This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2008)

Scott Yanow (born 4 October 1954) is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.^[1]

Biography[link]

Born in New York, Yanow grew up near Los Angeles wanting to be a jazz journalist, discovering Dixieland in the Danny Kaye movie The Five Pennies and on a daily radio show while in high school. He soon broadened his tastes to the swing idiom and in college, after purchasing a Charlie Parker album that included White Christmas (which made it easier for him to appreciate bebop), he soon developed a strong taste and musical curiosity for all eras of jazz, from dixieland to the avant-garde, Fusion to modern jazz.^[1]

Shortly after graduating from college, Yanow became the jazz editor for Record Review, being a major participant in all thirty three of its issues. Since Record Review closed in June 1984, Yanow has written for many jazz magazines and arts magazines including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Downbeat, Cadence, CODA and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene. In recent times, Yanow was interviewed on-camera by CNN about the Monterey Jazz Festival and by Arts & Entertainment for their televised American Masters biography on Dizzy Gillespie.

Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He contributed thousands of additional CD reviews to the third edition, becoming sole editor. He is one of the most prolific jazz record reviewers in history. He continues to contribute to the Allmusic website.

In addition to his work for the All Music Guide to Jazz, Yanow has written ten books on jazz (see bibliography below).

Yanow has penned over 600 liner notes for many record labels. He has also written artist biographies and press releases for record labels, public relations firms and individual artists.

Yanow has produced a series of CDs for Allegro, worked as a consultant to other labels about their reissue projects, hosted a regular radio show (Jazz After Hours) for KCSN-FM, and worked as the jazz listings editor for the Los Angeles Times.

Bibliography[link]

Books

The Jazz Singers

• Jazz On Film
• Duke Ellington
• Swing
• Bebop
• Afro-Cuban Jazz, ISBN 0-87930-619-X (2000)
• Trumpet Kings
• Classic Jazz
• Jazz: A Regional Exploration
• Jazz On Record 1917-76

Contributions to magazines

• Record Review
• Coda
• Down Beat
• Jazz Times
• JAZZIZ
• Cadence
• The Mississippi Rag
• Jazz Forum
• Jazz News
• The Jazz Report
• Planet Jazz
• Jazz Now
• Jazz Improv
• The Los Angeles Jazz Scene

Contributions to record labels

• Concord Records
• Naxos Records
• Enja
• Pablo Records
• Arbors Records
• Evidence
• V.S.O.P.
• Good Time Jazz
• Reservoir
• Storyville Records
• JVC
• Challenge Records
• Starline
• Candid Records
• Soundies
• Woofy
• Brownstone
• Fuel 2000
• Jazzed Media
• Collectors Classics
• Allegro

Quotations[link]

^[2]

^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Scott Yanow's official site

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2010)

Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott (born 21 June 1944) is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123 and Unstoppable. He is the younger brother of fellow film director Ridley Scott.

Early life[link]

Scott was born in North Shields, the son of Elizabeth and Colonel Francis Percy Scott.^[1] His first foray into filmmaking was not from behind the camera, but in front of it. At the age of 16, Tony appeared in Boy and Bicycle, a short film marking the directorial debut of his then 23 year-old brother Ridley. He followed in his elder brother's footsteps, studying at Grangefield School, West Hartlepool College of Art and Sunderland Art School, the last for a fine arts degree. He subsequently graduated from the Royal College of Art, fully intending to become a painter. It was only the success of his elder brother's fledging television commercial production outfit, Ridley Scott Associates (RSA), that turned his attentions towards film.

Tony had wanted to do documentaries at first. I told him, "Don't go to the BBC, come to me first." I knew that he had a fondness for cars, so I told him, "Come work with me and within a year you'll have a Ferrari." And he did.^[2]

In the course of the next two decades, Scott directed thousands of television commercials for RSA, while also overseeing the company's operation during periods in which his brother was developing his feature film career. Tony also took time out in 1975 to direct an adaptation of the Henry James story The Author of Beltraffio for French television, a project he landed by virtue of winning a coin-flip against his brother. After the considerable feature film successes of fellow British commercial directors Hugh Hudson, Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne and his elder brother in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Scott was beginning to receive overtures from Hollywood himself in 1980, but in the same year his elder brother Frank died of cancer.

