:Swing bandleaders Category:African American actors Category:African American musicians Category:African American pianists Category:American bandleaders Category:American jazz bandleaders Category:American jazz pianists Category:American jazz organists Category:Apex Records artists Category:Big band bandleaders Category:Cancer deaths in Florida Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer Category:Decca Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Musicians from New Jersey Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Vaudeville performers Category:Reprise Records artists

Coordinates	32°13′0″N76°19′0″N
Name	Oscar Peterson
Landscape	yes
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Oscar Emmanuel Peterson
Born	August 15, 1925
Origin	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died	December 23, 2007Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Instrument	Piano
Genre	Jazz
Occupation	Pianist, composer
Years active	1945–2007
Label	Mercury, MPS, Pablo, Telarc, Verve
Url	www.oscarpeterson.com

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends,

Peterson often formed a quartet by adding a fourth player to his existing trios. He was open to experimental collaborations with jazz stars, such as saxophonist Ben Webster, trumpeter Clark Terry, and vibraphonist Milt Jackson among others. In 1961, the Peterson trio with Jackson recorded a highly praised album, Very Tall.

Further career

From the late 1950s, when Peterson gained worldwide recognition as one of the leading pianists in jazz, he played in a variety of settings: solo, duo, trio, quartet, small bands, and big bands. However, his solo piano recitals, as well as his solo piano recordings were rare, until he chose to make a series of solo albums titled "Exclusively for my friends." These solo piano sessions, made for the Musik Produktion Schwarzwald (MPS) label, were Peterson's response to the emergence of such stars as Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner.

Some cognoscenti assert that Peterson's best recordings were made for MPS in the late 1960s and early 1970s. For some years subsequently he recorded for Granz's Pablo Records after the label was founded in 1973. In the 1990s and 2000s he recorded several albums accompanied by a combo for Telarc.

In the 1980s he played successfully in a duo with pianist Herbie Hancock. In the late 1980s and 1990s, after the stroke, Peterson made performances and recordings with his protégé Benny Green.

Composer and teacher

Peterson wrote pieces for piano, for trio, for quartet and for big band. He also wrote several songs, and made recordings as a singer. Probably his best-known compositions are "Canadiana Suite" and "Hymn to Freedom," the latter composed in the 1960s and inspired by the U.S. civil rights movement.

Peterson taught piano and improvisation in Canada, mainly in Toronto. With associates, he started and headed the Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto for five years during the 1960s, but it closed because concert touring called him and his associates away, and it did not have government funding. In 1995 he returned to public performances on a limited basis, and also made several live and studio recordings for Telarc. In 1997 he received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement and an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award, another indication that Peterson continued to be regarded as one of the greatest jazz musicians ever to play. Canadian politician, friend, and amateur pianist Bob Rae contends that "a one-handed Oscar was better than just about anyone with two hands".

Ray Charles, in Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues - Piano Blues (2003), said "Oscar Peterson is a mother fucking piano player!"

Recognition in Canada

in Ottawa, unveiled in June 2010 by the reigning sovereign of Canada, Queen Elizabeth II Soon after Peterson's death, the University of Toronto Mississauga opened a major student residence in March 2008 as "Oscar Peterson Hall".

A movement was begun on Facebook to rename the Lionel-Groulx Metro station, a transfer station between Montreal's Green Line and Orange Line, in honour of Oscar Peterson. The Montreal Transit Corporation, however, has refused to end its moratorium on renaming Metro stations. The city's policy on landmark tributes is to wait at least a year after a public figure's death.

An Ontario school named Oscar Peterson Public School was opened in Stouffville in the Regional Municipality of York on 30 April 2009, and commenced operation in the 2009-2010 school year.

