Ultimul tango al Mariei Schneider. Vedeta cu origini româneşti a rămas în istoria cinematografiei mondiale datorită filmului care i-a distrus viaţa

Maria Schneider (27 March 1952 – 3 February 2011) was a French actress. She is best known for playing Jeanne opposite Marlon Brando in the 1972 motion picture Last Tango in Paris. People reports that the cause of death was a result of cancer.

Schneider performed numerous full-frontal nude scenes in Last Tango in Paris, which were controversial at the time. On a television interview in 2007 with the Daily Mail, Schneider described Last Tango in Paris director Bernardo Bertolucci as "fat and sweaty and very manipulative, both of Marlon and myself, and he did certain things to get her reaction." As for her working relationship with Brando, she says that, while their relationship on the set was paternal, it was Brando who came up with the 'butter scene' and it was only known to her just before filming it.

"I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do something that isn't in the script, but at the time, I didn't know that. Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie,' but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take."

She and Brando remained friends until his death, although they did not speak of the movie "for a while." She also says that her experience with the film — and her treatment as a sex symbol rather than as a serious actress — motivated her to never do films with nude scenes again. Schneider also appeared in films such as The Passenger, and Jane Eyre.

Schneider was born Marie Christine Gélin, the daughter of French actor Daniel Gélin and Romanian-born Marie-Christine Schneider, who ran a bookstore in Paris. In 1974, Schneider came out as bisexual. In early 1976, she abandoned the film set of Caligula and checked herself into a mental hospital in Rome for several days with a woman she described as her lover. This, coupled with her refusal to do nudity, led to Schneider's dismissal and she was replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy.

The 1970s were turbulent years for Schneider, marked by drug addiction, overdoses, and a suicide attempt. By the 1980s, however, she had turned her life around.

Succes 2011: Nancy Wilson, jazz living legend

Nancy Wilson is an American singer with more than 70 albums, and three Grammy Awards. She has been labeled a singer of blues, jazz, cabaret and pop; a "consummate actress"; and "the complete entertainer." The title she prefers, however, is song stylist. She has received many nicknames including "Sweet Nancy", "The Baby", "Fancy Miss Nancy" and "The Girl With the Honey-Coated Voice".

