Category Archives: Jazz

Jazz

October 11: Art Blakey was born in 1919

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art-blakey1

Music washes away the dust of every day life.
~Art Blakey

You can’t seperate modern jazz from rock or from rhythm and blues – you can’t seperate it. Because that’s where it all started, and that’s where it all come from – that’s where I learned to keep rhythm – in church.
~Art Blakey

From Wikipedia:

Birth name Arthur Blakey
Also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina
Born October 11, 1919
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United States
Died October 16, 1990 (aged 71)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres Hard bop, bebop
Occupations Drummer, bandleader
Instruments Drums, percussion
Years active 1942–1990
Labels Blue Note
Associated acts Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, Art Blakey Quartet, Art Blakey Quintet, Art Blakey & the Afrocuban Boys
Website www.artblakey.com

Arthur “Art” Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990), known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader.

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Blues, Jazz, Music Calendar, Soul

October 1: The late Donny Hathaway was born in 1945

donny hathaway

Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American jazz, blues, soul, and gospel vocalist and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, “The Ghetto, Part I” in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine “marked him as a major new force in soul music.” His collaborations with Roberta Flack scored high on the charts and won him the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the duet, “Where Is the Love” in 1973. At the height of his career Hathaway was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. On January 13, 1979, Hathaway’s body was found outside the luxury hotel Essex House in New York City; his death was ruled a suicide.

He was a tremendous singer.

These are my 5 favorite Donny Hathaway songs:

The Ghetto
Flying Easy
Someday we’ll all be free
A Song for you (Leon Russel)
“I (Who Have Nothing)” (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Carlo Donida) with Roberta Flack

All his studio albums are good, but his live album, Live is fantastic!

Spotify Don Hathaway – Live:

Hallgeir

Charlie parker, Jazz, Music Calendar

August 29: The late Charlie Parker was born in 1920

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You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.
~Charlie Parker

I realized by using the high notes of the chords as a melodic line, and by the right harmonic progression, I could play what I heard inside me. That’s when I was born.
~Charlie Parker

All the things you are:

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Jazz, Miles Davis, Music Calendar

August 17: Miles Davis released Kind of Blue in 1959

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kind-of-blue

“It must have been made in heaven.”
– Jimmy Cobb

August 17: Miles Davis released Kind of Blue in 1959

Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released August 17, 1959, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959. The sessions featured Davis’s ensemble sextet, which consisted of pianist Bill Evans (Wynton Kelly on one track), drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley.

Though precise figures have been disputed, Kind of Blue has been described by many music writers not only as Davis’s best-selling album, but as the best-selling jazz record of all time. On October 7, 2008, it was certified quadruple platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It has been regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz album of all time and Davis’s masterpiece.

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The album’s influence on music, including jazz, rock, and classical music, has led music writers to acknowledge it as one of the most influential albums ever made. In 2002, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 2003, the album was ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

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Jazz

August 16: Bill Evans was born in 1929

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“My creed for art in general is that it should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise…a part of yourself you never knew existed.”
~Bill Evans

“To the person who uses music as a medium for the expression of ideas, feelings, images, or what have you; anything which facilitates this expression is properly his instrument.”
~Bill Evans

Bill Evans – Complete Last Performance’79:

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