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Jimmy Witherspoon
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Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973), a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Known affectionately as "The Brute", he had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls), yet on ballads he played with warmth and sentiment. Stylistically he was indebted to alto star Johnny Hodges, who, he said, taught him to play his instrument.
http://wn.com/Ben_Webster -
Bernard Purdie
Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is an American session drummer and is considered an influential and innovative exponent of funk. He is known for his strict musical time keeping and "The Purdie Shuffle".
http://wn.com/Bernard_Purdie -
Brother Jack McDuff
http://wn.com/Brother_Jack_McDuff -
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was the first important jazz musician to use the instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn". While Hawkins is most strongly associated with the swing music and big band era, he had a role in the development of bebop in the 1940s,
http://wn.com/Coleman_Hawkins -
Count Basie
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".
http://wn.com/Count_Basie -
Dick Morrissey
Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey (9 May 1940, Horley, Surrey - 8 November 2000, Deal, Kent) was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.
http://wn.com/Dick_Morrissey -
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was a composer, pianist, and big band leader.
http://wn.com/Duke_Ellington -
Earl "Fatha" Hines
http://wn.com/Earl_"Fatha"_Hines -
Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983) was "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".
http://wn.com/Earl_Hines -
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is best known as a founding member and vocalist of The Animals, a rock band formed in Newcastle, England, his funk rock band War and his aggressive stage performance. He was ranked 57th in Rolling Stone's list - The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
http://wn.com/Eric_Burdon -
Gerald Wiggins
Gerald Wiggins (born May 12, 1922 in New York City died July 13, 2008 in Los Angeles) was a jazz pianist and organist. He studied classical, but switched to jazz in his teens. He began as a professional playing accompaniment to Stepin Fetchit. He worked with Louis Armstrong and Benny Carter. In the 1940s he moved to Los Angeles where he played music for television and film. He also worked with singers like Lena Horne, Kay Starr, Nat King Cole, Lou Rawls, Jimmy Witherspoon and Eartha Kitt. In 1960 his best recording as an organist appeared, ''Wiggin' Out'', known for the quality of its music and fresh, clear -like live- sound.
http://wn.com/Gerald_Wiggins -
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger.
http://wn.com/Gerry_Mulligan -
Jay McShann
Jay McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American Grammy Award-nominated blues, mainstream jazz, and swing bandleader, pianist and singer.
http://wn.com/Jay_McShann -
Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen (born 26 November 1945) is a Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum.
http://wn.com/Jim_Mullen -
Jimmy Rowles
Jimmy Rowles (James G. Rowles, aka Jimmie Rowles) (August 19, 1918 – May 28, 1996) was an American jazz pianist who was best known as an accompanist. He also released a number of albums under his own name, and explored various idioms including swing and cool jazz. [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql;=11:aiftxqy5ld0e~T1 Allmusic]
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Rowles -
Jimmy Woode
Jimmy Woode (born James Bryant Woode, 23 September 1926, Philadelphia – 23 April 2005, Lindenwold, New Jersey) was a jazz bassist. His father, also named Jimmy Woode, was a music teacher and pianist who played with Hot Lips Page. Woode studied piano and bass in Boston at Boston University and at the Conservatory of Music, as well as at the Philadelphia Academy.
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Woode -
Joe Sample
Joseph Leslie "Joe" Sample (born February 1, 1939 in Houston, Texas) is an American pianist, keyboard player and composer.
http://wn.com/Joe_Sample -
Junior Mance
Julian Clifford Mance, Jr. (known as Junior Mance, born 10 October 1928, Evanston, Illinois) is an American jazz pianist and composer.
http://wn.com/Junior_Mance -
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.
http://wn.com/Kenny_Burrell -
Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke (born Kenneth Spearman Clarke, nicknamed "Klook", and later known as Liaqat Ali Salaam, on January 9, 1914 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-died January 26, 1985 in Montreuil-sous-bois, France) was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming. As the house drummer at Minton's Playhouse in the early 1940s, he participated in the after hours jams that led to the birth of Be-Bop, which in turn led to modern jazz. While in New York, he played with the major innovators of the emerging bop style, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Curly Russell and others, as well as musicians of the prior generation, including Sidney Bechet.
http://wn.com/Kenny_Clarke -
Leroy Vinnegar
Leroy Vinnegar (July 13, 1928 – August 3, 1999) was an American jazz bassist.
http://wn.com/Leroy_Vinnegar -
Long John Baldry
John "Long John" William Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English and Canadian blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s. He enjoyed pop success in the UK where "Let the Heartaches Begin" reached No. 1 in 1967 and in Australia where his duet with Kathi McDonald "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" reached No. 2 in 1980. Baldry lived in Canada from the late 1970s until his death. There he continued to make records and do voiceover work. He was the voice of Dr. Robotnik in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
http://wn.com/Long_John_Baldry -
Marshall Royal
Marshall Royal (or Marshal Royal, 12 May 1912 – 5 May 1995) was an American clarinettist and alto saxophonist best known for his work with Count Basie, with whose band he played for nearly twenty years.
http://wn.com/Marshall_Royal -
Mel Lewis
Mel Lewis (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990) was an American drummer, jazz musician and band leader. He was born Melvin Sokoloff in Buffalo, New York to Russian immigrant parents.
http://wn.com/Mel_Lewis -
Paul Humphrey
Paul Nelson Humphrey (born October 12, 1935 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American jazz and funk/R+B drummer.
http://wn.com/Paul_Humphrey -
Pepper Adams
Park "Pepper" Adams III (October 8, 1930 – September 10, 1986) was a jazz baritone saxophonist. Nicknamed "The Knife" for his sound on the horn, he had a hearty tone and driving rhythmic sense which provided the antithesis to the lighter, floating (and consequently more popular) style of his contemporary Gerry Mulligan.
http://wn.com/Pepper_Adams -
Robben Ford
Robben Ford (born December 16, 1951), is an American blues, jazz and rock guitarist.
http://wn.com/Robben_Ford -
Robert Cray
Robert Cray (born August 1, 1953, Columbus, Georgia) is an American blues guitarist and singer.
http://wn.com/Robert_Cray -
Roy Eldridge
Roy David Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a precursor of bebop.
http://wn.com/Roy_Eldridge -
Russ Ferrante
http://wn.com/Russ_Ferrante -
Sweets Edison
Harry "Sweets" Edison (October 10, 1915 – July 27, 1999), born in Columbus, Ohio, was an American jazz trumpeter and member of the Count Basie Orchestra.
http://wn.com/Sweets_Edison -
Teddy Edwards
Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards (April 26, 1924 – April 20, 2003) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist based on the West Coast of the US. Some consider him to be one of the most influential jazz saxophonists.[http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql;=11:jbftxqw5ldke~T1 Allmusic]
http://wn.com/Teddy_Edwards -
Teddy Weatherford
Teddy Weatherford (11 October 1903 - 25 April 1945) was a jazz pianist, an accomplished stride pianist.
http://wn.com/Teddy_Weatherford -
Thad Jones
Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 21, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader.
http://wn.com/Thad_Jones -
Vernon Alley
Vernon Alley (May 26, 1915 – October 3, 2004) was an American jazz bassist.
http://wn.com/Vernon_Alley -
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987), known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders. His bands basically played jazz and blues, often including rather experimental material for their time.
http://wn.com/Woody_Herman
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Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquin name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state.
http://wn.com/Arkansas -
California
California (pronounced ) is the most populous state in the United States and the third-largest by land area, after Alaska and Texas. California is also the most populous sub-national entity in North America. It's on the U.S. West Coast, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and by the states of Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, Baja California, Mexico, to the south. Its 5 largest cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, and Long Beach, with Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose each having at least 1 million residents. Like many populous states, California's capital, Sacramento is smaller than the state's largest city, Los Angeles. The state is home to the nation's 2nd- and 6th-largest census statistical areas and 8 of the nation's 50 most populous cities. California has a varied climate and geography and a multi-cultural population.
http://wn.com/California -
Gurdon, Arkansas
Gurdon is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,276 at the 2000 census.
http://wn.com/Gurdon_Arkansas -
India
India (), officially the Republic of India ( ; see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east; and it is bordered by Pakistan to the west; Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the north; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, mainland India and the Lakshadweep Islands are in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share maritime border with Thailand and the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the Andaman Sea. India has a coastline of .