Nancy’s debut single, "Guess Who I Saw Today", was so successful that between April 1960 and July 1962 Capitol Records released five Nancy Wilson albums. Her first album, Like in Love, displayed her talent in Rhythm and Blues, with the hit R&B song "Save your Love for Me." Adderley suggested that she should steer away from her original pop style and gear her music toward jazz and ballads. In 1962, they collaborated and produced an album Nancy Wilson/Cannonball which propelled her to national prominence. Between March, 1964 and June, 1965 four of Wilson's albums hit the Top 10 on Billboard's Top LPs chart. In 1963 "Tell Me The Truth" became her first truly major hit, leading up to her performance at the Coconut Grove in 1964 – the turning point of her career garnering critical acclaim from coast to coast. It was covered in Time magazine, She is, all at once, both cool and sweet, both singer and storyteller.[10] In 1964 Nancy released what became her most successful hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with "(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am" which peaked at #11. From 1963 to 1971 Wilson logged eleven songs on the Hot 100, including two Christmas singles. However, "Face It Girl, It's Over" was the only remaining non-Christmas song to crack the Top 40 for Wilson (#29, in 1968).
After doing numerous television guest appearances, Wilson eventually got her own series on NBC, The Nancy Wilson Show (1967–1968), that won an Emmy in 1975. Over the years she has appeared on many popular television shows from I Spy (more or less playing herself as a Las Vegas singer in the 1966 episode "Lori"); Room 222, Hawaii Five-O, Police Story, The Jack Paar Program, The Sammy Davis, Jr. Show (1966), The Danny Kaye Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Kraft Music Hall, The Sinbad Show,[4] The Cosby Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Carol Burnett Show, Soul Food, New York Undercover, and recently Moesha, and The Parkers. She also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Merv Griffith Show, The Tonight Show, The Arsenio Hall Show and The Flip Wilson Show.She was in the 1993 Robert Townsend's The Meteor Man and in the film, The Big Score. She also appeared on The Lou Rawls Parade of Stars and the March of Dime Telethon. She was signed by Capitol records in the late 70s and in an attempt to broaden her appeal she cut the album Life, Love and Harmony an album of soulful, funky dance cuts that included the track "Sunshine" which was to become one of her most sought after recordings be it amongst supporters of the rare soul scene for whom she would not usually register.
In the 1980s, she recorded five albums for Japanese labels because she preferred recording live, and American labels frequently didn’t give her that option. She gained such wide popularity that she was selected as the winner of the annual Tokyo Song Festivals.
In 1982 she recorded with Hank Jones and the Great Jazz Trio. In that same year she recorded with Griffith Park Band whose members included Chick Corea and Joe Henderson. In 1987 she participated in a PBS show entitled Newport Jazz ‘87 as the singer of a jazz trio with John Williams and Roy McCurdy.
In 1982 she also signed with CBS, her albums here including The Two Of Us (1984), duets with Ramsey Lewis produced by Stanley Clarke; Forbidden Lover (1987), including the title track duet with Carl Anderson; and A Lady With A Song, which became her 52nd album release in 1989. In 1989 Nancy Wilson in Concert played as a television special.
In the early 1990s, Nancy recorded an album paying tribute to Johnny Mercer with co-producer Barry Manilow entitled With My Lover Beside Me. In this decade she also recorded two other albums, Love, Nancy and her sixtieth album If I had it My Way. In the late 1990s, Nancy teamed up with MCG Jazz, a youth education programs of the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild nonprofit, minority-directed, arts and learning organization located in Pittsburgh, PA.
In 1995, Nancy Wilson performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the San Francisco Jazz Festival in 1997. In 1999, Wilson hosted a show in honor of Ella Fitzgerald entitled Forever Ella on the A & E network.
All the proceeds from 2001's A Nancy Wilson Christmas, went to support the work of MCG Jazz. Wilson was the host on NPR's Jazz Profiles,from 1996 to 2005. This series profiled the legends and legacy of jazz through music, interviews and commentary. Wilson and the program were the recipients of the George Foster Peabody Award in 2001.[18]
Wilson's second and third album with MCG Jazz, R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal) (2005), and Turned to Blue (2007), both won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Succes 2011: Sara Moulton

Sara Moulton is an American chef, cookbook author and television personality.
Moulton is a food editor for Good Morning America, a morning news and talk show broadcast on the ABC television network. For twenty years, she was the chef of the executive dining room at Gourmet until the magazine's publisher, Condé Nast Publications, announced on October 5, 2009, that the magazine was ceasing publication.
She is the host of Sara’s Weeknight Meals on PBS, a public-television network.
Between 1996 and 2005, Moulton hosted Cooking Live, Cooking Live Primetime and Sara's Secrets on the Food Network, becoming one of the original stars of that cable- and satellite-television channel during its first decade.
She is the author of several cookbooks and videos including Sara Moulton Cooks at Home (2002), Sara’s Secrets for Weeknight Meals (2005) and Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners (2010).
Moulton was one of the founders, in 1982, of the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance.

