‘Make Luv’, 2003 Masterminded by Belgium-based producer Vito Lucente (a.k.a. Junior Jack), Room 5 was a Daft Punk-styled funk-dance creation. Based around Oliver Cheetham’s 1980s hit, ‘Get Down Saturday Night’, ‘Make Luv’ became a UK No. 1 in 2003, though the Room 5 concept was dropped the following year, after Lucente/Room 5 released a full-length album ...
One of the cornet kings of early New Orleans – along with Buddy Bolden, Freddie Keppard and Bunk Johnson – Joseph ‘King’ Oliver helped to define the bravura spirit of hot jazz through his work in Chicago during the 1920s with his Creole Jazz Band. He is said to have earned the sobriquet ‘King’ by besting Keppard in a cutting ...
(Trumpet, vocals, arranger, composer, 1910–88) Sy (Melvin James) Oliver was one of the finest of all big-band arrangers, and a capable instrumentalist and singer as well. His major associations included the bands of Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, and he also led his own bands at various times, from the mid-1940s ...
b. 1952 English composer and conductor Knussen gained initial public attention at 15 conducting his own First Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra. He then studied composition in the US, achieving success not long after his return with the fantasy operas Where the Wild Things Are (1979–83) and Higglety Pigglety Pop! (1984–85), based on the children’s books by Maurice ...
‘Mad World’, 2003 Gary Jules had recorded as a solo artist since 1998, but in 2001 he collaborated with Michael Andrews to cover Tears For Fears’ ‘Mad World’. The sombre remake was featured in 2003’s hit film Donnie Darko, and the appeal of the film, coupled with the song’s popularity and Jules’ strange choice of cover, made ...
The term ‘horn’ is generally used to refer to the orchestral horn, also known as the French horn. Although it is used in jazz slang to indicate any wind instrument played by a soloist, the name here refers to the orchestral horn. History The early history of the horn is bound intimately to that of the trumpet. Both instruments ...
Acoustic Guitar Throughout its history, the guitar has – perhaps more than any other instrument – managed to bridge the gap between the often disconnected worlds of classical, folk and popular music. Its roots go back to Babylonian times; by the 1500s it was prevalent in Spain, and is still sometimes called the Spanish guitar. Medieval versions – ...
Like a great river that runs endlessly, forming numerous tributary streams as it flows, jazz continues to evolve over time. And no matter how far the River Jazz may flow from its source – whether through stylistic evolution or technological innovation – the essential spirit of the music remains intact. Granted, the more academic and esoteric extrapolations of ...
b. 1932 English composer A member of the Manchester New Music Group, Goehr studied also in Paris with Messiaen. He attended the Darmstadt Summer School in 1956, but ultimately found its orthodoxy too dogmatic. Works such as the Little Symphony (1963) instead attempt a synthesis of serial elements with modality and traditional formal models. The music of Johann Sebastian ...
The most strikingly original and authoritative voice on cornet since Louis Armstrong, Leon ‘Bix’ Beiderbecke set the example for a generation of aspiring white jazz players during the 1920s. His meteoric rise to fame was followed by a dramatic fall from grace that led to his ultimate death from alcoholism at the age of just 28 in 1931. A Self-Taught Genius ...
(Trumpet, 1889–1949) William Geary ‘Bunk’ Johnson, a New Orleans trumpeter with good reading and improvising skills, said that he played in Buddy Bolden’s pioneer band before 1900. He was certainly associated with Frankie Duson and other Bolden cohorts, and was famous as a showy, lyrical soloist. Johnson’s nickname rose from his loquacity, and he was ...
(Trumpet, composer, arranger, 1921–2001) Arturo ‘Chico’ O’Farrill arrived in New York from Havana in 1948 with a self-confessed low opinion of his native Cuban music by comparison with jazz, but found inspiration in the developing Afro-Cuban jazz movement led by Dizzy Gillespie, Machito and Mario Bauzá. He became a key figure in creating what he called the ...
Clarence Williams was born in 1898 in Plaquemine, Louisiana, migrating to New Orleans in the teens to play piano in the District and begin a long career as a composer, bandleader and musical promoter. He was manager of two early jazz venues – the Big 25 Club and Pete Lala’s Café – hiring the best musicians in the ...
Universally acknowledged as one of the twentieth century’s emblematic composers, Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington used his long-standing touring orchestra as a tool to create wholly unique tonal colours and a distinctive harmonic language in jazz. His career was characterized by the close and long-lasting relationships that he struck up with particular musicians and other figures from the music business, ...
(Instrumental group, 1900–17) The Eagle Band, originally led by Buddy Bolden, was an extremely popular and influential New Orleans ensemble. Frankie Duson (or Dusen) (1880–1940), a powerful tailgate trombonist, joined the band in 1906 and went on to take over the band when Bolden suffered a mental collapse the following year. Subsequently, Duson employed various Bolden ...
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