Greg karukas Smooth jazz

Gregg Karukas hails originally from the D.C. - Maryland area where he was one of the top fusion and studio players in town. Gregg moved to L.A. in 1983, not with the idea of getting his own record deal, but with the desire to expand his multi-keyboard style by playing with as many other artists as possible.

That Gregg Karukas can write such compelling songs in a variety of styles should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the Bowie, Maryland native's diverse musical background. "What really got me into music as a passion and a lifestyle was first seeing the Beatles, and then hearing Stevie Wonder and singer/songwriters like Carole King, James Taylor, Leon Russell, Laura Nyro and Joni Mitchell, he says. I was inspired by the idea that you could touch people's emotions with melodic songs

Girl In The Red Dress

and lyrics that meant something. When my voice changed as a teenager, I lost my singing chops and concentrated more on playing piano and organ in various bands. Then I discovered Jazz. I paid a lot of dues' in the Washington, DC jazz clubs, working on my chops and writing songs by day."

As a young musician who had natural ability and a good ear, Karukas spent his early years close to the jukebox in his father's roadside tavern absorbing the hits of the sixties - from The Beatles to Motown. While Karukas played organ in rock and soul bands as a teenager, his interest in playing jazz was sparked after hearing Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," and Stan Getz's "Jazz Samba." In his quest for jazz knowledge, Karukas turned to the recordings of Miles Davis, Ahmad Jamal, Les McCann, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, as well as mainstream jazz players like Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan. One of his biggest influences was the master jazz pianist Bill Evans.

At age 17, right out of Bowie High School, Gregg joined with Tim Eyermann to form East Coast Offering where he honed his compositional skills and jazz chops in the city's "jazz lounges. They quickly became the city's top original crossover group - playing together for five years, and then Gregg and the rhythm section split to form Natural Bridge, a band that included Shannon Ford (Danny Gatton, Paul Simon, Gatlin Brothers) and Michael Manring (Windham Hill, Michael Hedges, Montreux). They opened shows at the famous Cellar Door for artists such as Angela Bofil, Larry Carlton, The Robben Ford Band (pre-Yellowjackets - this is where Gregg met Russell Ferrante), Jeff Lorber (w/Kenny Gorelick....G.), and many others.

After moving to Los Angeles in the mid '80s, thanks to early recommendations by Yellowjackets keyboardist Russell Ferrante, Karukas quickly found himself performing with the likes of Patti Austin, Shelby Flint , Richard Elliot, Grant Geissman, Ronnie Laws, and Brenda Russell.

Beginning with his first independent recording, The Nightowl, in 1987, Karukas has been one of the few artists whose own creative growth and commercial success perfectly parallels that of the smooth jazz genre as a whole. His string of Top 5 Radio hits includes his most recent # 1, Nightshift, Summerhouse (#1 Gavin in '93), Key Witness (1991), Sound of Emotion ('92), and his breakout 1998 major label debut Blue Touch, which rose to ..4 on the Radio & Records airplay chart. His most recent solo CD was Heatwave on N-Coded Music and Looking Up (Trippin 'N' Rhythm) was released Sept. 2005.

Prior to recording The Nightowl, Karukas had already developed a reputation as a solid keyboardist whose skills ran the gamut from eclectic jazz to seductive Brazilian colorings to hypnotic smooth grooves. Gregg had just completed a 1-1/2 year stint with Melissa Manchester (with Richard Elliot on sax) when he formed his own band to be the among first groups to play at Bon Appetit, At My Place and Le Cafe, the now defunct music clubs which spawned most of L.A.'s Contemporary/Smooth Jazz artists. Dave Koz, and Gary Meek (Jeff Lorber, Airto and Flora) and yes, Boney James, before his Warner Brothers deal, were the first young undiscovered sax talents to join Gregg's band and contribute to Gregg's melodic, soulful style on his first few solo CD's as the local Smooth Jazz scene blossomed.

In 1987 he released his first solo album THE NIGHTOWL , which quickly became a Quiet Storm radio staple w/the songs "Walkin' With You", "Talbot Street Cafe" and "Drivetime." That same year he became the original keyboardist with the Rippingtons, recording the classic MOONLIGHTING project with Kenny G. and David Benoit. Gregg recommended Dave Koz to play EWI on the MOONLIGHTING record and the rest, as they say, is history.

He has also been a popular guest artist on tours with Boney James, Peter White, Eric Marienthal, Ricardo Silveira and Larry Carlton and has produced a vast array of artists at his own Nightowl Studios, including Kirk Whalum, Peter White, Craig Chaquico, Phil Sheeran, Gabriela Anders, The Pointer Sisters and crossover pianist David Lanz. As a songwriter, his tunes have been recorded by Richard Eliott, George Benson, Chaquico, Arnold McCuller, Pauline Wilson, Kenia and Deniece Williams.

Those fruitful all-star associations are only the beginning of an amazing journey that would later find the married father of two boys firmly ensconced in the world of his first true musical love, Brazilian music. In this genre, Karukas has toured and recorded with Sergio Mendes, Ricardo Silveira and Dori Caymmi. A career highlight came in 1992 at the Hollywood Bowl when he added his multi-keyboard orchestrations to the music of Toots Thielemans and Brazilian legends Ivan Lins, Caymmi and the late Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Karukas feels lucky to work with singers and musicians whom he feels a magical musical rapport with. "People say my music sounds romantic and uplifting - and I look so happy on stage, he says. It's totally true. For me, the best music comes out of an inner feeling of either intense happiness or sadness. I always try to stay faithful to that original inspiration, because that is where the true sound of emotion' comes from.

"I think we all need music to be the soundtrack to our soul," Karukas adds. "It can inspire us, balance out our lives and relieve stress. I appreciate that and I treat each CD or concert as another opportunity to connect to those sounds and emotions on a deeper level. I love sharing that with others and try to make each project a special event all its own."

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Duke Ellington Biography

Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington (Born: April 29, 1899 in Washington, DC.
Died: May 24, 1974 in New York City) was an American jazz composer, pianist and bandleader. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 and in 1973, the Legion of Honor by France. Both are the highest civilian honors of each country. He was known as 'The Duke'.

Duke Ellington was a major force in jazz from the 1920s through the 1960s and his work continues to be influential today. He is considered by many to be the greatest American composer. He had many hits including Take the A Train (words and music by Billy Strayhorn), Satin Doll, Rockin' in Rhythm, Mood Indigo, Caravan and Sophisticated Lady. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, Ellington often shared composer credit with his manager Irving Mills until they had a falling out in the late 1930s. Billy Strayhorn became Ellington's collaborator (not always credited) from 1940 until Strayhorn's death in the mid 1960s.

His works were always tailored to the talents of the musicians in his band, including Johnny Hodges, Bubber Miley, Joe 'Tricky Sam' Nanton, Barney Bigard, Ben Webster, Harry Carney, Sonny Greer, Otto Hardwicke, and Wellman Braud. Many musicians stayed with him for decades.

Ellington started playing around Washington D.C. in his teens, then formed a band 'The Washingtonians', which he moved to New York City in 1923. Ellington & The Washingtonians played at various New York Clubs and toured New England as a dance band until they got their first big break in 1927. When the then much better known Joe 'King' Oliver held out for more money at the prestigious Cotton Club, the job as house band was offered to Ellington. This was the best known of the Harlem clubs, and 'Duke Ellington and his Jungle Band' became well known nationally thanks to the regular radio broadcasts from the Cotton Club.

In this setting Ellington had a chance to write music in a variety of styles for dance theater acts as well as extended specialties for the band. These appearances featured many experiments in tonality, with trumpet screams and wah-wah, and growling saxophones. When Ellington left the Cotton Club in 1931 he was one of the best known African-American celebrities, recording regularly for several record companies and featured in motion pictures. Ellington continued to tour with his band around the United States and Europe, plus a tour of much of the rest of the world in the 1960s.

He was a musical experimenter all his life, recording with John Coltrane and Charles Mingus as well as with his own highly skilled orchestra. The band reached a creative peak in the 1940s, when he wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices and tremendous creativity. Some of these musicians, such as Jimmy Blanton, transformed jazz during the short time they played with him.

