Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan to a very musical family. Her
father, who died when she was two years old, was also a singer. Her
mother, Vada Swanson, played trumpet. A cousin, George Duke, is a well
known piano and keyboard player and producer. Dianne and her sister
Sharon were raised by their mother in Denver, Colorado. As a child
Dianne took piano lessons and sang at every opportunity.
When she was 11 years old her interest in music was enhanced by an
inspiring teacher who thought that music was the best way to bring
students together. Dianne discovered a love of music and that she wanted
to be a singer.
Her uncle, Charles Burrell, a bass player with the Denver Symphony
Orchestra, introduced her to the music of jazz singers, from Ella
Fitzgerald to Billie Holiday. She was especially impressed by Sarah
Vaughan.
At the age of 16, Reeves was singing at the George Washington High
School (Denver) in Denver, in a high school big-band. That same year the
band played at a music festival (Convention of the National Association
of Jazz Educators). Her band won first place and it was there she met
the trumpeter Clark Terry, who became her mentor.
A year later Reeves began studying music at the University of Colorado,
before she moved in 1976 to Los Angeles. In L.A. her interest in
Latin-American music grew. She began experimenting with different kinds
of vocal music and finally decided to pursue a career as a singer. She
met Eduardo del Barrio, toured with his group "Caldera" and sang in
Billy Childs' jazz band "Night Flight". Later she toured with Sérgio
Mendes.
From 1983 until 1986 Reeves toured with Harry Belafonte as a lead
singer. This period saw her first experiences with world music.
In 1987 Reeves was the first vocalist signed to the reactivated Blue
Note/EMI label. Reeves moved back to Denver from Los Angeles in 1992.
Reeves sang at the closing ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in
Salt Lake City.
NEW! 1988-The Nearness of You @FLAC 2024-Everything Must Change
@FLAC BRANDFORD MARSALIS 2026-Dedicated To You @FLAC24-192
Chronological Classics was a French compact disc reissue label. The
original owner Gilles Pétard intended to release the complete master takes
of all jazz and swing artists that were issued on 78 rpm records. By the
time the label suspended operations in July 2008, its scope had extended
into the LP era.
Pétard also started a parallel label, R&B Classics, whose releases
follow on from the jazz listing, to reissue postwar rhythm & blues
recordings. An unaffiliated label, Neatworks, released alternate takes
and misidentified master takes of jazz artists previously issued on
Chronological Classics. In 1999, Chronological Classics also issued a CD
set that included tracks previously not available in the regular series,
and a bonus cd with corrected tracks from previous releases.
Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz
singer, described by music critic Scott Yanow as having "one of the most
wondrous voices of the 20th century."
Nicknamed "Sassy", "The Divine One" and "Sailor" (for her salty speech),
Sarah Vaughan was a Grammy Award winner. The National Endowment for the
Arts bestowed upon her its "highest honor in jazz", the NEA Jazz Masters
Award, in 1989.
Sarah Vaughan's father, Asbury "Jake" Vaughan, was a carpenter by trade
and played guitar and piano. Her mother, Ada Vaughan, was a laundress and
sang in the church choir.
Jake and Ada Vaughan had migrated to Newark from Virginia during the
First World War. Sarah was their only biological child, although in the
1960s they adopted Donna, the child of a woman who traveled on the road
with Sarah Vaughan..... (Wikipedia)
Nina Simone (born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21,
2003) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, composer, arranger
and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical,
folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop.
The sixth of eight children born into a poor family in North Carolina,
Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a few
supporters in her hometown, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of
Music in New York City.
She then applied for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of
Music in Philadelphia, where, despite a well received audition, she was
denied admission, which she attributed to racism. In 2003, just days
before her death, the Institute awarded her an honorary degree.
To make a living, Simone started playing piano at a nightclub in
Atlantic City. She changed her name to "Nina Simone" to disguise herself
from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music" or
so-called "cocktail piano". She was told in the nightclub that she would
have to sing to her own accompaniment, which effectively launched her
career as a jazz vocalist.
She went on to record more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974, making
her debut with Little Girl Blue. She released her first hit single in
the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy". Her piano playing
was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially
Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in
her contralto voice .... (Wikipedia)
NEW!
