Dec 11, 2009
Dec 9, 2009
Jorge Ben Jor (born March 22, 1942 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian popular musician. His characteristic style fuses samba, funk, and rock into samba-rock, with lyrics that blend humor and satire with often esoteric subject matter.
Born Jorge Duilio Lima Menezes, he initially took the stage name Jorge Ben after his mother's name (of Ethiopian origin)but later changed it to Jorge Ben Jor (commonly written Benjor), allegedly in response to an incident where some of his royalties had accidentally gone to American guitarist George Benson.
Jorge Ben obtained his first pandeiro (Brazil's most popular type of tambourine) when he was thirteen, and two years later, was singing in a church choir. He also took part as a pandeiro player in the blocos of Carnival, and from eighteen years of age, he began performing at parties and nightclubs with the guitar his mother gave him.
It was at one of those clubs in which he performed that his musical career took off. In 1963, Jorge came on stage and sang "Mas Que Nada" (or "no way") to a small crowd that happened to include an executive from the recording company, Philips. One week later, Jorge Ben's first single was released.
The hybrid rhythms that Jorge employed brought him some problems at the start of his career, when Brazilian music was split between the rockier sounds of the Jovem Guarda and traditional samba with its complex lyrics. But as that phase in Brazilian pop music history passed, and the entire world became captivated by bossa nova, Jorge rose to prominence.
Jorge Ben's first public appearances were in small festivals organised by his friends, where bossa nova and rock and roll predominated. As with most musicians of the time, Jorge was initially influenced by João Gilberto even though he was quite innovative in his own right. The aforementioned song, "Mas Que Nada", was his first big hit in Brazil, and remains to this day the most played song in the USA sung entirely in Portuguese. Outside of Brazil, the song is better known by its cover versions from both Sérgio Mendes and Tamba Trio. The song has also been reinterpreted by jazz luminaries such as Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie and Al Jarreau; as well as other samba artists of the time, such as Elza Soares.
Aztec Camera were a Scottish New Wave band from Glasgow. They were a sensitive, tuneful pop band formed in 1980 and centered around the then teenage singer-songwriter, Roddy Frame. Their album Love was among the nominations for Best British Album at the 1989 BRIT Awards.
The band's line-up changed numerous times in its first few years. The constant member has been guitarist / vocalist / singer-songwriter Roddy Frame. Founding members included Campbell Owens (bass) and Dave Mulholland (drums). Craig Gannon was a member from 1983 to 1984. Guitarist Malcolm Ross (formerly of Josef K and Orange Juice) joined the band in 1984, and played on the Knife album. By the time of their third album, Love (1987), Frame was the only de facto member of the band: this and future albums credited to Aztec Camera were actually performed by Frame and studio musicians hired on a track-by-track basis.
The band first appeared on a Glasgow cassette-only compilation of local unsigned bands on the Pungent Records label, affiliated with the Fumes Fanzine run by Danny Easson and John Gilhooly, who championed several Glasgow before they hit the big time.
The band's first UK 7" single was released by Glasgow based indie label Postcard Records in March 1981, and contained the songs "Just Like Gold" and "We Could Send Letters". An acoustic version of the latter song appeared on the influential C81 compilation cassette, released by NME in early 1981. A second single, "Mattress Of Wire", was also the last Postcard Records release before the group signed for fellow independent record label, Rough Trade. U.S. releases were on Sire Records.
Aztec Camera's debut album, High Land, Hard Rain, was released in April 1983. The album was successful, gathering significant critical acclaim for its well-crafted, multi-layered pop. The band went on to release a total of six albums, although most of these were essentially written and played by Frame. The albums included Knife(1984), Love (1987), Stray (1990), Dreamland (1993) and Frestonia (1995).
After the release of Aztec Camera's sixth album, Frestonia, Frame finally decided to record under his own name, and left the major record label, WEA.
