John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman – Dedicated to You

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Here is a recording of a jazz standard called “Dedicated to You” from the album called John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. The musicians on the recording are: Johnny Hartman (voice), John Coltrane (saxophone), Jimmy Garrison (bass), Reggie Workman (bass), Elvin Jones (drums), McCoy Tyner (piano). I hope that you enjoy this beautiful ballad.

Johnny Hartman (1923-1983)
Johnny Hartman was an American jazz singer. He specialized in singing ballads. His first professional work as a singer started in September 1946 when he won a singing contest and worked for a week with jazz pianist Earl Hines. That was so successful that Earl Hines hired Johnny Hartman to work with him the following year. Hartman then went on to work with Dizzy Gillespie and Errol Garner for a short time. Although he was a very talented singer and was an important influence for many other singers of his time such as Frank Sinatra, Hartman never got the recognition he deserved. Today he is best known by jazz lovers for his collaboration with John Coltrane on the album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Johnny Hartman died in 1983 from lung cancer.

John Coltrane (1926-1967)
John Coltrane was an American jazz saxophone player. He pioneered the use of modes in jazz and was one of the main people in promoting free jazz. Coltrane worked for a time with jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. Many of his recordings feature him playing a flurry of never ending fast notes and are quite abstract. The recording that John Coltrane made with Johnny Hartman is notable because Coltrane is playing in a more subdued fashion. He plays with a beautiful tone and there aren’t a lot of notes in his solos, but every note speaks from the heart.

Adrian Rollini Trio play “Dark Eyes,” “The Minute Waltz,” and “The Girl with Light Blue Hair”

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Adrian Rollini (1903-1956)

Adrian Rollini was a jazz musician who played the bass saxophone, vibraphone, piano, and many other instruments. Rollini started taking piano lessons when he was two years old. When he was four years old he gave his first recital (15 minutes long) and among the pieces played was the famous Minute Waltz by Chopin. One day he brought home a saxophone. It took him only a week to learn how to play it. He was equally skilled at the piano, saxophone, vibraphone. Through his career, Rollini played with several of the great jazz musicians of his day including Benny Goodman, Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, the Dorsey Brothers, and Bix Beiderbecke. Rollini had his own jazz orchestra, quartet, and trio. In his trio, Adrian Rollini played the piano and the vibraphone. The other members of the trio were Allan Hanlon on guitar and George Hnida on the bass.

Here are three recordings of Adrian Rollini and his trio made in 1948. The pieces played are “Dark Eyes,” “The Minute Waltz,” and “The Girl with Light Blue Hair.” I hope that you enjoy these performances.

Joe Venuti and his Blue Six play “In de Ruff” and “Doin the Uptown Lowdown”

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Joe Venuti (c.1903-1978)

Joe Venuti was an American jazz violinist. He is considered to be the father of jazz violin. Together with his friend Eddie Lang (the first great jazz guitarist) they recorded as a duo and played with many of the great jazz musicians of the twentieth century. They played with Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Franckie Trumbauer, the Paul Whiteman orchestra and many more. Here are a couple of recordings done in 1933 by Joe Venuti and his Blue Six. The tunes are called “In de Ruff” and “Doin the Uptown Lowdown.” Enjoy!

The Emilio Caceres Trio – “Runnin’ Wild”

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Emilio Caceres was a jazz violinist who was born in Texas. Early on in his career he led his own jazz orchestra based in San Antonio. He is best known for the hot jazz trio, the “Emilio Caceres Trio,” which he formed together with his brother Ernie Caceres. the trio had Emilio Caceres on violin, Ernie Caceres on clarinet and saxophone, and Johnny Gomez on guitar. Here is a recording made by the Emilio Caceres Trio of a tune called “Runnin’ Wild.” I hope that you enjoy it.

Kathleen Battle – 5 Japanese Love Songs

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Kathleen Battle (1948 -)

Kathleen Battle is a black operatic soprano. Her music career began in 1972 when she auditioned for the conductor Thomas Schippers and sang in a performance of the Brahms Requiem as the soprano soloist. in 1974 Kathleen Battle met conductor James Levine which was the beginning of a professional relationship that lasted 20 years. She has performed with many of the world’s great orchestras.

Here is a recording of 5 Japanese Love Songs sung by Kathleen Battle in Japanese. The names of the pieces are Hatsukoi (First Love), Hana (Cherry Blossom Time), Kono Michi (a folk song), Hamabe-no-uta, and Sakura, Sakura. I hope that you enjoy these pieces.

Pietro Locatelli – Violin Sonata no.12 op.6 – Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante

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Pietro Locatelli (1695-1764)

Pietro Locatelli was an Italian baroque violin virtuoso and composer. Locatelli’s playing was noted for its virtuosity and sweet tone.

Locatelli wrote mostly sonatas and concertos.

Fabio Biondi (1961 -)
Fabio Biondi is an Italian violinist and conductor. He specializes in early music. Fabio Biondi has performed with many baroque music ensembles. He founded his own early music ensemble Europa Galante in 1990.