http://wn.com/India -
United States
The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
http://wn.com/United_States
- Ben Webster
- Bernard Purdie
- Blue Note
- Blues
- blues shouter
- Brother Jack McDuff
- Buck Clayton
- Calcutta
- California
- Coleman Hawkins
- Cornell Dupree
- Count Basie
- Dick Morrissey
- Duke Ellington
- Earl "Fatha" Hines
- Earl Hines
- Eric Burdon
- Gerald Wiggins
- Gerry Mulligan
- gramophone record
- Guilty! (album)
- Gurdon, Arkansas
- Head and neck cancer
- Human voice
- India
- Jay McShann
- Jim Mullen
- Jimmy Rowles
- Jimmy Woode
- Joe Sample
- John Collins
- Junior Mance
- Kenny Burrell
- Kenny Clarke
- Leroy Vinnegar
- Long John Baldry
- Marshall Royal
- Mel Lewis
- Paul Humphrey
- Pepper Adams
- radio
- Robben Ford
- Robert Cray
- Roy Eldridge
- Russ Ferrante
- Singer
- Sweets Edison
- T-Bone Walker
- Teddy Edwards
- Teddy Weatherford
- Thad Jones
- United States
- Vernon Alley
- Woody Herman
- World War II
Witherspoon, Jimmy Filmography
- Blues Masters (1999)
- Georgia (1995)
- To Sleep with Anger (1990)
- Ad Lib (1981)
- Willa (1979)
- The Black Godfather (1974)
RELEASE
ALBUMS
- Sweet Slumber
- I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town
- Past Forty Blues
- S.K. Blues
- Late One Evening
- Part Time Woman
- Good Rocking Tonight
- I Won't Tell A Soul
- My Baby's Quit Me
- My Money's Long This Morning, Baby
- Goin' to Chicago
- Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You
- You Got Me Runnin'
- Big Boss Man
- Sweet Lotus Blossom
- I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
- If I Don't Get Well No More
- Money's Gettin' Cheaper
- In the Dark
- I'm Knocking Out Your Teeth Tonite
- Ain't Nobody's Business
- Trouble in Mind
- Don't You Miss Your Baby
- Kansas City
- Ain't Nobody's Business
- Gee Baby Ain't I Been Good to You
- Nobody Knows You
- Goin' to Chicago
- C.C. Rider
- Sweet Lotus Blossom
- Trouble in Mind
- Roll 'em Pete
- Good Rockin' Tonight
- Wee Baby Blues
- When I've Been Drinkin'
- When the Lights Go Out
- Bad Bad Whiskey
- One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer
- Endless Sleep
- I'll Go on Living
- I Had a Dream
- S.K. Blues
- Trouble in Mind
- How Long Will It Take to Be a Man
- I Don't Know
- In the Dark
- If You Live the Life, You Pay the Price
- Money's Gettin' Cheaper
- Grab Me a Freight
- C.C. Rider
- How Long Blues
- T'Ain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do
- Spoon Tang
- Buried Alive in the Blues
- Aviation Man
- Fool's Paradise
- What's Going Down
- The Other Side of Love
- Reflection
- No Money Down
- Love Is a Five Letter Word
- Nothing's Changed
- Landlord, Landlord
- I Love You, Yes I Do
- Rollin' Like a Pebble in the Sand
- I Was Lost (But Now I'm Found)
- Good Rockin' Tonight
- When I Been Drinkin'
- Big Fine Girl
- No Rollin' Blues
- Ain't Nobody's Business
- Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough
- How Long
- Corrine Corrina
- See See Rider
- Roll 'em Pete
- Everyday
- (I'm Gonna Move to the) Outskirts of Town
- Kansas City
- Trouble in Mind
- St. Louis Blues
- Low Down Dirty Shame
- Goin' Down Slow
- Kansas City
- Past Forty Blues
- Times Are Getting Tough
- Outskirts of Town
- S.K. Blues
- Round the Clock
- Walkin' by Myself
- No Rollin' Blues
- Goin' Down Slow
- Big Boss Man
- Goin' to Chicago
- Intro
- Ain't Nobody's Business
- Medley Trouble in Mind/Red Cherry
- Intro
- Fast Forty Blues
- What a Wonderful World
- Medley Whose Hat Is That/CC Rider
- Stormy Monday
- Money Is Getting Cheaper
- Intro
- SK Blues
- Nothin's Changed
- Time's Gettin' Tougher Than Tough
- How Long Blues
- Corrina, Corrina
- C.C. Rider
- Roll 'em Pete
- Every Day
- Crusading
- I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
- Trouble in Mind
- St. Louis Blues
- No Rollin' Blues
- Good Rockin' Tonight
- Big Fine Girl
- Ain't Nobody's Business
- When I've Been Drinkin'
- Handbags and Gladrags
- Bad Bad Loser
- Stay With Me Baby
- Testifying
- Redneck
- Spoon's Beep Beep Blues
- It's Time to Live
- Elmira
- Don't Get Flakey With Me
- Introduction
- Lowdown Dirty Shame
- They Call It Stormy Monday
- Kansas City
- Trouble in Mind
- Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough
- Ain't Nobody's Business
- I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
- Going Down Slow
- Roll 'em Pete
- No Rollin' Blues
- Mean Old Frisco
- Rocks in My Bed
- Bad Bad Whiskey
- Baby, Baby, Baby
- Sail on Little Girl
- One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer
- Lonely Boy Blues
- Blues and Trouble
- Endless Sleep
- I'll Go on Living
- I Can't Hardly See
- It's a Lonesome Old World
- Good Rockin' Tonight
- When I Been Drinkin'
- Big Fine Girl
- No Rollin' Blues
- Ain't Nobody's Business
- Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough
- How Long
- Corrine, Corrina
- See See Rider
- Roll 'em Pete
- Everyday
- Kansas City
- St. Louis Blues
- New York City Blues
- The Barber
- Blinded by Love
- Happy Hard Times
- Something Rotten in East St. Louis
- Midnight Lady Called the Blues
- Blues Hall of Fame
- Gone With the Blues
- Ernestine
- Roll on Katy
- Voodoo Woman Blues
- I Want a Little Girl
- Have You Ever Loved a Woman?
- Confessing the Blues
- Hard-working Man's Blues
- Shipyard Woman Blues
- Cain River Blues
- Hey Mr. Landlord
- All My Geets Are Gone
- Practice What You Preach
- Strange Woman Blues
- Third Floor Blues
- Geneva Blues
- Wee Baby Blues
- Daddy Pinocchio
- You Got Me Running
- Whiskey Drinking Woman
- Once There Lived a Fool
- Just a Dream
- Lotus Blossom
- Big Boss Man
- Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
- That's the One
- Let's Think Awhile
- Swing on It
- The Point
- The Snow Was Falling
- Playful Baby
- Spoon's Life Blues
- Lotus Blossom
- Christmas Blues
- Mean Ole Frisco
- Sad Life
- I'll Always Be in Love With You
- Sweet Slumber
- Past Forty Blues
- Lowdown Dirty Shame
- Lonely Boy Blues
- Spoon's Testimony
- I've Been Drifting / Once Upon a Time
- Steam Roller
- The Laws Must Change
- Have Mercy Judge
- Goin' Down Slow
- Soledad
- Home Dream
- Headin' for Home
- The Time Has Come
Born: 1920-08-08
Died: 1997-09-18
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Jimmy Witherspoon - Aint Nobody's Business
Live at the Lighthouse USA
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon__Aint_Nobody's_Business
Jimmy Witherspoon - Blues in the morning (1964)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:07
- Published: 15 Feb 2011
- Uploaded: 31 Jan 2012
- Author: jazznote89
Jimmy Witherspoon, vocal Gildo Mahones, piano Kenny Burrell, guitar Eddie Kahn, bass Roy Haynes, drums Blue Spoon was one of Witherspoon's jazzier sessions, still retaining his characteristic jazz-blues blend, but lighter on the soul, pop, and shouting R&B elements of some of his other releases. The jazzy flavor was guaranteed by his backup quartet of Kenny Burrell on guitar, Eddie Kahn on bass, Gildo Mahones on piano, and Roy Haynes on drums. Dominated by ballads, it's on the mellow side, with a pleasant yet unadventurous selection of covers. These include Cecil Gant's "I Wonder," "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out","It's All in the Game," and "Baby Please Don't Go" (here retitled "Back to New Orleans," with the writing credits given to Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry). Kenny Burrell contributed one composition, "Blues in the Morning."
