2008 – One of the bigger breakout hits of the Toronto Film Festival was It Might Get Loud, a documentary that consists entirely of Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge swapping stories, expounding on their experiences and of course jamming with each other. The film, directed by An Inconvenient Truth helmer Davis Guggenheim, will satisfy casual fans as well as hardcore guitar afficianados. “It’s almost like having three carpenters talk about a radial-arm saw,” explains White. “It’s great to use this mechanical device to learn all about these other ideas that surround it.” Click below for more on It Might Get Loud, including what songs the trio played when the cameras rolled.
2005 – Kinks vocalist/guitarist Ray Davies plays his first solo date in New York in years at the Supper Club, treating fans to six songs that are to appear on his first solo album.
2005 – Jazz vocalist and pianist Shirley Horn dies of diabetes complications in Washington, D.C., aged 71. In a career lasting five decades, she worked with Miles Davis, Quincy Jones and Wynton Marsalis.
Shirley Horn collaborated with many jazz greats including Miles Davis (they influenced each other), Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and others. She was most noted for her ability to accompany herself with nearly incomparable independence and ability on the piano while singing, something described by arranger Johnny Mandel as “like having two heads”, and for her rich, lush voice, a smoky contralto (that occasionally rose to a glorious, ringing belt), which was described by noted producer and arranger Quincy Jones as “like clothing, as she seduces you with her voice”. Although she could swing as strongly as any straight-ahead jazz artist, Horn’s reputation rode on her exquisite ballad work. She tended to take love songs at a glacial tempo, expertly weaving her soft singing (typically in whispery, short phrases like wisps of cigarette smoke) with her gorgeous Impressionist piano chordings and unique dynamic control (a clear example of her artistry can be found in her cover of Jule Styne’s The Music that Makes Me Dance, found on her albumYou Won’t Forget Me).
Horn has also been cited by noted Canadian jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall as a major inspiration and influence. Horn is thought by some to be one of a quartet of America’s “great jazz divas”, along with Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.
Biography and career
Shirley Horn began playing piano at an early age, and had thoughts as a teenager of becoming a classical artist. She was offered a scholarship to Juilliard, but turned it down for financial reasons. She then became enamored with the famous U Street jazz area of Washington (largely destroyed in the 1968 riots), sneaking into jazz clubs before she was of legal age.
Horn first achieved fame in 1960, when Miles Davis “discovered” her. Davis’ praise had particular resonance in two respects, one because he was so highly respected as a musician, and two because he rarely had anything positive to publicly offer about any musician at that time. Shirley had, though, recorded several songs with violinist Stuff Smith in 1959 both as a pianist and a singer. After her discovery by Davis, she recorded albums on different small labels in the early 1960s, eventually landing contracts with larger labels Mercury Records and Impulse Records. She was popular with jazz critics, but did not achieve significant popular success.
Quincy Jones attempted to make Horn into a pure vocalist in several recording sessions, something he later hinted may have been a mistake. Horn was also disturbed by the changes in popular music in the 1960s following the arrival of The Beatles, and stated “I will not stoop to conquer” in largely rejecting efforts to remake her into a popular singer. From the late-1960s, she concentrated on raising her daughter Rainy with her husband, Shepherd Deering (whom she had married in 1955) and largely limited her performances to her native Washington, D.C., while she often worked full-time as an office worker.
Once her family was grown, she began touring more widely from 1978 onwards. She is best known for her recordings with Verve Records since 1987. Horn was nominated for nine Grammy Awards during her career, winning in 1999 for Jazz Vocal Album for I Remember Miles, a tribute to her friend and encourager.
Preferring to perform in small settings, as with her trio, she recorded with orchestra too, as on the 1992 album Here’s to life, which is highly rated by her fans, the title song being generally considered as her signature song. Arranger Johnny Mandel won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) for that album. A video documentary of Horn’s life and music was released at the same time as “Here’s To Life” and shared its title. At the time Mandel commented that Horn’s piano skill was comparable to that of the noted jazz great Bill Evans. A follow-up was made in 2001, named You’re My Thrill.
