Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Janis Siegel was born July 23, 1952 in Brooklyn, New York. She first recorded in 1965 with a group called Young Generation for Red Bird records. By ’72 when the original Manhattan Transfer disbanded, founder Tim Hauser revamped adding Siegel and went on to international fame singing jazz, jazz-fusion, pop, R&B and doo-wop.
Her first solo album, “Experiment in White”, was released in 1981 followed by her sophomore project “At Home” that garnered a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Female Jazz Vocalist. Siegel’s ongoing tenure with the Manhattan Transfer has won her 10 Grammy Awards and inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.
In 1985, Siegel joined Jon Hendricks, Bobby McFerrin and Dianne Reeves in the group called Sing, Sing, Sing; has recorded eleven albums as a solo artist working with such jazz luminaries as Russell Malone, Joey DeFrancesco, Hank Crawford, Matt Wilson Victor Lewis and Michael Brecker among others. She has recorded twenty-eight albums as a member of The Manhattan Transfer.
Vocalist Janis Siegel is currently a member of Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, while simultaneously performing with The Manhattan Transfer and continuing a solo career.
Put A Dose In Your Pocket
More Posts: vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Phil Upchurch was born July 19, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois where he learned to play the guitar and bass. He stared his career in the ‘50s working with Jerry Butler before becoming house guitarist for Chess Records. He also worked with The Kool Gents, The Dells, Gene Chandler, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and The Spaniels before going on to work with Curtis Mayfield, Otis Rush and Jimmy Reed.
Returning to Chicago he played and recorded with Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Groove Holmes, B.B. King and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1961, when billed as the Philip Upchurch Combo, his recording of “You Can’t Sit Down” sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold record.
In the mid-Sixties he was house guitarist for labels such as Sue and Cadet and after a tour in the Army, in 1967 Phil he recorded with Richard Evans, John Lee Hooker, Grover Washington, Jr. and Cannonball Adderley.
In the 70s he worked with Ramsey Lewis and Quincy Jones, led his own quartet with Tennyson Stephens, through the Eighties played with George Benson, Mose Allison, Gary Burton, Joe Williams, Natalie Cole, Carmen McRae and Michael Jackson.
By the 1990s he was working with Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff, recorded for Ichiban, Palladium and Ridgetop labels and remains an active session musician and bandleader.
Inspire A Young Mind
More Posts: guitar
Hollywood On 52nd Street
I’ll Never Stop Loving You, composed by Nicholas Brodzsky and Sammy Cahn wrote the lyrics for the 1955 film Love Me or Leave Me. The film is a biographical romantic musical drama that retells the life story of Ruth Etting, a singer who rose from dancer to movie star.
Doris Day stars as Etting, James Cagney as gangster Martin “Moe the Gimp” Snyder, her first husband and manager, and Cameron Mitchell as pianist/ arranger Myrl Alderman, her second husband.
Sponsored By
www.whatissuitetabu.com
Hollywood On 52nd Street
Dearly Beloved and I’m Old Fashioned 1942 song written by Johnny Mercer and Jerome Kern, introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1942 musical romance comedy film You Were Never Lovelier. Set in Buenos Aires, Astaire’s co-stars are Rita Hayworth, Adolphe Menjou and Xavier Cugat. Jerome Kern composed the music with Johnny Mercer writing the lyric.
The Story: The Acunas are a rich Argentine family, with four daughters and the tradition of marrying them off in order, oldest first. When sister #1 gets married, sisters #3 and #4 pressure Maria, sister #2, to get married because they have their husbands picked out already. But Maria hasn’t yet met a man she likes and knowing this her father secretly sends his daughter flowers and anonymous love letters, creating a “mystery man” for her to fall in love with. But Robert Davis, an American dancer looking for work, stumbles into the picture. Maria falls for him, but the father does not approve.
Sponsored By
www.whatissuitetabu.com
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eric Watson was born July 5, 1955 in Wellesley, Massachusetts. After graduating from Oberlin Conservatory he moved to Paris and by 1982 he recorded his first trio album with Paul Motian and Ed Schuller followed by two solo albums.
He worked in a long-time duo with double-bass player John Lindberg that became extended with Albert Mangelsdorff and Ed Thigpen. He has played and recorded with Steve Lacy, Linda Sharrock and Joelle Leandrein1991. His trio with Mark Dressler and Ed Thigpen recorded “Silent Hearts” in 1998 that became the basis for the “Full Metal Quartets” a year later with saxophonist Bennie Wallace.
Eric’s current small catalogue of seven recordings includes a solo piano project “Sketches of Solitude” in 2002 that became one of the best-selling jazz albums in France. Between 2003 and 2005 he toured Europe, Asia, and Australia with tenor saxophonist Christof Lauer.
His dance score The Peking Ballet was commissioned by Radio City Music Hall to a record summer attendance of 200,000. Watson has presented commissioned works at the Lyon Opera, the State Theatre in Poitiers, he has written for Martial Solal and the Orchestra National de Jazz and for Australian violinist Jane Peters.
In 2001, Eric Watson was appointed artistic director of La Villette Jazz Festival, is musical consultant to the director of the Cité de la Musique, and in 2003 he was appointed as a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
Dose A Day – Blues Away