1980s[link]

Scott persisted in trying to embark on a feature film career. Among the projects interesting him was an adaptation of the Anne Rice novel Interview with the Vampire then in development. MGM, however, had a vampire yarn of their own that they wanted Scott to direct, and after failing to convince the company to drop their project and tackle Interview instead, Scott instead decided to accept the MGM project, and pour into it all of the visual design concepts he had bandied about for Interview. In 1982, Scott began production on The Hunger.

The Hunger starred David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve as chic Manhattan socialite vampires, desperately searching for a medical cure to arrest Bowie's rapid aging. Willem Dafoe was introduced on film via a small, walk-on part in the film. The Hunger had elaborate photography and sumptuous production design, unlike many pictures at the time of its release in 1983. The picture failed to find an audience, received harsh reviews by critics and was ignored at the box office (though it later became a cult favourite). Finding himself largely unemployable in Hollywood for the next two and a half years, Scott returned to commercials and music videos.

In 1985, producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer signed Scott to direct Top Gun. Both of them were among the few admirers of The Hunger during its initial release. Simpson and Bruckheimer had settled upon choosing Scott largely on the basis of a commercial he had done for Swedish automaker Saab in the early 1980s: in the spot, a Saab 900 turbo is shown racing a Saab 37 Viggen fighter jet. Scott, though reluctant at first, agreed on directing Top Gun, one of the highest-grossing films of 1986, taking in more than US$176 million, and making a star of its young lead, Tom Cruise.

Following Top Gun's success, Scott found himself on Hollywood's A list of action directors. He reteamed with Simpson and Bruckheimer in 1987 to direct Eddie Murphy and Brigitte Nielsen in the highly anticipated sequel Beverly Hills Cop II. While not being critically embraced, the picture nevertheless became one of the year's highest grossers.

1990s[link]

His next film, Revenge (1990), a thriller of adultery and revenge set in Mexico, starred Kevin Costner, Madeleine Stowe and Anthony Quinn. Once again directing Tom Cruise, Scott returned to the Simpson-Bruckheimer fold to helm the big-budget film Days of Thunder (1990). Scott's next film was the action thriller The Last Boy Scout (1991).

Made for $13 million in 1993, Scott's production of Tarantino's True Romance boasted a cast including Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Tom Sizemore, Chris Penn, Val Kilmer and in bit roles, James Gandolfini and Samuel L. Jackson.

Scott's next film, Crimson Tide (1995), was a submarine thriller starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington. His follow-up film, 1996's The Fan, starred (Robert De Niro, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin and Benicio del Toro). Scott's 1998 film Enemy of the State, a conspiracy thriller, starred Will Smith and Gene Hackman.

2000s[link]

Spy Game was released during the Thanksgiving holiday of 2001. It garnered 63% positive reviews at Metacritic and made a little over 60 million dollars at the U.S. box office. Man on Fire was released in April 2004 and made over 75 million dollars at the U.S. box office.

Next for Scott came Domino (2005) starring Keira Knightley. In autumn 2006, Scott reteamed with Denzel Washington for the futuristic action film Déjà Vu.

Scott, along with his brother Ridley Scott, were co-producers of the TV series Numb3rs, which aired from 2005 to 2010. Tony Scott directed the first episode of the fourth season.

Scott once again teamed up with Denzel Washington on The Taking of Pelham 123, which also starred John Travolta and was released in theater on June 12, 2009. The film was a remake of the 1974 film of the same title starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. 2009 also saw the debut of The Good Wife, a legal drama television series; Scott and his brother are two of several executive producers.

In 2010, the Scott brothers produced the feature film adaptation of the television series The A-Team.^[3] Scott's film, Unstoppable, again starring Washington (with Chris Pine), was released in November 2010.

