Musician- Composers
WHAT IS SWING?
SWING music was developed around 1920 and became very popular from the mid-1930s until the advent of rock and roll. The name “swing” comes from its emphasis on the off-beat, or so-called weaker beat. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement.
The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as THE SWING ERA. (The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive.) - Wikipedia
BIG BANDS
With the development of new recording technologies, bands had the opportunity to grow in size. One of the first popular big bands was the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, a New York-based band that employed musicians like trumpeter Louis Armstrong as well as saxophonists Benny Carter and Coleman Hawkins.
In 1927, Duke Ellington’s orchestra became the house band at the Cotton Club in Harlem, increasing the wider public’s exposure to big band jazz music.
In the 1930s, as the United States reeled from the Great Depression, big band music became increasingly popular. Led by bandleaders like Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Chick Webb, the big band era thrived throughout the 1930s onward inspiring new popular swing dances like the jitterbug.
DUKE ELLINGTON (1899-1974) the legendary bandleader, was also a respected composer of classical and popular works. With groundbreaking hits such as "Sophisticated Lady," Ellington vividly communicated universal ideas, while inventing musical concepts that helped elevate jazz to a sophisticated art form.
HOAGY CARMICHAEL (1899–1981) was a songwriter, musician, actor, singer, and attorney. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, composing such classics as “Stardust” and “Skylark.”
ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM (1927–1994) was a Brazilian composer, pianist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered one of the great exponents of Brazilian music or bossa nova, With the help of Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, and Frank Sinatra, Brazilian music became a craze in America with“The Girl from Ipanema” as a favorite.
Bossa Nova began with a young group of artists and musicians in Rio de Janeiro, and, over the course of less than a decade, it spread throughout the world.
Origins: Bossa Nova began in the mid-1950s with guitarist João Gilberto, who developed a style of smooth, muted samba. Gilberto went on to collaborate with composer Antônio Carlos Jobim to bring the new style to prominence in Brazil. In 1959, Gilberto released Chega de Saudade, the first album to exclusively feature Bossa Nova.
Jazz influence: From the very beginning, Bossa Nova incorporated jazz chords and harmonies, which distinguished it from samba. Eventually, some samba musicians embraced harmonic complexity, and the term "jazz samba" became a bit of a catchall for both Bossa Nova and harmonically sophisticated samba.
Spread to the US: in the 1960s an American Bossa Nova craze took root, intertwining with the cool jazz movement. Americans including Herbie Mann, Charlie Byrd, Jim Hall, Paul Desmond, and even Frank Sinatra ran with the form. The Bonfá-penned "Manhã de Carnaval" became a major hit in the United States under the name "Black Orpheus."
Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema") is a Brazilian bossa nova and jazz song. It was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s and won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Portuguese lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes. English lyrics were written later by Norman Gimbel.
The Stan Getz recording featuring the vocal debut of Astrud Gilberto became an international hit. "The Girl from Ipanema" is believed to be the second most recorded pop song in history, after "Yesterday" by The Beatles.
Hoagy Carnichael played a major role in two classic movies,
“To Have and Have Not” (1944) and “Young Man With a Horn” (1950). The roles are similar - a laid-back jazz pianist (“Cricket” and “Smoke”) and friend of the main characters, Bogie and Bacall in ”To Have…” and trumpeter Kirk Douglas in “Young Man…” Carmichael was memorable in both films.
LAUREN BACALL
"How Little We Know"
Hoagy Carmichael (composer)
Scene from “To Have and Have Not” -
lyrics by Johnny Mercer
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DUKE ELLINGTON
“Take the A Train”
Duke Ellington and
Billy Strayhorn
NAT KING COLE
"Stardust"
Hoagy Carmichael-
Mitchel Parish
SINATRA AND JOBIM
"The Girl From Ipanema"
Antonio Carlos Jobim
ELLA FITZGERALD-DUKE ELLINGTON
“Satin Doll”
Ellington/Strayhorn-Mercer
NAT KING COLE
"The Nearness of You"
Hoagy Carmichael-
Ned Washington