But even as players left and the popularity of swing diminished, Ellington continued to find new outlets, new forms and new sidemen. He frequently composed in longer forms modelled on classical music, such as his Black, Brown and Beige (1943), and Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare. His Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue with a rocking saxophone interval by Paul Gonsalves in 1956 at the Newport Jazz Festival greatly increased his fame and drawing power.

He also wrote for films, starting with Black and Tan Fantasy in 1929, but also Anatomy of a Murder (1959) with James Stewart, in which he appeared as a bandleader, and Paris Blues (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians.

Ellington was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1965, but was turned down. His reaction: 'Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young.'

Duke Ellington died on May 24, 1974 and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York. A large memorial to Duke Ellington created by sculptor Robert Graham was dedicated in 1997 in New York's Central Park near Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, an intersection named Duke Ellington Circle.

Duke Ellington CDs :

The very best of Duke ellington.
Masterpieces by Ellington.
The Best of Duke Ellington: 1932-1939.
Ellington At Newport 1956.
The Essential Duke Ellington.
Piano Reflections.
Blues in Orbit.
Three Suites.
Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band.
Jazz Icons: Duke Ellington Live in '58.

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Al Jarreau

* Born: March 12, 1940 in Milwaukee, WI
* Years Active: 1976-2006
* Genre: World & Reggae
* Influenced by: Mel Tormé, Johnny Mathis
Genre: World & Reggae
Biography: The only vocalist in history to net Grammy Awards in three different categories (jazz, pop, and R&B,

* Followed By: Duncan Millar, Yana Purim, Toni Braxton,
Gretchen Parlato,Kem
* Similar Artists: Natalie Cole, Randy Crawford, James Ingram,
Bill Withers, George Benson, Michael Franks, Bobby McFerrin,
Dianne Reeves, Gino Vannelli, Stevie Wonder

The only vocalist in history to net Grammy Awards in three different categories (jazz, pop, and R&B, respectively), Al Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, WI, on March 12, 1940. The son of a vicar, he earned his first performing experience singing in the church choir. After receiving his master's degree in psychology, Jarreau pursued a career as a social worker, but eventually he decided to relocate to Los Angeles and try his hand in show business, playing small clubs throughout the West Coast.

He recorded an LP in the mid-'60s, but largely remained an unknown, not reentering the studio for another decade. Upon signing to Reprise, Jarreau resurfaced in 1975 with We Got By, earning acclaim for his sophisticated brand of vocalese and winning positive comparison to the likes of Billy Eckstine and Johnny Mathis. After 1976's Glow, Jarreau issued the following year's Look to the Rainbow, a two-disc live set that reached the Top 50 on the U.S. album charts. With 1981's Breakin' Away, he entered the Top Ten, scoring a pair of hits with "We're in This Love Together" and the title track. After recording 1986's L Is for Lover with producer Nile Rodgers, Jarreau scored a hit with the theme to the popular television program Moonlighting, but his mainstream pop success was on the wane, and subsequent efforts like 1992's Heaven and Earth and 1994's Tenderness found greater success with adult contemporary audiences.

A string of budget compilations and original albums hit the shelves at the end of the decade, but into the turn of the century his original output slowed down. That was until he signed with the Verve/GRP label in 1998 and reunited with producer Tommy LiPuma. LiPuma had produced Jarreau's ostensible 1975 debut, We Got By, and the pairing seemed to reinvigorate Jarreau, who went on to release three stellar albums under LiPuma's guidance, including 2000's Tomorrow Today, 2002's All I Got, and 2004's Accentuate the Positive. Givin' It Up, recorded with George Benson and released in 2006, was nominated for three Grammy Awards -- each one for a different song. Jarreau returned with his first ever full-length holiday-themed album, Christmas, in 2008. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

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Dionne Warwick - famous jazz singer

Dionne Warwick has, over an illustrious four-decade career, established herself as an international musical legend. Her reputation as a hit maker has been firmly etched into public consciousness, thanks to nearly sixty charted hits since "Don't Make Me Over" began its climb up the charts in December 1962. As a performer, she has charmed and entertained audiences on every continent, amassing a worldwide audience. There are a few important "firsts" that make Dionne Warwick a true pioneer.

Dionne Warwick received her first Grammy Award in 1968 (for the classic "Do You Know The Way to San Jose?"), and in so doing became the first African-American solo female artist of her generation to win the prestigious award for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. This award has only been awarded to one other female African-American legend, Ella Fitzgerald.

Other African-American female recording artists certainly racked up their share of crossover pop and R&B hits during the 1960's. However, Dionne Warwick preceded the mainstream success of some of her musical peers by becoming the first such artist to rack up a dozen consecutive Top 100 hit singles from 1963 to 1966.

Dionne Warwick's performance at the Olympia Theater in Paris, during a 1963 concert starring the legendary Marlene Dietrich, rocketed her to international stardom. As she was establishing herself as a major force in American contemporary music, she steadily gained in popularity among European audiences. Hits like "Anyone Who Had A Heart" and "Walk On By" brought successively larger visibility and success around the world. In 1968 she became the first African-American female performer to appear before the Queen of England at a Royal Command Performance. Since then, Dionne has performed before numerous kings, queens, presidents, and heads of state.

Her recordings of songs like "A House Is Not A home," "Alfie," "(Theme From) The Valley Of The Dolls," and "The April Fools" made Dionne Warwick a pioneer as one of the first female artists to popularize classic movie themes. In 1968 Dionne made her own film debut in the movie "Slaves". This marked the first time, since Lena Horne, that a contemporary African-American female recording artist achieved such a goal.

In recent years, Dionne's pioneering efforts have focused on leading the music industry in the fight against AIDS. Her Grammy-winning, chart topping, single "That's What Friends Are For," lead the way by raising, literally, millions of dollars for AIDS research. Throughout the world, Dionne has devoted countless hours to a wide range of humanitarian causes, serving as the U.S. Ambassador for Health throughout the Eighties. On October 16, 2002 she was named a global Ambassador for the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), based in Rome, Italy. Dionne has spearheaded the long overdue development and production of a history book that will detail African and African-American history for use in schools, libraries, and bookstores throughout the world. She continues her work as a socially conscious and concerned global citizen.

With a legacy of accomplishments and achievements, Dionne Warwick is proudly celebrating her 40th year in the recording industry. She is planning a new 2003 release CD composed of duets with her peers entitled My Friends And Me. Dionne says, "This is one of the most exciting recording projects for me and I am looking forward to getting it out as soon as possible for everyone to enjoy." This new album can trace its roots to the very earliest years of her amazing musical career.

Dionne began singing during her childhood years in East Orange, New Jersey, initially in church. Occasionally she sang as a soloist and fill-in voice for the renowned Drinkard Singers, a group comprised of her mother Lee along with her aunts and uncles. During her teens, Dionne and sister Dee Dee started their own gospel group, The Gospelaires. It was while visiting the Drinkard Singers at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem that Dionne was asked to sing backup during a session for saxophonist Sam "The Man" Taylor. In February 1998, The Apollo Theater paid tribute to Dionne in a special event highlighting her constant support for the venue and her work as a music trailblazer.

While attending The Hartt College Of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, Dionne began making trips to do regular session work in New York. She sang behind many of the biggest starts of the 1960's including Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Chuck Jackson, and Solomon Burke to name a few. Once Burt Bacharach, composer, arranger, and producer heard her singing during a session for The Drifters, he asked her to sing on demos of songs he was writing with new partner Hal David. In 1962, Bacharach & David presented one such demo to Scepter Records. The label President, Florence Greenberg, did not want the song; she did, however, want the voice and Dionne began a hit-filled, twelve-year, association with the New York label.

In all, Dionne, Burt, and Hal racked up thirty hit singles, and close to twenty best-selling albums, during their first decade together. Songs like "Do You Know The Way To San Jose," "Message To Michael," "This Girl's In Love With You," "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," and "Reach Out For Me," established Dionne Warwick as a consummate artist and performer. Known as the artist who "bridged the gap," Dionne's soulful blend of pop, gospel and R&B music transcended race, culture, and musical boundaries.