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon__Blues_in_the_morning_1964
Jimmy Witherspoon - When I Been Drinkin'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:44
- Published: 04 Mar 2010
- Uploaded: 30 Jan 2012
- Author: DutchBluesfan
Album - Evenin' Blues (1963)
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon__When_I_Been_Drinkin'
Jimmy Witherspoon 'It's a Low-down Dirty Shame' on Frankly Jazz
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:17
- Published: 12 Mar 2009
- Uploaded: 17 Jan 2012
- Author: FranklyJazzTV
Frankly Jazz was a half-hour television program produced in the early 1960s. Each program featured one or more prominent West Coast Jazz performer of the day. Hosted by Frank Evans, a leading jazz disk jockey of the day.
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon_'It's_a_Low-down_Dirty_Shame'_on_Frankly_Jazz
One Scotch,One Bourbon,One Beer--,Jimmy Witherspoon
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:14
- Published: 15 May 2009
- Uploaded: 31 Dec 2011
- Author: railwalker1
One Scotch,One Bourbon,One Beer---,Jimmy Witherspoon
http://wn.com/One_Scotch,One_Bourbon,One_Beer--,Jimmy_Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon sings Bessie Smith
Jimmy Witherspoon with Buck Clayton's band.
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon_sings_Bessie_Smith
JIMMY WITHERSPOON / AIN'T NOBODY'S BUSINESS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:33
- Published: 12 Jul 2010
- Uploaded: 03 Jan 2012
- Author: sk4260volt
JFK arcaive film is inserted.
http://wn.com/JIMMY_WITHERSPOON_/_AIN'T_NOBODY'S_BUSINESS
Jimmy Witherspoon - Goin' Down Slow
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:57
- Published: 28 Dec 2010
- Uploaded: 09 Jan 2012
- Author: screwmaster404
The Blues Singer
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon__Goin'_Down_Slow
Jimmy Witherspoon Don Weller - Goin Down Slow + Blues
UK TV concert
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon_Don_Weller__Goin_Down_Slow_+_Blues
Jimmy Witherspoon - Ain't Nobody's Business
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:00
- Published: 26 Jan 2010
- Uploaded: 18 Jan 2012
- Author: TheBluesfan12
Jimmy Witherspoon & Robben Ford - Walkin' By Myself (Live)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:04
- Published: 14 Feb 2009
- Uploaded: 12 Jan 2012
- Author: JulianThomePictures
"Walkin' by Myself" performed by Jimmy Witherspoon & Robben Ford. Live at the Nodotten Blues Festival.
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon_Robben_Ford__Walkin'_By_Myself_Live
Jimmy Witherspoon & Don Weller - Money's Getting Cheaper
UK TV concert
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon_Don_Weller__Money's_Getting_Cheaper
Art Pepper + Jimmy Witherspoon - Lighthouse Cafe , Lons Angeles 1981
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:50
- Published: 25 Dec 2011
- Uploaded: 20 Jan 2012
- Author: RareJazzVideos
Art Pepper + Jimmy Witherspoon - Lighthouse Cafe , Lons Angeles 1981
http://wn.com/Art_Pepper_+_Jimmy_Witherspoon__Lighthouse_Cafe_,_Lons_Angeles_1981
Jimmy Witherspoon With Gerry Mulligan & Ben Webster - Trouble in Mind (Live)
Gerry Mulligan plays the solo but Ben Webster is also in the band!... True blues - enjoy
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon_With_Gerry_Mulligan_Ben_Webster__Trouble_in_Mind_Live
Jimmy Witherspoon - good Jumping
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:49
- Published: 14 Nov 2009
- Uploaded: 26 Dec 2011
- Author: DutchBluesfan
Jimmy Witherspoon - Corn Whiskey
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:13
- Published: 22 Jul 2010
- Uploaded: 12 Jan 2012
- Author: phunkyjunction
Blues
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon__Corn_Whiskey
Eric Burdon & Jimmy Witherspoon - Soledad (1971)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:06
- Published: 13 Apr 2009
- Uploaded: 24 Jan 2012
- Author: JulianThomePictures
Dedicated to the prison in London, Soledad. In 1971 Burdon & Witherspoon performed there. From their album "Guilty" (later released as "Black & White Blues").
http://wn.com/Eric_Burdon_Jimmy_Witherspoon__Soledad_1971
Jimmy Witherspoon-Move on the outskirts of Town.MPG
1980's TV recording
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon-Move_on_the_outskirts_of_TownMPG
Jimmy Witherspoon - One Scotch, one Bourbon, one Beer
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:01
- Published: 03 Feb 2011
- Uploaded: 29 Jan 2012
- Author: jazznote89
Kenny Burrell - guitar Leo Wright - alto sax, tambourine Gildo Mahones - piano George Tucker - bass Jimmie Smith - drums
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon__One_Scotch,_one_Bourbon,_one_Beer
Jimmy Witherspoon & Robben Ford - BIG LEGGED WOMAN
Jimmy Witherspoon & Robben Ford - BIG LEGGED WOMAN Live At The Notodden Blues Festival
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon_Robben_Ford__BIG_LEGGED_WOMAN
Jimmy Witherspoon-How I Hate to See Christmas Come Around
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:03
- Published: 14 Dec 2010
- Uploaded: 24 Dec 2011
- Author: coolcatcc99
Jimmy Witherspoon
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon-How_I_Hate_to_See_Christmas_Come_Around
Jimmy Witherspoon 1997, Maribor Slovenia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:07
- Published: 20 Feb 2008
- Uploaded: 17 Oct 2011
- Author: bluesmeister2006
Spoon in one of his last concerts before his death, at the festival Lent in Maribor Slovenia. John Lee Sanders, Piano, Frank Folgmann, Guitar, Brian Abrahams, drums, Michael Riley, Trumpet. Ugo Deldirani, Hammond Organ.
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon_1997,_Maribor_Slovenia
Jimmy Witherspoon (& Group) - Sad Life
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:50
- Published: 16 Jan 2012
- Uploaded: 19 Jan 2012
- Author: phunkyjunction
Blues
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Witherspoon_Group__Sad_Life
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| Coordinates | 38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N |
|---|---|
| name | Jimmy Witherspoon |
| background | solo_singer |
| birth name | James Witherspoon |
| alias | Spoon |
| born | August 08, 1920 |
| died | September 18, 1997 |
| origin | Gurdon, Arkansas |
| instrument | Vocals |
| genre | Blues |
| occupation | Singer |
| years active | 1940s – 1990s |
| label | Various |
| website | Official website |
| notable instruments | }} |
Early life and career
James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II. Witherspoon made his first records with Jay McShann's band in 1945. In 1949, recording under his own name with the McShann band, he had his first hit, "Ain't Nobody's Business," a song which came to be regarded as his signature tune. In 1950 he had hits with two more songs closely identified with him: "No Rollin' Blues", "Big Fine Girl", as well as "Failing By Degrees" and "New Orleans Woman" recorded with the Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra which included Herman Washington and Don Hill on the Modern Records label. These were recorded from a live performance on May 10, 1949 at a "Just Jazz" concert Pasadena, CA sponsored by Gene Norman. Another classic Witherspoon composition is "Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough".Witherspoon's style of blues - that of the "blues shouter" - became unfashionable in the mid-1950s, but he returned to popularity with his 1959 album, ''Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival'', which featured Roy Eldridge, Woody Herman, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines and Mel Lewis, among others. He later recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Leroy Vinnegar, Richard "Groove" Holmes and T-Bone Walker.
