THE OVER JAZZ CHANNEL

JAZZ FOR THE ROAD

The Greatest Voices Of Jazz

Ella & Louis

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Quartet. It doesn't get any better...

Miles Davis

Rediscover the one eternal truth:
The music of Miles Davis!

Miles Dewey Davis was born on May 26, 1926, to an affluent African American family in Alton, Illinois.
He's regarded as one of the most innovative, influential and respected figures in the history of music.

As an innovative bandleader and composer, Miles Davis has influenced many notable musicians and bands from diverse genres.

Charlie Parker

Billie Holiday

Rediscover the awesome Billie Holiday who had changed the art of American pop vocals forever!

Frank Sinatra told Ebony in 1958 about Billie Holiday's impact:

With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me.

"Lady Day" is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years.

Ella Fitzgerald

Oscar Peterson

Rediscover the "Maharaja of the keyboard", Oscar Peterson.

Peterson was born to immigrants from the West Indies. He grew up in the neighbourhood of Little Burgundy in Montreal, Quebec.

It was in this predominantly black neighbourhood that he found himself surrounded by the jazz culture that flourished in the early 20th century. At age nine Peterson played piano with control that impressed professional musicians. For many years his piano studies included four to six hours of practice daily.

Peterson made numerous trio recordings highlighting his piano performances that reveal more of his eclectic style that absorbed influences from various genres of jazz, popular and classical music.

Sarah Vaughan

Rediscover one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century!

Vaughan was frequently accompanied by a friend, Doris Robinson, on her trips into New York City. Sometime in the fall of 1942 (when Sarah was 18 years old), Vaughan suggested that Robinson enter the Apollo Theater Amateur Night contest. Vaughan played piano accompaniment for Robinson, who won second prize. Vaughan later decided to go back and compete herself as a singer. Vaughan sang "Body and Soul" and won!

One day she said: "What I want to do, music-wise, is all kinds of music that I like, and I like all kinds of music!"

Django Reinhardt

Ray Charles

John Lee Hooker

Rediscover the developer of the "talking blues" John Lee Hooker.

Hooker's recording career began in 1948 when his agent placed a demo, made by Hooker, with the Bihari brothers, owners of the Modern Records label.

Hooker's guitar playing is closely aligned with piano boogie-woogie. He would play the walking bass pattern with his thumb, stopping to emphasize the end of a line with a series of trills, done by rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs. The songs that most epitomize his early sound are "Boogie Chillen", about being 17 and wanting to go out to dance at the Boogie clubs, "Baby, Please Don't Go", a blues standard first recorded by Big Joe Williams, and "Tupelo Blues", a stunningly sad song about the flooding of Tupelo, Mississippi in April 1936.

Edith Piaf

Rediscover the unique talent and powerful emotion expressed in the songs of Edith Piaf.

Edith Piaf was born on a cold winter night as Edith Giovanna on the streets of Paris. Her mother was a 17-year-old café singer and her father a street acrobat. At only 4'8", she was known as "La Mome Piaf," or "The Little Sparrow."

Louis Leplee, the owner of a popular Paris nightclub, discovered Piaf in 1935 and invited her to perform in his club. It was Leplee who gave bestowed her nickname, "La Môme Piaf" upon her. She adopted this as her stage name. Years of touring brought her moderate financial success, but great popularity.

Muddy Waters

Doris Day

Elvis Presley

Arnett Cobb

Art Pepper

Anita O'Day

Ben Webster