In 1970, Dionne received her second Grammy Award for the best-selling album I'll Never Fall In Love Again and she began her second decade of hits by signing with Warner Brothers Records. Dionne recorded half-a-dozen albums, working with top producers like Thom Bell, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Jerry Ragavoy, Steve Barri, and Michael Omartian. In 1974 she hit the top of the charts for the first time with "Then Came You," a million-selling duet with The Spinners. Three years later, she teamed up with Isaac Hayes for a highly successful World Tour, "A Man And A Woman."

In 1976, fresh from earning a Master's Degree in Music from her alma mater (The Hartt College of Music), Dionne signed with Arista Records, beginning a third decade of hit-making. Label-mate Barry Manilow produced her first Platinum-selling album, Dionne. The album included these back-to-back hits; "I'll Never Love This Way Again," and "Déjà Vu." Both recordings earned Grammy Awards, making Dionne the first female artist to win the Best Female Pop, and Best Female R&B Performance, Award. Hot on the heels of her phenomenal success, Dionne began her first stint as host for the highly successful television show "Solid Gold."

Further milestones marked Dionne's tenure with Arista. Her 1982 album, Heartbreaker, co-produced by Barry Gibb and The Bee Gees, became an international chart-topper. In 1985, Dionne reunited with producer Burt Bacharach, and longtime friends Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John to record the classic "That's What Friends Are For." Profits from the sale of that song were donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). In 1990 she joined forces with a number of Arista label-mates to raise over $2.5 Million for various AIDS organizations during the star-studded "That's What Friends Are For" Benefit at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Dionne's album Friends achieved Gold status. Throughout the Eighties she collaborated with many of her musical peers, including Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Luther Vandross and others. Dionne worked with Stevie Wonder as music coordinator for the film and Academy Award winning soundtrack album The Woman In Red. She was one of the key participants in the all-star charity single "We Are The World" and, in 1984 she performed at "Live Aid".

In addition to co-hosting and helping to launch "The Soul Train Music Awards", she also starred in her own show, "Dionne And Friends." She was co-executive producer of "Celebrate The Soul Of American Music" which honored and recognized many of her fellow musical pioneers. Throughout the 1980's and 1990's, Dionne toured extensively with Burt Bacharach. The show won rave reviews from fans and press alike for reinforcing the timeless musical legacy of the Bacharach, David and Warwick team. Her recent musical achievements have included performances as part of the "National Symphony With The Divas," and, in Tokyo, performances with The National Opera Company of Japan; yes, Dionne even sings classical music.

Dionne's recent activities have included the creation of Carr/Todd/Warwick Production, Inc. The goal of the organization is to produce television and film projects. For the past fifteen years she has worked tirelessly as the co-founder of the Dionne Warwick Design Group, Inc. With partner Bruce Garrick, Dionne has been responsible for designing numerous international projects ranging from private estates to world-class hotels which, she notes, are "all affordable!" In 2002 Dionne was featured on a Home & Garden Network show highlighting the Palm Desert home designed by her and her partner Bruce.

Dionne now divides her time equally between Brazil and the United States, and has made the design of her Brazilian home a special project. In 1994, Dionne's final album for Arista was the critically acclaimed Aquarela Do Brasil (Watercolor of Brazil) that showcased her long-term love affair with the people and music of Brazil.

Dionne's status as a musical icon and humanitarian is legendary. With her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she continues to work tirelessly with various organizations dedicated to empowering and inspiring others. In 1997 she was awarded the "Luminary Award" by the American Society of Young Musicians. That same year she joined General Colin Powell in celebrating the tenth anniversary of the "Best Friends" Program, an abstinence and character-building program for young women. Dionne's East Orange New Jersey Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary, honored her by renaming it "The Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship." Displaying her own business skills, Dionne plans to reactivate her skin care regimen and fragrance in 2003.

In early 1998, the National Association of Record Merchandisers (NARM) gave Dionne the Chairman's Award for Sustained Creative Achievement. In November 2001, the History Makers Organization of Chicago named her "History Maker". 2002 was a special year for Dionne; she was honored by the American Red Ribbon AIDS Foundation; in October she was named FAO Ambassador of the United Nations; in December she was honored by The Recording Academy with the 2002 New York Chapter's Heroes Award and she appeared (for the fourth time) on the Vatican's Christmas Concert. In 2003, she received a lifetime achievement award from the R&B Foundation, and she was selected as one of the 2003 Top Faces of Black History.

As she looks forward to another decade of great music, Dionne Warwick says that she still has some important personal goals; "As I've said over the years, I still want the Tony, Oscar, and Emmy!" Nothing seems impossible to Dionne, a woman who has inspired and empowered millions through her music, her performances, and her work as a humanitarian. In a recent interview she reflected on the words imparted to her by her grandfather; "If you think it, you can do it!" With a life filled with accomplishment and achievement, Dionne Warwick can proudly say that she has always believed in, and lived by, those words of wisdom.

In 2003, Dionne wrote her first book. "My Point of View" is a collection of Dionne's own "pearls of wisdom" that she has gathered through the years. She provides her own thoughts and wisdom on various subjects, all highlighted by personal and rare photographs of her journey.

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Tatsuro yamashita

* Name: Tatsuro Yamashita
* Decades Active: 1980,1990,2000
* Genre: Rock jazz
* Styles: Japanese Pop
Tatsuro Yamashita (February 4, 1953) is a musician and producer; and in a long running system for ranking musical achievements compiled by industry professionals from around the world for HMV. Tatsuro has been listed as the worlds 74th most influential musician . He is also ranked at No.1 in a list of Japan’s top 30 singers , and was listed at No.6 in a list of Japan’s top 100 musicians. After the hit single “Ride on Time” which was released in 1980, all of his records have reached the top five on the Japanese music chart. His most well-known song is “Christmas Eve”. It first appeared on his album Melodies in 1983, and was later released as a single In 1986, when it became the standard Japanese Christmas song.”

1. Tatsuro Yamashita - Mermaid (4:22)
2. Tatsuro Yamashita - Your Eyes (3:14)
3. Tatsuro Yamashita - Morning Glory (3:51)
4. Tatsuro Yamashita - Sparkle (4:15)
5. Tatsuro Yamashita - Futari (5:45)
6. Tatsuro Yamashita - Loveland,Island (4:29)
7. Tatsuro Yamashita - Rainy Walk (5:09)
8. Tatsuro Yamashita - Funky Flushin’ (5:39)
9. Tatsuro Yamashita - Ride On Time (4:24)
10. Tatsuro Yamashita - Touch Me Lightly (4:24)
11. Tatsuro Yamashita - Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1:51)
12. Tatsuro Yamashita - My Sugar Babe (4:12)

windy Lady

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The Crusaders

Randy Crawford : street life (the Crusader)

t’s time to gear up again,” says Joe Sample, the brilliant keyboardist who, nearly a half-century after the birth of The Crusaders, is leading the charge for the group’s renewal. “It’s time to revisit and revitalize the tradition that gave us purpose and identity. We’re looking back to our beginnings for our strength—back to that healing feeling when the music first got all over us

This reunion was long in coming,” he continues, as he listens to the final mix of Rural Renewal, the first new album from The Crusaders — featuring Sample, saxist Wilton Felder, and drummer Stix Hooper—in over 20 years. “More than ever, I missed playing essential Crusaders music. I needed renewal, and I knew that reassembling the team, with [producer] Stewart Levine at our side, was something I had to do.”

Although a reunion of these bandmates, who first joined together in Houston in the fifties with the formation of The Swingsters, would be special enough, Sample invited a few guests to the party. Chart topping contemporary gospel vocalist Donnie McClurkin contributes soulfully heartfelt renditions of “A Healing Coming On” and “Sing the Song”. Eric Clapton’s tasty string acoustic gives the title track its extra lift. Clapton also electrifies “Creepin’,” one of the album’s patented Sample smoothed-out funk grooves. The presence of stalwarts Arthur Adams, Lenny Castro and Dean Parks, veterans of past crusades, is keenly felt. Freddie Washington and Ray Parker, Jr., geniuses of the Cosmic Groove, groove hard and long, brothers of the heart with Joe, Wilton and Stix.