Tours and successes
In 1961 he toured Europe with Buck Clayton and returned to the UK on many occasions, featuring on a mid-sixties live UK recording ''Spoon Sings and Swings'' (1966) with tenor sax player Dick Morrissey's quartet. In 1970, he appeared on Brother Jack McDuff's London Blue Note recording ''To Seek a New Home'' together with British jazz musicians, including Terry Smith and Dick Morrissey. In the 1970s he also recorded the album ''Guilty!'' (later released on CD as ''Black & White Blues'') with Eric Burdon and featuring Ike White & the San Quentin Prison Band. He then toured with a band of his own featuring Robben Ford and Russ Ferrante. A recording from this period, ''Spoonful'', featured 'Spoon' accompanied by Robben Ford, Joe Sample, Cornell Dupree, Thad Jones and Bernard Purdie. He continued performing and recording into the 1990s.Other performers with whom Witherspoon recorded include Jimmy Rowles, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Vernon Alley, Mel Lewis, Teddy Edwards, Gerald Wiggins, John Clayton, Paul Humphrey, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Jimmy Smith, Long John Baldry, Junior Mance, Ellington bassist Jimmy Woode, Kenny Clarke, Gerry Mulligan, Jim Mullen, Count Basie, Gene Gilbeaux and others.
Death
Witherspoon died of throat cancer in Los Angeles, California on September 18, 1997.
Discography
LP, CD
DVDs
Filmography
2000 ''Jazz Casual: Jimmy Witherspoon & Ben Webster'' (Jazz Casual/Idem)
References
External links
Category:1920 births Category:1997 deaths Category:African American musicians Category:American blues singers Category:American male singers Category:Modern Records artists Category:Kent Records artists Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Musicians from Arkansas Category:People from Clark County, Arkansas Category:Muse Records artists Category:Prestige Records artists Category:Deaths from esophageal cancer Category:Urban blues musicians Category:Jump blues musicians Category:Jazz-blues musicians Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees
de:Jimmy Witherspoon es:Jimmy Witherspoon fr:Jimmy Witherspoon no:Jimmy Witherspoon pt:Jimmy Witherspoon ru:Уизерспун, ДжиммиThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Coordinates | 38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N |
|---|---|
| name | Bessie Smith |
| background | solo_singer |
| born | April 15, 1894 Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States |
| died | September 26, 1937 Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States |
| instrument | Vocals |
| genre | Blues, Jazz |
| occupation | Singer |
| years active | 1912–1937 |
| label | Columbia |
| notable instruments | }} |
Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.
Life
The 1900 census indicates that Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in July 1892. However, the 1910 census recorded her birthday as April 15, 1894, a date that appears on all subsequent documents and was observed by the entire Smith family. Census data also contributes to controversy about the size of her family. The 1870 and 1880 censuses report three older half-siblings, while later interviews with Smith's family and contemporaries did not include these individuals among her siblings.Bessie Smith was the daughter of Laura (née Owens) and William Smith. William Smith was a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher (he was listed in the 1870 census as a "minister of the gospel", in Moulton, Lawrence, Alabama.) He died before his daughter could remember him. By the time she was nine, she had lost her mother and a brother as well. Her older sister Viola took charge of caring for her siblings.
To earn money for their impoverished household, Bessie Smith and her brother Andrew began busking on the streets of Chattanooga as a duo: she singing and dancing, he accompanying her on guitar. Their favorite location was in front of the White Elephant Saloon at Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community.
In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. "If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him," said Clarence's widow, Maud. "That's why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child."
In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe. He arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give Smith an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included the then unknown singer, Ma Rainey. Smith eventually moved on to performing in various chorus lines, making the "81" Theater in Atlanta her home base. There were times when she worked in shows on the black-owned T.O.B.A Theater Owners Booking Association circuit. She would rise to become its biggest star after signing with Columbia Records.
By 1923, when she began her recording career, Smith had taken up residence in Philadelphia. There she met and fell in love with Jack Gee, a security guard whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first record was released. During the marriage—a stormy one, with infidelity on both sides—Smith became the highest paid black entertainer of the day, heading her own shows, which sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers, and touring in her own railroad car. Gee was impressed by the money, but never adjusted to show business life, or to Smith's bisexuality. In 1929, when she learned of his affair with another singer, Gertrude Saunders, Bessie Smith ended the relationship, although neither of them sought a divorce.
Smith eventually found a common-law husband in an old friend, Richard Morgan, who was Lionel Hampton's uncle and the antithesis of her husband. She stayed with him until her death.
Career
All contemporary accounts indicate that while Rainey did not teach Smith to sing, she probably helped her develop a stage presence. Smith began forming her own act around 1913, at Atlanta's "81" Theater. By 1920, Smith had established a reputation in the South and along the Eastern Seaboard.In 1920, sales figures for "Crazy Blues," an Okeh Records recording by singer Mamie Smith (no relation) pointed to a new market. The recording industry had not directed its product to blacks, but the success of the record led to a search for female blues singers. Bessie Smith was signed by Columbia Records in 1923 and her first session for Columbia was February 15, 1923. For most of 1923, her records were issued on Columbia's regular A- series; when the label decided to establish a "race records" series, Smith's "Cemetery Blues" (September 26, 1923) was the first issued.
She scored a big hit with her first release, a coupling of "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Downhearted Blues", which its composer Alberta Hunter had already turned into a hit on the Paramount label. Smith became a headliner on the black T.O.B.A. circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s. Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter months and doing tent tours the rest of the year (eventually traveling in her own railroad car), Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Columbia nicknamed her "Queen of the Blues," but a PR-minded press soon upgraded her title to "Empress".
She made some 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably Louis Armstrong, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, Charlie Green and Fletcher Henderson.
Broadway
Smith's career was cut short by a combination of the Great Depression (which all but put the recording industry out of business) and the advent of "talkies", which spelled the end for vaudeville. She never stopped performing, however. While the days of elaborate vaudeville shows were over, Smith continued touring and occasionally singing in clubs. In 1929, she appeared in a Broadway flop called ''Pansy,'' a musical in which top critics said she was the only asset.
Film
In 1929, Smith made her only film appearance, starring in a two-reeler titled ''St. Louis Blues'', based on W. C. Handy's song of the same name. In the film, directed by Dudley Murphy and shot in Astoria, she sings the title song accompanied by members of Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, the Hall Johnson Choir, pianist James P. Johnson and a string section — a musical environment radically different from any found on her recordings.
Swing era
In 1933, John Hammond, who also mentored Billie Holiday, asked Smith to record four sides for Okeh (which had been acquired by Columbia Records in 1925). He claimed to have found her in semi-obscurity, working as a hostess in a speakeasy on Philadelphia's Ridge Avenue. Bessie Smith worked at Art's Cafe on Ridge Avenue, but not as a hostess and not until the summer of 1936. In 1933, when she made the Okeh sides, Bessie was still touring. Hammond was known for his selective memory and gratuitous embellishments.Bessie Smith was paid a non-royalty fee of $37.50 for each selection and these Okeh sides, which were her last recordings. Made November 24, 1933, they serve as a hint of the transformation she made in her performances as she shifted her blues artistry into something that fit the "swing era". The relatively modern accompaniment is notable. The band included such swing era musicians as trombonist Jack Teagarden, trumpeter Frankie Newton, tenor saxophonist Chu Berry, pianist Buck Washington, guitarist Bobby Johnson, and bassist Billy Taylor. Benny Goodman, who happened to be recording with Ethel Waters in the adjoining studio, dropped by and is barely audible on one selection. Hammond was not entirely pleased with the results, preferring to have Smith revisit her old blues groove. Her "Take Me For A Buggy Ride" and "Gimme a Pigfoot" continue to be ranked among her most popular recordings.
Death
On September 26, 1937, Smith was critically injured in a car accident while traveling along U.S. Route 61 between Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. Her lover, Richard Morgan, was driving and, probably mesmerized by the long stretch of straight road, misjudged the speed of a slow-moving truck ahead of him. Tire marks at the scene suggested that Morgan tried to avoid the truck by driving around its left side, but he hit the rear of the truck side-on at high speed. The tailgate of the truck sheared off the wooden roof of Smith's old Packard. Smith, who was in the passenger seat, probably with her right arm or elbow out the window, took the full brunt of the impact. Morgan escaped without injuries.The first people on the scene were a Memphis surgeon, Dr. Hugh Smith (no relation), and his fishing partner Henry Broughton. In the early 1970s, Dr. Smith gave a detailed account of his experience to Bessie's biographer Chris Albertson. This is the most reliable eyewitness testimony about the events surrounding Bessie Smith's death.
