Margrethe Blossom Dearie was an American jazz singer and pianist. She was born in 1924, in New York to a father of Scots Irish descent and a mother of Norwegian descent. She reportedly received the name Blossom because of “a neighbour who delivered peach blossoms to her house the day she was born”, although she […]
I Won’t Dance
“I Won’t Dance” is a song with music by Jerome Kern that has become a jazz standard. The song has two different sets of lyrics: the first written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach in 1934. Kern, Hammerstein and Harbach originally wrote “I Won’t Dance” for the 1934 London musical Three Sisters. However, Three […]
The Way You Look Tonight
“The Way You Look To-night” is a song from the film Swing Time that was performed by Fred Astaire and composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics written by Dorothy Fields. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. Fields remarked, “The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out […]
Johnny Kidd & the Pirates
Johnny Kidd & the Pirates (known simply as The Pirates after their reunion) were an English rock band led by singer/songwriter Johnny Kidd. Their musical journey spanned from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. Their stage act was theatrical, including wearing full pirate costumes. The original group was signed to HMV in 1959 under the […]
Faeland
Faeland: Folk-inspired acoustic song medicine to soothe mind and spirit. Faeland’s music has been described as “soul balm”, “ethereal” and “worldly yet otherworldly”. Their debut album All My Swim attracted widespread acclaim – it was championed by BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing amongst others. At its core are singer-songwriter Rebecca Nelson and guitarist / […]
The Sitwell-Walton Façade – An Entertainment
The “entertainment” Façade, in which Sitwell’s poems are recited over an instrumental accompaniment by Walton, was first given privately in the Sitwell family’s London house in January 1922. The first public performance was given at the Aeolian Hall, London, in June 1923. On both occasions, the author recited the verse and the composer conducted the […]
Modern English
Modern English are an English new wave/post punk band formed in 1979 in Colchester, Essex. With Robbie Grey (vocals), Gary McDowell (guitar, vocals), and Michael Conroy (bass, vocals), Modern English were originally known as The Lepers. The group expanded to “Modern English” when Richard Brown (drums) and Stephen Walker (keyboards) were added to the lineup […]
Silenzium
Silenzium was created in 2004 by young musicians from Novosibirsk Philharmonic Society. Silenzium is a classical string quartet with the addition of a contrabass and a drum set, which breaks all the stereotypes about a traditional sound of a string band. They came up with such a sonorous name thanks to one poem by Tyutchev […]
The Liverbirds
The Liverbirds were an English all-female rock band from Liverpool, active between 1963 and 1968. The group consisted of vocalist and guitarist Valerie Gell, guitarist and vocalist Pamela Birch, bassist and vocalist Mary McGlory, and drummer Sylvia Saunders. They were one of the very few female bands on the Mersey Beat scene, as well as […]
Ricchi e Poveri
Ricchi e Poveri (“The Rich and The Poor”) is an Italian pop group formed in Genoa in 1967, originally consisting of Angela Brambati, Angelo Sotgiu, Franco Gatti and Marina Occhiena. The band got their name from Roman songwriter Franco Califano who once joked that they were “spiritually rich and financially poor”. The quartet earned its […]