Ultimately, Joe, Wilton, and Stix are the renewers and the renewed. They’ve never sounded better—Sample’s boldly percussive piano, Hooper’s deep-pocket drums, Felder’s full-cry tenor. They wrote all the songs; they fashioned the charts; they reinforce their signature sound with a sweet maturity that nourishes our souls. The titles—“Heartland,” “Greasy Spoon," “Viva de Funk,” “Shotgun House Groove”—are self-descriptive pieces of poetry all pointing in the same direction.

“The renewal,” adds Stix, “is in the rapport. And the rhythmic rapport between us is downright magical. It’s innate. It’s a bonding of more than musical sensibilities. The bonding is spiritual.”

In that vein, The Crusaders create some inspiring gospel sounds on Rural Renewal. “The source of `A Healing Coming On’ was an Oprah Winfrey show that came on a couple of weeks after 9/11,” explains Sample. “She had Donnie McClurkin and The Winans as guests. Donnie said the words, `A healing’s coming on.’ I was certain he was referring to a song he was about to sing. Instead he sang his hit `Stand,’ which brought down the house. But the words stuck, and Will Jennings and I wrote to that theme. Then we asked the mighty Sounds of Blackness to provide the choral background and Donnie to sing lead. He said he was honored—so honored, in fact, he hung around to sing another story of quiet grace, `Sing the Song.’”

The group’s embracing of many different musical styles starts where it normally does, at the beginning. “Because we came up on the streets and not in the studios,” says Felder, “our music was live. The Texas streets were rich with the blues of Lightnin’ Hopkins. We grew up on all the deep country sounds. We ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At the same time, we had ears for modern jazz—Miles and Monk—and never saw a contradiction between the old and new.”

It’s no surprise, then, that once in senior high, The Swingsters became The Modern Jazz Sextet, a group that continued through their college years at Texas Southern University. Before graduation, though, the call of the road was irresistible, and they were off to L.A.

Two years later, in 1960, the group was signed to Pacific Jazz Records and re-christened The Jazz Crusaders. Their trombone/sax frontline sound was unique, their bop chops impeccable. In a series of superlative albums, The Jazz Crusaders built a national reputation, surviving a decade in which the popularity of jazz was in extreme decline. On one hand, the British Invasion and Motown dominated the youth market; on the other, the jazz avant-garde alienated scores of fans.

“We were caught in the middle,” says Stix. “We heard what visionaries like John Coltrane were doing—and we loved it. But we also loved the music of Marvin Gaye.”

“The era of soul music,” Wilton explains, “was perfectly akin to our own roots. At the same time, we were put in a jazz box and couldn’t break out.”

By 1968, The Jazz Crusaders were limping. “The last straw was somewhere back East,” Joe says. “I had to play on an old broken-down jazz organ and back a strip show. The jazz world was on the verge of collapse, and we were about to go down with it. I told my colleagues, `Man, this crusade is about over.’”

Ironically, it was just about to begin. Enter Stewart Levine, a musician-turned-producer who, like Sample, had grown disillusioned with the spacey jazz of the late sixties. His vision for the group matched Joe’s: a blending of the basics—inventive jazz and get-down rhythm-and-blues.

By 1971, “Jazz” was dropped and The Crusaders marched into new territory, unencumbered by category. The march continued through the seventies, culminating at decade’s end with the remarkable worldwide hit “Street Life.”

In the following years, The Crusaders worked both together and individually in the studios, backing everyone from Marvin Gaye to Steely Dan to Joni Mitchell. Meanwhile, The Crusaders’ oeuvre expanded into one of the great jazz/soul collections of the modern era. Their landmark albums—The Second Crusade, Unsung Heroes, Southern Comfort, Chain Reaction, and Those Southern Knights—took on iconic status in more ways than one. The Crusaders catalogue has become perhaps the most sampled in the world. The infectious grooves and licks from those songs are a veritable backbone of today’s neo-soul, rap and hip hop music. Artists that have sampled Crusaders tracks include 2Pac, Queen Latifah, Ice Cube, Tyrese, Destiny’s Child, De la Soul, Lil Bow Wow, Blackstreet, Masta Ace, US3 and Dave Hollister, to name a few.

==========
In 1961, four fellows from Houston transplanted themselves to Los Angeles and added more distinctly bluesy elements to the soul jazz style with an ear-grabbing album called The Freedom Sound on the Pacific Jazz label. The band, which had been known in turn as the Swingsters, the Modern Jazz Sextet, and the Nighthawks, was now named the Jazz Crusaders. Its four co-leaders were trombonist Wayne Henderson, tenor saxophonist (and occasional bassist) Wilton Felder, pianist Joe Sample, and drummer Nesbert "Stix" Hooper.

The Jazz Crusaders sound caught on big time, and their subsequent Pacific Jazz albums rewarded them with a good deal of exposure. The band performed regularly and got plenty of airplay. One of its signature pieces, the rollickingly fast "Young Rabbits," was even used as the musical background for a Ford Mustang TV commercial.

But as times changed, so did the Jazz Crusaders. In the late Sixties, they placed such popular numbers as the Beatles’ "Eleanor Rigby" and "Get Back" in their repertoire, and firm backbeats began to bolster many a selection. By 1971, they decided that the word "jazz" kept them from attracting a wider listener base, and so they emerged anew with The Crusaders, Vol. 1 (Chisa), an album that openly infused jazz with pop, soul, and r&b elements.

If the Jazz Crusaders had achieved some degree of popularity, it was nothing like the crossover success that greeted the Crusaders. Such albums as Scratch, Southern Comfort, Chain Reaction, Those Southern Knights, Free as the Wind, Images, Street Life, and Royal Jam (recorded variously for the Chisa, ABC Blue Thumb, and MCA labels) sold well and brought in a deluge of new fans. Street Life’s title track provided the Crusaders with a Billboard top forty hit, reaching no. 36 in 1979.

The Crusaders’ popularity started to fade in the early Eighties, prompted by Henderson’s departure. Hooper then left as well, and by the early Nineties Sample and Felder had disbanded the group. A few years later, Henderson and Felder began performing together, first as the New Crusaders and, more recently, as the Jazz Crusaders.

Excerpted from The Crusaders’ Finest Hour 314 543 762-2

Zan Stewart.

Zan Stewart writes on jazz for Stereophile, Down Beat, and the Los Angeles Times.

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Biography of Avril Levigne

Rock & roll wild child Avril Lavigne hit big in summer 2002 with her spiky-fun debut song "Complicated," shifting pop music into a different direction. Lavigne, who was 17 at the time, didn't seem concerned with the glamor of the TRL-dominated pop world and such confidence allowed her star power to soar.
The middle of three children in small town Napanee, Ontario, Lavigne's rock ambitions were noticeable around age two. By her early teens, she was already writing songs and playing guitar. The church choir and local festivals and county fairs also allowed Lavigne to get her voice heard, and luckily, Arista Records' main man Antonio "L.A." Reid was listening. He offered her a deal, and at 16, Lavigne's musical dreams became reality.

