Tag Archives: pianist

On December 4 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

Christmas Countdown

• 1660 ~ André Campra, French composer

• 1667 ~ Michel Pignolet De Monteclair, French composer

• 1861 ~ Lillian Russell (Helen Louise Leonard), Singer, actress, burlesque

• 1879 ~ Sir Herbert Hamilton Harty, Irish composer, conductor, pianist and organist

• 1915 ~ Eddie Heywood, Jr., Pianist, composer

• 1927 ~ Duke Ellington’s big band opened the famed Cotton Club in Harlem. It was the first appearance of the Duke’s new and larger group. He played the club until 1932.

For part 2:

• 1934 ~ Ethel Merman recorded I Get a Kick Out of You, from Cole Porter’s musical, Anything Goes. She was backed by the Johnny Green Orchestra. The tune was recorded for Brunswick Records.

• 1934 ~ Wink (Winston Conrad) Martindale, TV host, singer

• 1938 ~ Yvonne Minton, Australian mezzo-soprano

• 1940 ~ John Cale, Bass, keyboard, viola, singer with The Velvet Underground

• 1942 ~ Bob Mosley, Bass with Moby Grape

• 1942 ~ Chris Hillman, Guitar, bass, mandolin with The Byrds

• 1944 ~ Dennis Wilson, American rock-and-roll singer and drummer

• 1948 ~ Southside Johnny (Lyon), Singer with Southside Johnny and The Asbury Dukes

• 1965 ~ Composer, lyricist, and singer, Jacques Brel made his American debut in concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Brel composed Jackie, You’re Not Alone, If You Go Away and more.

• 1972 ~ Billy Paul from Philadelphia received a gold record for his smash hit, Me and Mrs. Jones.

• 1976 ~ Baron (Edward) Benjamin Britten (of Aldeburgh) died in Aldeburgh. He was a British composer, conductor, and pianist.
More information about Britten

• 2002 ~ Emmy-nominated pianist George Gaffney, who accompanied such musicians as Peggy Lee, Engelbert Humperdink and Sarah Vaughan, died. He was 62. Born in New York City, Gaffney began studying the piano at age 10 but switched to the trombone. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1958 to 1961, Gaffney returned to New York, where he played piano and began arranging and accompanying singers. Gaffney moved to the Chicago area in the mid-1960s and was musical director of the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wis., where he first met Vaughan. Gaffney came to California in the early 1970s and found work as a studio musician and accompanist. He worked on a number of television programs, including the TV series “Moonlighting,” and was nominated for an Emmy. From 1980 to 1990, he was Vaughan’s accompanist and musical director. He moved to Las Vegas in 1994 and worked as Humperdink’s musical director. In recent years, he also orchestrated tunes for Rita Moreno.

• 2002 ~ Mary Hansen, guitarist and vocalist with the ’90s alternative band Stereolab died. She was 36. Hansen, from Maryborough in Queensland, Australia, died in a cycling accident in London, The Independent newspaper reported Friday. Details of the accident were not available. Band spokesman Mick Houghton was quoted by The Independent as saying a truck might have backed into her, “but I really don’t know much more than that.” Hansen joined the band in 1992, two years after it was formed by Tim Gane, formerly of the band McCarthy, and his girlfriend Laetitia Sadier. Among hundreds of messages posted on the band Web site, one from a fan who identified himself as Louis called Hansen “the soul” of the band. Hansen, who played several instruments, first appeared on 1992’s LoFi single and all subsequent releases, including 1994’s Mars Audiac Quintet and 1996’s Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Stereolab had been working on a new album, expected to be released next year.

• 2003 ~ Barry Morell, a tenor who played leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera and internationally for more than two decades, died of esophageal cancer. He was 75. Morell began his career as a baritone, until he sought the guidance of former Metropolitan Opera baritone Giuseppe Danise, who told him he should be a tenor. He was best known for performing the operas of Puccini. He made his debut as Pinkerton in “Madame Butterfly” in 1955 with the New York City Center Opera Company. In 1958, he made his Met debut in the same role. He appeared in Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna and other opera houses in Europe, South America and across the United States. Among his more than 20 roles during 257 performances at the Met were Rodolfo in “La Boheme,” Enzo in “La Gioconda” and the title roles of “Don Carlo”and “Faust”.

