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HammondCast 33 HammondCast 33 for KYOU/KYCY 1550 AM “Jon Hammond’s Afternoon Slide” (San Francisco) from Jon Hammond in Hamburg Germany..still snow on the ground here. Live radio show from Jazzhaus Radio concert with Hamburg musicians SANDRA HEMPEL-guitar, FRANK DELLE-t.sax, HEINZ LICHIUS-drms., also news about Minsk Belarus and dedication of Jon’s song “Soon I Will Be Free”, live “Lydia’s Tune”, Oakland A’s announcement of partnership with KYCY/KYOU 1550 AM and story of SAUL SALSAKOVITCH and “Czechoslovakian Salsa Song” live in MUSIC CLUB LIVE-Hamburg Germany. Jon Hammond is a member of Musicians Union Local 802/Local 6 & ASCAP Composer/Publisher http://www.HammondCast.com
Happy Halloween from Jon Hammond Trick or Treat!
Bassist Bob Cranshaw looking up to Dr. Billy Taylor (R.I.P.)
July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010
at Local 802 Musicians Union – Jon Hammond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Taylor
Billy Taylor was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator.
Billy was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and since 1994, he was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.[3][4]
Taylor was a jazz activist. He sat on the Honorary Founders Board of The Jazz Foundation of America. In 1989, Billy Taylor, Ann Ruckert, Herb Storfer and Phoebe Jacobs started The Jazz Foundation to save the homes and the lives of America’s elderly jazz and blues musicians, later including musicians that survived Hurricane Katrina.[5]
Billy Taylor was also one of the foremost jazz educators. He lectured in colleges, served on panels and travelled worldwide as a jazz ambassador. Critic Leonard Feather once said, “It is almost indisputable that Dr. Billy Taylor is the world’s foremost spokesman for jazz
Taylor was born in Greenville, North Carolina but moved to Washington, D.C. when he was five. He grew up in a musical family and learned to play different instruments as a child, including guitar, drums and saxophone. But he was most successful at the piano and took classical piano lessons with Henry Grant, the same teacher that had educated Duke Ellington a generation earlier. He made his first professional appearance playing keyboard at the age of 13 and the compensation was one dollar.[6] Taylor attended Dunbar High School, America’s first high school for African American students. He went to Virginia State College and majored in sociology. Pianist Dr. Undine Smith Moore noticed young Taylor’s talent in piano and he changed his major to music, graduating with a degree in music in 1942.[6]
Taylor set out to New York City after graduation and started playing piano professionally from 1944, first with Ben Webster’s Quartet on New York’s 52nd Street. The same night he joined Webster’s Quartet, he met Art Tatum, who became his mentor. Among other musicians he worked with, he played with Machito’s mambo band, when he developed a love for Latin music. After an eight-month tour with the Don Redman Orchestra in Europe, Taylor stayed there with his wife Theodora and worked in Paris and Holland. Taylor returned to New York later that year and cooperated with Bob Wyatt and Sylvia Syms at the Royal Roost jazz club and Billie Holiday in a successful show called Holiday on Broadway. A year later, he became the house pianist at Birdland and performed with many of the greatest jazz talents in history, including Charlie Parker, J.J. Johnson, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.[6] He played at Birdland longer than any other pianist in the history of the club. In 1949, Taylor published his first book, a textbook about bebop piano styles.
[edit]Mid-career
He composed one of the his most famous tunes in 1952 “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free”, and subsequently achieving more popularity with Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Nina Simone covered the song in her 1967 album Silk and Soul. It is widely known in the UK as a piano instrumental version, used for BBC Television’s Film programme. Solomon Burke, Derek Trucks, The Lighthouse Family, Levon Helm and Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra have also recorded versions.
He continued dozens of the recordings in the 1950s and 1960s, notably the album he made with the Cuban percussionist Candido Camero titled Billy Taylor Trio with Candido, My Fair Lady Loves Jazz, Cross Section and Taylor Made Jazz.
