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Mr Clarinet Phenomenon-Buddy DeFranco
by John Cipolla Boniface Ferdinand Leonard “Buddy“ DeFranco (1923 – 2014) was a phenomenon in the world of jazz. An artist who not only lived through the golden age of BeBop but embraced it heart and soul and spread it’s message for over 60 years. Buddy DeFranco played with more fire at 74 than he did at 30 and…
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Eric Dolphy Out To Lunch! Album Review
I’m all out of superlatives! Recorded for the Blue Note label in February of 1964, Out to Lunch! is viewed by many as Eric Dolphy‘s masterpiece, the “essential” recording. For Dolphy, an artist possessed of an incredible musical mind with a voracious appetite for new musical forms and expressions, Out To Lunch! proved to be…
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Awesome Artie Shaw Songs and Selected Discography
Artie Shaw Songs This is your starting place for an introduction to the music of Artie Shaw and his quintessential swing sound that defined a generation. Table of Contents begin the beguine Nightmare Nonstop flight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFZhAKoZvaQ Concerto for Clarinet Frenesi Artie Shaw Vinyl Albums You Need Artie Shaw Books You Should Read The Artie Shaw…
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12 Things that Most Don’t Know About the Great Artie Shaw
Everyone knows that Artie Shaw was the “King of the Clarinet,” he was an infamous lover, and a brave soldier. Few know anything beyond that! Here are some snippets of the unknown Artie Shaw: From 1984 until 1996, Artie was an Honorary Vice-President of the swimming federation, FINA. When given the opportunity to write a…
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A Tribute to Artie Shaw: The King of Clarinet
To play any instrument is a form of slavery,” he observed. “You’ve got to really sit down and work at it all the time, if you want to do it well. Artie Shaw Tweet Table of Contents Early life (Born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky on May 23, 1910 – Dec. 30, 2004) Artie Shaw was born…
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The Artie Shaw Spouse Carousel
The King of the clarinet, Artie Shaw, was a great hero the big band and swing jazz age. His off the chart talent, good looks, and sex drive made him the dream of every gossip columnist. He went through a pile of marriages, eight in total, including some of the biggest film stars of the…
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The Amazing Eric Dolphy: Top Bass Clarinet Player
Alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist Eric (Allen) Dolphy (1928-1964) was single-handedly responsible for introducing the bass clarinet to jazz as a viable solo instrument. Eric Dolphy and his bass clarinet was a key figure on New York’s early avant-garde scene, and he made formative contributions to the music of John Coltrane and Charles Mingus. He…
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Remembering Clarinet Great: Pee Wee Russell
Portrait of Pee Wee Russell, Dave Tough, and Max Kaminsky, Eddie Condon’s, New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948 Remembering Pee Wee Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969) By Don Rouse These are remembrances that Jimmy Hamilton, a clarinetist and long-time friend of Pee Wee Russell, has of the time when he knew…
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Afro-Latin Jazz to Modern Creative Jazz
Table of Contents The term Afro-Latin covers a huge variety of music, resulting from the combination of elements of African styles with the Spanish, Portuguese, and even French cultures transplanted to South and Central America. The blend was achieved earlier and more thoroughly than any such hybrid in North American music before the 1970s –…
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From Cool Jazz to Soul Jazz
Table of Contents Cool Jazz Cool jazz followed bop but was entirely different in mood, in its approach to arranging, and even in its choices of instruments. World War II was over-the country was relaxed and jazz relaxed. In this era, which began in 1947, many instruments were used in jazz for the first time.…