After stopping at the accident scene, Dr. Smith examined Bessie Smith, who was lying in the middle of the road with obviously severe injuries. He estimated she had lost about a half-pint of blood, and immediately noted a major traumatic injury to her right arm; it had been almost completely severed at the elbow. But Dr. Smith was emphatic that this arm injury alone did not cause her death. Although the light was poor, he observed only minor head injuries. He attributed her death to extensive and severe crush injuries to the entire right side of her body, consistent with a "sideswipe" collision.
Broughton and Dr. Smith moved the singer to the shoulder of the road. Dr. Smith dressed her arm injury with a clean handkerchief and asked Broughton to go to a house about 500 feet off the road to call an ambulance.
By the time Broughton returned, about 25 minutes had elapsed since the accident and Bessie Smith was in shock. Time passed with no sign of the ambulance, so Dr. Smith suggested that they take her into Clarksdale in his car. He and Broughton had almost finished clearing the back seat when they heard the sound of a car approaching at high speed. Dr. Smith flashed his lights in warning, but the oncoming car failed to stop and plowed into the doctor's car at full speed. It sent his car careening into Bessie Smith's overturned Packard, completely wrecking it. The oncoming car ricocheted off Dr. Smith's car into the ditch on the right, barely missing Broughton and Bessie Smith.
The young couple in the new car did not have life-threatening injuries. Two ambulances arrived on the scene from Clarksdale; one from the black hospital, summoned by Mr. Broughton, the other from the white hospital, acting on a report from the truck driver, who had not seen the accident victims.
Bessie Smith was taken to Clarksdale's Afro-American Hospital where her right arm was amputated. She died that morning without regaining consciousness. After Smith's death, an often repeated but now discredited story emerged about the circumstances; namely, that she had died as a result of having been refused admission to a "whites only" hospital in Clarksdale. Jazz writer/producer John Hammond gave this account in an article in the November 1937 issue of ''Down Beat'' magazine. The circumstances of Smith's death and the rumor promoted by Hammond formed the basis for Edward Albee's 1959 one-act play ''The Death of Bessie Smith''.
"The Bessie Smith ambulance would ''not'' have gone to a white hospital, you can forget that." Dr. Smith told Albertson. "Down in the Deep South cotton country, no ambulance driver, or white driver, would even have thought of putting a colored person off in a hospital for white folks."
Smith's funeral was held in Philadelphia on Monday, October 4, 1937. Her body was originally laid out at Upshur's funeral home. As word of her death spread through Philadelphia's black community, the body had to be moved to the O.V. Catto Elks Lodge to accommodate the estimated 10,000 mourners who filed past her coffin on Sunday, October 3. Contemporary newspapers reported that her funeral was attended by about seven thousand people. Far fewer mourners attended the burial at Mount Lawn Cemetery, in nearby Sharon Hill. Gee thwarted all efforts to purchase a stone for his estranged wife, once or twice pocketing money raised for that purpose.
The grave remained unmarked until August 7, 1970, when a tombstone—paid for by singer Janis Joplin and Juanita Green, who as a child had done housework for Smith—was erected.
Dory Previn wrote a song of Janis Joplin and the tombstone called ''Stone for Bessie Smith'' on her album ''Mythical Kings & Iguanas''.
The Afro-American Hospital, now the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, was the site of the dedication of the fourth historic marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail.
Selective awards and recognitions
Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Bessie Smith were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. This special Grammy Award was established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| Bessie Smith: Grammy Hall of Fame Award |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Year Inducted |- align=center | 1923 | "Downhearted Blues" | Blues (Single) | Columbia | 2006 |- align=center | 1925 | "St. Louis Blues" | Jazz (Single) | Columbia | 1993 |- align=center | 1928 | "Empty Bed Blues" | Blues (Single) | Columbia | 1983 |}
National Recording Registry
In 2002 Smith's recording of the single, "Downhearted Blues", was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. The board selects songs on an annual basis that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.""Downhearted Blues" was included in the list of ''Songs of the Century'' by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001. It is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock 'n' roll.
Inductions
{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- ! Year Inducted ! Category ! Notes |- align=center | 2008 | Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame | Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC |- align=center | 1989 | Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award |- align=center | 1989 | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | "Early influences" |- align=center | 1981 | Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame |- align=center | 1980 | Blues Hall of Fame |}U.S. Postage Stamp
{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"| |- ! Year Issued ! Stamp ! USA |- align=center | 1994 | 29 cents Commemorative stamp | U.S. Postal Stamps |}
Digital remastering
Technical faults in the majority of her original gramophone recordings—especially variations in recording speed, which raised or lowered the apparent pitch of her voice, misrepresented the "light and shade" of her phrasing, interpretation and delivery. They altered the apparent key of her performances (sometimes raised or lowered by as much as a semitone.) The fact that the "centre hole" in some of the master recordings had not been in the true middle of the master disc meant that there were wide variations in tone, pitch, key and phrasing, as commercially released records revolved around the spindle.Given those historic limitations, the current digitally remastered versions of her work deliver significant, very positive differences in the sound quality of Smith's performances. Some critics believe that the American Columbia Records compact disc releases are somewhat inferior to subsequent transfers made by the late John R.T. Davies for Frog Records.
Popular culture
References
Further reading
External links
Category:1894 births Category:1937 deaths Category:African American female singers Category:American blues singers Category:American buskers Category:Bisexual musicians Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Road accident deaths in Mississippi Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:LGBT African Americans Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:People from Chattanooga, Tennessee Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Vaudeville performers Category:Classic female blues singers
an:Bessie Smith ca:Bessie Smith cy:Bessie Smith de:Bessie Smith es:Bessie Smith eo:Bessie Smith fa:بسی اسمیت fr:Bessie Smith ga:Bessie Smith gl:Bessie Smith hr:Bessie Smith io:Bessie Smith it:Bessie Smith he:בסי סמית hu:Bessie Smith nl:Bessie Smith ja:ベッシー・スミス no:Bessie Smith oc:Bessie Smith pl:Bessie Smith pt:Bessie Smith ru:Смит, Бесси simple:Bessie Smith sk:Bessie Smithová sr:Беси Смит sh:Bessie Smith fi:Bessie Smith sv:Bessie Smith tl:Bessie Smith uk:Бессі СмітThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Coordinates | 38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N |
|---|---|
| name | Robben Ford |
| background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| born | December 16, 1951Woodlake, California, United States |
| genre | Blues, jazz/fusion, rock |
| occupation | Musician, songwriter |
| instrument | Guitar, saxophone |
| associated acts | John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Yellowjackets, Chick Corea, Gregg Allman Band, L.A. Express |
| years active | 1969–present |
| website | Robbenford.com |
| notable instruments | Baker Guitars Robben Ford Signature Model }} |
Robben Ford (born December 16, 1951), is an American blues, jazz and rock guitarist.
Biography
Ford was born in Woodlake, California, but raised in Ukiah, California, and began playing the saxophone at age 10, picking up the guitar at age 13. Robben and his brothers Mark (harmonica) and Patrick Ford (drums) had a band they named the Charles Ford Blues Band in honor of their father.Ford began playing professionally at age 18 when the Charles Ford Blues Band got a gig backing Charlie Musselwhite. The band also recorded two albums ''The Charles Ford Band'' and ''Discovering the Blues''. Next Ford put together a band with Bay Area musicians that became Jimmy Witherspoon's backup band. Ford recorded two albums with Witherspoon, ''Live'' and ''Spoonful'''. The Ford Blues Band reunites periodically, and released live albums in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the 1970s, Ford began to branch out into jazz fusion, and joined L.A. Express led by saxophonist Tom Scott in 1974. That same year they backed George Harrison on his American tour. In addition to recording fusion albums, they served as Joni Mitchell's backup band on ''Hissing of Summer Lawns'' and her live album, ''Miles of Aisles''.
After leaving L.A. Express in 1976, Ford recorded his solo album, ''The Inside Story'' with a band that was to become the Yellowjackets. He went on to play a starring role on the first two Yellowjackets albums, although he was listed as a guest artist due to recording contract arrangements.
Ford worked briefly with Miles Davis in 1986; he can be heard on Davis' Montreux box set. Ford released his next album, called ''Talk to Your Daughter'' in 1988, a return to his blues roots. In 1989 he joined Philippe Saisse, Marcus Miller and J.T. Lewis in the cast of The Sunday Night Band for the second and final season of the acclaimed late-night NBC television musical performance program, ''Sunday Night''. His best work in the 1990s includes ''Robben Ford and the Blue Line'', and ''Tiger Walk''. In addition to recording and touring with his own blues band, Ford continued to tour and play with other bands/artists such as Jing Chi (his fusion band), Gregg Allman and Phil Lesh. He has received nominations for four Grammy Awards.