Popular songs by Aztec Camera include "Oblivious", "Still On Fire", "Walk Out to Winter", "Somewhere in My Heart", and "Good Morning Britain" (a duet with former The Clash guitarist Mick Jones). "Somewhere in My Heart", the second single from Love, remains their biggest hit, reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart. "Good Morning Britain" was considered to be a comeback for them, as previous single "The Crying Scene" had only reached #70 in the UK.
A 'Best of' collection was released in 1999.
Dianne Reeves (born 23 October 1956) is an American jazz singer, known for her live performances as much as her albums. She is considered one of the most important contemporary jazz singers. She lives in Denver, Colorado.
Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan to a very musical family.
Her uncle, Charles Burrell, a bass player with the Denver Symphony Orchestra, introduced her to the music of jazz singers, from Ella Fitzgerald to Billie Holiday. She was especially impressed by Sarah Vaughan.
From 1983 until 1986 Reeves toured with Harry Belafonte as a lead singer. This period saw her first experiences with world music.
In 1987 Reeves was the first vocalist signed to the reactivated Blue Note/EMI label.[1] Reeves moved back to Denver from Los Angeles in 1992. Reeves sang at the closing ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
Muriel Dacq (real name : Muriel Desclée de Maredsous) is a Belgian (Walloon) singer-songwriter, active in the 1980s in France.
In the early 1980s, Muriel Dacq released "L'Enfer à l'envers" and "Ni pourquoi ni comment". Her biggest hit was "Tropique",[1] released in France in 1986. It reached number 6 on the SNEP singles chart and earned a Silver disc for a minimum of 200,000 copies sold.[2] At the time, the singer was married to Alec Mension, a member of the trio Léopold Nord & Vous which had success in 1987 with the song "C'est l'amour", produced by Dacq. She also released "Là où ça???" in 1986, but it was unsuccessful (#42 in France). In 1995, she tried to revive her singing career recording a new album Ohé du vaisseau, and a single entitled "Un peu + d'amour", under the pseudonym of Black & Dacq.
Wynton Learsonlal Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter and composer. He is among the most prominent jazz musicians of the modern era and is also a well-known instrumentalist in classical music. He is also the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. A compilation of his series of inspirational letters to a young jazz musical student, named Anthony, has been published as To a Young Jazz Musician.
Marsalis has made his reputation with a combination of skill in jazz performance and composition, a sophisticated yet earthy and hip personal style, an impressive knowledge of jazz and jazz history, and skill as a virtuoso classical trumpeter. As of 2006, he has made sixteen classical and more than thirty jazz recordings, has been awarded nine Grammys between the genres, and has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first time it has been awarded for a jazz recording.
Soda Stereo was an Argentine rock trio formed in 1982 consisting of guitarist and vocalist Gustavo Cerati, bassist Zeta Bosio and drummer Charly Alberti. The band established what would become the template for many other popular Spanish-speaking pop and rock music groups: clever, often mysterious lyrics, pleasing musical arrangements and an elaborate and glamorous aesthetic image. The band has sold over 10 million copies across Latin America.
With the release of albums such as Signos, Doble Vida and Canción Animal, Soda Stereo became one of the most critically acclaimed Argentine rock bands, being the first one to tour through Latin America, and achieving a success that no other local rock band had achieved before.
Their second album, Nada Personal was released in 1985 and affirmed the popularity of the band with some instantaneous classics such as "Nada Personal" and "Cuando Pase el Temblor".[2] The video of the single "Cuando Pase el Temblor" was nominated in the category "Finalist Video" on the 12° World Festival of Video and TV.
Dec 6, 2009
The Fixx are an English New Wave band. They are one of the few such bands to have enjoyed significant success outside their country of origin (in their case, notably in the United States and Canada) while remaining almost unknown in their home land. The band is best known for their song "One Thing Leads to Another", from their most successful album Reach the Beach in 1983. Their other hits include "Red Skies", "Stand or Fall", "Saved by Zero", "Sign of Fire", "Are We Ourselves?", "Secret Separation", "Driven Out", "How Much Is Enough?" and "Deeper and Deeper", which was featured on the soundtrack of Streets of Fire.
