Mantovani (1905 - 1980)

Mantovani was born in Venice, Italy, into a musical family. His father, Bismarck, served as the concertmaster of La Scala opera house’s orchestra in Milan, under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. The family moved to England in 1912, where young Annunzio studied at Trinity College of Music in London. After graduation, he formed his own […]

Billy Eckstine (1914 - 1993)

Billy Eckstine’s paternal grandparents were William F. Eckstein and Nannie Eckstein, a mixed-race, married couple who lived in Washington, D.C.; both were born in 1863. William F. was born in Prussia and Nannie in Virginia. His parents were William Eckstein, a chauffeur, and Charlotte Eckstein, a seamstress of note. Eckstine was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; […]

Wes Montgomery (1923 - 1968)

Wes Montgomery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. According to NPR Jazz Profiles “The Life and Music Of Wes Montgomery”, the nickname “Wes” was a child’s abbreviation of his middle name, Leslie. He came from a musical family; his brothers, Monk (double bass and electric bass) and Buddy (vibraphone and piano), were jazz performers. The brothers […]

Erroll Garner (1923 - 1977)

Erroll Garner (June 15, 1923 – January 2, 1977; some sources say 1921) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad “Misty”, has become a jazz standard. Scott Yanow of Allmusic calls him “one of the most distinctive of all pianists” and a “brilliant […]

Norrie Paramor (1914 - 1979)

Although the term “producer” was not in circulation at the time Paramor started producing records (the usual term being Artiste and Repertoire Manager, or A&R man), he effectively began this role in 1952 when he became Recording Director for EMI’s Columbia Records. As well as being producer for Cliff Richard and the Shadows, he produced […]

Joe Williams (1918 - 1999)

Joe Williams worked as a singer and bouncer in Chicago in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He began singing professionally as a soloist in 1937. He sometimes sang with big bands: from 1937 he performed with Jimmie Noone’s Apex Club Orchestra, and also toured with Les Hite in the Midwest. In 1941 he toured […]

Milt Jackson (1923 - 1999)

Milt Jackson was born on January 1, 1923 in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Manley Jackson and Lillie Beaty Jackson. Like many, he was surrounded by music from an early age, particularly that of religious meetings: “Everyone wants to know where I got that funky style. Well, it came from church. The music I heard […]

Zoot Sims (1925 - 1985)

John Haley “Zoot” Sims (October 29, 1925 – March 23, 1985) was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto and later soprano. He first gained attention in the “Four Brothers” sax section of Woody Herman’s big band, after which he went on to a long solo career, often in partnership with fellow […]

George Shearing (1919 - 2011)

In 1947, George Shearing emigrated to the United States, where his harmonically complex style mixing swing, bop and modern classical influences gained popularity. One of his first performances was at the Hickory House. He performed with the Oscar Pettiford Trio and led a jazz quartet with Buddy DeFranco, which led to contractual problems, since Shearing […]

Robert Farnon (1917 - 2005)

Born in Toronto, Robert Farnon was commissioned as a captain in the Canadian Army and became the conductor/arranger of the Canadian Band of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force sent overseas during World War II, which was the Canadian equivalent of the American Band of the SHAEF led by Major Glenn Miller. He was noted […]

Morton Gould (1913 - 1996)

Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, New York. He was recognized early as a child prodigy with abilities in improvisation and composition. His first composition was published at age six. Gould studied at the Institute of Musical Art in New York, his most important teachers were Abby Whiteside and Vincent Jones. During the Depression, Gould, […]

Ivor Slaney (1921 - 1998)

Ivor Ernst Slaney (born 27 May 1921 in West Bromwich, United Kingdom, d. 20 March 1998, Southampton, United Kingdom) was a prolific musical composer and conductor, notable for his work in film, television and radio. Ivor Slaney was educated at the Royal College of Music, and married Mary D Ludlow pianist Dolores Ventura in 1948. His […]

Haydn Wood (1882 - 1959)

Haydn Wood was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire town of Slaithwaite on 25 March 1882. When he was three years old his family moved to the Isle of Man, an island which was often a source of inspiration for the composer. In 1897, at the Royal College of Music, he studied violin with Enrique […]

Angela Morley (1924 - 2009)

Angela Morley was originally a composer of light music, best known for pieces such as the jaunty “Rotten Row” and “A Canadian in Mayfair”, a homage to Robert Farnon’s “Portrait of a Flirt”. Morley is also remembered for writing the theme tune and incidental music for Hancock’s Half Hour, and was the musical director for […]

George Melachrino (1909 - 1965)

George Melachrino (born George Miltiades; 1 May 1909 – 18 June 1965) was a musician, movie composer, and musical director who was English born of Greek and Italian descent. He was an accomplished player of the violin, viola, oboe, clarinet and saxophone. George Melachrino was born in London, England. As a young boy, he had a […]

Sidney Torch (1908 - 1990)

