Dinah Washington was an American singer and pianist, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music, and gave herself the title of "Queen of the Blues". She was also known as "Queen of the Jukeboxes". She was a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Alabama has played a central role in the development of both blues and country music. Appalachian folk music, fiddle music, gospel, spirituals, and polka have had local scenes in parts of Alabama. The Tuskegee Institute's School of Music, especially the Tuskegee Choir, is an internationally renowned institution. There are three major modern orchestras, the Mobile Symphony, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra; the last is the oldest continuously operating professional orchestra in the state, giving its first performance in 1955.
The Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center (ASC) is a performing arts facility located on the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). It hosts over 250,000 people for more than 300 diverse events annually. The ASC is the center for entertainment and arts education in Birmingham and Central Alabama. The facility houses four performance venues, including the 1,330-seat Jemison Concert Hall, the 350-seat Sirote Theatre, the intimate 170-seat Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall, and the black-box Odess Theatre.
Cleveland Josephus Eaton II was an American jazz double bassist, producer, arranger, composer, publisher, and head of his own record company in Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. His most famous accomplishments were playing with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra. His 1975 recording Plenty Good Eaton is considered a classic in the funk music genre. He was inducted into both the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
Johnny O'Neal is an American neo-bop jazz pianist and vocalist. His playing ranges from the technically virtuosic to the tenderest of ballad interpretations. Though unique in style, he is influenced by many jazz elders, including Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum. He has led many recording dates with musicians such as Russell Malone and many others. He was a 1997 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
The Carver Theatre, now formally known as the Carver Performing Arts Center, is a theater located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. In its days as a motion picture theater, it was best known as a place where African-Americans could see first-run movies; during that time, only whites were allowed in most theaters because of segregation laws.
Raymond Everett Reach, Jr. is an American pianist, vocalist, guitarist, composer, arranger, music producer, and educator, named by AL.com as one of "30 Alabamians who changed jazz history." He serves as President and CEO of Ray Reach Music and Magic City Music Productions.
The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (AJHF) is an organization and museum in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1978, and opened as museum on September 18, 1993, with a mission "to foster, encourage, educate, and cultivate a general appreciation of the medium of jazz music as a legitimate, original and distinctive art form indigenous to America. Its mission is also to preserve a continued and sustained program of illuminating the contribution of the State of Alabama through its citizens, environment, demographics and lore, and perpetuating the heritage of jazz music."
The Magic City Jazz Orchestra (MCJO) is an American jazz ensemble which was founded in 1999 as a spin-off of the SuperJazz Big Band by Birmingham, Alabama jazz pianist and vocalist Ray Reach. The mission of the group is to "...perform and record big band jazz music written by well known but under-recorded jazz artists."
The W. C. Handy Music Festival is held annually in Florence, Alabama, sponsored by the Music Preservation Society, Inc., in honor of Florence native W. C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues." The non-profit Music Preservation Society was formed in 1982, with the mission to preserve, present, and promote the musical heritage of Northwest Alabama.
Willie Henry Ruff Jr. was an American jazz musician, specializing in the French horn and double bass, and a music scholar and educator, primarily as a Yale professor from 1971 to 2017.
Steve Sample Sr. was a bandleader, arranger, composer and jazz educator. For more than 30 years, Sample was a professor in the Music Department of the University of Alabama, where he directed the Jazz Ensembles and taught music theory, arranging and jazz related courses. Sample trained many notable jazz musicians during his long tenure at Alabama, including Gary Wheat, Birch Johnson, Kelley O'Neal, Chris Gordon, Mervyn Warren, Cedric Dent, Beth Gottlieb, Mart Avant, Dick Aven and Ray Reach. On September 26, 2008, Sample was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame for his contributions to jazz education.
Neil McLean is an American saxophonist now residing in Tyler, Texas. As a member of the Henry Kimbrell Group, Ray Reach and Friends, the SuperJazz Big Band and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, he worked with numerous notable performers, including Dionne Warwick, Ella Fitzgerald, Ernie Watts, Lou Marini, Ellis Marsalis and many others. For many years, while residing in Birmingham, Alabama, Neil established himself as one of the premier saxophonists in the Southeast. His arrangements for the SuperJazz Big Band are among the finest performed by that venerable ensemble.
Tommy Stewart is an American trumpeter, arranger, composer, and record producer. He has been a member of the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Eaton and the Alabama All-Stars, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars, and Ray Reach and Friends. He was a 1988 inductee into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
The Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival is a one-day jazz festival which has been presented annually since 2003 in Birmingham's Historic 4th Avenue District downtown. In past years, it was sponsored by the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (AJHoF) and Urban Impact. Beginning in 2011, the festival was presented by Magic City Smooth Jazz. The event offers jazz music, food, swing dance lessons and exhibits, and presents nationally known jazz artists and local jazz artists.
The W. C. Handy Jazz All-Stars is a group of jazz musicians who play annually at the W. C. Handy Music Festival in Florence, Alabama. During the last week of July each year, these musicians travel from all over the United States to gather in Florence and perform in various combinations. In addition to performing jazz, members of the W. C. Handy Jazz All-Stars serve as the resident faculty of the W. C. Handy Jazz Camp, also teaching the "A B Cs of Jazz, Blues and Beyond".
The W. C. Handy Jazz Camp is sponsored jointly by the W. C. Handy Music Festival and the University of North Alabama (UNA), and is held annually in Florence, Alabama. Every year, the camp features an accomplished faculty, all members of the W. C. Handy Jazz All-Stars.
The "Fun With Jazz" Educational Program is a program of jazz educational concerts and demonstrations developed by Ray Reach and sponsored by the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
UAB SuperJazz, Featuring Ellis Marsalis is a CD, recorded in 2001 by the SuperJazz Big Band of Birmingham, Alabama with guest piano soloist Ellis Marsalis. The recording, produced by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) faculty members Ray Reach and Henry Panion, is a compilation of musical selections recorded in concert at the Alys Stephens Center on the campus of UAB. The album was mixed at the UAB Recording Studio. Recording engineers for the project were Blake English and James Bevelle. Remix engineers were James Bevelle and Ray Reach.
Roseanna Elizabeth Vitro is a jazz singer and teacher from Arkansas.