Here is a recording of Fabio Biondi and a few musicians from his group Europa Galante playing the Violin Sonata op.6, no.12 by Pietro Locatelli.

Mozart Sonata in C Major, K.303 for Piano and Violin – Gil Shaham (violinist), Orli Shaham (pianist)

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) published his first set of sonatas for piano and violin in 1778 in Paris. They were dedicated to the Palatine Princess Maria Elizabeth. There are six sonatas in the set (K.301-K.306).

Gil Shaham (1971- )
Gil Shaham is an Isreali-American violin virtuoso. He made his debut with the Jerusalem Symphony when he was 10 years old. A year later he performed with the Israel Philharmonic. Gil went on to study violin at the Juilliard School of Music. He got his big break in 1989 when he replaced Itzhak Perlman who had a cold. He has since played with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and performed many recitals around the world.

Orli Shaham (1975- )
Orli Shaham is an Israeli-American pianist and the sister of violinist Gil Shaham. She studied piano at Horace Mann School in New York, at Columbia University, and at the Juilliard School of Music. She has performed recitals and played with major orchestras all over the world. Orli Shaham and her brother Gil Shaham have performed together and made a few recordings together.

Here is a recording of Mozart’s Sonata in C Major, K.503 played by Gil Shaham and Orli Shaham from their DVD of Mozart’s Sonatas (K.301-K.306) recorded in 2006 at the Palais Daun-Kinsky, in Vienna. I hope you enjoy this performance.

Emilio Caceres Trio – I Got Rhythm

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Emilio Caceres (1897-1980)

Emilio Caceres was a jazz violinist who was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. He led his own swing orchestra in San Antonio. Emilio’s style of jazz violin playing was inspired by the playing of another jazz violinist Joe Venuti and Emilio’s own family who were musicians. He led his own trio in the 1930s which featured himself on violin, his brother Ernie Caceres on saxophone or clarinet, and Johnny Gomez on the guitar.

Emilio’s brother was a prolific recording artist who made more than 500 recordings. Emilio only made a few recordings.

I Got Rhythm is a popular jazz tune composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by his brother Ira Gershwin. It was published in 1930 and became a jazz standard.

Here is a recording of the Emilio Caceres Trio with Emilio Caceres on violin, Ernie Caceres on clarinet, and Johnny Gomez on guitar. I hope you enjoy it.

Bossa Nova with Baden Powell & Stephane Grappelli

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Bossa Nova

Bossa nova was invented and popularized in the 1950s and 1960s.  It is a fusion of the samba and jazz.  Composers such as Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa invented the form and helped to popularize it.

Baden Powell de Aquino (1937-2000)

Baden Powell de Aquino was a Brazilian guitarist and composer.  He was one of the most prominent an popular Brazilian guitarists of his time. Baden Powell de Aquino played a variety of different styles of music including bossa nova, samba, Brazilian jazz, Latin jazz, and popular Brazilian music.

Stephane Grappelli (1908-1997)

Stephane Grappelli was a French-Italian jazz violinist who co-founded the Quintet of the Hot Club of France with Django Reinhardt in 1934.  Today he is most famous for his collaboration with Django Reinhardt and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France.  Stephane recorded and performed with many well known musicians besides Django Reinhardt including Yehudi Menuhin, Stuff Smith, Jean-Luc Ponty, Andrew Llloyd Weber (cellist), Martin Taylor, Joe Pass, and Oscar Peterson.

Even though Stephane Grappelli is well known today as a jazz violinist, he was also an accomplished jazz pianist.  During the years of world war 2, Grappelli and Reinhardt split up and played with different groups.  During this time Grappelli played a lot of jazz piano.  After world war 2 Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France got back together briefly during the late 1940s and then disbanded.

Here are two recordings of Stephane Grappelli and Baden Powell de Aquino playing a couple of bossa novas from a 1975 recording entitled la grande reunion.  They are entitled Meditacao and Eu Vim Fa bahia.  I hope that you enjoy this music.

F.J. Haydn – Fantasia in C played by Malcom Bilson (fortepiano)

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F.J. Haydn (1732-1809)

Franz Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer. He worked for about thirty years for the Esterhazy family (a family of nobility). Haydn composed about 50 piano sonatas, sacred vocal music, oratorios, dramatic music, about 80 string quartets, and 104 symphonies. He is known as the father of the string quartet and the symphony. Today Haydn is known by the general public for a few of his symphonies, his two oratorios, The Creation and The Seasons, some of his piano music, and a few of his string quartets.

Malcolm Bilson (1935-)

Malcolm Bilson is an American pianist and musicologist. He specializes in 18th and 19th century music. Malcolm Bilson is a professor of music at Cornell University. He has made many recordings on fortepianos (the ancestor of the modern piano) and given insightful lectures
on the use of period instruments versus modern instruments and the importance of performance practice.

Here is Malcolm Bilson performing Haydn’s Fantasia in C at the Esterhazy castle in Fertod, Hungary on a fortepiano. This performance is from a DVD entitled “Knowing the Score.”