Griffith (Griff) Evan Williams (born May 16, 1908, La Grande, Oregon - died February 23, 1959, Chicago, IL) was an American dance bandleader and pianist.
Williams led a college band at Stanford University in the early 1930s and was a member of the Anson Weeks Orchestra in 1932. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford. Soon afterwards, he formed his own group in San Francisco, which included Buddy Moreno as a vocalist, and had its first major engagement at the supper club Edgewater Beach Hotel in October 1933. [1] He toured throughout the United States in the 1930s before relocating to Chicago for another engagement at the Stevens Hotel, where he worked from 1939 through about 1944.
Williams recorded for Okeh, Varsity, and Columbia, and led his band full-time until 1953, when he began working for the trade magazine publisher Haywood. [1] He still played occasional dates with the group in the middle of the decade, including on television, but in 1957 became vice president of Haywood, essentially ending his music career. He died of a heart attack in 1959. [2]
Benjamin David Goodman was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
Lawrence Welk was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, television, and live-performance audiences.
Joe Williams was an American jazz singer. He sang with big bands, such as the Count Basie Orchestra and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, and with small combos. He sang in two films with the Basie orchestra and sometimes worked as an actor.
Lillian Hardin Armstrong was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in the 1920s.
Ben Pollack was an American drummer and bandleader from the mid-1920s through the swing era. His eye for talent led him to employ musicians such as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Jimmy McPartland, and Harry James. This ability earned him the nickname the "Father of Swing".
Herman "Ivory" Chittison was an American jazz pianist.
Frank Benjamin Foster III was an American tenor and soprano saxophonist, flautist, arranger, and composer. Foster collaborated frequently with Count Basie and worked as a bandleader from the early 1950s. In 1998, Howard University awarded Frank Foster with the Benny Golson Jazz Master Award.
Harold Mabern Jr. was an American jazz pianist and composer, principally in the hard bop, post-bop, and soul jazz fields. He is described in The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings as "one of the great post-bop pianists".
Harry Haywood was an American political activist who was a leading figure in both the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). His goal was to connect the political philosophy of the Communist Party with the issues of race.
Theodore Salvatore Fiorito, known professionally as Ted Fio Rito, was an American composer, orchestra leader, and keyboardist, on both the piano and the Hammond organ, who was popular on national radio broadcasts in the 1920s and 1930s. His name is sometimes given as Ted Fiorito or Ted FioRito.
Russell Morgan was an American big band leader and arranger during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known for being one of the composers of the song "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", with Larry Stock and James Cavanaugh, and was the first to record it in 1944.
Abe Lyman was a bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including Your Hit Parade.
Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra was the first Kansas City jazz band to achieve national recognition, which it acquired through national radio broadcasts. It was founded in 1918, as the Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra, by drummer Carleton Coon and pianist Joe Sanders.
William Melvin Mitchell was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
A big band remote was a remote broadcast, common on radio during the 1930s and 1940s, involving a coast-to-coast live transmission of a big band.
King Kolax was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
George Freeman is an American jazz guitarist and recording artist. He is known for his sophisticated technique, collaborations with high-profile performers, and notable presence in the jazz scene of Chicago, Illinois. He is the younger brother of tenor saxophonist Von Freeman and drummer Eldridge "Bruz" Freeman, and the uncle of tenor saxophonist and trumpeter Chico Freeman.
The Williams Brothers featuring Andy Williams were a singing quartet formed in the mid 1930s. They initially entertained on radio stations and later appeared in four musical films in the 1940s. After recording with Bing Crosby led to a nightclub act backing Kay Thompson, they broke up in the early 1950s and went their separate ways. The second generation of Williams Brothers, twins Andrew and David began as teen idols and a musical duo in the 1970s performing extensively on radio, television and in movies and nightclubs.
Gray Gordon, born Jerome Rohkar was an American saxophonist and big band leader active in the 1930s and 1940s.
Lance Hayward at the Half Moon Hotel is a 1959 studio album by Bermudian jazz pianist Lance Hayward. It was both the debut solo album by Hayward and the first album released on Chris Blackwell's label Island Records. The original album cover calls the band leader "Lance Haywood" mistakenly, and contrary to the album's title, it was recorded in studio. Although the album is unremarkable artistically, it has gained recognition for its importance in the history and development of Caribbean music.