Word: pianist
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Past midnight now, and Jesus arrives. Jesus ("Chucho") Valdes is the greatest jazz pianist in Cuba, perhaps one of the greatest pianists in the world. He's a tall man, 5 in. north of 6 ft., and wide-bodied. He is casually dressed tonight, clad in an untucked purple shirt, jeans and Fila sneakers. He has played in the U.S. before, but this month he is embarking on his first sizable Stateside tour, one of the most extensive by any Cuban performer since the embargo began in 1962. Valdes has a new solo CD to promote, Bele Bele...
Franklin is not simply the Queen of Soul; she holds royalty status in the fields of gospel, blues, rock and pop as well. She is a sharp, rhythmically fierce pianist. And though she wrote a number of her hits, including the sexually brazen Dr. Feelgood, she also displayed brilliance in making other people's compositions her own, such as Curtis Mayfield's pop gem Something He Can Feel. Or listen to her 1971 gospel-charged take on the Simon and Garfunkel classic Bridge over Troubled Water. That water's a good deal more troubled when Franklin sings the song; even...
DIED. DOROTHY DONEGAN, 76, exuberant jazz pianist; reportedly of colon cancer; in Los Angeles. A flamboyant performer, Donegan was known as much for her jokes and gyrations as for her music (a patchwork of swing, pop, ragtime, boogie-woogie and classical...
...mother once told me that she wasn't afraid to die, that she had accomplished everything as planned. My mother was not only a physican, but also a writer, pianist, runner and singer. What she achieved in her life exceeded most people's dreams...
...American entertainment industry as both a singer and an actor, playing nightclubs and doing bit parts in '80s brat-pack movies, but like too many jazz musicians before him, he has found a more receptive audience in Europe, where he has starred in musicals and performed regularly with French pianist Claude Bolling's big band. Smith describes being hounded for autographs by fans as young as 12 who can rattle off jazz history, whereas "kids back home don't even know who Billie Holiday is." Still, he hopes to move back to the States, describing the European scene as ultimately...