Stetson Lifelong at Celebration opened the 2015 fall term with September 15 over 110 Stetson Lifelong members and their guests filled the Atrium of Stetson University Celebration for a History of Jazz Concert presented by Celebration Center for the Arts Inc. The music was performed by ten members of Jazz Meets Motown Inc a group of the best Central Florida jazz musicians for a ninety minute concert. They played to an enthusiastic hand-clapping, toe-tapping and multiple standing ovations audience.
The artists included Jazz Meets Motown Music Director --
Aton Joseph "TC"Castillo - a graduate of the Berklee College Of Music the Nation's finest Jazz school. "TC" is a world class Pianist/Keyboardist. He was Music Director for movie star
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When he retired his school dedicated the 2003/2004 school year a theme in his honor " Lets Be Frank" from a poem written by a fellow staff member to honor him. athree-time Grammy award winner, platinum and gold records holders and Celebration residents. He plays the flute, vibe harp and the saxophone. He played 25 with the Sound Of Blackness winning three Grammy's,, two Gold Records, a Platinum, 5 movie sound tracks, all of the music for Disney's "John Henry", the group was featured in Andrew LLoyd Weber's "Whistle Down The Wind'.He played with many jazz ensembles as well The Minnesota Oschestra, the Cleveland Philharmonic amd The Minnesota Chamber Symphony. He has written the music for many theater productions and a television documentary "Please Help me, I want an …show more content…
For over 30 has been featured in various community groups, jazz bands and symphonies in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Kansas City and Orlando. With a degree in Music Education, his many talents include music technology, arranging,and trumpet peformance. He has received recognition for many performances with brass groups at national and international competitions. He has played with the Brass Band of Central Florida, Celebration Community Chorus, Ellen Marsh Orchestra, Arkansas Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, Baton Rouge Theater Orchestra, LSU Jazz Ensemble, LSU jazz Quartet, University of Central Florida Jazz Ensemble and many others. Performed with Al Martino, Brenda Lee, Phyllis Diller and Gil Evans.
Felix Guerra - This is an outstanding jazz drummer from Venezuela. He has played with Tony Escapa Trio, the Flunky Blues Messiashs, the Rico Monaco Band, Steve Moore Jazz Band and the Soundtable Collectors.
Jaelin Funk - a young dynamic guitarist graduated high school winning the Louis Armstrong Jazz award as the best jazz musician, did a summer program with the Juliard School of Music. He performs with Penquin
John Birks, also known as “Dizzy Gillespie” was born October 21,1917. He grew up in Cheraw, South Carolina. Gillespie was the youngest of his nine siblings. Gillespie’s father was a bandleader as well as a bricklayer. His father died when he was only ten years of age. Several years after his father passed away Dizzy Gillespie became a self-taught trombone and trumpet player (“David”). His skills increased so much over time that he later learned how to play the cornet. Gillespie had a special talent for playing these instruments. He was enrolled into the Laurinburg Institute of North Carolina in 1932. The school told him that they wanted him to play for their band. During his time at the school, he practiced his instruments mostly by himself.
Anderson had a very strong musical education. At age eleven he began piano lessons and music studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Cambridge. At his high school graduation from the Cambridge High and Latin School, Anderson composed, orchestrated, and conducted his class song. In 1925 he entered Harvard College. While at Harvard he studied musical harmony with Walter Spalding, counterpoint with Edward Ballantine, canon and fugue with William C. Heilman, and orchestration with Edward B. Hill and Walter Piston. Between 1926 and 1929 he played trombone for the Harvard University Band. He eventually became the director of the Harvard University Band for four years. In 1929 Anderson received a B.A. magna cum laude in Music from Harvard. The magna cum laude is the next-to-highest of three special honors for grades above the average. He was also elected into Phi Beta Kappa. Anderson continued into graduate school at Harvard. In 1930, he earned an M.A. with a major in music. He began studying composition with Walter Piston and Georges Enesco; organ with Henry Gideon and double bass with Gaston Dufresne of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As well as his studies in music, he continued for his PhD in German and Scandinavian languages. He ultimately mastered Danish, Norwegian, Icel...
Though Jelly Roll Morton began his career without formal training, he grew to live an influential life. His piano style, musical notations on paper, and creative compositions thrived in the 1910s and the 1920s and even weaved its way into the later eras as musicians used Morton’s music as the foundation for their own. Even past his death, Jelly Roll Morton remains a legendary figure. His works are meticulously preserved and displayed in the prestigious Smithsonian Museum and universities around the world continue his legacy by teaching students about Jelly Roll Morton and his influential career.
