“One of the guiding philosophies of music is to find your own voice.”
— Thelonious Monk, jazz pianist, “‘Round Midnight” composer, known as the “Founding Father of Modern Jazz”
Posts published in “Jazz/Blues/Folk”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1s5CWbYyao&w=420&h=315]
Ninety-five years ago today, jazz trumpet innovator and bebop pioneer John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. Gillespie, who famously lead his own orchestra as well as recorded with Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, is best known for his compositions “Salt Peanuts,” “Woody N’ You” and “A Night In Tunisia,” as well as popularizing Afro-Cuban jazz in the United States. Learn more about his life and music by clicking here and watch his “Manteca” above.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
It was an evening suitable for a legend at the historic Chateau Marmont hotel in West Hollywood, as internationally acclaimed composer, filmmaker and philanthropist Quincy Jones was on hand to receive the Montblanc Lifetime Achievement Award. There to introduce the iconic producer were Hollywood legends Sidney Poitier and Morgan Freeman as well as Quincy Jones’ daughter, actress and filmmaker Rashida Jones.
A dance class at the school in 2011. (Béatrice de Géa for The New York Times)The Harlem School of the Arts, a community arts school that has faced major financial hurdles in the last few years, has received a grant of more than $5 million from the Herb Alpert Foundation that will allow the school to retire its debt, restore its endowment and create a scholarship program for needy students.
Jamison Ross drums his way to victory in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. (Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times)WASHINGTON — Jamison Ross sauntered onstage at the National Museum of Natural History here on Saturday with the solicitous gleam of a casino floor manager, his bulky frame encased in a suit and his face bearing a wide-open smile. Graciously, he initiated a round of applause for his fellow hopefuls in the 25th-annualThelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, and another for the event’s unflappable house band. Then he sat down, picked up a pair of brushes and counted off “Bye Bye Blues,” an uncomplicated song recorded by dozens of American entertainers from the 1930s on.
“Life is something like a trumpet. If you don’t put anything in, you won’t get anything out.”–W.C. Handy, composer and musician known as the “Father Of The Blues”