2019 Christmas Countdown: Angels We Have Heard On High

Posted by MaryO on

 

Angels We Have Heard On High

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains
CHORUS:
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song? ChorusCome to Bethlehem and see
Him Whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King. ChorusSee Him in a manger laid
Jesus Lord of heaven and earth;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
With us sing our Savior’s birth. Chorus

This is a traditional French carol (Les Anges dans nos Campagnes) that was translated into English by Bishop James Chadwick.

This carol commemorates the story of the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke, in which shepherds outside Bethlehem encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child.

In 2009, Andrea Bocelli and David Foster collaborated to produce a Christmas album with a number of other music legends. This is “Angels We Have Heard on High” with choir and orchestra.

The Piano Guys, Peter Hollens, David Archuleta, and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir get together to sing “Angels We Have Heard On High”

On December 2 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

Christmas Countdown: Joy To The World

• 1774 ~ Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music.

• 1856 ~ Robert Kajanus, Finnish conductor and composer

• 1899 ~ Sir John Barbirolli, British conductor and cellist

• 1914 ~ Eddie Sauter, Drummer, trumpeter, composer, orchestra leader of the Sauter- Finegan Orchestra, arranger for Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw

• 1916 ~ Charlie Ventura, Tenor sax, played with Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, band leader

• 1917 ~ Sylvia Syms, Singer, ‘world’s greatest saloon singer’

• 1918 ~ Milton DeLugg, Bandleader on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; Milton DeLugg and His Orchestra: Abe Burrows’ Almanac, The Chuck Barris Rah Rah Show, Dagmar’s Canteen, Doodles Weaver, The Gong Show, Judge for Yourself, Your Hit Parade; played accordion in The Milton DeLugg Quartet and songwriter

• 1928 ~ Jörg Demus, Austrian pianist

• 1934 ~ Billy Paul (Paul Williams), Singer

• 1941 ~ Tom McGuinness, Bass, guitar with Manfred Mann; McGuinness Flint; and Blues Band

• 1942 ~ Ted Bluechel, Jr., Singer, drummer with The Association

• 1944 ~ Eric Bloom, Singer, guitarist

• 1945 ~ John Densmore, Musician with The Doors

• 1950 ~ Dino Lipatti, classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short from causes related to Hodgkin’s disease, died at the age of 33

• 1952 ~ Michael McDonald, Singer, songwriter, keyboard with The Doobie Brothers

• 1960 ~ Rick Savage, Bass with Def Leppard

• 1972 ~ Motown’s Temptations reached the #1 spot on the top 40 charts with Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone. It was the fourth #1 hit for the Temptations, joining My Girl, I Can’t Get Next to You and Just My Imagination.

• 1981 Hershy Kay, composer, died at the age of 62. Union Jack is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine to traditional British tunes, hornpipe melodies and music-hall songs, ca. 1890–1914, adapted by Hershy Kay. The premiere took place on 13 May 1976, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, to honor British heritage in the United States its bicentennial with costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, original lighting by Ronald Bates and current lighting by Mark Stanley. At the finale, the ensemble spells out “God Save the Queen” in semaphore code and the Union Jack unfurls. Principal dancer Jock Soto included an excerpt from Union Jack in his farewell performance in June 2005.

On November 30 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

Saint Andrew’s Day  

.1634 ~ Andres de Sola, Organist and composer

. 1813 ~ Charles-Henri Valentin Alkan, Composer

. 1859 ~ Sergei Mikhailovich Liapunov, Composer and pianist

. 1915 ~ “Brownie” McGee, American jazz singer and guitarist

. 1931 ~ Thurman ‘Teddy’ Wilburn, Singer with Wilburn Brothers, Grand Ole Opry

. 1932 ~ Bob Moore, Instrumentalist with Moby Grape

. 1924 ~ Allan Sherman, American parody singer and songwriter (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah)

. 1935 ~ Jack Reno, Country singer

. 1937 ~ (Noel) Paul Stookey, American folk singer, songwriter and guitarist, Peter, Paul and Mary

. 1939 ~ Harry James and his big band recorded Concerto for Trumpet on Columbia 78s.

