On The Bookshelf
Jazz In The Movies: A Guide to Jazz Musicians 1917~1977 by David Meeker is the result of ten years research into the arena of jazz and the film industry. Norman Granz, who penned the introduction, writes of David as one of the small, dedicated, diligent, extremely hard-working, enthusiastic group of people that the world luckily possesses.
The idea for the book came to Meeker some twenty years before its writing after waiting for a prolonged and disappointing time of news reels, travelogues and the like to watch a film titled The Three Little Bops and to finally hear the sweet sounds of Shorty Rogers. Then he thought why has there been no jazz filmography produced. So, he set about the daunting task of compiling 2,500 movies and this is the outcome.
The book lists each film title alphabetically, together with its nationality, year of production, director, running time, a short critique and details of all jazz artists, band personnel and musical items where known.
On The Bookshelf
I Should Care: The Sammy Cahn Story
I Should Care: The Sammy Cahn Story is an autobiography by the acclaimed lyricist Sammy Cahn. Published in 1974 by Arbor House, the book is written from Cahn’s own perspective, offering his insights into his life and career, along with anecdotes, photographs, and lyrics of his well-known songs.
The title itself is a nod to one of his famous songs, which first appeared in the 1944 MGM film Thrill of a Romance. The Academy Award winner for Three Coins In The Fountain, High Hopes, All The Way and Call Me Irresponsible, star performer in his own Broadway musical Words & Music.
This Lower East Side New York City boy who made more than good now tells his whole loving story – personal, public and professional.
I Should Care ~ The Sammy Cahn Story: 1974 | Sammy Cahn
Arbor House Publishing Co.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kemba Cofield was born on August 2, 1972 in and grew up in Frankfort, Kentucky. As a young girl she sang in talent shows, beauty pageants, musicals and church. It was only after seeing Sarah Vaughan perform at age 12 that she knew she wanted to sing jazz. However, it wasn’t until she moved to Atlanta, Georgia that opportunity knocked, allowing her to learn the technical aspects of jazz.
Former Freddy Cole drummer, Bernard Linnette, heard Kemba sing during a Tuesday night jam session and was impressed by her voice. She soon began gigging with his sextet and Linnette became her mentor. She taught chorus and piano lessons to students during the day, absorbed jazz during the night and completed her Masters in Music at Northern Illinois University in 2006 and a Masters of Education in 2013 from Cambridge College on summer breaks.
Meeting trombonist Wycliffe Gordon in 2003 earned her an invitation to sing with his ensemble as well as to appear on his album, In The Cross. Her relationships with Linnette and Gordon exposed her to new audiences and provided her with an entrée into the broader jazz scene.
Whether singing in the church choir, teaching scales to students, gigging with the likes of Wycliffe Gordon, Don Braden or Bernard Linnette, she leads her own ensemble.
Vocalist Kemba Cofield, who sings with a soulfulness that wraps itself around the song, continues to She reminds us of how music transforms and how the essence of jazz transcends.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charlie Harrington ws born on August 1, 1972 in child prodigy, he has played drums since the age of 5 and performed professionally since the age of 15. He studied with and became the protégé of jazz drumming legend Ray Bauduc. He went on to study with classical percussionist Tim Tull. His drumming influences include Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, Ed Shaughnessy, Joe Morello, and Peter Erskine.
Additionally he leads his own band, Charlie Harrington and the Jazz Express. He has shared the stage with Woody Herman, Freddie Green, Stan Mark, Kirk Whalem, Larry Coryell, Kurt Elling, John Scofield, Benny Golson, Barbara Streisand, Dave Brubeck, Richie Cole, Tony Bennett, Ira Sullivan, Carly Simon, Ari Brown, Junko Onishi and Eddie “Cleanhead” vinson.
As a bluesman he performed with Joe “Guitar” Hughes, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He has taken master classes with Ed Soph, Louie Bellson, Jack DeJohnette, Donny Osborne, Johnny Rabb, Clayton Cameron, Butch Miles, Steve Smith, Joe Morello, Jeff Hamilton, Bill Stewart, Steve Gadd, Billy Cobham, Jeff Tain Watts, Peter Erskine, and Ed Shaughnessy.
The highly inventive and skilled drummer Charlie Harrington, who has yet to record as a leader or sideman, continues to build a body of work and performs in trio, small group settings and big band ensembles.
More Posts: bandleader,drums,history,instrumental,jazz,music
On The Bookshelf
Duke Ellington: Music Is My Mistress
My favorite tune? The next one. The one I’m writing tonight or tomorrow, the new baby is always the favorite. The author of these words has created some of the best loved music in the world: Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, Caravan, Take The A Train, Solitude.
Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no one.” This is the story of Duke Ellington, the story of Jazz itself. Told in his own way, in his own words, a symphony written by the King of Jazz and published by Doubleday & Company, Inc. His story spans and defines a half-century of modern music. This man who created over 1500 compositions was as much at home in Harlem’s Cotton Club in the 1920s as he was at a White House birthday celebration in his honor in the 1960s.
For Duke knew everyone and savored them all. Passionate about his music and the people who made music, he counted as his friends hundreds of the musicians who changed the face of music throughout the world: Bechet, Basie, Armstrong, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Sinatra, to name a few of them.
In this 522 page volume are 100 photographs to give us an intimate view of Duke’s world, his family, his friends, his associates. What emerges most strongly in his commitment to music, the mistress for whom he saves the fullest intensity of his passion.
”Lovers have come and gone, but only my mistress stays,” he says. He composed not only songs that all the world has sung, but also suites, sacred works, music for stage and screen and symphonies. This rich book, the embodiment of the life and works of the Duke, is replete with appendices listing singers, arrangers, lyricists and the symphony orchestras with whom the Duke played. There is a book to own and cherish by all who love jazz and the contributions made to it by the Duke.