Jazz Feast offers 5 courses of musical nourishment Sep 19, 2008
Tenor saxophonist Harry Allen has played on more than 30 recordings and performed with such artists as Rosemary Clooney, Ray Brown, Hank Jones, Frank Wess, Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis and John Pizzarelli and Bucky Pizzarelli. The Ed Polcer Swingtet will begin its set at 3:45 p.m. The cornet player and his band pay tribute to such jazz artists as Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo and Bunny Berigan. (NJ.com -- Times)
Brian Nova shares stories, songs... Feb 22, 2008
Brian Nova is one of the few jazz artists in the world who has studied and toured with the two titans of jazz guitar, Herb Ellis and Joe Pass. He has stories to tell and the Backstage Theater of the Sonoma Community Center is where he will be sharing them, and his music, on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 3 p.m. Nova has toured extensively in North America and internationally in Europe and Asia. (Sonoma Index-Tribune, CA)
Jazz World Mourns Oscar Peterson Dec 27, 2007
" Peterson's four-year stint in Canada's famed Johnny Holmes Orchestra led to his first American performance at Carnegie Hall in 1949. Under the management of jazz producer Norman Granz, he formed the Oscar Peterson Trio with Ray Brown on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar. Pleased with his work with Brown and Ellis, he once said, "At our worst, we have to sound better than the best guys out there. " In 1958, Ellis was replaced by drummer Ed Thigpen, who remained in the trio until its demise seven... (Voice of America)
Oscar Peterson, 82: Jazz giant Dec 27, 2007
His most popular format was the trio, the most definitive being his partnership with guitarist Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown from 1953 to 1958 ... Peterson never forgot his experiences with racism a patron who wouldnt shake his hand in a Montreal nightclub, the Hamilton barber who refused to cut his hair, segregated halls and hotels in the U.S. south, criticism for employing white guitarist Herb Ellis but was proactive, writing Hymn to Freedom, which became a battle song of... (Toronto Star)
Jazz genius Oscar Peterson dies Dec 27, 2007
He is also remembered for the trio he led with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis in the 1950s. Peterson's impressive collection of awards included seven Grammys and a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 1997, as well as his country's highest civilian honour, the Order of Canada. (Guardian Unlimited)
Oscar Peterson left jazz pianists of all ages awestruck Dec 26, 2007
"When (jazz writer and Peterson biographer) Gene Lees asked me, 'What is it about Oscar that you love?' I said, 'The will to swing," added Kellaway, whose last CD "Heroes" pays tribute to Peterson's drummerless trio of the 1950s with Brown on bass and Barney Kessel or Herb Ellis on guitar. 1. (International Herald Tribune)
King of the keys made jazz a pleasure Dec 26, 2007
As guitarist (and frequent collaborator) Herb Ellis put it, most piano players end where [Peterson] starts, an observation that goes a long way toward explaining why there has been a notable lack of Peterson clones in the jazz world ... Granz, who quickly signed Peterson to his Verve imprint, was a good shepherd to the young Canadian, pointing him toward sympathetic sidemen most notably bassist Ray Brown, guitarist Herb Ellis, and drummer Ed Thigpen and letting his creativity flower. (Globe and Mail)
Pianist Oscar Peterson dies Dec 26, 2007
He is also remembered for the trio he led with Ray Brown on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar in the 1950s. Peterson's impressive collection of awards include all of Canada's highest honors, such as the Order of Canada, as well as seven Grammys and a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 1997. (Variety)
OSCAR PETERSON: 1925-2007 Dec 26, 2007
" Basie said, "Oscar Peterson plays the best ivory box I've ever heard. " The pianist and conductor Andre Previn called Peterson "the best" among jazz pianists. But many critics found Peterson more derivative than original, especially early in his career. Some even suggested that his fantastic technique lacked coherence and was almost too much for some listeners to compute. The jazz critic Gene Lees defended Peterson as "a summational artist. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Oscar Peterson, 82; jazz pianist interwove prodigious power with swing Dec 25, 2007
The first featured bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis. The second included Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen. (Boston Globe)
Oscar Peterson, Jazz Pianist Who Played With Gillespie, Parker, Dies at 82 Dec 25, 2007
The makeup of the trio changed over the years, though the best-known lineup was probably Peterson, guitarist Herb Ellis and bass player Ray Brown. Peterson recorded his first solos in 1968, part of a highly regarded series of MPS recordings. (Bloomberg -- Canada)
John Cain is comfortable in lots of different styles Aug 27, 2007
He counts Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Herb Ellis and Grant Green among his primary influences. In the fifth grade he remembers running around the classroom with a ruler with rubber bands attached to it, pretending he was playing guitar. (Stamford Advocate)
Johnny Frigo, 90; jazz bassist, violinist helped write standards Jul 7, 2007
After playing in Jimmy Dorsey's big band, Mr. Frigo formed the Soft Winds jazz trio in 1947 with two Dorsey colleagues, guitarist Herb Ellis and pianist Lou Carter. The Soft Winds was not a major commercial success during its five-year existence, but the trio recorded many songs and developed a fine reputation in later years among aficionados. (Boston Globe)
Jazz violinist Johnny Frigo dies at 90 Jul 6, 2007
Around that time, Frigo wrote "Detour Ahead" with Lou Carter and Herb Ellis, a song that became a jazz standard recorded by Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, among others. He was in his late 60s or early 70s when he turned his attention to the violin, appearing twice on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. (FOX 11, AZ)
More of this story Jun 14, 2007
Currently on the Stony Plain label, a Canadian record company, Robillard has a dozen of his own albums out, as well as numerous side projects like his two duet albums with jazz guitarist Herb Ellis. With a 24-track recording studio in his home in Pawtucket, Robillard has also become a favorite producer for many New England roots musicians, including Boston soul queen Toni Lynn Washington. (Brockton Enterprise, MA)
Carnegie Hall concert honours Oscar Peterson Jun 11, 2007
Pianist Roger Kellaway, the program's musical director, opened Friday's concert in a trio with bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Russell Malone performing the Gershwin tune I Was Doing All Right, as a tribute to Peterson's classic 1950s drummerless trio with bassist Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis. Peterson's fellow octogenarians, though frail, provided some of the evening's most moving moments. (Globe and Mail)
Jazz festival still bopping in Idaho after 40 years Feb 24, 2007
After his clinic at the 1997 festival, guitarist Herb Ellis said the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival was the only one in the world where jazz greats had the chance to sit down with students and directly share their experience and knowledge. . (Akron Beacon Journal, OH -- Entertainment)
Listening Post Feb 11, 2007
Much the better, by far, is the first from his gigantic Pablo catalog, which means it's bulging with guest stars like Stephane Grappelli, Joe Pass, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie (tragically missing amid the glitz is Peterson's deeply poetic solo reading of Duke Ellington's "Lady of the Lavender Mist." You can find that on "Oscar Peterson Plays Duke Ellington.") Peterson's Telarc years are a notable difficulty because in 1993, a stroke deprived him henceforth of the use of his astounding left... (Buffalo News -- Entertainment)