. 1940 ~ Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married. Lucy filed for divorce the day after their final TV show was filmed in 1960.

. 1943 ~ Nat ‘King’ Cole and his trio recorded Straighten Up and Fly Right on Capitol Records. It was the first recording for the King Cole trio.

. 1943 ~ Leo Lyons, Bass with the Jaybirds

. 1944 ~ Rob Grill, Singer with The Grass Roots

. 1944 ~ Luther Ingram, Singer

. 1945 ~ Radu Lupu, Rumanian pianist

. 1945 ~ Roger Glover, Bass with these groups: Episode Six, Rainbow, Deep Purple

. 1952 ~ Mandy Patinkin, American actor and singer

. 1953 ~ Shuggie (Johnny) Otis, Jr., Guitarist, bass, harmonica and keyboards

. 1954 ~ George McArdle, Bass guitarist with Little River Band

. 1954 ~ June Pointer, Singer with The Pointer Sisters

. 1955 ~ Billy Idol (Broad), Guitarist, singer, songwriter

. 1957 ~ John Aston, Guitarist with these groups: Photons, Psychedelic Furs

. 1957 ~ Richard Barbieri, Drummer with Japan, composer

. 1968 ~ Diana Ross and The Supremes hit the #1 spot on the music charts with Love Child. The somewhat controversial tune (for the times) stayed at the top for two weeks.

. 1971 ~ ABC-TV presented Brian’s Song as the ABC Movie of the Week. The touching story was about Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo and his friendship with Gayle Sayers, who watched Brian die a tragic death. The theme song, Brian’s Song, was performed by Michel Legrand.

. 1974 ~ The Eagles hit, Best of My Love, was released. It would take until March 1, 1975 for it to reach the #1 spot on the top 40 charts.

. 1970 ~ Des’ree, Singer

. 1996 ~ Tiny Tim died performing Tiptoe Through the Tulips to an audience at a benefit in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He cut the song short, commenting to his wife, Miss Sue, that he felt ill. As he was making his way with Sue to her table, amidst the applause of his loyal fans, he collapsed, was taken to a Minneapolis hospital and died without regaining consciousness.

. 2017 ~ Jim Nabors, American comedian, actor and singer (Gomer Pyle, Back Home Again in Indiana), died from health complications at the age of 87

. 2019 ~ Mariss Jansons, one of today’s most respected and in-demand conductors, died t the age of 76.

Jansons had been suffering from heart disease and had canceled several concert appearances this year as a result. In October 2019, after a six-month hiatus, he returned to the podium with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

On November 28 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

 

OCMS 1632 ~ Jean-Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French composer
More information about Lully

OCMS 1829 ~ Anton Rubinstein, Russian composer and pianist.  He founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.
More information about Rubinstein

. 1895 ~ Joseé Iturbi, Musician, pianist, conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra

. 1915 ~ Dick Vance, Trumpeter

. 1929 ~ Berry Gordy, Jr., Founder of Motown Records

. 1934 ~ Ethel Ennis, Singer with Benny Goodman Orchestra

. 1939 ~ Gary Troxel, Singer with The Fleetwoods

. 1940 ~ Bruce Channel, Singer

OCMS 1943 ~ Randy (Randall Stuart) Newman, American pop-rock songwriter, singer and pianist
More information about Newman
Grammy winner

. 1945 ~ R.B. Greaves, Singer

. 1948 ~ Beeb Birtles, Guitarist with The Little River Band

. 1949 ~ Alexander Godunov, Ballet dancer, actor

. 1949 ~ Paul Shaffer, Bandleader on Late Show with David Letterman, comedian

. 1956 ~ Holding the #1 spot on the music charts: Guy Mitchell singing Singing the Blues. The song remained at the top of the Hit Parade for 10 weeks. Here’s a bit of trivia: Ray Conniff whistled the intro to Singing the Blues.

. 1966 ~ The New Vaudeville Band received a gold record for Winchester Cathedral this day.

. 1974 ~ John Lennon appeared in concert for the last time, at NYC’s Madison Square Garden. Lennon joined Elton John to sing Whatever Gets You Through the Night as well as I Saw Her Standing There.

On November 26 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

. 1789 ~ Thanksgiving was celebrated nationally for the first time in the United States.