With Reid's assistance and a new Manhattan apartment, Lavigne found herself surrounded by prime songwriters and producers, but it wasn't impressive enough for her to continue. She had always relied on her own ideas to create a musical spark and things weren't going as planned. Lavigne wasn't disillusioned, though. She headed for Los Angeles and Nettwerk grabbed her. Producer/songwriter Clif Magness (Celine Dion, Wilson Phillips, Sheena Easton) tweaked Lavigne's melodic, edgy sound and her debut, Let Go, was the polished product. Singles such as "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi" went top 10 while "I'm With You" and "Losing Grip" did moderately well at radio. Butch Walker of the Marvelous 3, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida and Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Good Charlotte) signed on to produce Lavigne's second album. Under My Skin appeared in May 2004. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide

All about Avril Levigne
Music videos of Avril Levigne
Biography of Avril Levigne
Albums y lyrics of Avril Levigne

Top Avril Levigne videos

Top videos

Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends
Daddy Yankee - Gasolina
Reik - Yo Quisiera
Rbd - Rebelde
Black Eyed Peas - Don't Phunk With My Heart

Top Avril Levigne's lyrics
Top lyrics

Daddy Yankee - Gasolina
Mario - Let Me Love You
Reik - Yo Quisiera
Rbd - Rebelde
Belinda - feat. Moderatto - Muriendo Lento

Top Artists/Bands
Rbd
Daddy Yankee
Belinda
Molotov
Rasmus

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Billy Joel The Greatest Hits

Real Name:
William Martin Joel
Birthday:
May 9, 1949 (in the Bronx, NY)
Married To:
Elizabeth Webber (Married 1972, divorced 1982)
Christie Brinkley (Married March 23, 1985, divorced Aug 25, 1994)
Children:
Alexa Ray Joel (December 29, 1985)
Hits " Just The Way You Are "

William Martin Joel, born May 9, 1949, in The Bronx, NY, grew up in a comfortable Long Island suburb, Levittown, during the years following World War II. His German-born father, Howard Joel, moved to America to begin a new life in New York. That new life included adopting a new faith for his son--although Joel Sr. was Jewish, young Billy was raised in a predominately Catholic neighborhood and frequently attended mass and confession.

Joel's father secured work as an engineer with General Electric while his mother, Rosalind, set to work raising Billy and his sister Judy. Both of Joel's parents provided early musical influences: his father was a classically trained, self-disciplined pianist, and his mother had once sung in the chorus for Gilbert and Sullivan.

Billy began piano lessons at age four and continued until he was 14. As a young teenager he disliked learning classical music, theory, and the endless hours of practice.

In 1957, Joel's parents divorced; his father returned to Europe, and his mother supported the family by becoming a secretary and bookkeeper. Joel's maternal grandfather, Philip Hyman, became the primary father figure in Joel's life.
Joel enjoyed reading books and decided become a history teacher. Billy went to high school in the neighboring town of Hicksville, NY. Joel began to explore his masculinity by skipping school, running with a less-than-tough street gang, and engaging in Bantam-weight boxing. After 22 bouts he gave up the boxing ring for piano, "when I came to a difficult passage I'd start knuckling the keyboards."

Though he scored well on tests, his teachers refused to graduate him from high school due to his many absences from skipping school. It was also during these years that Joel discovered the power of music. In 1962, Joel saw a live performance for the first time when he went with friends to hear James Brown at Harlem's Apollo Theater. Other early influences included Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. Joel was deeply affected by the British invasion, so much so that he modeled his own budding style after the Beatles' Paul McCartney, "I idolized The Beatles, especially Paul - nobody could come up with the melodies he could".

On February 21st, 1964, Joel joined his first band, the Echos (in 1965 known as the Lost Souls, in 1966 The Memerald Loard), on the organ and vocals and began composing simplistic songs. "The first gig I did was when I was 15, in 1964. I played in a band at Holy Family Church in Hicksville. Girls who wouldn't look twice at me now liked me. At the end of the night, the priest came over and gave us $5 each. You got PAID for this stuff. That locked the backdoor. There was no way out for me. I was hooked." A short-term recording contract with Mercury Records was offered later, but nothing came of the demo versions of two of Joel's songs recorded by the band.

In late 1964, Billy was pressed into service by producer Shadow Morton, who was recording The Shangri-Las in a Levittown basement studio. Billy played on "Leader Of The Pack", but was never paid, since he wasn't a union member.

In 1967, Joel and drummer Jonathan Small joined the Hassles (featuring John Dizek (vocals), Billy Joel (Keyboards), Jon Small (drums), Howie Blauvelt (bass) Richard McKenner (guitar)) another Long Island pop band with more exposure. At age 18, Joel's career was officially launched, though just barely. The group recorded two albums for United Artists that elicited a lukewarm reception from fans, The Hassles (1967) and Hour of the Wolf (1969). A non-LP single, Great Balls Of Fire (the Jerry Lee Lewis song by Jack Hammer-Otis Blackwell) b/w Travellin' Band (W.Joel). Produced by The Hassles, that release sunk without a trace, and The Hassles were disbanded.

Yearning for something better than the "bubble-gum" rock produced by the group, Joel and Small left in 1969 to form the duo Attila. They released one "incredibly loud" self-titled album containing original songs (by W. Joel) Two singles from the album flopped: Every Step I Take, Every Move I Make b/w I Hear Voices and You've Got Me Hummin' b/w I'm Thinking. Billy later described the album as "psychedelic bullshit". Billy reportedly still loves Jimi Hendrix, but hates the album that was influenced by him. After Atilla, Billy worked as a rock journalist for Changes magazine and recorded a commercial for Bachmann's Pretzels with Chubby Checker. He occasionally billed himself as: Billy Joe Joel.

Discouraged both by the failure of his first attempts as a professional musician and the end of a serious romantic relationship, Joel slid into a depression that included a half-hearted attempt at suicide, by drinking half a bottle of furniture polish. A very brief self-imposed stay at a psychiatric hospital convinced him that his problems were minor. "I got out and the door closed behind me and I walked down the street and said, 'Oh, I'll never get that low again.' It was one of the best things I ever did, because I've never gotten to feel sorry for myself, no matter what's happened." Joel's 1985 song, 'You're Only Human,' would focus on the problem of teen suicide.

By the early 70s, Joel's solo career began.

Deciding his future lay in writing songs for others, Joel began composing material for a demo album. He was soon signed to producer Artie Ripp's Family Productions, a Los Angeles label, and Joel moved to California to record his first solo album; Cold Spring Harbor. The album was technically inferior due to problems during the mastering stage of production; Joel's voice was speeded up and sounded "like a chipmunk." His association with Ripp would prove to be financially disastrous for the singer, who unfortunately signed away all publishing rights, copyrights, and royalties to his producer/manager for a period of 15 years. This deal reportedly cost millions to break later in Joel's career.

While on tour to promote Cold Spring Harbor, Joel performed 'Captain Jack' (a song about a rich young heroin addict), that indirectly gave him the break he needed. After hearing the song during Joel's set at the Mary Sol Rock Festival near San Juan, Puerto Rico, and later on East Coast FM radio stations, Columbia Records executive Clive Davis tracked Joel down, helped extricate him from his contract with Ripp, and signed him to the Columbia label.


1972...After a six-month tour to promote the ill-fated album, Joel married Elizabeth Weber, ex-wife of fellow Attila member Jon Small. Elizabeth would eventually manage her husband's career and become the model for many of his songs about women.

The Story Behind "Piano Man":

"I knew it was just going to be a temporary gig." Working in a piano bar in on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles called the Executive Room using the name Martin Joel. "I was trying to get out of a bad contract I'd signed and get on a different record label. But at the time I said I don't believe that people do this for years and years and years and don't always have much hope of getting beyond playing in a piano bar. I said I gotta write a song about this because it was a true experience."

1973 - Piano Man was released in November and Joel again faced slow sales. The Album later sold well as Joel became more well-known and associated with the title track. The Album appropriately contained "Captain Jack," Joel's song about a rich young heroin addict.

"Piano Man" became Joel's first Top 40 hit single. "I was surprised the title song ['Piano Man'] was a hit. In a way, that's the story of any hit record I've had--they're all bizarre, strange, novelty numbers, and not particularly definitive of my work. . . . My problem is that people tend to define me in terms of my hits and may not know the substantive elements of my composition."

Because of its mellow, narrative style, "Piano Man" was immediately compared to Harry Chapin's "Cat's In the Cradle" and Don McLean's "American Pie." By the end of the year, Joel had been named Cash Box's best new male vocalist, and the album had been named record of the year by Stereo Review. Piano Man was eventually certified platinum. The single become synonymous with the singer, Joel selected it as the final song at all of his concerts for the next 20 years.

Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade
his follow-up to Piano Man, was released in October. With the exception of the single, "The Entertainer," the album was not a success. "Interesting musical ideas, but nothing to say lyrically," was how Joel explained the album's weaknesses in Entertainment Weekly. "I was trying to be Debussy in the title track--it didn't work."

After three years on the West Coast and the letdown following dismal sales of his third album, Joel and his wife returned to their roots in New York. Upon his return to New Your Joel wrote "New York State Of Mind."

1976- With his creative juices flowing Joel began working on his next album, Turnstiles. This was the first album Joel produced himself using musicians of his choosing, rather than those hired by Columbia executives. Joel recruited drummer Liberty DeVitto, bass player Doug Stegmeyer, and tenor saxophonist Richie Cannata, three men who would remain with Joel's backing band for years. Although Turnstiles, like its predecessor, was not a spectacular seller, the album contained good material, including 'New York State of Mind,' and "Say Goodbye To Hollywood."

1977
Although Joel began to feel pressure from Columbia Records to record more than one album a year and to replicate his early success with Piano Man, he refused to produce formulaic music. Fortunately, he struck gold with his next album, The Stranger, released in September. Produced by Phil Ramone, the album was recorded during five weeks of enthusiastic studio sessions full of improvisations by Joel and his band.

In addition to the immense appeal of the title track, The Stranger included Joel's first Top 10 hit "Just the Way You Are," as well as the hit singles "She's Always a Woman," "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," and "Only the Good Die Young."

The album went on to become Columbia/CBS's biggest seller prior to the release of Michael Jackson's Thriller, even surpassing Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water. The Stranger went on to sell over 9 million copies in the U.S.

1978

With public opinion high Joel released 52nd Street, in October. The music was very well received, and the first single, "My Life," zoomed to Number. The album became Joel's first to reach Number One and went on to sell over 7 millions of copies in the U.S., with other hits like "Big Shot" and "Honesty."

1980

n February, Joel released Glass Houses, his second platinum album, which heralded a change in the singer's image as a pop stylist. With New Wave replacing disco as the musical fad, Joel jumped on the bandwagon and created the album with more hard-hitting rock songs; Figuratively throwing stones at his image. With the singles "You May Be Right," "Sometimes a Fantasy" and his first #1 single "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" the album did well with commercial audiences (selling over 7 million copies in the U.S.) but left the critics cold.

Critics were relentless, and Joel's attempt to be taken seriously as a modern rock performer failed. Although he supposedly scorned the critics, he had a simultaneous need for their approval and was hurt by the critic's dismissal of Glass Houses. "I think there was a perception that I was trying to pose as a New Wave guy, and that wasn't in any way my intention. My intention was to write bigger stuff we could play in arenas."

1981

In September Columbia released the platinum-certified Songs In The Attic, a collection of new live recordings of material written in Joel's early days. The album included songs from Cold Spring Harbor that had never been properly recorded. Most noteworthy was "She's Got a Way," a classic love song that was largely overlooked until it was released as a single in late 1981. It reached the Top 25 in early 1982. Even today "She's Got a Way" is considered one of Joel's most famous ballads, and has been covered numerous times. The other single released from Songs in the Attic was "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" a dreamy ballad that was written by Joel as an ode to Ronnie Spector. It too was a huge hit and originally appeared on "Turnstiles."

1982

Joel had already begun studio work on his next album when he was involved in a motorcycle accident; a woman in a car ran a red light and hit Billy Joel on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. His left wrist was broken and his hand badly damaged. When Billy Joel tells the story he says that the police officer on the scene read his license as "William Joel," put 2 & 2 together, and said, "Hey lady, you just ran over Billy Joel!" After the woman learned who she hit, she asked for his autograph. He offered to use his bleeding wrists to write her an autograph. Due to surgery, to insert a temporary pin, and a month in the hospital, production of the album was temporarily shut down while Joel recovered. An additional obstacle for the singer was the breakdown of his marriage to Weber, an event partially blamed on the stress created by Weber's management of her husband's career. By the end of 1982 the couple divorced. When she left, Joel's wife took half of the singer's assets with her.

Even with such personal tragedies, creating the music for the album proved to be difficult, "You're always in the desert looking for the oasis and all that's out there with you is the piano--this big black beast with 88 teeth . . . 50,000 packs of cigarettes later, you start getting it."

Billy Joel released The Nylon Curtain in September and although Joel's selling-streak start slowing, the album contained numerous favorites including "Pressure," "Allentown" the sobering message songs about the plight of unemployed Pennsylvania steel workers, as well as "Goodnight Saigon," a slow, mournful look at Vietnam and its veterans. Joel called The Nylon Curtain "the album of which I'm most proud." It was not as fun to make as Glass Houses because it was so difficult. "It was an ambitious undertaking--I wanted to create a masterpiece. I remember listening to 'Allentown' and thinking, 'This is good,' and that I had somehow created the feelings I had when I listened to Beatles albums."

1983

With "Allentown," Joel made his first transition from vinyl to video to promote his music and gained an even larger following. When An Innocent Man was released the MTV video era was in full swing and the upbeat album featured several studies in romance that lent themselves to an MTV format. Joel's girlfriend, supermodel Christie Brinkley, appeared in the hit video "Uptown Girl," the perfect counterpart to Joel's small-time tough-guy.

The album was Joel's tribute to and re-creation of some of the sounds of America's favorite pop stylists, including Little Anthony & the Imperials and Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. It was also the last album on which Joel would use his tenor falsetto, "I knew it was the last time I was going to be able to hit certain notes. I was waving goodbye to the boy voice." Joel found multi-platinum success again with An Innocent Man which contained the hits "Tell Her About It," "Uptown Girl," "The Longest Time," "Keeping The Faith," and "Leave A Tender Moment Alone." The album sold over 7 million copies in the U.S.

1984

y Joel released his first concert video, "Billy Joel: Live From Long Island."

1985

Joel married super model, Christie Brinkley, in March (it was Joel's second marriage). In June, Billy Joel released his biggest-selling album - Greatest Hits, Volumes I & II, a 2-album set of his hits. The collection has sold over 20 million copies in the U.S. and contained the new tracks "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young." In August, Joel hit the Top 10 with "You're Only Human (Second Wind)." Joel ended the year with the birth of his daughter, Alexa Ray.

1986

In July, Joel released his first studio album in three years, The Bridge; with the hits "Modern Woman," "This Is The Time" and the Top 10 hit "A Matter Of Trust." The album's highlight was the beautiful song "Temptation." Over all, the album fell flat with critics, fans, and Joel himself, "Not a happy album, I wasn't simpatico with the musicians, some of whom I'd been working with a long time. I don't think the material was good; I was pressured by management to put it out too fast. By the end, I sort of gave up caring, which for me was unusual."

1987

Joel performed, to great acclaim, in Leningrad and Moscow in what is now the former Soviet Union. His Leningrad concert was broadcast via some 300-radio outlets. Both concerts were recorded and released in October as Kohuept, the Russian translation of "In Concert."

1988

On May 1st, Joel escaped punishment for defamation charges brought against him by Jack Powers, whom he had called a "creep" during an interview with Playboy. The judge cited the First Amendment and dropped all charges.

1989

The triple-platinum comeback album, Storm Front, had a nautical theme; Joel, a seasoned sailor, spends much of his free time aboard a 36-foot fishing boat near his home in Easthampton, New York.

"We Didn't Start the Fire" quickly became a #1 hit along with the album itself. Joel received five Grammy nominations for the album and completed a 15-month world to tour to promote it. The tour, consisting of 174 shows in 16 countries, including a performance in Berlin the day after German reunification, included the first ever rock concert held in Yankee Stadium.

One of the reasons for Joel's frequent touring stints has been to earn money lost over the years as a result of mismanagement of his career. Joel has endured his share of legal problems dating back to his contract with Artie Ripp in 1971. In one case, Joel fired Frank Weber, his ex-brother-in-law and manager of nine years, and sued him for $90 million in 1989, citing fraud and misappropriation of funds. Although Joel was awarded $3 million, Weber filed for bankruptcy soon after the ruling. Weber counter-sued Joel for libel, but the case was dismissed.

