- published: 02 May 2015
- views: 1255
Anna Mjöll is an Icelandic jazz singer and songwriter. She uses Anna Mjöll as her performing name; her full name is Anna Mjöll Ólafsdóttir.
Anna Mjöll was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. She is the daughter of guitarist, composer and arranger Ólafur Gaukur and singer, model and radio program director/producer Svanhildur Jakobsdóttir. She was trained in piano, guitar and cello. She performed on Iceland television numerous times prior to her 1996 Eurovision appearance where she represented Iceland with the song "Sjúbídú", which she co-wrote with her father. Following her Eurovision appearance, she toured worldwide with singer Julio Iglesias for three years. In 2006 Anna co-wrote and performed three songs with C.J. Vanston for the film For Your Consideration, which was directed by Christopher Guest.
In 2009, she released a CD, The Shadow Of Your Smile, featuring a mix of Icelandic songs and jazz standards. The CD featured a number of notable musicians including Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Carpenter, Don Grusin, Neil Stubenhaus and Luis Conte, and was voted one of the top 5 Female Vocal Jazz CD's of 2009 at Arnaldo DeSouteiro's Jazz Station. In 2009 Anna was voted one of the top 5 Jazz singers of the year by DeSouteiro's Jazz Station. In 2010, she released her first solo holiday CD, "Christmas JaZZmaZ". "Christmas JaZZmaZ" features original arrangements by Ólafur Gaukur and musicians including Vinnie Colaiuta, Luis Conte, Ólafur Gaukur, Don Grusin, Dave Carpenter and Charlie Bisharat, and was voted one of the top 10 Female Vocal Jazz CD's of 2010 at Arnaldo DeSouteiro's Jazz Station. In 2010 Anna Mjöll was voted one of the 10 best female Jazz singers of the year by DeSouteiro's Jazz Station, and "Christmas JaZZmaZ" was voted "Christmas CD of the Year".[citation needed]
Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer considered one of the giants of American music. Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk wrote about 70.
His compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are consistent with Monk's unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations. This was not a style universally appreciated; poet and jazz critic Philip Larkin dismissed Monk as 'the elephant on the keyboard'.
Monk's manner was idiosyncratic. Visually, he was renowned for his distinctive style in suits, hats and sunglasses. He was also noted for the fact that at times, while the other musicians in the band continued playing, he would stop, stand up from the keyboard and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano.