Arthur James Kok (January 24, 1902, Czernowitz - October 18, 1976, Berlin) was a Romanian bandleader, violinist, and arranger. He led dance bands that played light music and jazz.
Kok learned to play music from his father, a violinist. He also could play saxophone, clarinet, and piano. Later in life, he alleged that he had been raised in the US, but he was born in what is now Ukraine. At the time, the area was in Austria-Hungary's Duchy of Bukovina, passing to the Kingdom of Romania for the interwar period. [1] He attended the Prague Conservatory and then put a band together in Berlin, which remained active through 1933, toured throughout germanophone Europe, and recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. He left Germany under duress in 1935 and led a new ensemble in Romania, which toured Switzerland in 1938 and Holland in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war. In 1939 he relocated to Switzerland, where he lived until the late 1950s; he then lived in the United States for much of the 1960s. In 1969 he moved back to Berlin, where he would live out the rest of his life.
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. He played the Soil Stradivarius, considered one of the finest violins made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari.
Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader. Primarily an alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist, Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence during the same era. His use of the bass clarinet helped to establish the unconventional instrument within jazz. Dolphy extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists.
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and continued playing concerts around the world well into his eighties.
Harry Haag James was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but shortly after he reorganized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his technical proficiency as well as his tone, and was influential on new trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of films that usually featured his band.
Artie Shaw was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction.
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time.
Jean-Luc Ponty is a French jazz and jazz fusion violinist and composer. He is considered a pioneer of jazz-rock, particularly for his use of the electric violin starting in the 1970s. He rose to prominence for his collaborations with popular musical artists Frank Zappa and Elton John. In addition to his solo work, he has performed with symphony orchestras in France, the United States, Canada, and Japan.
Joseph Szigeti was a Hungarian violinist.
Steven Bruce Smith is an American drummer best known as a member of the rock band Journey across three stints: 1978 to 1985, 1995 to 1998 and 2015 to 2020. Modern Drummer magazine readers have voted him the No. 1 All-Around Drummer five years in a row. In 2001, the publication named Smith one of the Top 25 Drummers of All Time, and in 2002 he was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Journey on April 7, 2017.
Eddie Daniels is an American musician and composer. Although he is best known as a jazz clarinetist, he has also played saxophone and flute as well as classical music on clarinet.
Milton John Hinton was an American double bassist and photographer.
Johnny Frigo was an American jazz violinist, bassist and songwriter. He appeared in the 1940s as a violinist before working as a bassist. He returned to the violin in the 1980s and enjoyed a comeback, recording several albums as a leader.
Gypsy jazz is a musical idiom inspired by the Romani jazz guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–1953), in conjunction with the French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli (1908–1997), as expressed by their group the Quintette du Hot Club de France. The style has its origins in France and the Manouche clan of Romanis, and has remained popular amongst this clan. Gypsy jazz is often called by the French name jazz manouche, or alternatively, manouche jazz in English-language sources.
John Michael Glyn Etheridge is an English jazz fusion guitarist, composer, bandleader and educator known for his eclecticism and broad range of associations in jazz, classical, and contemporary music. He is best known for his work with Soft Machine from 1975 to 1978, 1984 and 2004 to present.
Ernest Harold "Benny" Bailey was an American jazz trumpeter.
George Pantazi, better known by his stage name Georges Boulanger, was a Romanian violinist, conductor and composer.
Damian Drăghici is a Romanian musician of Romani origin.
Allan Zavod was an Australian pianist, composer, jazz musician and occasional conductor whose career was mainly in America.
Erhard Bauschke was a German jazz and light music performer and bandleader.
Stockholm, Berlin 1966 is a live album by saxophonist and composer Albert Ayler, recorded in Europe in 1966 and released on the Swiss hatOLOGY label in 2011. The Berlin tracks were previously released on The Berlin Concerts - 1966, Albert Ayler Live In Europe 1964 - 1966, and the compilation Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962–70) (Revenant). All of the tracks were reissued on a 2021 Hat Hut release titled Albert Ayler Quintet 1966: Berlin, Lörrach, Paris & Stockholm. Revisited.