. 1915 ~ Earl Wild, American composer and pianist (Caesar’s Hour, NBC Symphony 1942)

OCMS 1925 ~ Eugene Istomin, American pianist

. 1932 ~ Alan Stout, American composer

. 1933 ~ Robert Goulet (Stanley Applebaum), Singer, actor

. 1935 ~ Marian Mercer, Singer, actress

. 1938 ~ Ray Brown, Singer with The Four Freshmen

. 1938 ~ Tina Turner (Annie Bullock), American soul-rock singer, Grammy Award-winning Pop Singer of the Year, 1985; Ike Turner’s ex-wife

. 1940 ~ Xavier Cugat and his orchestra recorded Orchids in the Moonlight on the Columbia label.

. 1944 ~ Alan Henderson, Bass with Them

. 1946 ~ John McVie, Guitarist with Fleetwood Mac

. 1956 ~ Tommy Dorsey passed away at the age of 51. His records sold more than 110,000,000 copies.

. 1959 ~ Albert Ketèlbey, British composer (In a Monastery Garden), died at the age of 84

. 1963 ~ Amelita Galli-Curci passed away

. 1968 ~ Cream gave a farewell performance filmed by the BBC in London. The rock group played before a capacity crowd at Royal Albert Hall.

. 1969 ~ The Band received a gold record for the album, The Band.

. 1978 ~ Frank Rosolino passed away

. 1980 ~ “Wings Over America” premiered in New York City. The movie is about the first American tour of Paul McCartney and Wings.

. 2001 ~ Paul Hume, a music critic who once drew the ire of President Harry Truman after he panned his daughter’s recital, died of pneumonia at his home in Baltimore. Hume was 85. Hume worked for The Washington Post and built a reputation as one of the most learned critics in the nation. Classical music legends Vladimir Horowitz, Eugene Ormandy and Leonard Bernstein all held Hume in high esteem. Hume will always be remembered for his review of a recital by Truman’s daughter, Margaret, in 1950, in which he criticized her singing as flat. After reading the review, Truman wrote an angry, threatening letter to Hume. Truman’s remarks got him in hot water with the public, which felt he shouldn’t take time to joust with critics as the nation fought the Korean War. A Chicago native, Hume taught music history at Georgetown University from 1950 to 1977 and was a visiting professor at Yale University from 1975 to 1983. He wrote several books, including a study of Catholic church music and a biography of Giuseppe Verdi.

. 2003 ~ Meyer Kupferman, a prolific composer whose work ranged from contemporary classical music to opera, ballet and jazz, died. He was 77. Kupferman, a virtuoso clarinetist, taught composition and music theory at Sarah Lawrence College, where he was a staff member from 1951 to 1993. During his tenure there, he also served as chair of the music department and conducted the orchestra, chorus and chamber improvisation ensemble. In 1948 Kupferman wrote both his first piano concerto and opera. In all, he produced seven operas, 12 symphonies, nine ballets, seven string quartets, 10 concertos and hundreds of chamber works. His compositions have been performed and recorded worldwide. Kupferman also was commissioned by the Hudson Valley Philharmonic to write ‘FDR’ for the centennial of Franklin Roosevelt’s birth. The manuscript of the piece is now held by the Roosevelt Library. William Anderson, a family friend and a guitarist who performed Kupferman’s music, told the New York Times that Kupferman died of heart failure.

On November 24 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

.1848 ~ Lilli Lehmann, German soprano

OCMS 1868 ~ Scott Joplin, American ragtime composer and pianist
More information about Joplin

. 1934 ~ Alfred Schnittke, Soviet composer

. 1937 ~ Music from the Raymor Ballroom in Boston, Massachusetts was beamed coast to coast on NBC radio. The special guests during this broadcast were Glenn Miller and his orchestra.

. 1937 ~ Three lovely ladies, known as The Andrews Sisters, recorded Decca record number 1562 this day. It became one of their biggest hits: Bei Mir Bist Du Schön.

. 1950 ~ The musical comedy, Guys and Dolls, from the pen of Frank Loesser, opened at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City. The show ran for 1,200 performances.

. 1958 ~ Jackie Wilson’s Lonely Teardrops was released, as was a disk by Ritchie Valens featuring Donna on one side and La Bamba on the other.