Shirley Horn kept for twenty five years the same rhythm section: Charles Ables (bass) and Steve Williams (drums). Don Heckman wrote in the Los Angeles Times (February 2, 1995) about “the importance of bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams to the Horn’s sound. Working with boundless subtlety, following her every spontaneous twist and turn, they were the ideal accompanists for a performer who clearly will tolerate nothing less than perfection”.
She was officially recognized by the 109th US Congress for “her many achievements and contributions to the world of jazz and American culture”, and performed at The White House for several U.S. presidents. Horn was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music in 2002.
She was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2005., (the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians).
Due to health problems in the early 2000s, Horn had to cut back on her appearances. From 2002, a foot amputation (from complications of diabetes) forced her to leave the piano playing to pianist George Mesterhazy. In late 2004, Horn felt able to play piano again, and recorded a live album for Verve live at Manhattan’s Au Bar with trumpet player Roy Hargrove, which did not satisfy her. It remains unreleased except for three tracks on But Beautiful – the best of Shirley Horn.
She had been battling breast cancer and diabetes when she died from complications of a massive stroke, aged 71. She is interred at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
2004 – Ray Davies of the Kinks is shot in the leg in New Orleans. The “Waterloo Sunset” songwriter was pursuing two men who stole his lady companion’s purse.
1999 – Rumors leak to the press that record executive Clive Davis is about to be removed from Arista, the label he founded, after a power struggle with Arista’s owner. However, Davis, who produced Santana’s comeback record Supernatural, stays on to the end of his contract.
1999 – Korn debuts its new single on the season premiere of “South Park.” Korn members Jonathan Davis, James “Munky” Shaffer, Brian “Head” Welch, Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu, and David Silveria lend their likenesses and voices – as well as the song “Falling Away From Me” – to the episode.
1988 – Former member of The Spencer Davis Group and Traffic, Steve Winwood had the number 1 song in the US this week with “Roll With It”. It stayed at the top for 4 weeks, making it the number one song of the year. In the UK however, the record stalled at #53. Winwood’s next release, “Don’t You Know What the Night Can Do?” also made it into the US Top Ten, while the following singles, “Holding On” and “One and Only Man” cracked The Top Twenty.
1977 – Taking time out from their group 5th Dimension Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘You Don’t Have To Be A Star’, a No.7 hit in the UK.
1973 – Drummer Gene Krupa dies of leukemia at the age of 64.
Gene Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an influential American jazz and big band drummer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.
Biography
Eugene Bertram Krupa was born to Polish parents in Chicago, Illinois. He began playing professionally in the mid 1920s with bands in Wisconsin. He broke into the Chicago scene in 1927, when he was picked by MCA to become a member of “Thelma Terry and Her Playboys”, the first notable American Jazz band (outside of all-girl bands) to be led by a female musician. The Playboys were the house band at The Golden Pumpkin nightclub in Chicago and also toured extensively throughout the eastern and central United States.