His broadcast career also thrived. In 1961, Taylor founded New York’s Jazzmobile, which provides arts education program of the highest quality via workshops, master classes, lecture demonstrations, arts enrichment programs, outdoor summer mobile concerts, special indoor concerts and special projects.[7] In 1958, he became the Musical Director of NBC’s The Subject is Jazz, the first ever television series focusing on jazz. The 13-part series was produced by the new National Educational Television Network (NET) and hosted guests including Duke Elington, Aaron Copland, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Jimmy Rushing and Langston Hughes. He also worked as a DJ and program director on radio station WNEW in New York in the 1960s. During the 1960s, the Billy Taylor Trio was a regular feature of the Hickory House on West 55th street in Manhattan. From 1969 to 1972, Taylor served as the music director forThe David Frost Show and was the first African American to lead a talk show band. Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Buddy Rich were just a few of the jazz musicians who played on the show. In 1981, Jazzmobile produced a Jazz special for the National Public Radio, and for which the program received the Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting Programs. Jazzmobile’s 1990 Tribute Concert to Dr. Taylor at Avery Fisher Hall, part of the JVC Jazz Festival, featured Nancy Wilson, Ahmad Jamal Trio and Terence Blanchard Quintet.
[edit]Later career
In 1981, after being profiled by CBS News Sunday Morning, he was hired as an on-air correspondent and then conducted more than 250 interviews with musicians. He received an Emmy Award for his segment on the multi-talented Quincy Jones.
In 1989, Taylor formed his own “Taylor Made” record label to document his own music. You Tempt Me (1996) is a strong outing by his 1985 trio (with Victor Gaskin and drummer Curtis Boyd) that includes a rendition of Duke Ellington’s “Take the “A” Train”. White Nights (1991) has Taylor, Gaskin, and drummer Bobby Thomas performing live from Leningrad in the Soviet Union, then came Solo (1992), and Jazzmobile Allstars (1992). In 1997, he received New York state governor’s art award.
Taylor suffered from a 2002 stroke, which affected his right hand, but he continued to perform almost until his death. He died after a heart attack on December 28, 2010 in Manhattan, at age of 89. His legacy was honored in a Harlem memorial service on Jan.11, 2011, featuring performances by Taylor’s final working trio, bassist Chip Jackson and drummer Winard Harper, along with longtime Taylor associates Jimmy Owens, Frank Wess, Geri Allen, Christian Sands and vocalist Cassandra Wilson. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Theodora Castion Taylor; a daughter, Kim Taylor-Thompson; and a granddaughter. His son, artist Duane Taylor, died in 1988.[8]
[edit]Legacy
Taylor appeared on hundreds of albums and composed more than 300 songs during his career spanned over six decades. His 1963 song, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” dealt with civil rights issues and became the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. It was selected as “one of the greatest songs of the sixties” by the New York Times and was the theme music of the 1996 film “Ghosts of Mississippi”. His 1967 instrumental recording of the tune is widely known in the United Kingdom as the opening theme music for the long-running TV series The Film Programme, for many years hosted by Barry Norman.
Engaging and educating more audience and young people had been a central part of Taylor’s career. He holds the Wilbur D. Barrett Chair of Music at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale, and holds 23 honorary degrees. Besides publishing instructional books on jazz, he taught jazz course at Howard University, Long Island University, The Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he earned his Masters and Ph.D in 1975.
His extensive appearance in television series and jazz educational programs brought the music he loves to the masses at the grass roots level as well as more formal arenas. He’s sometimes more known as a television personality than a pianist. He was quoted saying in a 2007 article in the Post Magazine: “there’s no question that being an advocate eclipsed my reputation as a musician. It was my doing. I wanted to prove to people that jazz has an audience. I had to do that for me.” [2]
[edit]Awards and honors
With over twenty-three honorary doctoral degrees, Taylor was also the recipient of two Peabody Awards for Jazzmobile, NEA Jazz Masters Award (1998) an Emmy Award (1983) for carrying out over 250 interviews for “CBS News Sunday Morning”, a Grammy Award (2004)[9] and a host of prestigious and highly coveted prizes, such as the Down Beat magazine’s Lifetime Achievement award (1984), National Medal of Arts (1992), and the Tiffany Award (1991). He was also honored in 2001 with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award,[10] and election to the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education. He served as the artistic director for jazz at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he developed many critically acclaimed concert series including the Louis Armstrong Legacy series, and the annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival. In addition, he performed at the White House seven times and was one of only three jazz musicians to be appointed to the National Council of the Arts.
Taylor was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010.
As leader
1945: Billy Taylor Piano (Savoy)
1953: Billy Taylor Trio (Prestige)
1953-54: Cross Section (Prestige) – released 1956 (includes all tracks from Billy Taylor Plays for DJs)
1954: The Billy Taylor Trio with Candido (Prestige)
1954: Billy Taylor Trio at Town Hall (Prestige)
1955: A Touch of Taylor (Prestige)
1956: Evergreens (ABC-Paramout)
1956: Billy Taylor at the London House (ABC-Paramount)[12]
1957: Introduces Ira Sullivan (ABC-Paramount)
1957: My Fair Lady Loves Jazz (Impulse!)