Sidney Torch MBE (5 June 1908 – 16 July 1990) was a British pianist, cinema organist, conductor, orchestral arranger and a composer of light music. Born Sidney Torchinsky of a Ukrainian father and an Estonian mother in London, Torch learned the rudiments of music very quickly from his father, an orchestral trombonist, who used to sit […]

Ron Goodwin (1925 - 2003)

Ron Goodwin is primarily known for his film music and worked on more than 70 scores during his career. He composed his first feature film, Man with a Gun in 1958 and was quickly followed by The Witness and Whirlpool (fr) a year later. Early minor film success followed with several films until 1961 when […]

Si Zentner (1917 - 2000)

Simon Hugh “Si” Zentner (June 13, 1917 in New York City – January 31, 2000 in Las Vegas, Nevada) was an American trombonist and jazz big-band leader. Si Zentner played violin from age four and picked up trombone a few years later. As a teenager, he was awarded the Guggenheim Foundation Philharmonic Scholarship. He attended college […]

David Rose (1910 - 1990)

Recipient of four Emmy awards, David Rose was born in London, to Jewish parents, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. The family name was originally Rosenberg. Rose’s career in music began when he worked with Ted Fio Rito’s band when he was sixteen. Rose also worked as a standby pianist for NBC Radio. It was here, […]

Les Baxter (1922 - 1996)

Les Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. From 1943 on he was playing tenor and baritone saxophone for the Freddie Slack big band. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer. At the age of 23 […]

Mercer Ellington (1919 - 1996)

Mercer Ellington was born in Washington, DC, the son of the composer, pianist, and bandleader Duke Ellington and Edna Thompson. By the age of eighteen he had written his first piece to be recorded by his father (“Pigeons and Peppers”). He attended New College for the Education of Teachers at Columbia University, New York University […]

Al Hibbler (1915 - 2001)

Al Hibbler was born in Tyro, Mississippi, United States, and was blind from birth. Some sources give his birth name as Andrew George Hibbler.[3] At the age of 12 he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he attended Arkansas School for the Blind, joining the school choir. Later he began working as a blues singer […]

Jimmy Blanton (1918 - 1942)

Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Jimmy Blanton originally learned to play the violin, but took up the bass while at Tennessee State University, performing with the Tennessee State Collegians from 1936 to 1937, and during the vacations with Fate Marable. After leaving university to play full-time in St Louis with the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra (with whom he […]

Harry Carney (1910 - 1974)

Harry Carney was the longest serving player in Duke Ellington’s orchestra. On occasions when Ellington was absent or wished to make a stage entrance after the band had begun playing the first piece of a performance, Carney would serve as the band’s conductor. Ellington and Carney were close friends. The majority of their careers they […]

Otto Hardwick (1904 - 1970)

Otto Hardwick started on string bass at the age of 14, then moved to C melody saxophone and finally settled on alto saxophone. A childhood friend of Duke Ellington’s, Hardwick joined Ellington’s first band in Washington, D. C. in 1919. Hardwick also worked for banjoist Elmer Snowden at Murray’s Casino. In 1923, Ellington, Hardwick, Snowden, trumpeter […]

Sonny Greer (1895 - 1982)

Sonny Greer (December 13, 1895 – March 23, 1982) was an American jazz drummer and vocalist, best known for his work with Duke Ellington. Greer was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and played with Elmer Snowden’s band and the Howard Theatre’s orchestra in Washington, D.C., before joining Duke Ellington, whom he met in 1919. He […]

Barney Bigard (1906 - 1980)

Barney Bigard was born in New Orleans to a family of Creoles. The son of Alexander and Emanuella Bigard, he had two brothers, Alexander Jr. and Sidney. His uncle, Emile Bigard, was a jazz violinist. He attended local schools and studied music and clarinet with Lorenzo Tio. In the early 1920s he moved to Chicago, where […]

Lawrence Brown (1907 - 1988)

Lawrence Brown (August 3, 1907 – September 5, 1988) was an acclaimed jazz trombonist from California who achieved recognition with the Duke Ellington orchestra. Brown worked throughout his career as a session musician, as well as recording his own solo efforts. Lawrence Brown was born on August 3, 1907, in Lawrence, Kansas. When Brown was about […]

Ray Nance (1913 - 1976)

Ray Nance was the leader of his own band in Chicago from 1932 to 1937. Then, he worked with Earl Hines from 1937 to 1939; and from 1939 to 1940 he worked with Horace Henderson. Ellington hired Nance to replace trumpeter Cootie Williams, who had joined Benny Goodman, in 1940. Nance’s first recorded performance with Ellington […]

Rex Stewart (1907 - 1967)

Rex William Stewart (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist best remembered for his work with the Duke Ellington orchestra. After stints with Elmer Snowden, Fletcher Henderson, Horace Henderson, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, and Luis Russell, Stewart joined the Ellington band in 1934, replacing Freddie Jenkins. Ellington arranged many of his pieces […]