Grammy Awards

1974 Best Jazz Performance by a Group The Trio - Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass and Niels- Henning Orsted Pedersen

1977 Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist The Giants - Oscar Peterson

1978 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist Oscar Peterson Jam – Montreux '77

1979 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist Oscar Peterson and The Trumpet Kings – Jousts - Oscar Peterson

1990 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group The Legendary Oscar Peterson Trio Live at the Blue Note

1990 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist The Legendary Oscar Peterson Trio Live at the Blue Note

1991 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group Saturday Night at the Blue Note

1997 Lifetime Achievement Award Instrumental Soloist Lifetime Achievement

Honorary Degrees Conferred

1973 Carleton University - Doctor of Laws

1976 Queen's University - Doctor of Laws

1979 Concordia University - Doctor of Laws

1980 Mount Alison, Sackville N.B. - Doctor of Music

1981 McMaster University - Doctor of Laws

1981 University of Victoria, B.C. - Doctor of Laws

1982 York University - Doctor of Letters

1983 Northwestern University, Illinois - Doctor of Fine Arts

1985 University of Toronto - Doctor of Laws

1985 University of Laval - Doctor of Music

1991 York University: Installed as Chancellor by the Board of Governors

1994 York University: Chancellor Emeritus

1994 Western Ontario Conservatory of Music - Licentiate in Music Diploma

1994 University of British Columbia - Doctor of Laws

1996 Niagara University, New York - Doctor of Fine Arts

1999 University of Western Ontario - Doctor of Laws

Instruments

Bösendorfer pianos - exclusively in the 1990s and 2000s

Yamaha - Acoustic and Disklavier- 1998-2006 in Canada (Touring and Recording)

Steinway & Sons pianos - most performances from 1940s through the 1980s, some recordings.

Baldwin pianos - some performances in the USA, some recordings.

C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik pianos - some performances and recordings in Europe.

Clavichord - on album "Porgy and Bess" with Joe Pass

Fender electric piano - several recordings.

Synthesizer - several recordings.

Hammond organ - some live performances and several recordings.

Vocals - some live performances and several recordings.

Discography

See also

Music of Canada

References

External links

Alan Hustak, Jazz Legend, Oscar Peterson, dies at 82, The Montreal Gazette, 24 December 2007

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation full obituary, December 24, 2007

CBC Digital Archives: Oscar Peterson: A Jazz Giant

Image of the Oscar Peterson postage stamp

Jazz Giant The Oscar Peterson Discography

John Fordham, Oscar Peterson (obituary), The Guardian, 25 December 2007

Live performance photographs Jazz Alley, Seattle, 29 June 2004

NPR">Marian McPartland and Oscar Peterson on NPR

Oscar Peterson official website

Oscar Peterson video interview in which his passion for photography is discussed

Oscar Peterson, A Portrait, 2002

Oscar Peterson on Jazz Police

Oscar Peterson's Concert Hall

Oscar Peterson entry at the Jazz Discography Project

Oscar Peterson: A Jazz Sensation—A Virtual Exhibition from Library and Archives Canada

Oscar Peterson Tribute: Feelings from the Heart. From The Living Arts Centre, February 14, 2008.

Oscar Peterson (Obituary), The Telegraph, 26 December 2007

Oscar Peterson (obituary), The Times, 26 December 2007

Steve Voce, Oscar Peterson: Virtuoso pianist who dominated jazz piano in the second half of the 20th century (obituary), The Independent, 26 December 2007

Category:1925 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Bebop pianists Category:Black Canadian musicians Category:Canadian jazz composers Category:Canadian jazz pianists Category:Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Chancellors of York University Category:Companions of the Order of Canada Category:Deaths from renal failure Category:Fellows of the Royal Conservatory of Music Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Knights of the National Order of Quebec Category:Mainstream jazz pianists Category:Members of the Order of Ontario Category:Mercury Records artists Category:The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni Category:Verve Records artists Category:Telarc Records artists Category:MPS Records artists Category:Pablo Records artists Category:People from Montreal

Category:York University Category:Anglophone Quebec people Category:Musicians from Quebec

Coordinates	32°13′0″N76°19′0″N
Name	Clark Terry
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	December 14, 1920St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died
Instrument	Trumpet, fluegelhorn
Genre	Swing, bop, jazz
Occupation	Musician
Years active	1947–present

Clark Terry (born December 14, 1920) Duke Ellington (1951 to 1959), and Quincy Jones (1960). He has also performed and recorded regularly both as a leader and sideman. In all, his career in jazz spans more than sixty years.