1957: The Billy Taylor Touch (Atlantic)
1959: The New Billy Taylor Trio (Argo)
1959: Custom Taylored (SeSac)
1959: One For Fun (Atlantic)
1959: Billy Taylor with Four Flutes (Riverside) – with Frank Wess, Herbie Mann and Jerome Richardson
1959: Taylor Made Jazz (Argo)
1960: Billy Taylor Uptown (Riverside)
1960: Warming Up (Riverside)
1961: Interlude (Moodsville)
1962: Impromptu (Mercury)
1963: Right Here, Right Now (Capitol)
1965: Midnight Piano (Capitol)
1966: Easy Life (Surrey)
1968: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (Tower)
1969: A Sleeping Bee (Pausa MPS)
1970: Ok Billy (Bell)
1977: Jazz Live (Monmouth Evergreen)
1977: Live at Storyville (West 54 Records)
1981: With Joe Kennedy Where’ve You Been (Concord Jazz)
1985: You Tempt Me (Taylor-Made, 1989)
1988: White Nights And Jazz In Leningrad (Taylor-Made)
1989: Solo (Taylor-Made)
1989: Billy Taylor And The Jazzmobile All Stars (Taylor-Made)
1991: White Nights and Jazz in Leningrad (Taylor-Made)
1992: Dr. T with Gerry Mulligan (GRP)
1993: Live at MCG with Gerry Mulligan, Carl Allen, Chip Jackson
1993: It’s a Matter of Pride (GRP)
1995: Homage (GRP)
1997: The Music Keeps Us Young (Arkadia Jazz)
1999: Ten Fingers – One Voice Arkadia Jazz
1999: Taylor Made at the Kennedy Center with Dee Dee Bridgewater Kennedy Center Jazz
2001: Urban Griot (Soundspot)
2002: Live at AJE New York (Soundspot)
[edit]As sideman
With Arkadia Jazz All Stars
Thank You, Duke!
With Sal Salvador
Juicy Lucy (Bee Hive Records, 1978)
With Johnny Hartman
Once In Every Life (Bee Hive, 1980)
With Mundell Lowe
A Grand Night for Swinging (Riverside, 1957)
With Various Artists
Charlie Parker 10th Memorial Concert (Limelight Records, 1965)
Wynton Marsalis joking with George Avakian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Avakian at French Embassy just after Wynton received the Legion of Honor medal from French Ambassador Pierre Vimont *Video:
http://vimeo.com/7507685 by Jon Hammond
George Avakian (Armenian: Ջորջ Ավագյան; Russian: Геворк Авакян; born Armavir, Russian SFSR, March 15, 1919) is an American record producer and executive known particularly for his work with Columbia Records, and his production of albums by Miles Davis and other notable jazz musicians.
Avakian was born in Armavir, Russia, to Armenian parents. His younger brother was the photographer and filmmaker Aram Avakian (1926–1987). The elder Avakian attended Yale University, and became an avid collector and fan of jazz music. While still at Yale he was responsible for the first reissues Columbia put out around 1940, discovering some unissued Louis Armstrong masters from his Hot Five and Hot Seven period in the process. He later produced some of Armstrong’s most important albums of the traditional jazz revival era, including Louis Armstrong Plays W. C. Handy. His annotations were noted for the education they provided to their listeners. To expand on this concept, in 1946, Avakian started a course in jazz history at Columbia University.
His long tenure at Columbia Records culminated in his becoming responsible for the Popular Music and International divisions. During that time, Avakian introduced the LP record format created by Columbia engineers and produced the industry’s first 100 long-playing discs of popular music and jazz. He also produced the first live LP—Benny Goodman’s 1938 Carnegie Hall concert.
While at Columbia, Avakian signed and produced Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Mathis, Rita Reys, and Erroll Garner to the label, among others. In 1959 he was hired as one of the founding A&R managers for the newly-established Warner Bros. Records and also worked as a producer for RCA Victor. In 1960-61 he produced recordings by Bill Haley & His Comets for Warner Bros. Records. Additionally, he signed Bob Newhart, producing the first comedy album to win a Best Album Grammy Award. In 1962 he was responsible for organizing Benny Goodman’s successful tour of the USSR.
From about 1970 to 1974, he was the manager of Keith Jarrett; before this, he managed the Charles Lloyd Quartet of which Jarrett was a member. After this, he largely retired from the record business and bred racehorses. Avakian bred champion pacer Presidential Ball.
