BBG

BBG may refer to:

Nelly (disambiguation)

Nelly (born 1974) is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur.

Nelly or Nellie may also refer to:

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Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is a non-profit music education organization co-founded in 1986 by Thelonious Monk III, the son of the late American jazz musician Thelonious Monk, opera singer Maria Fisher and jazz musician Clark Terry.

The Institute has held the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition annually since 1987, offered its full scholarship Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance graduate-level college program since 1995, and organized jazz education programs in public schools throughout the United States and around the world.

College program

One of the Institute's earliest goals was to create a unique college-level jazz program where the masters of jazz could pass on their expertise to the next generation of jazz musicians the way Thelonious Monk had done in his Manhattan apartment throughout the '50s and '60s. In September 1995, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance was launched and the first class of seven students began their intensive training with some of the world's greatest musicians.

Willie Pickens

Willie Pickens (born April 18, 1931) is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator.

Early life

Pickens was born in Milwaukee on April 18, 1931. He studied piano formally from the age of 14. He attended Lincoln High School in Milwaukee with saxophonist Bunky Green. Pickens also studied at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.

Later life and career

Pickens joined the army in 1951. He obtained a B.S. in music education from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1958 and moved to Chicago in the same year.

In the early 1960s, Pickens played on saxophonist Eddie Harris' first four recordings for Vee-Jay Records. His period with Harris lasted between 1960 and 1966. Pickens taught music at public schools from 1966 until 1990. He was also a faculty member of the American Conservatory of Music between 1971 and 1987.

Pickens recorded with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco in 1977, and drummer Louis Bellson in 1994. Pickens played in drummer Elvin Jones' band between 1990 and 1997, including internationally.

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed more than 1,000 pieces, whereas Monk wrote about 70.

His compositions and improvisations feature dissonances 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.

He was renowned for his distinctive style in suits, hats, and sunglasses. He was also noted for an idiosyncratic habit observed at times during performances: 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.