Filmography[link]

Feature films[link]

• The Hunger (1983)
• Top Gun (1986)
• Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
• Revenge (1990)
• Days of Thunder (1990)
• The Last Boy Scout (1991)
• True Romance (1993)
• Crimson Tide (1995)
• The Fan (1996)
• Enemy of the State (1998)
• Spy Game (2001)
• Man on Fire (2004)
• Domino (2005)
• Déjà Vu (2006)
• The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)
• Unstoppable (2010)

Television[link]

• The Hunger (1 episode in 1997 and 1 in 1999)
• Numb3rs, Executive producer (2009 to 2010)
• The Good Wife, Executive producer (2009 to present)
• Gettysburg, Executive producer (2011)
• Labyrinth, Executive producer (2012)

Short films[link]

• Loving Memory (1969)
• One of the Missing (1971)
• The Hire: Beat the Devil (2002)
• Agent Orange (2004)

Music videos[link]

• "Danger Zone" – Kenny Loggins (1986)
• "One More Try" – George Michael (1988)

Commercials[link]

• DIM Underwear (1979)
• Player, Achievements and Big Bang for Barclays Bank (2000)
• Telecom Italia (2000) (Starring Marlon Brando and Woody Allen)
• Ice Soldier for US Army (2002)
• One Man, One Land for Marlboro (2003)

Recurring collaborators[link]

Actor	Top Gun	Revenge	Days of Thunder	The Last Boy Scout	True Romance	Crimson Tide	The Fan	Enemy of the State	Spy Game	Man on Fire	Domino	Deja Vu	The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3	Unstoppable	Total
Shondrella Avery											N	N			2
Jack Black							N	N							2
Lillo Brancato, Jr.						N		N							2
Dan Butler							N	N							2
Kevin Corrigan					N									N	2
Matt Craven						N						N			2
Tom Cruise	N		N												2
James Gandolfini					N	N							N		3
Gene Hackman						N		N							2
Val Kilmer	N				N							N			3
John Leguizamo		N					N								2
Frank Medrano							N	N							2
Brad Pitt					N				N						2
Mickey Rourke										N	N				2
Joe Santos		N		N											2
Tom Sizemore					N			N							2
Lew Temple											N	N		N	3
Christopher Walken					N					N	N				3
Denzel Washington						N				N		N	N	N	5

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tony Scott at the Internet Movie Database
• Tony Scott at AllRovi
• Daily Variety, 6 Aug. 1996: Spotlight on Tony Scott – Billion Dollar Director

Horst Jankowski (January 30, 1936 – June 29, 1998)^[1] was a classically trained German pianist, most famous for his internationally successful easy listening music.

Biography[link]

Born in Berlin,^[1] Jankowski studied at the Berlin Music Conservatory and played jazz in Germany in the 1950s, serving as bandleader for singer Caterina Valente. Jankowski's fame as a composer of easy listening pop peaked in 1965 with his tune "Eine Schwarzwaldfahrt", released in English as "A Walk in the Black Forest". The tune became a pop hit, reaching #1 on the US easy listening chart,^[2] #12 on the US Billboard Hot 100,^[3] and #3 on the UK Singles Chart.^[4] It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[5] The track was featured on the BBC's review of the 1960s music scene, Pop Go The Sixties, broadcast on BBC One and ZDF, on January 1, 1970. The Genius of Jankowski album, released in 1965, was also a million seller.^[5]

The instrumental tune was covered by many artists including Herb Alpert and Peter Nero.

Jankowski went on to score a string of successful albums, but moved on in the 1970s to concentrate more on jazz, including covers of pop and rock hits.^[6] Between 1989 and 1994 Jankowski composed and performed easy listening music for Sonoton, Germany.

