March 15, 2014 In Uncategorized

Blackbird

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Now and then I’ll share with you some song studies I’ve been working on.

“Bye Bye Blackbird” is a song published in 1926 by the American composer Ray Henderson and lyricist Mort Dixon. It is considered a popular standard and was first recorded by Gene Austin in 1926. It was the No. 16 song of 1926 according to Pop Culture Madness. John Coltrane won the 1981 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance Soloist for his rendition of the song.

Here some versions of the song 🙂

The first recording by Gene Austin (1926)
https://youtu.be/BJqO9uFzQOA

Leo Reisman another very early recording 🙂

Coltrane & Miles Davis
https://youtu.be/d-gCpZs80w8

Julie london & Don Bagley
https://youtu.be/2AreefiCrN8

From the musical Fosse “jazzhands”

Lisa Minelli in her show LIZA with a Z
https://youtu.be/aR-bzPHsSj0

The pop version of Paul Mc-Cartney

Dee Dee Bridgewater & Thad Jones

Nina Simone

Keith Jarrett trio
https://youtu.be/BQSWJpFLSM0

Toots Thielemans

Joe Cocker

March 1, 2014 In Uncategorized

Duke Ellington playing baseball

Screen Shot 2014-05-17 at 1.34.45 PMLast semester I took a class with Greg Hopkins about arranging for large ensemble. Earlier I have been writing about how fantastic of a musician and teacher Greg is – click here to read more about him 🙂 …

In the ‘writing for large ensemble’ – class we studied the music of Duke Ellington, his way of composing and arranging. I must say that I already was a big fan of his music, but now even more. What a legacy!

Noteworthy to mention is that the Smithsonian Institution in DC holds the Duke Ellington Archive/library with an enormous collection of original scores of Duke. And, you can visit this library by appointment! But there is a lot information on the website of the Smithsonian. Here something fun I stumbled upon 🙂

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Here you will find the website with video of Ellington playing baseball!!