Moulton began working in restaurants immediately, first in Boston, Massachusetts, and then in New York City, taking off time only for a postgraduate apprenticeship with Master Chef Maurice Cazalis of the Henri IV Restaurant in Chartres, France, in 1979. She also served as a chef tournant at La Tulipe, a restaurant in New York City in the early 1980s.
In 1982, Moulton co-founded the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance, a still-functioning "old girl’s network" designed to help women working in the culinary field.
In the interest of starting a family, Moulton left restaurant work and began devoting herself instead to recipe testing and development. She worked for two years as an instructor at Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School (now known as the Institute of Culinary Education), where she discovered her love of teaching.
In 1984, Moulton took a job in the test kitchen at Gourmet. Four years later she became chef of the magazine’s executive dining room.
Moulton’s television career began in 1979, when she was hired to work behind the scenes on Julia Child & More Company, a program on PBS. Her friendship with Child led eventually to Moulton’s job at Good Morning America, where what started as another behind-the-scenes position ripened in 1997 into on-camera work.
By then Moulton had begun hosting the Food Network’s Cooking Live. Six years and over 1,200 hour-long shows later, Cooking Live ended on March 31, 2002. Sara’s Secrets began the next day."Other TV chefs may own famous restaurants and perform with theatrical flair," said TV Guide'’s Herma Rosenthal, “But Moulton’s the one you can actually picture popping over to help you fix the lumpy gravy or the fallen soufflé."
Sara Moulton Cooks at Home was published by Broadway Books in October 2002, meant to counter America’s disastrous love affair with fast food by encouraging everyone to cook delicious and healthy food at home and to dine with family and friends.“While rooted in classic French technique, the book also accommodates the American hunger for convenience, novelty and freshness,” wrote Mike Dunne for The Sacramento Bee.
Moulton’s second cookbook, Sara’s Secrets for Weeknight Meals, was published by Broadway Books in October 2005. It was reviewed by Michelle Green in People magazine, who wrote: "Sara has a gift for creating quick, accessible fine cuisine. Why suffer to make a gorgeous meal?"
In 2008, Sara’s Weeknight Meals, based on Moulton’s second book, débuted on public television.
Moulton's third cookbook, "Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners," was published by Simon & Schuster in April 2010.

Emin Boztepe & EB Martial Arts System

Emin Boztepe is a Turkish martial artist, currently based in the United States of America. At the age of four, his family moved to Germany. He first came to prominence for his fight in 1986 with noted Wing Chun practitioner William Cheung, and he continued to gain attention in the 1990s with a public challenge of the Gracie family. He was a notable member of Leung Ting's Wing Tsun organisation until 2002, when he formed his own organisation.
In 1976, at the age of 14, Boztepe began studying martial arts, including judo, Shotokan karate, wrestling, Muay Thai, and traditional boxing. During this period, he also fought as an amateur boxer in 16 matches.

In 1980, Boztepe was attracted to Wing Chun when he saw a demonstration by Keith Kernspecht who was teaching in Kiel, Germany. He said, "Wing Tsun was really love at first sight, and it fit me. For whatever reason I was a natural." Boztepe also began training in Latosa Escrima, which Kernspecht's German Wing Tsun Organization had decided to make part of the family in 1982.

His fight with Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu master William Cheung in 1986, at a seminar in Germany, caused controversy in the wider Wing Chun community.

After some financial problems occurred with his master, Kernspecht, Boztepe headed to his master's master, Leung Ting, and took special lessons from him until a financial dispute, which caused him to leave the Wing Tsun organisation. Boztepe formed his own organisation, called Emin Boztepe Martial Arts System (EBMAS), afterwards.

Since 1997, Emin Boztepe has often been seen and photographed with great actress Jacqueline Bisset.

Succes 2011: Toots "Buba" Thielemans, jazz living legend. Muzician cu o influenţă decisivă asupra lui John Lennon şi Beatles

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans, known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century. In 2009 he became NEA Jazz Master, the highest honour for a jazz musician in the United States.

