This 10-minute video documentary by Bret Primack (Jazz Video Guy) recounts the first time Washington DC based pianist Billy Taylor worked with tenor sax legend Ben Webster in NYC. Webster was known for his distinctive breathy lip-vibrato, especially evident on ballads.
In 1994, Billy Taylor was appointed to the position of artistic adviser on jazz for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where his knowledge, expertise and influence are still in demand. In 1997, he was responsible for the launching of the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, where free jazz concerts are often featured.
Showing posts with label Billy Taylor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Billy Taylor. Show all posts
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
I Got Rhythm
Performed by pianists Billy Taylor & Ramsey Lewis
(video excerpt from Billy Taylor’s show Jazz Counterpoint)
Everyone would want to play piano if it could be this much fun!
"I Got Rhythm" was composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin in 1928 (published 1930), and became a widely-known jazz standard. It comes from the stage musical Girl Crazy, which yielded another hit song, "Embraceable You." Ethel Merman sang the song in the original Broadway production of the show. I Got Rhythm is iconic of the Gershwins, of swing, and of the 1920s.
Trivia: I Got Rhythm was originally published in the unusual key of D-flat major.
(video excerpt from Billy Taylor’s show Jazz Counterpoint)
Everyone would want to play piano if it could be this much fun!
"I Got Rhythm" was composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin in 1928 (published 1930), and became a widely-known jazz standard. It comes from the stage musical Girl Crazy, which yielded another hit song, "Embraceable You." Ethel Merman sang the song in the original Broadway production of the show. I Got Rhythm is iconic of the Gershwins, of swing, and of the 1920s.
Trivia: I Got Rhythm was originally published in the unusual key of D-flat major.
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