. 1958 ~ Harold Jenkins, who changed his name to Conway Twitty, got his first #1 hit on this day. It’s Only Make Believe was the most popular song in the U.S. for one week.

. 1972 ~ A Friday night show that would compete head-to-head with NBC’s Midnight Special premiered. In Concert featured Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Blood Sweat and Tears, Seals and Crofts and Poco. Robert W. Morgan of KHJ, Los Angeles was the offstage announcer for the ABC-TV show that was staged before a live audience. In Concert was the creation of the guy who dreamed up the fictitious group The Archies and brought fame to The Monkees: rock promoter, Don Kirshner.

. 1973 ~ Following over two years of retirement, Frank Sinatra went back to work again with a TV special on NBC titled, “Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back”. Despite the fact that the show finished third in the ratings (in a three-show race), at least one critic called the program, “The best popular music special of the year.”

. 1976 ~ The Band, appearing at the Winterland in San Francisco, announced that this was to be the group’s last public performance.

. 1985 ~ Big Joe Turner passed away

. 1991 ~ Freddie Mercury, British singer-songwriter (Queen – We are Champions), died at the age of 45

. 1993 ~ Albert Collins, passed away

. 2003 ~ Teddy Wilburn, half of the country music duo the Wilburn Brothers, died. He was 71. Wilburn and his brother, Doyle, had 30 songs on the country charts from 1955 to 1972, including the hits Hurt Her Once for Me, Trouble’s Back in Town and Roll, Muddy River. Doyle Wilburn died of cancer in 1982. Teddy Wilburn was born in the Ozark Mountain community of Hardy, Ark. He and Doyle first performed publicly at ages 6 and 5, with the Wilburn Family band. After recording on Decca records as the Wilburn Brothers, Teddy and Doyle joined the Grand Ole Opry cast. Between 1963 and 1974, the Wilburn Brothers were hosts of one of country music’s first syndicated color TV shows. In 1972 they were nominated for the Country Music Association’s Vocal Group of the Year award.

On November 23 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

. 1585 ~ Thomas Tallis, English composer, died at the age of 80

. 1666 ~ Giuseppe Guarneri, Italian violin maker

OCMS 1876 ~ Manuel de Falla, Spanish composer and conductor
More information about de Falla

. 1889 ~ The first ‘Nickel-in-the-Slot’ (jukebox) was placed in service in the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco, California. Juke, at the time, was a slang word for a disorderly house, or house of ill repute. The unit, developed by Louis T. Glass, contained an Edison tinfoil phonograph with four listening tubes. There was a coin slot for each tube. 5 cents bought a few minutes of music. The contraption took in $1,000 in six months!

OCMS 1903 ~ Enrico Caruso, famed Italian tenor, made his debut in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. He sang in the role of the Duke in Rigoletto.
More information about Caruso

. 1920 ~ Herman Nieland, Dutch organist/pianist/composer

. 1924 ~ Vincent Lopez and some 40 jazz musicians presented a concert of upbeat music at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC.

. 1928 ~ Jerry Bock, American songwriter for the musical theater

OCMS 1933 ~ Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer and conductor
More information about Penderecki

. 1935 ~ Ethel Leginska became the first woman to write an opera and conduct it. Her original work, titled Gale, opened at the Chicago City Opera Company.

. 1938 ~ Bob Hope and Shirley Ross recorded a song for the film, The Big Broadcast of 1938. Thanks for the Memory became Decca record number 2219. It also became Hope’s theme song.

. 1955 ~ Ludovico Einaudi, Italian composer and pianist

. 1974 ~ Billy Swan reached the #1 spot on the singles charts for the first and only time. I Can Help was the most popular song in the U.S. for two weeks.

On November 22 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

. 1710 ~ Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, composer, son of J.S. Bach

. 1880 ~ Lillian Russell made her vaudeville debut, in New York City.

. 1899 ~ Hoagy (Hoagland Howard) Carmichael, American jazz pianist and songwriter, singer, bandleader, attorney

. 1909 ~ Helen Hayes appeared for the first time on the New York stage. She was a member of the cast of In Old Dutch, which opened at the Herald Square Theatre.