Thielemans started his career as a guitar player. In 1949 he joined a jam session in Paris with Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach and others. In 1949 and 1950 he participated in European tours with Benny Goodman, making his first record in Paris with fellow band member, tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims. In 1951 he went on tour with Bobbejaan Schoepen.
He moved to the US in 1952 where he was a member of Charlie Parker's All-Stars and worked with Miles Davis and Dinah Washington. He played and recorded with names like Ella Fitzgerald, Jaco Pastorius, Peggy Lee, The George Shearing Quintet, Quincy Jones, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, The Happenings, Astrud Gilberto, Shirley Horn, Elis Regina and others.
A jazz standard by Toots Thielemans is "Bluesette" where he used whistling and guitar in unison. First recorded by Toots in 1962, with lyrics added by Norman Gimbel the song became a major worldwide hit. His harmonica playing can also be heard in movie scores such as Midnight Cowboy, Jean de Florette, Sugarland Express, The Yakuza, Turkish Delight, The Getaway, French Kiss, Dunderklumpen, and in various TV programs, including Sesame Street, the Belgian TV series Witse, and the Dutch TV series Baantjer. He composed the music for the 1974 Swedish film Dunderklumpen! in which he also voiced the animated character Pellegnillot.
His whistling and harmonica playing can be heard on Old Spice radio and TV commercials that have been made over the years. During the 1980s he performed with bassist and composer/bandleader Jaco Pastorius in ensembles ranging from duet to the Word of Mouth Big Band. In 1983 he contributed to Billy Joel's album An Innocent Man, and his trademark harmonica can be heard on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone." A year later, he appeared on the Julian Lennon song "Too Late For Goodbyes" from the album Valotte. In 1984, he recorded the final album of Billy Eckstine (I Am A Singer), featuring very beautiful ballads and standards arranged and conducted by Angelo DiPippo. In the 1990s Thielemans embarked on theme projects that included world music. In 1998 he released a French flavoured album titled "Chez Toots" that included the Les Moulins De Mon Coeur (The Windmills of Your Mind) featuring guest singer Johnny Mathis. Apart from his popularity as an accomplished musician, he is well liked for his modesty and kind demeanor. In his native Belgium, he is also popular for describing himself as a Brussels "ket", which means "street kid" in old Brussels slang. He received a joint honorary doctorate from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and in 2001 Thielemans was ennobled a baron by King Albert II of Belgium.

Thielemans may have had a significant impact on The Beatles, (John Lennon in particular), during the group's pre-fame formative years. While performing in a 1959 Hamburg Germany with the pre-fame Beatles, John Lennon (sometimes with fellow Beatle George Harrison in tow) would often go over to the club where Toots was performing (at a noontime venue) as a member of The George Shearing Quintet. Lennon evidently was taken with Toots' harmonica playing and for Thielemans' guitar selection: an electric American made Rickenbacker with a short scale neck.Based on the sound Lennon heard, he decided to purchase a natural alder wood "alderglo" colored three pickup Rickenbacker 1958 model 325 Capri guitar with a short scale as former Beatle and friend, George Harrison would recall to various interviewers many years later. This iconic famous guitar often fondly referred to as the "Holy Grail" of all guitars, which was customized and tinkered with many times over the years by Lennon including being re-painted to jetglo black in September 1962, is the very same guitar that he played on The Beatles first and third appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show during February 1964. A photo even exists of Thielemans at a Rickenbacker trade show, with the guitar that would become Lennon's in the background.In 1983 he contributed to Billy Joel's album An Innocent Man, and his trademark harmonica can be heard on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone." A year later, he appeared on the Julian Lennon song "Too Late For Goodbyes" from the album Valotte.

Succes 2011: Sananda Maitreya. Terence Trent D'Arby reloaded

Sananda Francesco Maitreya, better known by his former stage name Terence Trent D'Arby, is an American singer-songwriter who came to fame with his album Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, released in July 1987, which included the singles "Wishing Well" and "Sign Your Name". The album has sold over 12 million copies.

Sananda Maitreya was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, in 1962. He grew up with his stepfather, Reverend James Benjamin Darby, a minister of the Pentecostal church; and Frances Darby, a gospel singer,[1] teacher and counselor. D'Arby was known to childhood friends as Terry Darby. His family moved from New York to New Jersey to Chicago and then settled in DeLand, Florida, north of Orlando. A graduate of DeLand High School, he sang with the Modernaires, a show choir of high school.[citation needed]
Sananda Maitreya trained as a boxer in Orlando and won the Golden Gloves lightweight championship. He received an offer to attend boxing school in the United States Army, but his stepfather insisted he go to college instead. Maitreya enrolled at the University of Central Florida but quit a year later, enlisting in the U.S. Army. He was posted at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and then served in the 3rd Armored Division, near Frankfurt, Germany. He was formally discharged by the army in April 1983 after going absent without leave. While in Germany, he also worked with the band The Touch, releasing an album of material called Love On Time (1984). It was later re-issued in 1989 as Early Works after his worldwide success as a solo artist. In 1986 he left Germany for London, where he briefly played with the band, The Bojangels, after which he signed a solo recording deal.