Jankowski died of lung cancer in 1998, at the age of 62.^[1]

Discography[link]

• Traumklang und Rhythmus (1965; Mercury Records)
• Encore (1965; Mercury Records)
• The Genius of Jankowski (1965; Mercury Records) US #18^[7]
• More Genius of Jankowski (1966; Mercury Records) US #65
• Sing mit Horst (1966; Mercury Records)
• Still More Genius of Jankowski (1967; Mercury Records) US #107
• The Horst Jankowski Scene (1967; Mercury Records)
• And We Got Love (1967; Mercury Records)
• Baby, But Grand (1967; Mercury Records)
• So What's New? (1968; Mercury Records)
• Play Some More, lieber Horst (1968; Mercury Records)
• The Many Moods of Jankowski (1968; Mercury Records)
• Piano Affairs (1968; Mercury Records)
• Jankowski Plays Jankowski (1969; Mercury Records)
• Jankowski Meets Beethoven (1969, Mercury Records)
• A Walk in the Evergreens (1969; Mercury Records)
• Piano on the Rocks (1970; Mercury Records)
• Jankowskingsize – For Nightpeople Only (1970; MPS)
• Jankowskinetik (1970; MSP)
• Jankowskeynotes (1970; MPS)
• Follow Me (1972; Intercord)
• International (1973; Intercord)
• Jankowskyline (1973; Intercord)
• Happy Blue Piano (1982; Sonoton / Intersound)
• The Best of Mr. Black Forest (1989; Sonoton / Intersound)
• Piano Interlude (1994; Sonoton / Intersound)
• Black Forest Explosion! (1997; Motor Music)
• Eine Schwarzwaldfahrt (1998; Mercury Records)
• Jankowskinetik (2003; Universal)
• Jankowskeynotes (2004; Universal)

See also[link]

• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart

References[link]

External links[link]

• Detailed information on Horst Jankowski
• Horst Jankowski at Find a Grave

Billy Cobham
Cobham performing at WOMAD, July, 2005
Background information
Birth name	William E. Cobham
Born	(1944-05-16) 16 May 1944 (age 68) Panama
Genres	Jazz, jazz fusion, post-bop, jazz funk, rock music
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, bandleader, instructor
Instruments	Drums, percussion
Years active	1968–present
Labels	Atlantic, Columbia, CTI, Elektra, GRP
Associated acts	Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jack Bruce, New York Jazz Quartet, Jazz Is Dead, Bobby and the Midnites, Mark-Almond
Website	www.billycobham.com

William C. Cobham (born May 16, 1944 in Panama) is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who permanently relocated to Switzerland during the late 1970s.^[1]

Coming to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Allmusic's reviewer claims Cobham is "generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer with an influential style that combines explosive power and exacting precision.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Born in Panama, Cobham's family moved to New York City during his early childhood. A drummer from his youth, Cobham attended New York's High School of Music and Art, graduating in 1962.^[1]

He played in a U.S. Army Band from 1965 to 1968. Following his discharge, Cobham joined an ensemble led by pianist Horace Silver for about a year, also playing or recording with saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, organist Shirley Scott, and guitarist George Benson.^[1]

Jazz fusion work[link]

Cobham branched out to jazz fusion, which blended elements of jazz, rock and roll and funk, playing and recording with the Brecker Brothers (notably in their 1970-founded group Dreams), and guitarist John Abercrombie, before recording and touring extensively with trumpeter Miles Davis. Cobham's work with Davis appears on A Tribute to Jack Johnson, among other recordings. Cobham is also one of the first drummers to play open-handed lead: a drummer that plays on a right-handed set but leads with his left hand on the hi-hat instead of crossing over with his right (and also has his ride cymbal on the left side, instead of the traditional right). He typically plays with multiple toms and double bass drums and was well known in the '70s for his large drum kits.

In 1971, Cobham worked on guitarist John McLaughlin's album My Goal's Beyond.^[1] McLaughlin and Cobham co-founded Mahavishnu Orchestra, a definitive jazz fusion ensemble. Cobham toured extensively from 1971 to 1973 with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, who released two studio albums and one live album. The original studio versions of tunes on the live album were later released as The Lost Trident Sessions in 1999.

