5 Jazz Musicians You Should Know
As you can probably tell if you are a current student at LAMA, Jazz is a big part of the curriculum at LAMA. While jazz laid the groundwork for so much of the music you hear on contemporary radio today, too often we don’t do the research into the masters of that genre. Today, we are going to highlight five of our favorite jazz musicians that you should check out for more inspiration. Who else do you think we should recommend?
1. Cannonball Adderley
Julian Edwin “Cannonball” Adderley (September 15, 1928 – August 8, 1975) was a jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s.
Adderley is remembered for his 1966 single “Mercy Mercy Mercy“, a crossover hit on the pop charts, and for his work with trumpeter Miles Davis, including on the epochal album Kind of Blue (1959). He was the brother of jazz cornetist Nat Adderley, a longtime member of his band.
2. Sonny Clark
Conrad Yeatis “Sonny” Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American jazz pianist who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom.
3. Grant Green
Grant Green (June 6, 1935 St. Louis, Missouri – January 31, 1979; New York; some sources erroneously give his year of birth as 1931) was a jazz guitarist and composer.
Recording prolifically and almost exclusively for Blue Note Records (as both leader and sideman) Green performed in the hard bop, soul jazz, bebopand Latin-tinged idioms throughout his career.
4. Herbie Nichols
Herbie Nichols (3 January 1919 – 12 April 1963), was an American jazz pianist and composer who wrote the jazz standard “Lady Sings the Blues“. Obscure during his lifetime, he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics.
5. Art Pepper
Art Pepper (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982), born Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr., was an American alto saxophonist and clarinetist.
By the 1950s Pepper was recognized as one of the leading alto saxophonists in jazz, epitomized by his finishing second only to Charlie Parker as Best Alto Saxophonist in the Down Beat magazine Readers Poll of 1952.
At LAMA we are all about expanding our musical sensibilities. These are just a few selections for you to dip your ears in the musical waters. Who should we spotlight next time? Leave your comment below!
-LAMA Staff
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3 Guitarists You Probably Don’t Know, But Should
We all know Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and Neil Young; household names of course…these master guitar players changed music forever. But what about the thousands of guitarists out there who don’t always make Rolling Stone’s top guitarist lists? They certainly too deserve recognition! So we wanted to highlight a few of our faves here:
1. Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo
Ira Kaplan is the co-founder, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of the American indie rock band Yo La Tengo . Kaplan’s gear is a point of interest for many fans and aspiring guitarists.
Guitars:
- Candy Apple Red Fender Jazzmaster, with tortoise shell pickguard.
- Sunburst Fender Jaguar
- Natural Fender Stratocaster
- Sunburst Jerry Donahue Signature Telecaster
- Purple Sparkle Danelectro 12-string
2. Jane Wiedlin of the Go Go’s
Jane Marie Genevieve Wiedlin (born May 20, 1958) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and actress. She is best known as the rhythm guitarist of the all-female New Wave band The Go-Go’s.
Guitars:
GIBSON SG STANDARD ELECTRIC GUITAR
CUSTOM SHOP MODEL
3. Robert Fripp of King Crimson
Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique often associated with the banjo. His compositions often feature unusual time signatures, which have been influenced by classical and folk traditions. His innovations have included Frippertronics following collaboration with Brian Eno, soundscapes, and New Standard Tuning.
Guitars
During the early years of King Crimson (1969–1974), Fripp used two Gibson Les Paul guitars from 1957 and 1959. The ’57 guitar featured three humbucker pick-ups (with one volume control on the pickguard controlling the middle pick-up). A signature model named for the guitarist (Crimson Guitars Robert Fripp Signature)[features Fernandes Sustainer and MIDI elements, with a Les Paul Model Body. Another difference from the Gibson Les Paul is that Fripp’s guitar is built using a deep set neck tenon rather than a traditional set neck.
So we hope you enjoyed our little journey into some of our favorite guitar players that aren’t household names. If you have a suggestion for a guitar player that should be highlighted please leave it in the comments below!
-LAMA Staff
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“Rock The Mic” Unplugged @ LAMA This Week!
