Wednesday, May 19, 2010

John Fogerty Sued for Plagiarizing ... Himself: Twisted Tales

John Fogerty Sued for Plagiarizing ... Himself: Twisted Tales

RIP Ronnie James Dio

Wow, certainly seems to be a lot of invitations to meet St. Peter this month. Hank Jones and Lena Horne and Ronnie James Dio. Some will shoot me for mixing genres but 100 years from now the lines of distinction will have blurred.

Rather than go on about RJD's fight with cancer which is well publicized, I rather delve into the depths of depravity and drone on about the feud that never ended between Vivian Campbell and Ronnie James Dio.

Vivian reported in a recent interview that he was far more comfortable playing with Def Leppard but didn't totally lament the extent of his dismay regarding his tenure with DIO. Evidently, Vivian must have granted other interviews that I am unaware of and it must have had a certain caustic diatribe directed at Ronnie James Dio. At least one would might believe that if they watch this little video where Ronnie lets the F-bomb fly and has a few not so kind words for Campbell. Ronnie is caught on video outside of Radio City Music Hall in New York City signing autographs after he Heaven and Hell show. So in interest of trashy copy; roll'um.....

Ronnie had a unmistakable voice. His career stretched at least two generations of rockers. Tours with Ritchie Blackmore, Tommy Imommi, and Vivian Campbell where very successful unions and Ronnie's product was Heavy Metal at it's best.

RIP Hank Jones

Hello Everyone,

After nearly 93 years on Earth, Hank is gone. A few of us saw him in the hospital in the last month and he was transferred to a hospice uptown where he passed tonight at 10:30. His dear friend and companion Laurel who was caring for him day and night let me know just after. She said he was aware till the end and she was with him and that he left peacefully. Here's Hank's bio. He was a gentle quiet soul who was a class act and independent till the end. Now all the Jones Brothers are reunited and I have a feeling it's standing room only in Heaven tonight... especially since Lena Horne and Max Lucas our 100 year old saxman, who passed yesterday morning, will be sitting in with them ...

Sending love to all- See you this week at the Apollo (
The Jazz Foundation of America presents its 9th annual "A Great Night in Harlem" Thursday, May 20th 8:00pm - 10:00pm at The Apollo Theater).
Wendy Oxenhorn Ex Dir
http://www.jazzfoundation.org/


Henry "Hank" Jones (born July 31, 1918) is an
American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Critics and musicians have described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable.
[1]

In 1989, The
National Endowment for the Arts honored Hank Jones with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz MastersAward.[2] He was also honored in 2003 with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award.[3] In 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. On April 13, 2009, the University of Hartfordpresented Hank Jones with a Doctorate Degree for his musical accomplishments.

Hank Jones has recorded over sixty albums under his own name, and countless others as a guest.
[4]



Biography

Born in
Vicksburg, Mississippi, Henry "Hank" Jones moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where his father, a Baptist deacon and lumber inspector, bought a three-story brick home. One of seven children, Jones was raised in a musical family. His mother sang; his two older sisters studied piano; and his two younger brothers
Thad, a trumpeter, and Elvin, a drummeralso became world famous jazz musicians.[5] He studied piano at an early age and came under the influence of Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson and Art Tatum. By the age of 13 Jones was performing locally in Michigan and Ohio. While playing with territory bands in Grand Rapids and Lansing in 1944 he met Lucky Thompson, who invited Jones to work in New York City at the Onyx Clubwith Hot Lips Page.[6]

In
New York, Jones regularly listened to leading bop musicians, and was inspired to master the new style. While practicing and studying the music he worked with John Kirby, Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Andy Kirk, and Billy Eckstine. In autumn 1947 he began touring in Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic package, and from 1948 to 1953 he was accompanist for Ella Fitzgerald, and accompanying her in England in the Fall of 1948,[7] developed a harmonic facility of extraordinary taste and sophistication. During this period he also made several historically important recordings with Charlie Parker, which included "The Song Is You", from the Now's the Time album, recorded December 1952, with Teddy Kotick on bass and Max Roach on drums.

Engagements with
Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman followed, and recordings with such artists as Lester Young, Cannonball Adderley and Wes Montgomery, as well as being for a time, 'house pianist' on the Savoy label. From 1959 through 1975 Jones was staff pianist for CBS studios.
[8] This included backing such guests as Frank Sinatra on The Ed Sullivan Show.[9] With his rare combination of talents as a strong soloist, sensitive accompanist, and adept sight-reader, Jones has always been in great demand for recording sessions of all kinds, and may be heard on thousands of albums. An anecdote of those years is that he was on stage at the piano behind Marilyn Monroe as she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962. By the late 1970s his involvement as pianist and conductor with the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin'(based on the music of Fats Waller) had informed a wider audience of his unique qualities as a musician.

During the late 1970s and the 1980s Jones continued to record prolifically, as an unaccompanied soloist, in duos with other pianists (including
John Lewis and Tommy Flanagan), and with various small ensembles, most notably the Great Jazz Trio. The group took this name in 1976, by which time Jones had already begun working at the Village Vanguard with its original members, Ron Carter and Tony Williams (it was Buster Williams rather than Carter, however, who took part in the trio's first recording session in 1976); by 1980 Jones' sidemen were Eddie Gomez and Al Foster, and in 1982 Jimmy Cobb replaced Foster. The trio has also recorded with other all-star personnel, such as Art Farmer, Benny Golson, and Nancy Wilson. In the early 1980s Jones held a residency as a solo pianist at the Cafe Ziegfeld and made a tour of Japan, where he performed and recorded with George Duvivier and Sonny Stitt. Jones' versatility has been more in evidence with the passage of time. He collaborated on recordings of Afro-pop with an ensemble from Mali and on an album of spirituals, hymns and folksongs withCharlie Haden called Steal Away (1995).

Some of his recent recordings are For My Father (2005) with bassist
George Mraz and drummer Dennis Mackrel, a solo piano recording issued in Japan under the title Round Midnight (2006), and as a side man on Joe Lovano's Joyous Encounter(2005). Jones has recently made his debut on Lineage records, recording with Frank Wess and with guitar player Eddie Diehl, but also appears on West of 5th (2006) with Jimmy Cobb and Christian McBride on Chesky Records. He has also accompaniedDiana Krall for "Dream a Little Dream of Me" on the album compilation, "We all Love Ella" (2007 Verve Music Group). He's one of the musicians who test and talk about the piano in the documentary Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037, released in November 2007.

Early 2000 saw the Hank Jones Quartet accompanying jazz singer
Salena Jones at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho, and in 2006 at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival with both jazz singer Roberta Gambarini and the Oscar Peterson Trio.

Hank Jones was sometimes known by the nickname "Bad Henry."