He is a founding officer of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (presenters of the Grammy Awards). His awards over the past years include:
2011 – Added to the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame as a Living Legend Giant of Jazz
2010 – National Endowments for the Arts AB Spellman Jazz Advocacy Award. The nations highest honor in Jazz for his work as a Producer, Manager, Critic, Jazz Historian and Educator.
2009 – The Trustees Lifetime Achievement Award (Grammy) from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences for contributions to the music industry worldwide.
2008 – France awarded the rank of Commandeur des Arts et Lettres in recognition of his significant contributions to the arts
2006 – Europe’s prestigious jazz award, the Django d’Or
2000 – A Lifetime Achievement award from Down Beat Magazine
1990 – The former Soviet Union’s highest decoration, the Order of Lenin
1984 – Knighthood from the Knights of Malta
Upon seeing the original cover of his album Miles Ahead, which featured a photo of a young white woman aboard a sailboat, Miles Davis is reported to have said: “Why’d you put that white bitch on there?” “Miles Davis Wikiquote Page”. The cover, which had been chosen by Avakian while he was working at Columbia, was subsequently changed.
Avakian is married to violinist Anahid Ajemian, and the two, together with Ajemian’s pianist sister Maro Ajemian, were crucial in helping classical composer Alan Hovhaness achieve his international breakthrough in the 1950s, through concert performances and through Avakian securing numerous LP recordings. The Avakians have three children: Maro, Anahid and Gregory.
with Wynton Marsalis and George Avakian at FACE (French American Cultural Exchange) – 972 Fifth Avenue New York City
HammondCast Jimdo – with Audio Video and Breaking HammondCast News: Jon’s Journal
http://hammondcast.jimdo.com/2012/10/31/hammondcast-radio-show-jon-s-journal-october-26-2012/
Mountain View California — Main Man Mick Brigden – Bill Graham Presents to the rescue!
Mick is directing the union stagehands at Shoreline Amphitheatre to put a protective canopy over my band in a private side party for Hewlett Packard, one of our sponsors for 14-year-annual event code named NOBB = New Orleans by The Bay Food and Music Festival.
Thanks Mick!
Jon Hammond – Boom Boom Room with Tony The Door Man
San Francisco California
with Jon Hammond and Tony the Door Man at John Lee’s Boom Boom Room San Francisco Fillmore and Geary Blvd.
Showmans Lounge — Jon Hammond – B3 organ, Cindy Blackman (now Blackman-Santana) drums, Gary Bartz – soprano sax, Charley Epps – guitar, Wallace Roney trumpet
AUDIO: http://archive.org/details/HammondCast_8
HammondCast 8 http://www.jonhammondband.com/music-15.html will take you from Moscow Russia to Harlem New York, beginning in Le Club in Moscow with Igor Butman, Eduard Zizak and Jon Hammond playing a favorite ballad-“Easy Living”, then to Showmans Lounge in Harlem with Cindy Blackman (drums), Wallace Roney (trumpet), Gary Bartz (sax). Also “Head Phone” with Marc Baum on tenor sax and guitarist Joe Berger’s solo from “Canonball ’99” from “Hammond’s Bolero” album introduced by Corey James of Red Jazz show for KYOU Radio 1550 AM on the dial in San Francisco and on the web. Next stop-Shanghai China! — with Cindy Blackman, Jon Hammond, Gary Bartz and Wallace Roney at Showmans Jazz
Jon Hammond Trio gig for EFA Medien Christmas Party in Hamburg – L to R: Kevin Mauder – tenor sax, Uwe Petersen – drums, Jon Hammond – organ
L to R: Kevin Mauder aka Kevin Saxophone, Uwe Petersen drums, Jon Hammond organ
Hey, where’d everybody go?
Jon Hammond – Times Square Walgreen’s
Steam train sighted near border of Czech Republic driving back to Germany from Prague
– Jon Hammond — at Cheb
Concert in front of San Francisco City Hall “Late Rent”
Jon Hammond and The Late Rent Session Men performing in front of San Francisco City Hall original composition “Late Rent” – Theme Song of The Jon Hammond Show, with Jon Hammond at his 1965 B3 organ along
with Barry Finnerty guitar, James Preston (of Sons of Champlin Band) drums,
Harvey Wainapel tenor sax, Steve Campos trumpet / flugelhorn
Youtube http://youtu.be/SJmZvw5kErU
As seen on The Jon Hammond Show cable TV program
Radio Program, Jazz, Funk, Blues, Hammond Organ, Cheb Czech Republic, Jon’s Journal,
San Francisco City Hall, Lunch Time Concert, Local 6 Musicians Union
HammondCast197
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