Life and career

Terry was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Vashon High School there and began his professional career in the early 1940s by playing in local clubs before joining a Navy band during World War II.

His years with Basie and Ellington in the late 1940s and 1950s established him as a world-class jazz artist. Blending the St. Louis tone of his youth with contemporary styles, Terry’s sound influenced a generation. During this period, Terry took part in many of Ellington's suites and acquired a lasting reputation for his wide range of styles (from swing to hard bop), technical proficiency, and infectious good humor. In addition to his outstanding musical contribution to these bands, Terry exerted a positive influence on musicians such as Miles Davis and Quincy Jones, both of whom credit Clark as a formidable influence during the early stages of their careers. (Terry had informally taught Davis while they were still in St Louis.)

After leaving Ellington, Clark's international recognition soared when he accepted an offer from the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to become its first African-American staff musician. He appeared regularly for ten years on The Tonight Show as a regular member of the Tonight Show Band led first by Skitch Henderson, then by Doc Severinsen, where his unique "mumbling" scat singing became famous when he scored a hit as a singer with "Mumbles."

He also continued to play with musicians such as J. J. Johnson and Oscar Peterson, and led a group with Bob Brookmeyer that achieved some popularity in the early 1960s. In the 1970s, Terry began to concentrate increasingly on the flugelhorn, from which he obtains a full, ringing tone. In addition to his studio work and teaching at jazz workshops, Terry toured regularly in the 1980s with small groups (including Peterson's) and performed as the leader of his Big B-A-D Band (formed c. 1970). After financial difficulties forced him to break up BBB, he performed with big bands like the Unifour Jazz Ensemble and others. His humor and command of jazz trumpet styles are apparent in his "dialogues" with himself, either on different instruments or on the same instrument, muted and unmuted; he has also been known to perform solos on a trumpet or flugelhorn mouthpiece.

From the 1970s through the 1990s, Clark performed at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, and Lincoln Center, toured with the Newport Jazz All Stars and Jazz at the Philharmonic, and he was featured with Skitch Henderson's New York Pops Orchestra. In 1998, Terry recorded George Gershwin's "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute to George Gershwin, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease. In 2001, he again recorded for the Red Hot Organization with artist Amel Larrieux for the compilation album Red Hot + Indigo, a tribute to Duke Ellington

Prompted early in his career by Dr. Billy Taylor, Clark and Milt Hinton bought instruments for and gave instruction to young hopefuls which planted the seed that became Jazz Mobile in Harlem. This venture tugged at Clark's greatest love - involving youth in the perpetuation of Jazz. Between global performances, Clark continues to share wholeheartedly his jazz expertise and encourage students. Since 2000, he has hosted Clark Terry Jazz Festivals on land and sea, held his own jazz camps, and appeared in more than fifty jazz festivals on six continents.

His career as both leader and sideman with more than three hundred recordings demonstrates that he is one of the most prolific luminaries in jazz. Clark composed more than two hundred jazz songs and performed for seven U.S. Presidents.

He also has several recordings with major groups including The London Symphony Orchestra, The Dutch Metropole Orchestra, The Duke Ellington Orchestra and The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Hundreds of high school and college ensembles, his own duos, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, octets, and two big bands; Clark Terry's Big Bad Band and Clark Terry's Young Titans of Jazz with the likes of brandford Marsalis, Conrad Herwig and Tony Lujan. The Clark Terry Archive at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, contains instruments, tour posters, awards, original copies of over 70 big band arrangements, recordings and other memorabilia.

Terry was a long-time resident of Bayside, Queens and Corona, Queens, New York. He and his wife later moved to Haworth, New Jersey. They currently reside in Pine Bluff, AR.

Awards and honors

in 2006]]

Over 250 awards, medals and honors, including:

The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award in 1991

A Grammy Award, two Grammy certificates, three Grammy nominations

Sixteen honorary doctorates

Keys to several cities

Jazz Ambassador for U.S. State Department tours in the Middle East and Africa

A knighthood in Germany

Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award, presented by Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity in 1985. Terry was awareded honorary membership in the Fraternity by the Beta Zeta Chapter at the College of Emporia in 1968.

The French Order of Arts and Letters, 2000

A life-sized wax figure for the Black World History Museum in St. Louis

Inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame (1996)

NARAS Present's Merit Award (2005)

Trumpeter of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association (2005)

Bibliography

Let's Talk Trumpet: From Legit to Jazz

Interpretation of the Jazz Language

Clark Terry's System of Circular Breathing for Woodwind and Brass Instruments

TerryTunes, anthology of 60 original compositions (1st ed., 1972; 2nd ed. w/doodle-tonguing chapter, 2009)

Ellington, Duke. “Clark Terry,” chapter in Music is My Mistress (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973): 229-230.

“Clark Terry – Jazz Ambassador: C.T.’s Diary” [cover portrait] Jazz Journal International 31 (May 6, 1978): 7-8.

Beach, Doug. “Clark Terry and the St. Louis Trumpet Sound,” Instrumentalist 45 (April 1991): 8-12.

Bernotas, Bob. “Clark Terry,” Jazz Player 1 (October-November 1994): 12-19.

LaBarbera, John. “Clark Terry: More Than ‘Mumbles’,” ITG Journal [International Trumpet Guild] 19, No. 2 (1994): 36-41.

Blumenthal, Bob. “Reflections on a Brilliant Career” [reprint of Jazz Times 25, No. 8], Jazz Educators Journal 29, No. 4 (1997): 30-33, 36-37.

Morgenstern, Dan. “Clark Terry” in Living With Jazz: A Reader (New York: Pantheon, 2004): 196-201. [Reprint of Down Beat 34 (June 1, 1967): 16-18.

Owens, Thomas. “Trumpeters: Clark Terry” in Bebop: The Music and the Players (New York: Oxford, 1995): 111-113.

“Jazz for the Record”[Clark Terry Archive at William Paterson University], New York Times (December 11, 2004).

Discography

As leader

Clark Terry with Quentin Jackson/Martial Solal/Kenny Clarke (Disques Swing, 1955)

Introducing Clark Terry (EmArcy, 1955)

Serenade to a Bus Seat (Riverside/OJC, 1957)

Duke with a Difference (Riverside/OJC, 1957)

In Orbit (with Thelonious Monk, Riverside/OJC, 1958)

Out on a Limb with Clark Terry (Argo, 1958)

Top and Bottom Brass feat. Don Butterfield (Riverside/OJC, 1959)

Paris (Swing, 1960)

Color Changes (Candid, 1960)

Everything's Mellow (Prestige, 1961)

Mellow Moods (Prestige, 1961)

All American (Prestige, 1962)

Plays the Jazz Version of "All American" (Moodsville, 1962)

The Night Life (Mood, 1962)

Clark Terry & Bob Brookmeyer (Verve, 1962)

More (Cameo, 1963)

Tread Ye Lightly (Cameo, 1963)

What Makes Sammy Swing (20th Century, 1963)

The Happy Horns of Clark Terry (Impulse!, 1964)

The Power of Positive Swinging (Mainstream, 1964)

Live 1964 (Emerald, 1964)

Quintet (Mainstream, 1964)

Tonight (Mainstream, 1964)

Clark Terry Tonight (Mainstream, 1964)

Oscar Peterson Trio Plus One Clark Terry (Mercury, 1964)

Spanish Rice (Impulse!, 1966)

Gingerbread Men (Mainstream, 1966)

Mumbles (Mainstream, 1966)

Angyumaluma Bongliddleany Nannyany Awhan Yi! (Mainstream, 1966)

It's What's Happenin' (Impulse!, 1967)

Music in the Garden (Jazz Heritage, 1968)

At the Montreux Jazz Festival (Polydor, 1969)

Live on 57th Street (Big Bear, 1969)

Big B-A-D Band In Concert, Live 1970... (EToile, 1970)

Live at the Wichita Jazz Festival (Vanguard, 1974)