1964-In Concert [LP-Verve) @FLAC24-192
1978-Baltimore (LP) @FLAC24-192
1998-The Very Best Of Nina Simone (1967-72) Sugar In My Bowl (2CD)
@FLAC
2003-Anthology @FLAC
2003-Simply Simone (CD) @FLAC
2012-At the Village Gate (CD-14T) @FLAC
2013-Nina At Newport (Jazz & Blues) @FLAC24-96
2015-The Hits @FLAC24-96
2019-Feeling Good The Very Best Of Nina Simone @FLAC
2025-Nina at Newport (Remastered) @FLAC24
2025-The Best Of Nina Simone (Mississippi River Records) (3CD)
@FLAC24
Helen Humes (June 23, 1913 – September 9, 1981) was an American jazz and
blues singer. Humes was successively a teenage blues singer, band vocalist with
Count Basie, saucy R&B diva and a mature interpreter of the classy
popular song. Humes was born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, was spotted by
the guitarist Sylvester Weaver and made her first recordings in 1927,
her true young voice consorting oddly with bizarre material like
"Garlic Blues". She moved to New York City in 1937 and became a recording vocalist
with Harry James' big band. Her swing recordings with James included
"Jubilee", "I Can Dream Can't I", Jimmy Dorsey's composition "It's The
Dreamer In Me", and "Song of the Wanderer".....
(Wikipedia)
Eleanora Fagan (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), professionally known as
Billie Holiday, was an American jazz musician and singer-songwriter with
a career spanning nearly thirty years. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner Lester Young,
Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal
style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way
of manipulating phrasing and tempo.
Holiday was known for her vocal delivery and improvisation skills, which
made up for her limited range and lack of formal music education. While
there were other jazz singers with equal talent, Billie Holiday had a voice
that captured the attention of her audience..... (Wikipedia)
Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes (July 7, 1916 – March 4, 1989) was an American
jazz and R&B guitarist. He was a member of the Art Tatum Trio
from 1943 to 1944, was a backing musician on recording sessions, and
later led his own bands, including a recording session with Charlie
Parker. He is notable for playing the electric tenor guitar, a
four-stringed instrument.
Grimes was born in Newport News, Virginia, United States, and began
his musical career playing drums and one-fingered piano. In 1938 he
took up the electric four-string tenor guitar. In 1940 he joined the
Cats and the Fiddle as guitarist and singer. In 1943 he joined the
Art Tatum Trio as guitarist and made a number of recordings with
Tatum.
After leaving Tatum, Grimes recorded with his own groups in New
York and with a long list of leading musicians, including vocalist
Billie Holiday. He made four recordings with his own group,
augmented with Charlie Parker: "Tiny's Tempo", "Red Cross", "Romance
Without Finance", and "I'll Always Love You Just the Same", the
latter two featuring Grimes' singing.
In the late 1940s, he had a hit on a jazzed-up version of "Loch
Lomond", with the band billed as Tiny "Mac" Grimes and the Rocking
Highlanders and appearing in kilts. This group included tenor saxman
Red Prysock and singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Grimes continued to
lead his own groups into the later 1970s and he recorded on Prestige
Records in a series of strong blues-based performances with Coleman
Hawkins, Illinois Jacquet, Pepper Adams, Roy Eldridge and other
noted players including, in 1977, Earl Hines.
With Paul Williams, he co-headlined the first Moondog Coronation
Ball, promoted by Alan Freed in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 21, 1952,
often claimed as the first rock and roll concert. In 1953 he may
have played on the Crows one-hit wonder, "Gee", that has been called
the first original rock and roll record by an R&B group.
Grimes died in March 1989 in New York City from meningitis at the
age of 72.
(Wikipedia)
Milton Brent Buckner (July 10, 1915 – July 27, 1977) was an American jazz
pianist and organist, who in the early 1950s popularized the Hammond
organ. He pioneered the parallel chords style that influenced Red Garland,
George Shearing, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson. Buckner's brother, Ted
Buckner, was a jazz saxophonist. Milton Brent Buckner was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents
encouraged him to learn to play piano, but they both died when he was nine
years old. Milt and his younger brother Ted were sent to Detroit where
they were adopted by members of the Earl Walton band: trombonist John
Tobias, drummer George Robinson fostered Milt and reedplayer Fred Kewley
(né Fred Cecil Kewley; 1889–1953) fostered Ted. Buckner studied piano for
three years from the age 10, then at 15 began writing arrangements for the
band, he and his brother going on to become active in the Detroit jazz
world in the 1930s.
Buckner first played in Detroit with the McKinney's Cotton Pickers and
then with Cab Calloway. In 1941, he joined Lionel Hampton's big band, and
for the next seven years served as its pianist and staff arranger. Buckner
was part of a Variety Revue of 1950 organized by Lionel Hampton at the
Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was
produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 25, 1950. He led a short-lived big
band of his own for two years, but then returned to Hampton's in
1950.
In 1952, he formed his own trio and pioneered the use of the electric
Hammond organ. He often played in Europe in the late 1960s. His last
studio session took place in Paris on July 4, 1977. Milt Buckner is also
known for the use of his song "The Beast" in the film Mulholland Drive and
in the title menu of the video game Battlefield: Bad Company.
Buckner died of a heart attack in July 1977, in Chicago, Illinois, at the
age of 62.
(Wikipedia)
