Roy Ayers Ubiquity
Roy Ayers's group.
Roy Ayers's group.
Joshua Bell is an internationally-acclaimed American violinist known for the versatility of his musical understanding as well as his technical skill. He has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras under such conductors as Charles Dutoit. A master of the classical repertoire, Bell has expanded his career to contemporary music and genres such as folk and jazz. He has won Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for his work with John Corgliano on The Red Violin.
Brian Blade (born 1970 in Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American jazz drummer and composer. Brian made his first appearances as a sideman with pianist Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, and continued to work as a sideman with other musicians commonly known as "young lions." As a leader, he has released three albums - Fellowship, Perceptual, and most recently, Season of Changes, his Verve Music Group debut. Season of Changes has received rave reviews and continues to grow in popularity.
As a virtuoso bassist, versatile composer, and acclaimed bandleader, Marc Johnson has been a major innovator on the jazz scene for the past two decades. Born in Nebraska in 1953, Johnson took up bass at the age of 16, having already studied piano and cello. While completing his formal education in the celebrated music program at the University of North Texas, at age 19, Johnson began performing professionally with the Fort Worth Symphony. In 1977, he was on the road with the Woody Herman Band.
The Blackbyrds was a rhythm and blues and jazz-funk fusion group, formed in Washington, D.C. in 1973. The group was led by trumpeter Donald Byrd and featured some of his Howard University students: Kevin Toney (keyboards), Keith Killgo (vocals, drums), Joe Hall (bass guitar), Allan Barnes (saxophone, clarinet), and Barney Perry (guitar). Orville Saunders (guitar), and Jay Jones (flute, saxophone) were later members of the group. They signed to Fantasy Records in 1973. They are best known for their 1975 hit "Walking in Rhythm", which received a Grammy nomination.
Born 27 May 1948, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Copland was a part of the vibrant music scene in Philadelphia as a saxophonist before going to New York where he met John Abercrombie and also played with Chico Hamilton, and others. He experimented with the electric alto but gradually became dissatisfied with the direction his music was taking and, leaving New York, quit playing the sax in order to study piano.
Lonnie Liston Smith, Jr. (born December 28, 1940 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with important free jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of albums widely regarded as classics in the fusion / Quiet Storm / smooth jazz and acid jazz genres. Lonnie was born into a musical family; his father was a member of Richmond Gospel music group The Harmonizing Four...
Read more about Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes on Last.fm.
A self-taught pianist from the age of 7, Dustin O'Halloran's personal histories give us some clue to the thickly-woven tapestries of his music: he has lived in LA (where he studied art at Santa Monica College and formed the much-adored Devics with Sara Lov), Italy (in the depths of rural Emilia Romagna) and Berlin. His arresting, heartbreaking music is as much an elegant exercise in nuance and grace as it is a pure, intuitive, personal expression – and here is where we see some explanation into Dustin's quiet rise to notoriety and his continued ascension.
Andrew Hill (born June 30, 1931 – April 20, 2007) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Hill first recorded as a sideman in 1955, but his reputation was made by his Blue Note recordings as leader from 1963 to 1969, which featured several other important post-bop musicians including Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, and Tony Williams, as well as two of John Gilmore's rare outings away from Sun Ra.
Alan Broadbent (born April 23, 1947 in Auckland, New Zealand), is a jazz pianist, arranger and composer most notable for his work with artists such as Woody Herman, Diane Schuur, Chet Baker, Irene Kral, Sheila Jordan, Charlie Haden, Warne Marsh, Bud Shank, and many others. He studied piano and music theory in his own country, but in the 1960s came to the US to study at the Berklee College of Music.