Krupa made his first recordings in 1927, with a band under the leadership of banjoist Eddie Condon and “fixer” (and sometime singer, who did not appear on the records), Red McKenzie: along with other recordings beginning in 1924 by musicians known in the “Chicago” scene such as Bix Beiderbecke, these sides are examples of white “Chicago Style” jazz. The numbers recorded at that session were: ‘China Boy’, ‘Sugar’, ‘Nobody’s Sweetheart’ and ‘Liza’. The McKenzie – Condon sides are also notable for being the first records to feature a full drum kit. Eddie Condon describes what happened in the Okeh studio on that day (in ‘We Called It Music’ – pub: Peter Davis, 1948):
” Mezzrow (Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow) was helping Krupa set up his drums. ‘What are you going to do with those?’ Rockwell (Okeh’s ‘A&R’ man in the 1920′s) asked. ‘Play them,’ Krupa said simply. Rockwell shook his head. ‘You can’t do that,’ he said. ‘You’ll ruin our equipment. All we’ve ever used on records are snare drums and cymbals.’ Krupa, who had been practicing every day at home, looked crushed. ‘How about letting us try them?’ I asked. ‘The drums are the backbone of the band. They hold us up.’ I could see that Rockwell was leery of the whole business; drums or no drums, I figured, we are probably going to get tossed out. ‘Let the kids try it’, McKenzie said. ‘If they go wrong I’ll take the rap’. I didn’t know until long afterwards that Red had guaranteed our pay for the job’…
Quietly we waited for the playback. When it came, pounding out through the big speaker, we listened stiffly for a moment. We had never been an audience for ourselves…Rockwell came out of the control-room smiling. ‘We’ll have to get some more of this… (Rockwell nodded towards Krupa): didn’t bother the equipment at all,’ he said. ‘I think we’ve got something,’.
”
Krupa also appeared on six recordings made by the Thelma Terry band in 1928..
Krupa studied with Sanford A. Moeller.
In 1929 he moved to New York City and worked with the band of Red Nichols. In 1934 he joined Benny Goodman’s band, where his featured drum work — especially on the hit “Sing, Sing, Sing” — made him a national celebrity. In 1938, after a public fight with Goodman at the Earl Theater in Philadelphia, he left Goodman to launch his own band and had several hits with singer Anita O’Day and trumpeter Roy Eldridge. Krupa made a memorable cameo appearance in the 1941 film Ball of Fire, in which he and his band performed an extended version of the hit Drum Boogie.
Gene Krupa Drive in Yonkers, NY
In 1943, Krupa was arrested for possession of marijuana and was given a 3 month jail sentence. After his release, Krupa reorganized his band with a big string section, featuring Charlie Ventura on sax. It was one of the largest dance bands of the era, sometimes containing up to forty musicians. He gradually cut down the size of the band in the late 1940s, and from 1951 on led a trio or quartet, often featuring the multi-instrumentalist Eddie Shu on tenor sax, clarinet and harmonica. He appeared regularly with the Jazz At the Philharmonic shows.
Death
He continued to perform in the 1960s even in famous clubs like the Metropole near Times Square in New York. Krupa retired in the late 1960s, although he occasionally played in public in the early 1970s until shortly before his death from leukemia and heart failure in Yonkers, New York at age sixty-four. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City, Illinois.
Many consider Krupa to be one of the most influential drummers of the 20th century, particularly regarding the development of the drum kit. But he made history in 1927 as the first kit drummer ever to record using a bass drum pedal. His drum method was published in 1938 and immediately became the standard text. He is also credited with inventing the rim shot on the snare drum.
Krupa in the 1930s prominently featured Slingerland drums. At Krupa’s urging, Slingerland developed tom-toms with tuneable top and bottom heads, which immediately became important elements of virtually every drummer’s set-up. Krupa also developed and popularised many of the cymbal techniques that became standards. His collaboration with Armand Zildjian of the Avedis Zildjian Company developed the hi-hat stand and standardized the names and uses of the ride cymbal, the crash cymbal, the splash cymbal, the pang cymbal and the swish cymbal.
The British techno-rock group Apollo 440 had a hit with “Krupa” which featured the sampled phrase from the movie Taxi Driver; “Now back to Gene Krupa’s syncopated style.” The song itself is an electronic dance track written in the style of Gene Krupa, giving the impression of Krupa’s style in the form of a 1990s dance track, blending his musical idioms with a modern song using samples and synthesised basslines.
Krupa was featured in the 1946 Warner Bros. cartoon Book Revue in which a rotoscoped version of Krupa’s drumming is used in an impromptu jam session.
1972 – Clive Davis signs a young band called Aerosmith to CBS Records after seeing them play Max’s Kansas City in New York. They receive $125,000 for their services.
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