Jazz Legends

Kurt Weill (born March 2, 1900) and Vernon Duke (born Vladimir Dukelsky, October 10, 1903) were both European born composers who composed “serious” concert music before emigrating to the United States and becoming two of the greatest exponents of American popular song. Kurt Weill felt strongly that music should have a political point of view, his "Three Penny Opera" and "Mahagony", both composed in Germany before he emigrated to the United States are biting social commentaries on the drawbacks of capitalism run amuck.   Vernon Duke wrote concert music throughout his career under his birth name. His music was commissioned by Diaghalev for his ballet company that also commissioned Stravinvisky’s groundbreaking work, as well as Koussevitsky for the New York Philharmonic. He had a close personal relationship with Russian composer Prokofiev. His Broadway career was no less stellar, over the course of 30 odd years they produced a number of songs that have become standards in the great American songbook.

Pianist/composer Chick Corea (born June 12, 1941) is widely considered one of the most important pianists of the post Coltrane era. A prolific composer, a great many of his tunes have become jazz standards as well. His association with Miles Davis in the 1960’s lead to the birth of jazz fusion, and his various groups remained on the cutting edge of the music throughout his career. He was honored with 28 Grammy awards, and was nominated 72 times.

Composer Cole Porter (born June 9, 1891) was something of an anomaly among songwriters of the Tin Pan Alley era. Born to an affluent Indiana family, songwriting was initially just a hobby for him, but he soon parlayed his gift for penning witty urbane lyrics and totally original melodies and harmonies into one of the most important creative voices in American popular songwriter.

Trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer/arranger Tom Harrell (born June 16, 1946) has been critically acclaimed for most of his career. Starting as a sideman with Woody Herman, Horace Silver and Phil Woods, he has gone on to lead his own groups and record wonderful original music on dozens of recordings. His prolific creative output is made even more astounding considering he suffers from schizophrenia and has only one lung. His lyrical, original compositional style is completely original and immediately accessible.

Songwriter Arthur Schwartz(born Nov 25, 1900) was trained as a lawyer, but encouraged by friends George Gershwin and Lorenz Hart, soon abandoned that career and became a successful popular songwriter. His tunes are featured in several Broadway shows, and many of his tunes are favorite vehicles for jazz musicians due to their interesting harmonic structure. His longtime lyricist, Howard Dietz, a collaborator with composer Jerome Kern, initially rebuffed Schwartz’s entreaties to write with him, but by 1927 relented and their partnership produced many songs that are much loved contributions to the Great American Songbook.