When the term ragtime is mentioned, one inevitably thinks of an unmistakable musician who invented the ragtime genre: The composer and pianist Scott Joplin (1867/68 …
Tony Bennett: He carried jazz into the 21st century
Tony Bennett was taught bel canto at the Lee Strasberg School in New York: But he had no intention of becoming an opera singer. Rather, …
Josephine Baker: The Wild Dancer
In the early 1920s, the Old Chauffeur’s Club in St. Louis was one of the best places to go for aspiring entertainers on the jazz …
Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady of Jazz
When 12-year-old Ella Fitzgerald listened to Louis Armstrong‘s vinyl records, would she have dared to dream that she would one day become his singing partner? …
Jo Stafford: The Voice of an Era
When Grace Kelly was young, Jo Stafford reportedly was her favourite singer: Listening to You Belong To Me by Jo Stafford, one is immediately struck …
Julie London: The Voice of Intimacy
Not without reason has Julie London’s singing voice been described as “the voice of intimacy”: When Julie London sang, she was usually accompanied only by …
Frank Sinatra: Ol’ Blue Eyes
When the young singer Frank Sinatra saw his idol Bing Crosby at a concert in Jersey City in 1932, he made the decision to one …
Bing Crosby: The Voice of Jazz
Al Rinker (1907 – 1982), a well-known U.S. jazz singer and songwriter, played a crucial role in Bing Crosby’s career: During his college years, Rinker …
Louis Armstrong: King of Razzmatazz (2.)
Armstrong was not only a major influence on the invention of swing, he was also considered the King of Swing for a long time: During the heyday of swing in the thirties and forties, Louis Armstrong enjoyed great success…
Louis Armstrong: King of Razzmatazz (1.)
There is no jazz musician as closely intertwined with the history of jazz music as Louis Armstrong. Louis Daniel Armstrong grew up in poor conditions …