1991

Billy Joel was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year (with Mick Jones) and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male for Storm Front and was awarded the Grammy Legend Award. Joel also was honored with an honorary doctorate from Fairfield University in Connecticut.

1992

oel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

On June 25th, 1992, Billy received his high school diploma. Twenty-five years earlier, he overslept and missed his English and gym finals.

1993

Four years after Storm Front, Joel released River Of Dreams, which debuted at #1 and stayed there for 3 weeks.

With an album cover painted by Christie Brinkley and a song, 'Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)' dedicated to their daughter; the album seemed to be a family affair. In the spring of 1993 he and Brinkley announced their separation. Rumors that the split occurred because of Joel's constant absences while on tour surrounded the breakup, as well as rumors of Christie being unfaithful in his absence.

May 10, 1993 Joel received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Joel summarized his long career: "People think I'm this pop miester who just churns out these hit singles. But I don't view myself as being frozen in cement. And the songs that are the singles do not necessarily represent the sum and substance of my work. People think that I'm 'Just the Way You Are,' and 'Uptown Girl.' OK, I did write those songs, but I wrote many, many more."

A $10 million lawsuit was brought against Joel in 1993 by an aspiring songwriter who claimed Joel stole his material and parlayed it into three hit songs. Joel's statement on the matter was simple: "This is another example of why struggling songwriters can't get anybody, including me, to listen to their songs."

1994

River Of Dreams was certified multi-platinum by the spring of 1994. "I always thought it was written in stone that you had your era--and that was it. Rock is a cannibalizing business--it eats its own. I was hip for about a second in the '70s. But here we are. I'm 44. It's 20 years since 'Piano Man,' and I have a No. 1 album. That's not supposed to happen."

Billy Joel was nominated for 4 Grammy Awards for Album of the Year (River Of Dreams), Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, Song of the Year, and Record Of The Year (all for "The River Of Dreams). Joel was also awarded the Billboard Century Music Award. In the summer, Joel went on tour with Elton John for 14 performances in the U.S. During the year, Joel also divorced Christie Brinkley.

1997

In July it was announced that Elton John and Billy Joel would be appearing live together again with an 8-month world tour 1998. In the meantime, Billy Joel fans were treated to the August 19th release of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits, Volume III. The album contains 3 new tracks including an unreleased Bob Dylan song, "To Make You Feel My Love." In September, Joel said he might be saying good-bye to rock 'n roll. Joel told Rolling Stones magazine that he had originally started out with an interest in learning classical music and begin studying it at the age of 4. But when Joel turned 13, " . . . this hot seductress in shredded fishnet stockings swept me away . . . I had a passionate affair with rock 'n roll." Now at 48, Joel has decided to stop writing pop and rock music for a while.

1998

Concerning the "Face To Face" world tour with Elton John, Joel told CNN, "I'm not going to say that it's the end of something. But I don't think I'm going to do any more long tours after this tour." Performances with Elton John, Joel said, "It's fun, because I'm looking across all this piano. I've got my piano and then there's his piano and at the other end of it, there's Elton John. So I'm not only a musician, I'm a fan on stage enjoying the show. I've got the closest seat in the house to Elton John."

In June, Joel cancelled a few concerts due to "acute asthma" from an upper respiratory infection, "In the old days I could scream and punch my way through it, but now it wouldn't be fair to the fans." In August it was announced that Joel would have to postpone the fall portion of his tour due to recurring throat problems. He stated, "my doctor is encouraged by the progress I've made, but he wants to be sure that I am 100% before I step out on stage again."

1999

In January, Billy Joel was honored with the Award of Merit at the American Music Awards. The award has the inscription: Because his inspired song-writing skills, musical arrangements, vocals, keyboard prowess and exciting showmanship have raised the piano man's art to a new level, the American Music Award of Merit is presented to Billy Joel.

On March 15th, Joel was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Ray Charles, and said of the honor, "I've had the most amazing life, and it's mostly because of rock and roll music."

March 16th, 1999, Billy Joel was among a handful of artists to receive the first ever RIAA's (Recording Industry Association of Artists) Diamond Award, given to artists who's album sold more than 10 million copies. Billy Joel received the "Diamond Award" for Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II.

Joel rang in the new year at Madison Square Garden in New York on New Year's Eve with a 3+ hour concert: "This way, I will be able to include some songs never before performed in public, and some only played once or twice."

2000

In May, Joel released 2000 Years - The Millennium Concert.

In August, Greatest Hits, Volumes 1 and 2 was certified 21x platinum. In November, Rolling Stone and MTV presented 'The 100 Greatest Pop Songs' with "Just The Way You Are" at #60.

On October 21st, Billy Joel performed the "Star-Spangled Banner" before a sold-out crowd at New York's Yankee Stadium, to open the city's first Subway World Series, since 1956.

2001

Joel and Elton John teamed up and hitting the concert circuit together again with the "Face 2 Face Tour".

October 2, Joel released the long-awaited classical album "Fantasies & Delusions." The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Classical Albums, with first week's sales of more than 14,000 units. The album - comprised of music compositions by Billy Joel and performed by piano virtuoso Richard Joo. It also debuted at #83 on the overall Top 200 Album Sales chart.

"I look in the mirror and say, 'Well, you ain't Cary Grant, but you ain't in the junkyard, either.' But I'm happy with my life. Very happy. It's nothing at all like I pictured it would be."

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Linus Torvalds Father of Linux

source : wikipedia.org



Linus Benedict Torvalds (lahir 28 Desember 1969 di Helsinki, Finlandia) adalah rekayasawan perangkat lunak Finlandia yang dikenal sebagai perintis pengembangan kernel Linux. Ia sekarang bertindak sebagai koordinator proyek tersebut.

Linux terinsipirasi oleh Minix (suatu sistem operasi yang dikembangkan oleh Andrew S. Tanenbaum) untuk mengembangkan suatu sistem operasi mirip-Unix (Unix-like) yang dapat dijalankan pada suatu PC. Linux sekarang dapat dijalankan pada berbagai arsitektur lain.

Ketika Linus Torvalds, seorang mahasiswa Finlandia pendiam membagi-bagikan kode sumber (source code) kernel Linux seukuran disket via internet di tahun 1991, ia sama sekali tidak menduga bahwa apa yang dimulainya melahirkan sebuah bisnis bernilai milyaran dolar di kemudian hari.

Ia bahkan tidak menduga Linux kemudian menjadi sistem operasi paling menjanjikan, yang bisa dibenamkan ke dalam server, komputer desktop, tablet PC, PDA, handphone, GPS, robot, mobil hingga pesawat ulang alik buatan NASA.

Tidak hanya itu, banyak maniak Linux (Linuxer) yang membeli perangkat buatan Apple dan mengganti sistem operasinya dengan Linux. Bagi saya itu sedikit gila, mengingat menghapus sistem operasi Mac & iPod berarti membuang duit dan menggantinya sistem operasinya cukup sulit dibanding desktop berbasis Windows. Saat ini 20% pangsa pasar desktop di seluruh dunia menggunakan Linux jauh di atas Machintosh dan terus mengejar desktop Windows. Dan 12,7% server di seluruh dunia menggunakan Linux, jauh di atas UNIX, BSD, Solaris, dan terus meningkat menggerus pangsa pasar server Microsoft.

Saat ini Linus meninggalkan posisi menjanjikan di perusahaan semi konduktor Transmeta dan tinggal bersama istri dan 3 anaknya di sebuah bukit di desa di Portland, Oregon, USA, berdekatan dengan markas Open Source Development Labs. Organisasi nirlaba ini diawaki oleh 20-an programmer yang punya gairah hampir sama dengan Linus. Mereka terus mengembangkan kernel Linux yang kini berukuran 290-an MegaBytes atau melebihi 9 milyar baris kode. Linux beserta timnya menerima masukan baris-baris kode dari seluruh penjuru dunia, menyortir, menetapkan skala prioritas dan memasukkan gagasan paling brilian ke dalam kernel. LSD sendiri disokong oleh puluhan raksasa IT seperti IBM, HP, Dell dan Sun, baik dari sisi materi maupun sumber daya manusia.

