Jimmy Hopps

Jimmy Hopps (born 1939, James Edward Hopps Jr.) was an American jazz drummer. Though never recording as a leader, he worked extensively with Roland Kirk, Charles Tolliver, Stanley Cowell and Pharoah Sanders during some of their most well known sessions. He also worked with Sahib Shihab, Joe Bonner, Cecil McBee, Marion Brown, Shirley Scott, Jan Garbarek and Arild Andersen on a one-time basis.

Kazumi Watanabe's Mudari - Spirit Of Song features Hopps as a co-leader. He also appeared on A Song for the Sun, the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen. Here he used his pseudonym Jimmi EsSpirit.

Discography

With Stanley Cowell

With Cecil McBee

With Charles Tolliver

With Harold Vick

References

Kazumi Watanabe

Kazumi Watanabe (渡辺香津美) is a jazz and jazz fusion guitarist, from Tokyo, Japan. He was born on October 14, 1953.

Watanabe learned to play guitar from Sadanori Nakamure, one of Japan's grandmaster guitarists. He released his first recording in 1971, and quickly became a promising guitarist in his own right. In 1979, he formed an all-star band with some of Japan's leading studio musicians, and recorded the album Kylyn, which is considered a masterpiece in fusion music. That year, he also was a touring musician with Yellow Magic Orchestra.

During the eighties Watanabe released a considerable number of jazz-rock albums. To Chi Ka (1980), with its funk influences and bright sound, is probably the most famous early title. Some latter albums, such as Mobo Club (1983) and Mobo Splash (1985) display more experimental tendencies. But the most famous of all is Spice of Life (1987) which is written in a strongly melodic style. A DVD has been issued from the tour in which the music was played with drummer Bill Bruford and bassist Jeff Berlin (who also play on the studio record). In the 1990s Kazumi assembled an all-Japanese line-up called Resonance Vox (Vagabonde Suzuki on bass, Rikiya Higashihara on drums, Tomohiro Yahiro on percussion). This band has released several adventurous fusion albums.

The Tonight Show

The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show broadcast from the Rockefeller Center in New York City and airing on NBC since 1954. It is the world's longest-running talk show, and the longest running, regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States. It is the third-longest-running show on NBC, after only the news-and-talk shows Today and Meet the Press.

Over the course of more than 60 years, The Tonight Show has undergone only minor title changes. It aired under the name Tonight for several of its early years, eventually settling on The Tonight Show after the seating of long-time host Johnny Carson in 1962. In later decades, network programmers, advertisers, and the show's announcers would refer to the show by including the name of the host; for example, it is currently announced as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In 1957, the show briefly tried a more news-style format. It has otherwise remained a talk show throughout its run.

The Tonight Show began broadcasting in 1954. It has had six official hosts, beginning with Steve Allen (1954–57), followed by Jack Paar (1957–62), Johnny Carson (1962–92), Jay Leno (1992–2009, 2010–14), Conan O'Brien (2009–10), and Jimmy Fallon (2014–present). It has had several recurring guest hosts, a practice especially common during the Paar and Carson eras.

Jimmy Fallon

James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American comedian, television host, actor, singer, writer, and producer. He is known for his work in television as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and as the host of late-night talk show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He was born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and raised in Saugerties, New York. He grew up with an interest in comedy and music, moving to Los Angeles at 21 to pursue stand-up opportunities.

He was commissioned to join NBC's Saturday Night Live as a cast member in 1998, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Fallon remained on SNL for six years between 1998 and 2004, co-hosting the program's Weekend Update segment and becoming a celebrity in the process. He left the program for the film industry, starring in films such as Taxi (2004) and Fever Pitch (2005). Following his film career, Fallon returned to television as the host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC in 2009, where he became well known for his emphasis on music and games. He transitioned from that program to become the sixth host of the long-running The Tonight Show in 2014.

Joe Bonner

Joe Bonner (born April 20, 1948 – November 20, 2014) was a hard bop and modal jazz jazz pianist, influenced by McCoy Tyner and Art Tatum.

He was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and studied at Virginia State College, but has indicated he learned more from musicians he worked with. In the seventies he played with Roy Haynes, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw and Billy Harper, among others.

Discography

As leader