The Pianist, Bud Powell: The Father Of Jazz

He first started out on the piano when his parents bought one for his older brother. He then began to learn to play the instrument with lessons. He never finished high school, but kept studying music under Henry Cowell and Joseph Schillinger. (George, Encyclopedia) His compositions contain some of the most complex piano parts in jazz music. Only Gershwin could write and play his difficult compositions perfectly.

Charles Parker Jr. born on August 15, 1920 grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, he was known for his nickname “Bird” or ‘’Yard bird’’. He was one of the most influential people of the Bebop era, because of his iconic way of playing the saxophone. When he was a young boy he quit school to pursue his dreams in the music industry, in his early career he rejoined Jay McShann’s band where he made his first recording in the year 1940. In the year 1945 he made his debut with his own band playing alongside Dizzy Gillespie, both started to develop a new innovative style of playing music which was known as

During the time Dizzy was in a band with Charlie Parker, he wrote some of the greatest jazz tunes of his era,including Groovin’ High, A Night in Tunisia and Manteca, all songs which became jazz classics. Dizzy at one point in his life ran for president in 1964 and 1972, he told the Jets Magazine in 1971 that if he was elected, he would name the boxer Muhammad Ali Secretary of state and would name Duke Ellington as a ambassador to any country that he wanted to go to, but Dizzy was not elected both of the years that he ran. With his trumpet’s upturned golden bell - the result, Gillespie stated in his autobiography,of the dancers Stump and Stumpy accidentally falling onto it during a birthday party for his wife- and his goatee, horn rim glasses and beret, Gillespie became a symbol of both jazz and a rebellious, independent spirit during the 1940s and 50s. (One of Gillespie’s trumpets sold for $63,000 in 1995.) Dizzy Gillespie died of pancreatic cancer in 1993.

According to Lang Lang : 'I 'd Play Piano At 5am ' by Rosanna Greenstreet, the pressure from Mr. Lang made Lang Lang world-class musician outlier. Mr. Lang push his son to play the piano; he wanted better things for Lang Lang in life. Lang has become the biggest influence person to another pianist. His success took him to higher opportunities such as playing for President Barack Obama and getting listed in Times Magazine 's "100 Most Influential People in the World". His father did what he could for his son so he could become the number one classical pianist in China with long practices, working hard and moving away from home.

American pianist and song writer, Dave Brubeck is best known for his unconventional meters that contributed to his appeal as a Jazz musician. Brubeck 's style ranged from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother 's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills. His music has been known for unusual time signatures, and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities. Born in December of 1920, David Warren Brubeck was the youngest of three boys (Henry and Howard) born to cattle rancher, Peter Brubeck and piano teacher, Elizabeth Brubeck. Originally Brubeck did not intent to be come a musician like his older brothers, that had already begun down that road.

That following year, at the age of seven, Libeskind was considered a virtuoso as he picked up the piano, thus playing both the accordion and piano. At the age of 11, Libeskind moved to Israel with this family and began playing alongside a fellow child prodigy, who played violin, in Jerusalem. Libeskind continued

“Take The ‘A’ Train”- Duke Ellington, 1939 Today; I am going to write a little comment, about an old song, it has two variations, which is “Take the ‘A’ train,” according to (JASON PARKER • APR 3, 2014.))) It has written by Billy Strayhorn for the Duke Ellington Orchestra. This song signature for the Duke 's name tune. Ellington is considered feasibly the best composer and dance orchestra leader in the history of jazz, having passed his big band for half a century, touring the world constantly and turning out a body of work that holds no equal. In fact, many put Ellington in the same year as Beethoven and Mozart as a composer.

After playing this folk setting several times as a piano encore, he eventually had the score published. The piece broke composition sales records and paved the way for his popularity in the future. Chorale and Alleluia by Howard Hanson (October 28, 1896 – February 26, 1981) Howard Hanson is a well-known American music theorist, composer, conductor, and educator. He has composed many pieces and received the Pulitzer prize for his fourth symphony. Besides being an established composer and conductor, he was the director of the Eastman School of Music for over forty years.

Much of the credit for the sound he devised belonged to his top-notch supporting musicians such as saxophonists Maceo Parker, St. Clair Pinckney, and Pee Wee Ellis; guitarist Jimmy Nolen; backup singer and longtime loyal associate Bobby Byrd; and drummer Clyde Stubblefield. Amazingly, he turned the crisis to his advantage by recruiting a young Cincinnati outfit called the Pacemakers featuring guitarist Catfish Collins and bassist Bootsy Collins. Although they only stayed with him for about a year, they were crucial to Brown 's evolution into even harder funk, emphasizing the rhythm. In the early '70s, many of the most important members of Brown 's late- '60s band returned to the fold, to be billed as the J.B. 's, Brown continued to score heavily on the R&B charts throughout the first half of the '70s, the music becoming more elemental and beat-driven. At the same time, he was retreating from the white audience he had cultivated during the mid- to late '60s; records like "Make It Funky," "Hot Pants," "Get on the Good Foot," and "The Payback" were huge soul sellers.

I chose to attend the ISU Jazz Combos concert on Thursday, February 18th in the Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall. I chose to attend this particular concert because from fifth to tenth grade I played the alto saxophone, and was a part of a jazz band in middle school. Jazz band was my favorite thing about playing the saxophone, and I loved the occasional improvisation solo I would get to perform. Although I like jazz music, I never have attended a jazz concert other than my high school jazz band concerts. Attending a concert at Iowa State was new to me, but I was excited to get back into the “jazz” of things, and was overly pleased with the two different jazz bands that performed.