Clark Terry and His Jolly Giants (Vanguard, 1975)

Live at the Wichita Jazz Festival (Vanguard, 1975)

Oscar Peterson and Clark Terry (Pablo, 1975)

Clark Terry's Big B-A-D Band Live at Buddy's... (Vanguard, 1976)

Live at the Jazz House (Pausa, 1976)

Wham (BASF, 1976)

Squeeze Me (Chiaroscuro, 1976)

The Globetrotter (Vanguard, 1977)

Out of Nowhere (Bingow, 1978)

Brahms Lullabye (Amplitude, 1978)

Funk Dumplin's (Matrix, 1978)

Clark After Dark (MPS, 1978)

Mother______! Mother______! (Pablo, 1979)

Ain't Misbehavin' (Pablo, 1979)

Live in Chicago, Vol. 1 (Monad, 1979)

Live in Chicago, Vol. 2 (Monad, 1979)

The Trumpet Summit Meets the Oscar Peterson Big 4 (1980)

Memories of Duke (Pablo/OJC, 1980)

Yes, the Blues (Pablo/OJC, 1981)

(1983)

To Duke and Basie (Rhino, 1986)

Jive at Five (Enja, 1986)

Metropole Orchestra (Mons, 1988)

Portraits (Chesky, 1988) - with Don Friedman (p), Victor Gaskin (b) Lewis Nash (d)

The Clark Terry Spacemen (Chiaroscuro, 1989)

Locksmith Blues (Concord Jazz, 1989)

Having Fun (Delos, 1990)

Live at the Village Gate (Chesky, 1990)

Live at the Village Gate: Second Set (Chesky, 1990)

What a Wonderful World: For Lou (Red Baron, 1993)

Shades of Blues (Challenge, 1994)

Remember the Time (Mons, 1994)

With Pee Wee Claybrook & Swing Fever (D' Note, 1995)

''Top and Bottom Brass'[' (Chiaroscuro, 1995)

Reunion (D'Note, 1995)

Express (Reference, 1995)

Good Things in Life (Mons, 1996)

Ow (E.J.s) 1996)

The Alternate Blues (Analogue, 1996)

Ritter der Ronneburg, 1998 (Mons, 1998)

Living Worship Let's Worship (Newport, 1999)

One on One (Chesky, 2000)

A Jazz Symphony (Centaur, 2000)

Herr Ober: Live at Birdland Neuburg (Nagel-Heyer, 2001)

Live on QE2 (Chiaroscuro, 2001)

Jazz Matinee (Hanssler, 2001)

The Hymn (Candid, 2001)

Clark Terry and His Orchestra Featuring Paul Gonsalves [1959] (Storyville, 2002)

Live in Concert (Image, 2002)

Flutin' and Fluglin (Past Perfect, 2002)

Friendship (Columbia, 2002)

Live! At Buddy's Place (Universe, 2003)

Live at Montmarte June 1975 (Storyville, 2003)

George Gershwin's Porgy & Bess (A440 Music Group, 2004)

Live at Marian's with the Terry's Young Titan's of Jazz (Chiaroscuro, 2005)

As sideman

With Tadd Dameron

The Magic Touch (1962)

With Duke Ellington

Ellington at Newport (1958)

With Dave Grusin

Homage To Duke (1993)

With Blue Mitchell

Smooth as the Wind (1961)

A Sure Thing (1962)

With Sonny Rollins

Brass & Trio (1958)

With Cecil Taylor

New York City R&B; (1961)

References

External links

Performance images - live at Jazz Alley, Seattle

Verve Records

[ Allmusic]

"Profile: Clark Terry" by Arnold Jay Smith (www.jazz.com)

Clark Terry's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project

Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:American jazz flugelhornists Category:Bebop trumpeters Category:Swing trumpeters Category:African American musicians Category:Hard bop trumpeters Category:Post-bop trumpeters Category:Mainstream jazz trumpeters Category:Music of St. Louis, Missouri Category:people from St. Louis, Missouri Category:People from Corona, Queens Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American jazz songwriters Category:Songwriters from Missouri Category:Duke Ellington Orchestra members Category:Count Basie Orchestra members Category:Red Baron Records artists Category:Candid Records artists Category:1920 births Category:Living people