In May 1973, while still with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Cobham recorded his first solo album, Spectrum with keyboardist Jan Hammer, from the Mahavishnu Orchestra, guitarist Tommy Bolin, who later played with hard rock band Deep Purple, and bassist Lee Sklar. Just before the Mahavishnu Orchestra's last touring leg, in late 1973, Cobham recorded and toured with guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, in concerts which featured material from their album Love Devotion Surrender, and Cobham's own material. As bandleader and composer, Cobham recorded a number of other ground-breaking fusion records during the '70s, Total Eclipse, A Funky Thide of Sings, and Crosswinds. You can also hear his '70s playing well represented on George Duke and Billy Cobham European Tour Live. It was on this tour that Billy reported (in a Down Beat interview) experiencing astral projection during shows, wherein he found himself hovering above and in front of his drums, watching himself play in ways he'd never thought of or executed previously.

In the 1970s, Cobham recorded extensively for the fusion-oriented CTI Records, founded by producer Creed Taylor. Also during that period he was a member of the New York Jazz Quartet.^{[citation needed]}

In 1976 Cobham played drums on the album To the Heart by Mark-Almond (Jon Mark, Johnny Almond).^{[citation needed]}

1980s work and later[link]

In 1980, he worked with Jack Bruce, in a band named Jack Bruce & Friends. In 1984 he played with Dave Garland and Bobby Cochran in the band Bobby and the Midnites (which was the primary side project for Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead). Last, Cobham recruited Kenny Gradney (of Little Feat) and together recorded the album Where the Beat Meets the Street. In 1998, he joined up with Grateful Dead cover band Jazz Is Dead.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, he joined an all-star cast at the Los Angeles Greek Theatre and the results appeared on Stanley Clarke, Larry Carlton, Billy Cobham, Najee and Deron Johnson Live at the Greek. The concert was predominantly Clarke's music but all the musicians contributed material. A number of solo albums followed (as of July 2005, Cobham has released over 30 recordings under his own name), and continues to record, perform and teach.

In 2006, Cobham released Drum n voice 2. This was a return to the 1970s jazz-funk sound, with guests including Jan Hammer, Buddy Miles, John Patitucci, Jeff Berlin, Dominic Miller, Mike Lindup, Airto Moreira, Frank Gambale, Brian Auger, Guy Barker and the band Novecento. The CD was produced and arranged by Pino and Lino Nicolosi for Nicolosi productions.^[2][3]

Cobham was announced as a patron and visiting artist of top London drum college Drumtech in June 2008.^[4]

Billy Cobham performing on Réunion in October 2006

In 2009, Cobham released Drum n voice 3. Guests included Chaka Khan, Gino Vannelli, George Duke, Alex Acuna, Bob Mintzer, Brian Auger, John Scofield and Novecento. The CD was produced and arranged by Pino and Lino Nicolosi for Nicolosi productions.

Billy Cobham performed with John McLaughlin at the 44th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland, on Friday, July 2, 2010, for the first time since the band split up.

As of March 2010, Cobham had begun working on a new project with acclaimed Jordanian guitarist Kamal Musallam.^[5]

In August 2011 the album Rock the Tabla was released. Featuring Billy Cobham, A.R. Rahman, Hossam Ramzy, Omar Faruk Tekbilek & Manu Katché.^[6]

In December 2011, Cobham began teaching drums online at the Billy Cobham School of Drums, a school within the ArtistWorks Drum Academy.

Sampling[link]

He has been sampled by Massive Attack in their tune "Safe from Harm", centered on the beat and bassline of Cobham's "Stratus", from his debut album Spectrum; by Souls of Mischief's "93 'til Infinity", based on the bassline and keyboards of "Heather", from 1974's Crosswinds, and by DJ Shadow on "Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain",^[7] which uses elements of "A Funky Kind of Thing" from 1975's A Funky Thide of Sings. Cobham is also covered extensively by "hyperfunk" jam-band RAQ.

Discography[link]

Filmography[link]

• 2002: Glass Menagerie
• 2004: Live Palais des Festivals Hall Cannes 1989
• 2005: Billy Cobham - Culturemix: New Morning Paris Concert
• 2005: Billy Cobham - Drums for the Soul - Solo Concert - Drums and Percussion Paderborn
• 2005: Billy Cobham's Glass Menagerie: Live in Riazzino
• 2007: Billy Cobham Live At 60
• 2007: Cobham Meets Bellson
• 2007: Cobham: Crosswinds
• 2009: Live in Cannes