Several Ford tribute bands exist. Ford was named one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century" by ''Musician'' magazine.
Ford uses Dumble Amplifiers since the early 1980s, and prefers Celestion G12-65 speakers. When travelling abroad he tends to use rented Fender Super Reverb amplifiers along with a Zendrive overdrive pedal by Hermida Audio. Guitar manufacturer Fender used to make a Robben Ford signature model, initially based on the japanese made Fender Espirit Ultra, it was developed by Dan Smith along with John Carruthers and evolved into a US Custom Shop model, until it was discontinued in 2002.
American luthier Gene Baker also made a Robben Ford signature model. Lately, Ford tends to favour a vintage 1960 Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Pauls and a custom-made guitar made by Taku Sakashta.
Ford is married to the cabaret singer Anne Kerry Ford, and collaborated with her on various projects. His nephew, Gabe Ford, is also a musician.
Discography
Solo albums
Live albums
Compilations
With Ford Blues Band
With Mark Ford
Collaborations
Albums Played On
As sideman
With Charlie Musselwhite
Instructional DVDs
References
External links
Category:American blues guitarists Category:American jazz guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:Lead guitarists Category:Musicians from California Category:People from Tulare County, California Category:Soul-blues musicians Category:Warner Bros. Records artists Category:Elektra Records artists Category:MCA Records artists Category:1951 births Category:Living people
de:Robben Ford es:Robben Ford fr:Robben Ford it:Robben Ford nl:Robben Ford ja:ロベン・フォード fi:Robben Ford sv:Robben FordThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Coordinates | 38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N |
|---|---|
| name | Gerry Mulligan |
| background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| birth name | Gerald Joseph Mulligan |
| alias | Jeru |
| birth date | April 06, 1927 |
| death date | January 20, 1996 |
| origin | Queens Village, Queens, New York, United States |
| instrument | Baritone saxophone, clarinet, piano |
| genre | Jazz, cool jazz |
| occupation | Saxophonist |
| associated acts | Gil Evans, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, Paul Desmond, Billy Taylor, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Dave Brubeck, Bob Brookmeyer |
| notable instruments | }} |
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also a notable arranger, working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others. Mulligan's pianoless quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeter Chet Baker is still regarded as one of the more important cool jazz groups. Mulligan was also a skilled pianist and played several other reed instruments. Mulligan reportedly had a relationship with actress Judy Holliday until she died in 1965, and with actress Sandy Dennis from 1965 until they broke up in 1976.
Biography
Early life and career
Gerry Mulligan was born in Queens Village, Queens, New York, the son of George and Louise Mulligan. His father was a Wilmington, Delaware native of Irish descent; his mother a Philadelphia native of half Irish and half German descent. Gerry was the last of four sons: George, Phil, Don and Gerry.George Mulligan's career as an engineer necessitated frequent moves through numerous cities. When Gerry was less than a year old, the family moved to Marion, Ohio, where his father accepted a job with the Marion Power Shovel Company.
With the demands of a large home and four young boys to raise, Mulligan's mother hired an African-American nanny named Lily Rose, who became especially fond of the youngest Mulligan. As he became older, Mulligan began spending time at Rose's house and was especially amused by Rose's player piano, which Mulligan later recalled as having rolls by numerous players, including Fats Waller. Black musicians sometimes came through town, and because many motels wouldn't take them, they often had to stay at homes within the black community. The young Mulligan occasionally met such musicians staying at Rose's home.
The family's moves continued with stops in southern New Jersey (where Mulligan lived with his maternal grandmother), Chicago, Illinois, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Mulligan lived for three years and attended Catholic school. When the school moved into a new building and established music courses, Mulligan decided to play clarinet in the school's nascent orchestra. Mulligan made an attempt at arranging with the Richard Rodgers song "Lover", but the arrangement was seized prior to its first reading by an overzealous nun who was taken aback by the title on the arrangement.
When Gerry Mulligan was 14, his family moved to Detroit and then to Reading, Pennsylvania. While in Reading, Mulligan began studying clarinet with dance-band musician Sammy Correnti, who also encouraged Mulligan's interest in arranging. Mulligan also began playing saxophone professionally in dance bands in Philadelphia, an hour and a half or so away.
The Mulligan family next moved to Philadelphia, where Gerry attended the West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys and organized a school big band, for which he also wrote arrangements. When Mulligan was sixteen, he approached Johnny Warrington at local radio station WCAU about writing arrangements for the station's house band. Warrington was impressed and began buying Mulligan's arrangements.
Mulligan dropped out of high school during his senior year to pursue work with a touring band. He contacted bandleader Tommy Tucker when Tucker was visiting Philadelphia's Earle Theatre. While Tucker did not need an additional reedman, he was looking for an arranger and Mulligan was hired at $100 a week to do two or three arrangements a week (including all copying). At the conclusion of Mulligan's three-month contract, Tucker told Mulligan that he should move on to another band that was a little less "tame". Mulligan went back to Philadelphia and began writing for Elliot Lawrence, a pianist and composer who had taken over for Warrington as the band leader at WCAU.
Mulligan moved to New York City in January 1946 and joined the arranging staff on Gene Krupa's bop-tinged band. Notable arrangements of Mulligan's work with Krupa include "Birdhouse", "Disc Jockey Jump" and an arrangement of "How High the Moon" that quoted Charlie Parker's "Ornithology" as a countermelody.
Mulligan next began arranging for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra, occasionally sitting in as a member of the reed section. Thornhill's arranging staff included Gil Evans, whom Mulligan had met while working with the Krupa band. Mulligan eventually began living with Evans, at the time that Evans' apartment on West 55th Street became a regular hangout for a number of jazz musicians working on creating a new jazz idiom.
''Birth of the Cool''
In September 1948, Miles Davis formed a nine-piece band that featured arrangements by Mulligan, Evans and John Lewis. The band initially consisted of Davis on trumpet, Mulligan on baritone saxophone, trombonist Mike Zwerin, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, Junior Collins on French horn, tubist Bill Barber, pianist John Lewis, bassist Al McKibbon and drummer Max Roach.The band only played a handful of live performances (a two week engagement at the Royal Roost jazz club and two nights at the Clique Club). However, over the next couple of years, Davis reformed the nonet on three occasions to record twelve pieces for release as singles. These were eventually compiled on a Capitol Records album, titled ''Birth of the Cool''. Mulligan wrote and arranged three of the tunes recorded ("Rocker," "Venus de Milo," and "Jeru," the latter named after himself), and arranged a further three ("Deception," "Godchild," and "Darn That Dream").
He was also (with Davis, Konitz and Barber) one of only four musicians who played on all the recordings. Despite the chilly reception by audiences of 1949, the Davis nonet has been judged by history as one of the most influential groups in jazz history, creating a sound that, despite its East Coast origins, became known as West Coast Jazz.
During his period of occasional work with the Davis nonet between 1949 and 1951, Mulligan also regularly performed with and arranged for trombonist Kai Winding. Mulligan's composition "Elevation" and his arrangement of "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" were recorded by Mulligan's old boss, Elliott Lawrence. This brought Mulligan additional recognition. Mulligan also arranged for and recorded with bands led by Georgie Auld and Chubby Jackson.
In September, 1951, Mulligan recorded the first album under his own name, ''Mulligan Plays Mulligan.'' By this point, he had mastered a melodic and linear playing style, inspired by Lester Young, that he would retain for the rest of his career.
In the spring of 1952, Mulligan became more desperate for remunerative employment and headed west to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, pianist Gail Madden. Through an acquaintance with arranger Bob Graettinger, Mulligan started writing arrangements for Stan Kenton's Orchestra. While most of Mulligan's work for Kenton were pedestrian arrangements that Kenton needed to fill out money-making dance performances, Mulligan was able to throw in some more substantial original works along the way. His compositions "Walking Shoes" and "Young Blood" stand out as embodiments of the contrapuntal style that became Mulligan's signature. His sound or tone (timbre) was likened to a tweed cloth.