Linus bukan orang pertama yang membagi-bagikan source code karena pola ini adalah hal yang biasa di masa awal tumbuhnya industri komputer. Tapi Linus sukses menetapkan standar yang memaksa banyak pengembang ikut membebaskan kode sumber program mereka, mulai dari BSD, Solaris, Suse, Java hingga Adobe.

Meski hanya bergaji ratusan ribu dolar pertahun, Linus telah menciptakan banyak multimilyuner dalam industri komputer mulai dari RedHat, Suse, Debian, Mandriva, Ubuntu dan banyak developer software open source lainnya. Hampir tak ada yang berubah dari Linus. Ketika ia datang terlambat di suatu konferensi IT, ia bahkan tak segan-segan duduk di lantai dengan celana pendek dan sepatu-sandal kesukaannya. Ia bahkan tidak marah tatkala memberikan pidato di mimbar dan diinterupsi oleh beberapa programmer BSD yang maju ke depan panggung yang mengklaim bahwa kernel BSD jauh lebih hebat ketimbang kernel Linux. Ia bahkan tidak segan-segan memakai T-Shirt BSD yang disodorkan pemrotes dan melanjutkan pidatonya.

Menurut Linus, apa yang dilakukannya hanyalah untuk berbagi. Berbeda dengan Richard M Stallman yang fanatik dengan konsep free software, Linus hanya menekankan sisi keterbukaan (open), tak peduli apakah kemudian dalam suatu sistem operasi bercampur program free dan proprietery.

Setiap kata-kata Linus hampir menjadi sabda di kalangan Linuxer yang menciptakan standar nilai tertentu. Setiap publikasi, pidato, email dab press releasenya selalu ditunggu-tunggu jutaan orang. Di sela kesibukannya, Linus menyempatkan diri bersepeda menuruni bukit dan minum di bar desa. Bila ada nabi dalam dunia komputer, bisa dipastikan itu Linus (dan Steve Wozniak). Dan setannya tentu Bill Gates :)

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ELLA FITZGERALD Jazz Singer

Born: April 25, 1918
Newport News, Virginia
Died: June 15, 1996
Beverly Hills, California
African American singer

Ella Fitzgerald is known as "The Perfect Jazz Singer". She auditioned at the Apollo as a dancer but won as a singer 21. She took over as bandleader after Chick Webb's death, leading the band of 16 to 21 men for 2 years. She entered the Bop Era and popularized scatting. She sang the music of Cole Porter, Gershwin, Ellington and Jobim. Ella recorded on Decca Records, switched to Verve. No singer ever could replace "The Lady of Song". She died June 15, 1996.

Ella Fitzgerald was one of the most exciting jazz singers of her time and, because of the naturalness of her style, had a popular appeal that extended far beyond the borders of jazz.
A rising star
Ella Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1918, in Newport News, Virginia, but she spent her youth just outside New York City in Yonkers, New York, and received her musical education in public schools. During elementary school she began singing at her local church, the Bethany African Methodist Episcopal Church. At fifteen her mother died and she was cared for by her aunt in Harlem, a black neighborhood in New York that was rich with jazz music.

When only sixteen, she received her first big break at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, when she won an amateur-night contest and impressed saxophonist-bandleader Benny Carter (1907–). He recommended her to drummer-bandleader Chick Webb (c. 1900–1939), who hired her in 1935. She soon became a recording star with the band, and her own composition "A-tisket, A-tasket" (1938) was such a smash hit that the song became her trademark for many years thereafter. When Webb died in 1939, Fitzgerald assumed leadership of the band for the next year.

"The First Lady of Song"

By 1940 Fitzgerald was recognized throughout the music world as a vocal wonder—a singer with clarity of tone, flexibility of range, fluency of rhythm, and, above all, a talent for improvisation (to make up without practice) that was equally effective on ballads and faster tunes. Although for a long time she had a better reputation among fellow musicians than with the general public, this changed soon after she joined Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) in 1946. She made annual tours with the group and was always the concert favorite. Three of her unfailing show-stoppers were "Oh, Lady Be Good," "Stomping at the Savoy," and "How High the Moon." Each would begin at a medium tempo and then speed up as Fitzgerald moved up-tempo and "scatted" (that is, sang harmonic variations of the melody in nonsense syllables). The huge JATP crowds always responded well.

By the early 1950s Fitzgerald's domination of fans's and critics's polls was absolute. In fact, she won the Down Beat readers' poll every year from 1953 to 1970 and became known as "The First Lady of Song." In 1955 she ended her twenty-year recording relationship with Decca in order to record for Norman Granz's Verve label. She proceeded to produce a series of legendary "Songbook" albums, each devoted to the compositions of a great songwriter or songwriting team, such as the Gershwins (George, 1898–1937; Ira, 1896–1983), Cole Porter (1891–1964), Irving Berlin (1888–1989), and Duke Ellington (1899–1974). The lush orchestrations allowed Fitzgerald to display the classy popsinger side of herself. In the two-volume Ellington set, her jazzier self moved aside for the melodist in her.

Touring the world

Under Granz's personal management Fitzgerald also began to play choice hotel jobs and made her first feature film appearance in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955). In 1957 she worked at the Copacabana in New York City and gave concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. In 1958, in the company of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, she gave a concert at Carnegie Hall as part of an extended European and United States tour with the band. In the early 1960s she continued to work the big hotel circuit—the Flamingo in Las Vegas, the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, and the Americana in New York City. She also continued to tour Europe, Latin America, and Japan with the Oscar Peterson (1925–) trio, which was three-fourths of Granz's JATP house rhythm section. In 1965 and 1966 she was reunited with Ellington for another tour and record date.


Fitzgerald was always blessed with superb musicians accompanying her, from the full orchestral support of Chick Webb and Duke Ellington to the smaller JATP ensembles. In 1968 she teamed up with yet another, the magnificent pianist Tommy Flanagan, who headed a trio that served her into the mid-1970s. In 1971 Fitzgerald had serious eye surgery, but within a year she was performing again. Her singing, however, began to show evidence of decline: the voice that was once an instrument of natural beauty and effortless grace became a bit thin and strained. Nevertheless, so great was her talent that she continued to excite concert audiences and to record effectively. She appeared after the mid-1960s with over fifty symphonic orchestras in the United States.

A large, pleasant-looking woman with a surprisingly girlish speaking voice, Ella Fitzgerald sometimes forgot lyrics. But the audiences loved it and delighted in her ability to work her way out of these potentially embarrassing moments on stage. Unlike some other great jazz singers, like Billie Holiday (1915–1959) and Anita O'Day, Fitzgerald avoided falling into drug addiction. She was married twice. The first marriage, to Bernie Kornegay in 1941, was annulled

(made invalid) two years later. The second, to bassist Ray Brown (1926–) in 1948, ended in divorce in 1952 (they had one son).

The legacy of Ella

Was Ella Fitzgerald essentially a jazz singer or a pop singer? Jazz purists say that she was often glossy and predictable and that she lacked the emotional depth of Billie Holiday, the imagination of Sarah Vaughan (1924–1990) or Anita O'Day, and the blues-based power of Dinah Washington (1924–1963). The criticisms sprang partly from her "crossover" popularity and ignored her obvious strengths and contributions: Fitzgerald was not only one of the pioneers of scat singing, but, beyond that, she was a down-to-earth singer whose harmonic variations were always unforced. Plus, she was a supreme melodist who never let herself get in the way of any song she sang.

Fitzgerald died on June 15, 1996, at the age of seventy-eight. She left a legacy that will not soon be forgotten. In her lifetime she was honored with fourteen Grammys, the Kennedy Center Award, as well as an honorary doctorate in music from Yale University. In 1992 President George Bush (1924–) honored her with the National Medal of Freedom. Fitzgerald's impressive financial estate was left in a trust, including the $2.5 million in proceeds from the sale of her Beverly Hills home.

Misty 1963

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