Jazz Musicians

I was assigned to choose 8 jazz musicians for this assignment, look them up on the internet with some audio that that artist played and a short biography with some pictures. A choose as artists: Count Basie

Count Basie: Count Basie along with Duke Ellington was a leading figure of the swing era in jazz. Count Basie learned how to play piano young with is mother, and later moved to New York where he met another Harlem pianist, James P. Johnson. Before he was 20 years old he was already touring extensively on the Keith and TOBA vaudeville circuits solo pianist, accompanist and music director for blues singers. In 1929, Basie joined Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra which became known as one of the big leading bands of the swing era. In 1950 he disbanded from the group due to financial problems and for the next two years he led a six- to nine-piece group. Basie was one of the first to make tours in Europe and other countries. At the end of his career he sometimes had to perform in a wheel chair, and died shortly after. The site I used retraced the life of Basie in details with dates to every event, and was one of the few I found doing it.

Paul Desmond: Paul Desmond studied his clarinet skills at San Francisco State University, and played in a number of local groups before joining the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951. He continued his career playing in Brubeck’s group and he shared its success without receiving the recognition that was his due, and in 1975 recorded an album of duets. Paul appeared at festivals touring Europe, Australia and Japan, but finally settled in New York and formed his on group. Desmond was one of the most capable representatives of the "cool" tendency in alto saxophone jazz, he was know for having a lot of imagination.

Herbie Hancock: Herbie was born in a musical family and started playing piano at the age of seven, and four years later he was performing the first movement of a Mozart concerto in a symphony orchestra. By the time he graduated, Herbie was already performing in Chicago jazz clubs and later on was offered a first date as a leader in May 1962. He then joined a quintet in which he composed several tunes which have become jazz standards. From 1971 to 1973 Hancock led a sextet which combined elements of jazz, rock, and African and Indian music with electronic devices and instruments, which was one of the first uses of electric in jazz. Herbie kept using electrical instruments and critics wrote that he lost his touch music, but a couple years later he came out with the album Headhunters which marked the beginning of a commitment to more commercial types of music, particularly rock, funk, and disco, and contained the hit single Chameleon.

Art Blakey: Art Blakey received some piano lessons at school and by seventh grade he was playing music full time, leading a commercial band, but then switch to playing and aggressive style of drums. Art join a couple band before joining Eckstine in 1944 where he became associated with the modern-jazz movement. He spent more then a year in Africa learning about Islamic culture before coming back and forming a ban called the Jazz Messengers. The Jazz Messengers were the archetypal hard-bop group of the late 1950s, playing a driving, aggressive extension of bop with pronounced blues roots. Art Blakey made a world tour in 1971-72 with the giants of Jazz and frequently appeared as a soloist in festivals. Although Blakey discourages comparison of his own music with African drumming, he adopted several African devices after his visit in 1948-9, including rapping on the side of the drum and using his elbow on the tom-tom to alter the pitch. Blakey is a major figure in modern jazz and an important stylist in drums.

Miles Davis: Miles Davis was one of the most innovative musicians of the late 1940s through the 1960s. Davis learned trumpet at the ago of 13 and two years later he was already playing professionally. He them moved to New York to find his idol, Charlie Parker with whom he made some live appearances and recording sessions. Miles began to from his on groups until a heroin addiction interrupted his public career intermittently from mid-1949 to 1953, but he did continue to record with famous musicians. In 1955, Davis appeared in a Jazz festival with a tremendous improvisation which gave him a lot of publicity and he formed a quintet following that event. Until 1970 Davis went through a lot of musicians due to his irascible temperament and