The Pianoless Quartet with Chet Baker
While arranging for Kenton, Mulligan began performing on off-nights at The Haig, a small jazz club on Wilshire Boulevard at Kenmore Street. During the Monday night jam sessions, a young trumpeter named Chet Baker began sitting in with Mulligan. Mulligan and Baker began recording together, although they were unsatisfied with the results. Around that time, vibraphonist Red Norvo's trio began headlining at The Haig, thus leaving no need to keep the grand piano that had been brought in for Erroll Garner's stay at the club.Faced with a dilemma of what to do for a rhythm section, Mulligan decided to build on earlier experiments and perform as a pianoless quartet with Baker on trumpet, Bob Whitlock on bass and Chico Hamilton on drums (later Mulligan himself would occasionally double on piano). Baker's melodic style fit well with Mulligan's, leading them to create improvised contrapuntal textures free from the rigid confines of a piano-enforced chordal structure. While novel at the time in sound and style, this ethos of contrapuntal group improvisation hearkened back to the formative days of jazz. Despite their very different backgrounds, Mulligan a classically-trained New Yorker and Baker from Oklahoma and a much more instinctive player, they had an almost psychic rapport and Mulligan later remarked that, "I had never experienced anything like that before and not really since." Their dates at the Haig became sell-outs and the recordings they made in the fall of 1952 became major sellers that led to significant acclaim for Mulligan and Baker.
This fortuitous collaboration came to an abrupt end with Mulligan's arrest on narcotics charges in mid-1953 that led to six months at Sheriff's Honor Farm. Both Mulligan and Baker had followed the example of their peers and became heroin addicts. However, while Mulligan was in prison, Baker transformed his lyrical trumpet style, gentle tenor voice and matinee-idol looks into independent stardom. Thus when upon his release Mulligan attempted to rehire Baker, the trumpeter declined the offer for financial reasons. They did briefly reunite at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival and would occasionally get together for performances and recordings up through a 1974 performance at Carnegie Hall. But in later years their relationship became strained as Mulligan, with considerable effort, would manage to kick his habit, while Baker's addiction would bedevil him professionally and personally almost constantly until his death in 1988.
Middle career
Mulligan continued the quartet format with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer replacing Baker, although Mulligan and Brookmeyer both occasionally played piano. This quartet structure remained the core of Mulligan's groups throughout the rest of the 1950s with sporadic personnel changes and expansions of the group with trumpeters Jon Eardley and Art Farmer, saxophonists Zoot Sims, Al Cohn and Lee Konitz, and vocalist Annie Ross. In 1957, Mulligan and his wife, Arlyne Brown Mulligan (daughter of composer Lew Brown), had a son, Reed Brown Mulligan.Mulligan also studied Piano with Suezenne Fordham, who was a member of the inner circle of Jazz players in NY. She was sought out by jazz musicians of the era to coach them to improve their piano technique. She and Mulligan also had a personal relationship from 1966 through 1972.
Mulligan also performed as a soloist or sideman (often in festival settings) with a veritable Who's Who of late 50s jazz artists: Paul Desmond, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Witherspoon, André Previn, Billie Holiday, Marian McPartland, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Stan Getz, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, Manny Albam, Quincy Jones, Kai Winding, Miles Davis, and Dave Brubeck. Mulligan appears in Art Kane's celebrated A Great Day in Harlem portrait of 57 major jazz musicians taken in August 1958.
Mulligan formed his first "Concert Jazz Band" in the Spring of 1960. Partly an attempt to revisit the ornate arrangements of big band music in a smaller setting, the band varied in size and personnel, with the core group being six brass, five reeds (including Mulligan) and a pianoless two-piece rhythm section. The membership included (at various times, among others): trumpeters Conte Candoli, Nick Travis, Clark Terry, Don Ferrara, Al Derisi, Thad Jones and Doc Severinsen, saxophonists Zoot Sims Jimmy Ryder, Gene Allen, Bobby Donovan, Phil Woods and Gene Quill, trombonists Willie Dennis, Alan Raph and Bob Brookmeyer, drummers Mel Lewis and Gus Johnson, and bassists Buddy Clark and Bill Crow. The band also recorded an album of songs sung by Gerry's close friend Judy Holliday in 1961. The band toured and recorded extensively through the end of 1964, ultimately producing five albums for Verve records.
Mulligan resumed work with small groups in 1962 and appeared with other groups sporadically (notably in festival situations). Mulligan would continue to work intermittently in small group settings until the end of his life, although performing dates started to become more infrequent during the mid '60s. After Dave Brubeck's quartet broke up in 1967, Mulligan began appearing regularly with Brubeck as the "Gerry Mulligan / Dave Brubeck Quartet" through 1973. Thereafter, Mulligan and Brubeck would work together sporadically until the final year of Mulligan's life.
In 1971, Mulligan created his most significant work for big band in over a decade for the album ''The Age of Steam.'' At various times in the 70's he performed with Charles Mingus. The Concert Jazz Band was "reformed" in 1978 and toured at various times through the '80s.
Orchestral work
Mulligan, like many jazz musicians of his era, occasionally recorded with strings. Notable dates include 1957 recordings with Vinnie Burke's String Jazz Quartet, a 1959 orchestra album with André Previn and a 1965 album of the Gerry Mulligan Quintet and Strings. In 1974, Mulligan collaborated with famed Argentine musician Ástor Piazzolla. While in Milan for the recording sessions, Mulligan met his future wife, Countess Franca Rota Borghini Baldovinetti, a freelance photojournalist and reporter. In 1975, Mulligan recorded a string album with Italian composer Enrico Intra.Mulligan's more serious work with orchestra began in May 1970 with a performance of Dave Brubeck's oratorio, ''The Light in the Wilderness'' with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Symphony.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mulligan worked to build and promote a repertoire of baritone saxophone music for orchestra. In 1973, Mulligan commissioned composer Frank Proto to write a ''Saxophone Concerto'' that was premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony. In 1977, the Canadian Broadcasting Company commissioned Harry Freedman to write the saxophone concerto ''Celebration'' which was performed by Mulligan with the CBC Symphony. In 1982, Zubin Mehta invited Mulligan to play soprano saxophone in a New York Philharmonic performance of Ravel's ''Bolero''.
In 1984, Mulligan commissioned Harry Freedman to write ''The Sax Chronicles'' which was an arrangement of some of Mulligan's melodies in pastiche styles. In April of that year, Mulligan was a soloist with the New American Orchestra in Los Angeles for the premier of Patrick Williams' ''Spring Wings''.
In June 1984, Mulligan completed and performed his first orchestral commission, ''Entente for Baritone Saxophone and Orchestra'', with the Filarmonia Venetia. In October, Mulligan performed ''Entente'' and ''The Sax Chronicles'' with the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 1987, Mulligan adapted ''K-4 Pacific'' (from his 1971 ''Age of Steam'' big band recording) for quartet with orchestra and performed it beside ''Entente'' with the Israel Philharmonic in Tel Aviv with Zubin Mehta conducting. Mulligan's orchestral appearances at the time also included the Houston Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic.
1988 saw the premier of Mulligan's ''Octet for Sea Cliff'' a chamber work commissioned by the Sea Cliff Chamber Players. In 1991 the Concordia Orchestra premiered ''Momo's Clock'', a work for orchestra (without saxophone solo) that was inspired by a book by German author Michael Ende.
Later career
Throughout Mulligan's orchestral work and until the end of his life, Mulligan maintained an active career performing and recording jazz - usually with a quartet that included a piano.In June 1988, Mulligan was invited to be the first-ever Composer-in-Residence at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival and was commissioned to write a work, which he entitled ''The Flying Scotsman''. In 1991, Mulligan contacted Miles Davis about revisiting the music from the germane 1949 ''Birth of the Cool'' album. Davis had recently performed some of his Gil Evans collaborations with Quincy Jones at the Montreux Jazz Festival and was enthusiastic. However, Davis died from a stroke in September and Mulligan continued the recording project and tour with Wallace Roney and Art Farmer subbing for Davis. ''Re-Birth of the Cool'' (released in 1992) featured the charts from ''Birth of the Cool'', and a new nonet which included Lewis and Barber from the original Davis band. Mulligan appeared at the Brecon Jazz Festival 1991. Mulligan's final recording was a quartet album (with guests), ''Dragonfly,'' recorded in the Summer of 1995 and released on the Telarc label. Mulligan gave his final performance on the 13th Annual Floating Jazz Festival, SS Norway, Caribbean Cruise, November 9, 1995.