On Thursday, November 29th GRAMMY U‘s “Rock The Mic” Unplugged comes to LAMA College for Music Professionals! For those wondering what GRAMMY U is:
…a unique and fast-growing community of full-time college students, primarily between the ages of 17 and 25, who are pursuing a career in the recording industry. The Recording Academy created GRAMMY U to help prepare college students for their careers in the music industry through networking, educational programs and performance opportunities…
The Grammy U showcase will feature artist performances from LAMA’s own Diego Ruvalcaba as well as: Ben and Alex, Billy Lawler, Gian Visciano, Jessica Leigh, Katie Stump, Lights Over Phoenix, Rees Finley and Thanai (representing: Azusa Pacific University, CSU Northridge, UCLA Extension and USC).
On top of that, we’ll be providing free Coffee Bean, popchips, and Chipotle!
We are so honored to host these great performers at LAMA. You must RSVP by Tuesday (Nov. 27th) to attend. The instructions of how to RSVP are on our Facebook event page here.
-LAMA Staff
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LAMA Student Austin Salinas Featured in Riverside Press Enterprise
LAMA is proud to introduce you to one of our newest students, and guitar player: Austin Salinas. He was recently featured in the print and online version of the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
The story explains that:
Austin Salinas, of Riverside, has been awarded a $5,000 scholarship to attend LAMA College for Music Professionals. He is enrolled in the guitar department, and was selected from hundreds of applicants to receive this scholarship.
Salinas was a stud at Allegiant Christian High School, graduating with a 4.0 GPA.
We love to see our students getting some love from their hometown paper. Just by reading the comments on the website you could tell that everyone from the area was proud of Austin.
If you are interested in applying for LAMA’s scholarships, visit that section of the website here.
-LAMA staff
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Legacy Artists Like Metallica Moving to Indie Labels
If you have been following anything on this blog you have seen the trends; everything is slowly but surely going the way of independence. Now it seems like even Metallica is getting in on the act! According to a recent Hypebot article:
The famed rockers from Metallica are gearing up for their first non-major label release – a live concert DVD / Blu-ray entitled “Quebec Magnetic”, which will be released on the band’s very own label in North America (no name for the label just yet). The material for the video was filmed over two nights in 2009 during the band’s Death Magnetic tour, and is due out on December 10th. This marks yet another recent departure by a legacy artist from the major labels, as several others are beginning to fancy the independent route.
This is fantastic news for independent artists! Even though this is a DVD release it could be a foreshadowing of what Metallica will be doing with their future audio recordings. It shows that everything we have been saying is proving right. A gigantic band like Metallica getting in on the indie action which can only mean good things for this community. The only question now is will the next Lou Reed collaboration be released independently as well?
To read the entire article please visit the Hypebot article here.
-LAMA Staff
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LAMA Students Contribute Original Song to “Get Together Girls”
One of the elements of LAMA that we are most proud of is the large number of international students attending the school at any given time. This year is no exception! Recently, three of LAMA’s Ethiopian students — Etsegenet Mekonnen (Guitar), Kibrom Ashebir (Music Proudction) and Nefthalem Assegid Mulat (former Vocal program student) — contributed to a new documentary called “Get Together Girls”. The filmmakers phoned LAMA looking for musicians that could help them get the right sound.
Described on its Facebook page as “a story of women and community with a touch of creativity,” Get Together Girls focuses on teaching former street girls to be self reliant and support themselves and their families through fashion and creativity, learning all the manual skills that the tailoring projects requires. The film recently had a successful screening at the Women’s Independent Film Festival in West Hollywood and the students go to see their contribution up on the big screen. Here is the trailer it looks fantastic!
Get Together Girls – TRAILER from Vanessa Crocini on Vimeo.
-LAMA Staff
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Pandora Sues ASCAP to Slash Musician’s Pay
Don’t Pandora and drive.
We have to admit a few years back Pandora was our go to streaming music choice. Some of us have been evangelists ever since. We loved the fact that we found a lot of great new artists and songs based on the crazy algorithm that determines what you may or may not like. Then, probably while listening to Pandora, they made some major news. And all they had to do was make the musicians who use and the support the service, very unhappy. According to an article in The Register:
The leading backer of a bill passing through US Congress that will slash musicians’ pay by 85 per cent, as well as effectively outlawing them from bargaining collectively with their paymasters, has been selling stock worth $1m in his own internet company every month.
If that’s not yucky enough for you, Hypebot announced Pandora is suing ASCAP for lower licensing fees on behalf of ASCAP songwriters. Execs cash in while suing songwriters is not going to win you any PR awards. What do you think about what Pandora is doing of late?
-LAMA Staff
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