OCMS 1913 ~ Lord Benjamin Britten, British composer
Read quotes by and about Britten
More information about Britten
 Grammy winner

. 1925 ~ Gunther Schuller, American composer, conductor, French-horn player and educator

. 1938 ~ Bunny Berigan and his orchestra recorded Jelly Roll Blues on Victor Records. The tune became a standard for the band.

. 1943 ~ Floyd Sneed, Drummer with Three Dog Night

. 1946 ~ Aston Barrett, Musician with ‘Family Man’, bass with Bob Marley & The Wailers

. 1949 ~ Steve ‘Miami’ Van Zandt, Singer, songwriter, guitar

. 1950 ~ Tina (Martina) Weymouth, Bass with Talking Heads

. 1953 ~ Craig Hundley, Pianist with the Craig Hundley Trio

. 1955 ~ RCA paid the unheard of sum of $25,000 to Sam Phillips of Memphis, TN for the rights to the music of a truck driver from Tupelo, Mississippi: Elvis Presley. Thanks to negotiations with Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, RCA tossed in a $5,000 bonus as well, for a pink Cadillac for Elvis’ mother.

. 1957 ~ The Miles Davis Quintet debuted with a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall in New York.

. 1965 ~ The production of Man of LaMancha, including the classic The Impossible Dream, opened in New York City for the first of 2,328 performances.

 

. 1975 ~ Dr. Zhivago appeared on TV for the first time. The production, including Somewhere My Love, had earned $93 million from theater tickets over ten years. NBC paid $4 million for the broadcast rights.

. 1977 ~ Tony Orlando returned to the concert stage after a self-imposed, three-month retirement following the suicide death of his good friend, Freddie Prinze. Orlando appeared in concert in San Carlos, California.

. 2001 ~ Norman Granz, the impresario who helped make jazz more accessible to the public while making the music business fairer to black performers, died in Geneva, Switzerland, of complications from cancer. He was 83. Granz owned four labels – Clef, Norgran, Verve and Pablo – and at one time or another recorded most of the major names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Oscar Peterson. Many historians credit him with bringing top jazz performers in integrated bands into venues across the country through a series called Jazz at the Philharmonic. Granz’s efforts also helped end a system in which white performers generally earned far more than blacks. He insisted on equality in pay, dining and accommodations for his musicians. In 1947, he told Down Beat magazine that he lost $100,000, then a sizable sum, by turning down bookings in segregated concert halls.

On November 21 ~ in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

• 1695 ~ Henry Purcell, English composer (Indian Queen), died at the age of 36

. 1710 ~ Bernardo Pasquini died.  He was an Italian composer of operas, oratorios, cantatas and keyboard music. A renowned virtuoso keyboard player in his day, he was one of the most important Italian composers for harpsichord between Girolamo Frescobaldi and Domenico Scarlatti, having also made substantial contributions to the opera and oratorio.

. 1877 ~ Thomas A. Edison, who really enjoyed the jazz he heard coming from his newest invention, told those gathered that he just invented the ‘talking machine’ (phonograph). On February 19, 1878, Edison received a patent for the device.

. 1904 ~ Coleman Hawkins, American jazz tenor saxophonist, solo with the Fletcher Henderson band, jazz bandleader

• 1912 ~ Eleanor Powell, American actress and tap dancer (Born to Dance, Born to Dance)

. 1931 ~ Malcolm Williamson, Australian composer

. 1933 ~ Jean Shepard, Country singer

. 1934 ~ Cole Porter’s Anything Goes opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York City. The show ran for 420 performances.

. 1936 ~ James DePreist, Orchestra leader with the Oregon Symphony

OCMS 1937 ~ Following Carnegie Hall performances in both 1906 and 1919, Arthur Rubinstein presented another historic and highly acclaimed performance at the arts center this day.
More information about Rubinstein

• 1938 ~ Leopold Godowsky, pianist/composer, died at the age of 68

. 1940 ~ Dr. John (‘Mac’ Malcolm John Rebennack), Organ, guitar, singer, songwriter

. 1940 ~ Natalia Makarova, Ballerina with the Kirov Ballet (now Saint Petersburg Ballet) from 1959 until 1970

. 1944 ~ Happy trails to you, until we meet again…. The Roy Rogers Show was first heard on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Singing along with Roy (‘The King of the Cowboys’), were the Whippoorwills and The Sons of the Pioneers.