Coordinates	32°13′0″N76°19′0″N
Name	Ray Charles Robinson
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Ray Charles Robinson
Origin	Greenville, Florida, United States
Born	September 23, 1930Albany, Georgia, United States
Died	June 10, 2004Beverly Hills, California, United States
Instrument	Vocals, piano, keyboards, alto saxophone, trombone
Genre	R&B;, soul, rock and roll, blues, jazz, country, pop, gospel
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, bandleader
Years active	1947–2004
Label	Atlantic, ABC, Warner Bros., Swingtime, Concord, Columbia Records
Associated acts	The Raelettes, Quincy Jones, Betty Carter, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Little Richard
Url	Official website

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930June 10, 2004), better known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm & blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records. where he developed his musical talent. During this time he performed on WFOY radio in St. Augustine. His father died when he was 10 and his mother died five years after.

In school, Charles was taught only classical music, but he wanted to play the jazz and blues he heard on the family radio. recorded two more R&B; hits, "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" (#5) in 1951 and "Kissa Me Baby" (#8) in 1952. The following year, Swing Time folded and Ahmet Ertegün signed him to Atlantic Records.

Voice

Charles possessed one of the most recognizable voices in American music. In the words of musicologist Henry Pleasants:

Sinatra, and Bing Crosby before him, had been masters of words. Ray Charles is a master of sounds. His records disclose an extraordinary assortment of slurs, glides, turns, shrieks, wails, breaks, shouts, screams and hollers, all wonderfully controlled, disciplined by inspired musicianship, and harnessed to ingenious subtleties of harmony, dynamics and rhythm... It is either the singing of a man whose vocabulary is inadequate to express what is in his heart and mind or of one whose feelings are too intense for satisfactory verbal or conventionally melodic articulation. He can’t tell it to you. He can’t even sing it to you. He has to cry out to you, or shout to you, in tones eloquent of despair — or exaltation. The voice alone, with little assistance from the text or the notated music, conveys the message.

Ray Charles is usually described as a baritone, and his speaking voice would suggest as much, as would the difficulty he experiences in reaching and sustaining the baritone's high E and F in a popular ballad. But the voice undergoes some sort of transfiguration under stress, and in music of gospel or blues character he can and does sing for measures on end in the high tenor range of A, B flat, B, C and even C sharp and D, sometimes in full voice, sometimes in a ecstatic head voice, sometimes in falsetto. In falsetto he continues up to E and F above high C. On one extraordinary record, "I’m Going Down to the River’ . . . he hits an incredible B flat . . . giving him an overall range, including the falsetto extension, of at least three octaves. It was his third arrest for the offense, but he avoided jail time after kicking the habit in a clinic in Los Angeles. He spent a year on parole in 1966, when his single "Crying Time" reached #6 on the charts.

During the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Charles's releases were hit-or-miss, with some big hits and critically acclaimed work. His version of "Georgia On My Mind" was proclaimed the state song of Georgia on April 24, 1979, and he performed it on the floor of the state legislature. He also had success with his unique version of "America the Beautiful".

In November 1977 he appeared as the host of NBC's Saturday Night Live. during an international boycott of the country because of its apartheid policy.

and First Lady Nancy Reagan in 1984.]]

In 1989, Charles recorded a cover version of the Japanese band Southern All Stars' song "Itoshi no Ellie" as "Ellie My Love" for a Suntory TV advertisement, reaching #3 on Japan's Oricon chart.

Death

Charles died on June 10, 2004 at 11:35 a.m. of liver cancer at his home in Beverly Hills, California, surrounded by family and friends. He was 73 years old. His body was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery. Following the funeral, a BBC spokesman commented: "[i]t did not go unnoticed that Susaye [Susaye Greene, former member of the Raelettes as well as of the Supremes and Wonderlove, and currently a solo artist] was the only Raelette to sing at Ray's funeral." at 6777 Hollywood Blvd.]] His final album, Genius Loves Company, released two months after his death, consists of duets with various admirers and contemporaries: B.B. King, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Norah Jones, and Johnny Mathis. The album won eight Grammy Awards, including five for Ray Charles for Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Here We Go Again" with Norah Jones, and Best Gospel Performance for "Heaven Help Us All" with Gladys Knight; he also received nods for his duets with Elton John and B.B. King.