John William Coltrane, also known as "Trane", was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He worked in the bebop and hard bop stylles early in his career. Coltrane helped to introduce the use of modes in jazz and was later at the forefront of free jazz.
Kenton was born in Wichita, Kansas on December 11, 1911, although he spent most of his youth in the Los Angeles area. He began studying piano and composition early with his mother and eventually with bandleader and pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines. Kenton was influenced by many different kinds of music other than jazz, including twentieth century composers Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, and Bela Bartok. Once he was a little older, Kenton began playing around in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, and formed his first band in 1941, beginning his career as a bandleader. Kenton's music is best organized into the different "eras" of the Kenton bands: Artistry in Rhythm (mid-1940s), Progressive Jazz (mid- to late 1940s), Innovations in Modern Music (early 1950s), New Concepts in Artistry in Rhythm (Contemporary Jazz) (early to mid-1950s), Orchestra in Residence (late 1950s), New Era in Modern Music (Mellophoniums) (early 1960s), Neophonic (mid-1960s), and Fusion (early 1970s). Each era had different elements which made it unique while still maintaining the inimitable Kenton sound. Kenton a...
trumpet player who learned to play bass guitar in a very amazing two weeks just
The story begins in Key West, Florida where Theodore "Fats" Navarro was born of mixed Cuban-Black-Chinese parentage on September 24, 1923. His musical training began early with piano lessons at age six, but he did not start taking music seriously until he took up the trumpet at age thirteen. He became good during his high school years. He also played tenor saxophone and played briefly with Walter Johnson's band in Miami. Apparently Fats did not care much for Key West. He was once quoted as saying "I didn't like Key West at all. I'll never go back." So, after graduating high school, he joined Sol Allbrights's band in Orlando, so Fats traveled with him to Cincinnati, and took further trumpet lessons from an Ohio teacher. He then went on the road with Snookum Russell's Indianapolis orchestra. Russell's group, a band well known in the area in the 1940s, proved to be very good for Fats. It was a place where he developed, experimented, and made mistakes that no one would remember before heading on to the national stage. Fats stayed with Russell for about two years (1941-42) and became their trumpet soloist. Fats worked next with Andy Kirk and his Kansas City "Clouds of Joy." Here he made a friendship with trumpeter Howard McGhee.
Edward Kennedy Ellington, American jazz composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist, is considered to be the greatest composer in the history of jazz music and one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. He composed over 2000 works and performed numerous concerts during his musical career. A compilation of some of his most popular music is collected on a CD called "The Popular Duke Ellington."
Music is a universal language, a language that many can speak; however, one that only few can master. One of those masters was Nat "King" Cole. A true legend, Nat not only could carry a song with his voice, but also through his incredible skills with the piano. Today, Nat is most remembered for that soft, soothing and so powerful voice; however he is recognized as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all-time.
In the 1920s a new kind of music rose in New Orleans. Different from the ballroom songs popular in that day, former slaves and their families created this new music called jazz, which spread like wildfire. Many artists influenced the growth of this great type of music including Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Louis Armstrong played as one of these great men. Growing up in a poor section of the “Birthplace of Jazz”, Armstrong taught himself to play the trumpet, also known as the cornet. Louis Armstrong was the most influential jazz trumpet player to walk this earth due to his own created style of jazz including many songs that are still used today.
spot in Kid Ory’s orchestra one of the biggest known bands in the town. He
“West End Blues” begins with a 12-second trumpet solo that displayed Armstrong’s wonderful range and demonstrated the syncopated styling unique
On Friday November 15, 2013, I attended a concert that I found very interesting. It took place at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. The group performing was the Erie Chamber Orchestra but as a special the Slippery Rock University Concert Choir was also there.
On Wednesday, May 23rd, I attended the College Choir concert in the Reamer Campus Center. The choir performed a variety of songs, ranging from pieces in Latin to traditional American folksongs. Two of the pieces featured solos, and one even featured percussion instruments. Mrs. Elinore Farnum provided piano accompaniment for each of the songs, and performed beautifully. I was extremely impressed by the talented choir members and their ability to sing such a varied range of songs.
From there, his arms moved across the set playing on and off drum heads. After the first listen, his rhythms seem to not connect together. But after another go-around, they fitted just right. What makes his style unique is that he sees a melody in a drumset. When he hits the drums and switches back and forth to demonstrate the individually different pitches, it comes out as an improvised phrase just like any other brass instrument would give in a