. 1944 ~ I’m Beginning to See the Light, the song that would become the theme song for Harry James and his orchestra, was recorded this day. The song featured the lovely voice of Kitty Kallen (Little Things Mean a Lot).

. 1948 ~ Lonnie (LeRoy) Jordan, Keyboards, singer

. 1950 ~ Livingston Taylor, American folk singer, songwriter and guitarist, brother of singer James Taylor

. 1952 ~ Lorna Luft, Singer, actress, daughter of singer-actress Judy Garland and producer Sid Luft; sister of singer-actress Liza Minnelli

. 1955 ~ The first lady of the American stage, Helen Hayes, was honored for her many remarkable years in show business, as the Fulton Theatre in New York City was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre.

. 1959 ~ Following his firing from WABC Radio in New York the day before, Alan Freed refused “on principle” to sign a statement that he never received money or gifts (payola) for plugging records. Incidentally, few may remember, but Freed left WABC while he was on the air. He was replaced in mid~record by Fred Robbins, who later became a nationally~known entertainment reporter for Mutual Radio.

. 1962 ~ Leonard Bernstein broadcast his Young People’s Concert “Sound of a Hall” from the New York Philharmonic’s new home at Lincoln Center (now David Geffen Hall). He spoke about the science of sound; acoustics, vibration, sound waves, echo and reverberation. ÒWell, the best test of dynamic range I can think of is that great piece of fireworks – Tchaikovsky’s Overture 1812, because it begins as softly as possible with only 6 solo strings, and runs the whole dynamic range to a full orchestra, plus at the end, an extra brass band…plus the deafening roar of cannon plus the jangle of church bells…” We share with you this excerpt of Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic performing the 1812 Overture.

. 1981 ~ Olivia Newton-John started the first of 10 weeks at the top of the pop music charts when Physical became the music world’s top tune.

. 1990 ~ Instrument lovers have paid some pretty awesome prices for violins made by Antonio Stradivari. But a red Strad owned by the family of composer Felix Mendelssohn sold on this day for an all-time high of $1,700,00.

. 2001 ~ Ralph Burns, who won Academy Awards, an Emmy and a Tony as a music arranger after making a name for himself in jazz as a piano player in the Woody Herman band, died at the age of 79. Burns collected his first Academy Award for adapting the musical score of the 1972 movie “Cabaret.” He won another Oscar for adapting the musical score for “All That Jazz,” an Emmy for television’s “Baryshnikov on Broadway” and a Tony in 1999 for the Broadway musical “Fosse.” His other film credits included “Lenny,” “In The Mood,” “Urban Cowboy,” “Annie,” “My Favorite Year” and “The Muppets Take Manhattan.” He also collaborated with Jule Styne on “Funny Girl” and Richard Rodgers on “No Strings.” The Massachusetts native, who took up piano as a child, was playing in dance bands in Boston when he was 12, graduating to jazz orchestras by his teens. He worked with Herman band’s for 15 years as both a writer and piano player, composing some of the group’s biggest hits. Among them were “Apple Honey,” “Bijou” and the three-part “Summer Sequence.” “Early Autumn,” written later as a fourth movement for “Summer Sequence,” became a hit with singers after Johnny Mercer supplied words for it. Later, Burns worked in the studio with such popular singers as Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole.

. 2003 ~ Teddy Randazzo, co-author of more than 600 songs for acts including The Temptations and Frank Sinatra, died at the age of 68. With co-author Bobby Weinstein and others, Randazzo wrote hits such as Goin’ Out of My Head, Hurt So Bad and It’s Gonna Take a Miracle for acts such as Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Lettermen, Linda Ronstadt, The Temptations and Sinatra. Randazzo began his career at age 15 as lead singer of the group The Three Chuckles. The group’s first hit, Runaround, rose to No. 20 on the Billboard charts and sold more than 1 million copies. Randazzo started a solo career in 1957 and found modest success over the next seven years before meeting Weinstein. The duo’s songs have been recorded by more than 350 artists, including Gloria Gaynor, Queen Latifah and Luther Vandross. They parted ways in 1970 and Weinstein became an executive for Broadcast Music Inc. and Randazzo became a producer for Motown Records.