Mulligan died in Darien, Connecticut on January 20, 1996 at the age of 68 following complications from knee surgery. His widow Franca — to whom he had been married since 1976 — said he had also been suffering from liver cancer. Upon Mulligan's death, his library and numerous personal effects (including a gold-plated Conn baritone saxophone) were given to the Library of Congress. 'The Gerry Mulligan Collection' is open to registered public researchers in the library's Performing Arts Research Center. The library placed Mulligan's saxophone on permanent exhibit in early 2009.
Theatre and film
Mulligan's first film appearance was probably with Gene Krupa's orchestra playing alto saxophone in the 1946 RKO short film ''Follow That Music''. Mulligan had small roles in the films ''I Want to Live!'' (1958 - as a jazz combo member), ''The Rat Race'' (1960 - in which he appears as a tenor saxophonist instead of playing his usual baritone sax), ''The Subterraneans'' (1960) and ''Bells Are Ringing'' (1960). Mulligan also performed numerous times on television in a variety of settings during his career.As a film composer, Mulligan wrote music for ''A Thousand Clowns'' (1965 - title theme) the film version of the Broadway comedy ''Luv'' (1967), the French films ''La Menace'' (1977) and ''Les Petites galères'' (1977 - with Ástor Piazzolla) and ''I'm Not Rappaport'' (1996 - title theme).
In 1974 Mulligan collaborated on a musical version of Anita Loos' play ''Happy Birthday''. Although the creative team had great hopes for the work, it never made it past a workshop production at the University of Alabama. In 1978, Mulligan wrote incidental music for Dale Wasserman's Broadway play ''Play with Fire''.
In 1995 the Hal Leonard Corporation released the video tape ''The Gerry Mulligan Workshop - A Master Class on Jazz and Its Legendary Players.''
Awards
Discography
As leader
As sideman
With Miles Davis
References
External links
Category:Jazz baritone saxophonists Category:1927 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Cool jazz saxophonists Category:Cool jazz arrangers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American jazz baritone saxophonists Category:American jazz composers Category:Deaths from liver cancer Category:People from Queens Category:Deaths from surgical complications Category:Cancer deaths in Connecticut Category:Verve Records artists Category:GRP Records artists Category:Prestige Records artists
an:Gerry Mulligan bg:Джери Мълиган ca:Gerry Mulligan cs:Gerry Mulligan da:Gerry Mulligan de:Gerry Mulligan et:Gerry Mulligan es:Gerry Mulligan eo:Gerry Mulligan fa:جری مالیگن fr:Gerry Mulligan it:Gerry Mulligan he:ג'רי מאליגן nl:Gerry Mulligan ja:ジェリー・マリガン no:Gerry Mulligan nds:Gerry Mulligan pl:Gerry Mulligan pt:Gerry Mulligan ru:Маллигэн, Джерри sv:Gerry MulliganThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Coordinates | 38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N |
|---|---|
| name | Ben Webster |
| background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| birth name | Benjamin Francis Webster |
| alias | "The Brute""Frog" |
| born | March 27, 1909 |
| died | September 20, 1973 |
| origin | Kansas City, Missouri, United States |
| instrument | Tenor saxophone |
| genre | Jazz |
| occupation | Saxophonist |
| associated acts | Coleman HawkinsOscar Peterson |
| website | }} |
Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973), a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Known affectionately as "The Brute", he had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls), yet on ballads he played with warmth and sentiment. Stylistically he was indebted to alto star Johnny Hodges, who, he said, taught him to play his instrument.
Early life and career
Webster learned to play piano and violin at an early age, before learning to play the saxophone, although he did return to the piano from time to time, even recording on the instrument occasionally. Once Budd Johnson showed him some basics on the saxophone, Webster began to play that instrument in the Young Family Band (which at the time included Lester Young). Kansas City at this point was a melting pot from which emerged some of the biggest names in 1930s jazz, and Webster joined Bennie Moten's legendary 1932 band that included Count Basie, Oran Page and Walter Page. This era has been recreated in Robert Altman's film Kansas City.Webster spent time with quite a few orchestras in the 1930s, including Andy Kirk, the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in 1934, then Benny Carter, Willie Bryant, Cab Calloway, and the short-lived Teddy Wilson big band.
With Ellington
Playing with Duke Ellington's orchestra for the first time in 1935, by 1940 Ben Webster had become its first major tenor soloist. He credited Johnny Hodges, Ellington's alto soloist, as a major influence on his playing. During the next three years he was on many famous recordings, including "Cotton Tail" and "All Too Soon"; his contribution (together with that of bassist Jimmy Blanton) was so important that Ellington's orchestra during that period is known as the Blanton–Webster band. Webster left the band in 1943 after an angry altercation, during which he allegedly cut up one of Ellington's suits.
After Ellington
After leaving Ellington in 1943, Webster worked on 52nd Street in New York City; recorded frequently as both a leader and a sideman; had short periods with Raymond Scott, John Kirby, and Sid Catlett, as well as with Jay McShann's band, which also featured blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon. In 1948 he returned briefly to the Ellington orchestra for a few months.In 1953 he recorded ''King of the Tenors'' with pianist Oscar Peterson, who would be an important collaborator for Webster throughout the decade. Along with Peterson, trumpeter Harry 'Sweets' Edison and others he was by now touring and recording with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic organisation. ''Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster'' with fellow tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins was recorded on December 16, 1957 along with Peterson, Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (bass), and Alvin Stoller (drums). The Hawkins and Webster recording is a jazz classic, the coming together of two giants of the tenor saxophone, who had first met back in Kansas City.
In 1956 he recorded a classic set with pianist Art Tatum, supported by bassist Red Callender and drummer Bill Douglass.
The final decade, in Europe
Webster generally worked steadily but in 1964 he moved permanently to join other American jazz musicians in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he played when he pleased during his last decade. In 1971 Webster reunited with Duke Ellington and his big band for a couple of shows at the Tivoli Gardens in Denmark and he recorded "live" in France with Earl Hines.Webster died in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 1973 and was buried in the Assistens Cemetery in the Nørrebro, Copenhagen. Although not all that flexible or modern, remaining rooted in the blues and swing-era ballads, Webster could swing with the best and his tone was a later influence on such diverse players as Archie Shepp, Lew Tabackin, Scott Hamilton, David Murray, and Bennie Wallace.
Legacy
After Webster's death, Billy Moore Jr. created The Ben Webster Foundation, together with the trustee of Webster's estate. Since Webster's only legal heir, Harley Robinson in Los Angeles, gladly assigned his rights to the foundation, The Ben Webster Foundation was confirmed by The Queen of Denmark's Seal in 1976. In the Foundation's trust deed, one of the initial paragraphs reads: "to support the dissemination of jazz in Denmark".It is a beneficial Foundation, which channels Webster's annual royalties to musicians, both in Denmark and the U.S. An annual Ben Webster Prize is awarded to a young outstanding musician. The prize is not large, but considered highly prestigious. Over the years, several American musicians have visited Denmark with the help of the Foundation, and concerts, a few recordings, and other jazz-related events have been supported.
Webster's private collection of jazz recordings and memorabilia is archived in the jazz collections at the University Library of Southern Denmark, Odense.
Ben Webster will always be remembered as one of the most classical jazz musicians of all time, and is one of the most outstanding jazz soloists ever remembered on the tenor sax.
Discography
As leader
As a sideman
With Duke Ellington
References
External links
[ Ben Webster] — by Scott Yanow, for Allmusic
Category:1909 births Category:1973 deaths Category:Swing saxophonists Category:American jazz tenor saxophonists Category:Mainstream jazz saxophonists Category:Duke Ellington Orchestra members Category:People from the Kansas City metropolitan area Category:American expatriates in Denmark Category:Nessa Records artists Category:Blue Note Records artists
da:Ben Webster de:Ben Webster es:Ben Webster eo:Ben Webster fr:Ben Webster it:Ben Webster he:בן ובסטר nl:Ben Webster no:Ben Webster pl:Ben Webster pt:Ben Webster ru:Уэбстер, Бен fi:Ben Webster sv:Ben WebsterThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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