Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Al Foster was born on January 18, 1943 in Richmond, Virginia and grew up in New York City. He began playing drums at the age of 13 and made his recording debut on Blue Mitchell’s The Thing to Do at age 20.
He joined Miles Davis’s group when Jack DeJohnette left in 1972 and stayed with Davis until 1985. Foster began composing in the 1970’s, and has toured with his own band, including musicians such as bassist Doug Weiss, saxophonist Dayna Stephens, and pianist Adam Birnbaum.
He played with Miles Davis during the 1970s and was one of the few people to have contact with Davis during his retirement from 1975 to 1981. Al also played on Davis’s 1981 comeback album The Man with the Horn. He was the only musician to play in Davis’s band both before and after his retirement.
Other artists Foster has performed and recorded with include Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Randy & Michael Brecker, Bill Evans, George Benson, Kenny Drew, Carmen McRae, Stan Getz, Toots Thielemans, Dexter Gordon and Chick Corea.
Drummer Al Foster, who has toured extensively with Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and Joe Henderson continues to engage in jazz.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Yoshio Ikeda (池田芳夫) was born on January 1, 1942 in Osaka, Japan. He received formal training in bass before studying jazz with Gary Peacock in the 1960s.
He led his own small groups in the Seventies, and has worked with Terumasa Hino, Masabumi Kikuchi, Steve Lacy, Akira Miyazawa, Yuji Ohno, Allan Praskin, Masahiko Sato, Masahiko Togashi, Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Aki Takase, and Sadao Watanabe. Double bassist Yoshio Ikeda continues to perform and record.
More Posts: bandleader,bass,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Michael Lang was born on December 10, 1941 in Los Angeles, California. He obtained a bachelor of music at the University of Michigan in 1963, and studied under Leonard Stein, George Tremblay, Pearl Kaufman and Lalo Schifrin.
Well versed in various music forms, including jazz, classical, pop and R&B, he has collaborated and recorded more than two-dozen albums with Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Natalie Cole, Robbie Williams, Dusty Springfield, Solomon Burke, Tom Waits,, José Feliciano, Vince Gill, Bette Midler, Kenny Rogers, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, Amy Grant, Paul Anka, Melissa Manchester, Neil Diamond, Michael Bolton, Barry Manilow, Carole Bayer Sager, and Barbra Streisand.
Pianist and composer Michael Lang, who has composed more than 2000 film scores, continues to play and compose.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Stanley Ernest Sulzmann was born November 30, 1948 in London, England and began on saxophone at age 13, playing in Bill Ashton’s London Youth Jazz Orchestra, later the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music from 1969-1972.
In the 1970s he played with the Clarke-Boland Big Band, Mike Gibbs, John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, Volker Kriegel, Eberhard Weber, Zbigniew Seifert, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, and Gordon Beck. The 1980s saw him working with Gil Evans, Paul McCartney, the European Jazz Ensemble, the James Last Orchestra, the Hilversum Radio Orchestra, the NDR Big Band, and the London Jazz Orchestra.
Collaborations in the 1990s include with Allan Botschinsky, David Murray, Paul Clarvis, and Bruno Castellucci. Television audiences around the world have heard him as the saxophone soloist in The Belgian Detective, the theme music to ITV’s Poirot, composed by Christopher Gunning.
Saxophonist Stan Sulzmann has held teaching positions at the Guildhall School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, and Trinity College of Music, and continues to teach, perform and record.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Hollywood On 52nd Street
Stella by Starlight is a popular song by Victor Young that was drawn from thematic material composed for the main title and soundtrack of the 1944 Paramount Pictures film, The Uninvited. Appearing in the film’s underscore as well as in source music as an instrumental theme song without lyrics.
It was turned over to Ned Washington, who wrote the lyrics for it two years later in 1946. The title had to be incorporated into the lyrics, which resulted in its unusual placement: the phrase appears about three-quarters of the way through the song, rather than at the beginning or the end.
At one point in the film, the main character, Rick (Ray Milland) tells Stella (Gail Russell) that he is playing a serenade, To Stella by Starlight.
Plot
Rick (Ray Milland) and his sister Pamela (Ruth Hussey) unknowingly buy a seaside home that is haunted by the ghost of Mary Meredith. Meredith’s husband was a painter who had an affair with his gypsy model, Carmel, Meredith discovers the affair, takes Carmel to and leaves her in Paris, where she gives birth to a child, which ultimately Mary took. Subsequently, Carmel returned to England, takes the infant Stella from Windward, and, during the confrontation, pushes Mary off the cliff to her death. So Mary haunts the house and when Stella returns her affinity to the place is cemented. Rick falls for her but wants her to leave. Seances, ghost visitations by both Camel and Mary, and a sanatorium reveal that Carmel, not Mary is Stella’s mother. This frees Carmel’s spirit from Windward House and with Rick confronting Mary’s spirit announcing he is no longer afraid, the spirit also departs.
Recordings
“Stella by Starlight” is one of the most popular standards, its May 1947 recording by Harry James and his orchestra reached 21st place in the pop charts. Two months later, the recording by Frank Sinatra with Axel Stordahl and his orchestra also rose to the 21st position.
Early adaptations of the song were performed and recorded by Charlie Parker, Stan Getz in December 1952, trumpeter Chet Baker, Bud Powell, Stan Kenton, Nat King Cole. Other recordings have been made by Miles Davis, Red Garland, Earl Grant, Joe Pass, Bill Evans, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Lou Donaldson, Charlie Rouse, Dexter Gordon, Billy Eckstine, Dick Haymes, Ray Charles, Anita O’Day, Helen Reddy, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Mina, Al Hirt, Larry Coryell, among others.