David Grusin (born June 26, 1934) is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and he has won numerous awards for his soundtrack work. Although he has worked in many musical styles, Grusin is often thought of as a jazz or smooth jazz artist. In his soundtrack work he has forged a signature sound of largely strings- and piano-dominated, through-composed themes with a solid melodic foundation, often injecting strong jazz sensibilities and fusing pop and classical stylings.
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an Academy Award winning, American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.
His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography, static cameras, use of steadicam, and distinctive synthesized scores (usually self-composed). He describes himself as having been influenced by Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Nigel Kneale and The Twilight Zone.
With the exception of The Thing, Starman, and Memoirs of an Invisible Man, he has scored all of his films (though some are collaborations), most famously the themes from Halloween and Assault on Precinct 13. His music is generally synthesized with accompaniment from piano and atmospherics.
Elizabeth Ann Guttman (born September 11, 1961),[1] better known by her stage names of Elizabeth Daily and E.G. Daily, is an American voice actress, actress, singer, songwriter, and musician.
Daily also signed with A&M Records in 1985, (Working with Madonna's frequent collaborators John "Jellybean" Benitez and Stephen Bray) and it was in 1986 that the label released the R&B/Rock single "Say It, Say It". The song only made it to #70 on Billboard Hot 100, but claimed the #1 spot on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. Her songs "Shake It Up" and "I'm Hot Tonight" were included in the soundtrack to the film Scarface. Those same songs were later included in the lineup of fictional radio station Flashback 95.6 in the Grand Theft Auto III video game. These same songs were also included in the Scarface: The World Is Yours video game, which is based on the 1983 film. Her hit "Love in the Shadows" was featured in the film Thief of Hearts and Circuit .
Al Di Meola (born Al Laurence Dimeola July 22, 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an Italian American jazz fusion and Latin jazz guitarist.
Di Meola grew up in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and attended Bergenfield High School.
In 1971, he enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1974 he joined Chick Corea's band, Return to Forever, and played with the band until a major lineup shift in 1976.
Di Meola went on to explore a variety of styles, but is most noted for his Latin-influenced jazz fusion works. He is a four time winner as Best Jazz Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine's Reader Poll.
Guitar historian Robert Lynch states: "In the history of the electric guitar, no one figure has done more to advance the instrument in a purely technical manner than Mr. Di Meola. His total command of the various styles and scales is simply mind-boggling. I feel privileged to have been able to study his work all these years."[3]
In addition to a prolific solo career, he has engaged in successful collaborations with bassist Stanley Clarke, keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, and guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía. He also guested on "Allergies" from Paul Simon's "Hearts and Bones" album (1983).
In the beginning of his career, as evidenced on his first solo album Land of the Midnight Sun (1976), Di Meola was noted for his technical mastery and extremely fast, complex guitar solos and compositions. But even on his early albums, he had begun to explore Mediterranean cultures and acoustic genres like flamenco. Good examples are "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil" from the Elegant Gypsy album (1977). His early albums were very influential among rock and jazz guitarists alike. Di Meola continued to explore Latin music within the jazz-fusion genre on albums like Casino and Splendido Hotel. He exhibited a more subtle touch on acoustic numbers like "Fantasia Suite for Two Guitars" from the Casino album, and on the best-selling live album with McLaughlin and de Lucia, Friday Night in San Francisco. In 1980, he also toured with fellow Latin rocker Carlos Santana.
Bobby Caldwell (born August 15, 1951 in New York City) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who, despite a prolific musical output over his 30-year career, is still best known for his 1978 hit single "What You Won't Do for Love." While he has always maintained a devoted fan base in the United States, a more legendary status has been bestowed upon him in Japan.
Caldwell's sophomore period involved the considerable task of following up such a staggering success as What You Won't Do for Love; during this time, his Japanese audience steadily eclipsed his American one. The Cat in the Hat (1980) and Carry On (1982), were artistic improvements upon the first album, but did not match its commercial success. They were, however, bestsellers in Japan -- The Cat went platinum and Carry On gold—and sealed Bobby's reputation as a superstar in that country.