The album included a version of Harold Arlen's "Over the Rainbow", sung as a duet by Charles and Johnny Mathis, which recording was later played at his memorial service. at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California, Charles received five years' probation. Charles responded to the saga of his drug use and reform with the songs "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Let's Go Get Stoned", and the release of his first album since having kicked his heroin addiction in 1966, Crying Time.

Discography

Filmography

Swingin' Along (1961)

Ballad in Blue (1964)

The Big T.N.T. Show (1966) (documentary)

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Who's The Boss (himself) 1987

Limit Up (1989)

Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990) (documentary)

Love Affair (1994)

Spy Hard (1996)

The Nanny (1999) as Sammy

Adv. Super Dave (2000)

Blue's Big Musical Movie (2000)

Soul Deep

Biographical film

Charles was significantly involved in the biopic Ray, an October 2004 film which portrays his life and career between 1930 and 1966 and stars Jamie Foxx as Charles. Foxx won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.

Before shooting could begin, director Taylor Hackford brought Foxx to meet Charles, who insisted that they sit down at two pianos and play together. After two hours, he stood up, hugged Foxx, and gave his blessing, proclaiming, "He's the one... he can do it." Charles was expected to attend a showing of the completed film, but died before it opened. The movie is the all-time number one biopic per screen average, opening on 2006 screens and making 20 million dollars.

As noted in the film's final credits, Ray is based on true events, but includes some characters, names, locations, events which have been changed and others which have been "fictionalized for dramatization purposes". Dramatic license accounts for scenes that refer to Charles as temporarily banned from performing in Georgia.

The credits note that he is survived by 12 children, 21 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren as of the movie release in October 2004.

Hall of Fame and other honors

In 1979, Charles was one of the first of the Georgia State Music Hall of Fame to be recognized as a musician born in the state. Ray's version of "Georgia On My Mind" was made the official state song for Georgia. In 1981, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was one of the first inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural ceremony in 1986. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986.

In 1987, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1991, he was inducted to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. In 1993, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 1998 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize together with Ravi Shankar in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2004 he was inducted to the Jazz Hall of Fame, and inducted to the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame. The Grammy Awards of 2005 were dedicated to Charles.

On December 7, 2007, Ray Charles Plaza was opened in Albany, Georgia, with a revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of Charles seated at a piano. Later that month, on December 26, 2007, Ray Charles was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. He was also presented with the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, during the 1991 UCLA Spring Sing.

In 2003, Charles was awarded an honorary degree by Dillard University. Upon his death, he endowed a professorship of African-American culinary history at the school, which is the first such chair in the nation. A $20 million performing arts center at Morehouse College was named after Charles and was dedicated in September 2010.

Ray Charles Post Office Building

On Tuesday, July 12, 2005, President George Bush signed into law a bill (PL 109–25), sponsored by Congresswoman Diane E. Watson (CA-33rd), designating the U.S. postal facility at 4960 W. Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles, California, the Ray Charles Post Office Building. On August 24, 2005, the United States Congress honored Charles by dedicating and renaming the former West Adams Station post office, on the site of the former legendary jazz and supper club The Parisian Room, the "Ray Charles Station".

References

Further reading

Article from the St. Augustine Record noting Charles' being on WFOY.

External links

Ray Charles website

Ray Charles - Daily Telegraph obituary

Ray Charles at RollingStone.com

Ray Charles at Songwriters Hall of Fame

Ray Charles at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Ray Charles autobiography: The Early Years 1930–1960

I Can't Stop Loving You: Ray Charles and Country Music - Past Exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Yes Indeed! The Photographs of Joe Adams

Watch

Ray Charles's oral history video excerpts at the National Visionary Leadership Project

Listen

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