Sananda Maitreya's debut solo album, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, released in July 1987, is his best-known commercial work.[2] The album, which produced hits like "If You Let Me Stay", "Wishing Well", "Dance Little Sister", and "Sign Your Name", sold over a million copies in the first three days of its release, and its sales currently total over 14 million.[citation needed] The album also earned him a Grammy Award in March 1988 in the category Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male. In that same year, he earned a Soul Train Award nomination for Best New Artist.
His follow-up was the poorly received album Neither Fish Nor Flesh (1989).

It took four more years and a move to Los Angeles until his next project, Symphony or Damn (1993) was released. The record contained the singles "Delicate" and "She Kissed Me". It peaked at #4 on the UK Albums Chart.
In 1995, Sananda Maitreya released Vibrator which was followed by a successful world tour. During the 1990s, the relations between him and his record label Columbia Records became strained, eventually leading to his departure in 1996. He moved to Java Records for one year, during which he recorded Terence Trent D'Arby's Solar Return, which was not released. In 2000, he bought back the rights to his unreleased album and left the record company as well as his management team, Lippman Entertainment.
In 1999, Sananda Maitreya collaborated with INXS to replace his friend, the late vocalist Michael Hutchence, so the band could play at the opening of facilities for the Sydney Olympics.

The artist adopted the name Sananda Maitreya following a series of dreams in 1995 and he legally changed his name 6 years later on October 4, 2001. He proclaimed in an interview that "Terence Trent D'Arby was dead... he watched his suffering as he died a noble death", in what was perceived as an attempt to reinvent himself artistically and free himself from what he believed to be the oppressive nature of the record business.
In 2001, Maitreya moved back to Europe and Germany, resettling in Munich and starting his own independent record label, Treehouse Pub. The year also marked his first album release in six years, as the unreleased Terence Trent D'Arby's Solar Return became the albumWildcard. The album, which received a very warm critical welcome, was at first available for free through his website (Sananda was one of the pioneers of the internet age), and later gained a commercial release through a one-album distribution deal with Universal Music and then an with an independent release with the artist's own record label.
In 2002, the now 40-year-old Maitreya moved to Milan, Italy, and began working on his next project, Angels & Vampires - Volume I. The songs were initially released through Weedshare by chapters, allowing the fans to get a glimpse of the work as it evolved. On July 29, 2005, the fully mastered album was finally released through his webshop utilizing the mp3 format and then became also available in CD format.
In July 2005, Maitreya started working on Angels & Vampires - Volume II. He released each chapter online as he finished recording the songs. On April 29, 2006, he released the finished mastered album in his online shop. That was followed by the release of the 2CD limited edition of 'Angels & Vampires' at the end of 2007. In 2009, the album Nigor Mortis: A Critical Mass was released on his official website both as a CD and as Mp3. In 2010 he started the recording of his next project called The Sphinx, its first 3 chapters have been made available on the ecommerce of the artist official website. In december 2010 Sananda ended the 4th chapter of the project and the final project will be available in CD and Mastered Mp3 format in the spring of 2011 at Zooathalon.com(source SanandaMaitreya.com)
Maitreya currently[update] lives in Milan, Italy with his family, where he continues to create music. Since the early stages of his music career he has always written, composed, arranged and produced all his tracks. In his new albums such as Angels & Vampires and Nigor Mortis and THE SPHINX he also played all instruments. He has been touring with his band 'The Nudge Nudge' around Europe to present his new music called 'Post Millennium Rock'.

Maitreya has appeared in two films, as well as the TV mini-series Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story where he played the part of Jackie Wilson.
His music has also been included on several movie and television soundtracks, notably his version of the theme song of 1991's Frankie and Johnny, as well as having one of his songs featured prominently in the end credits of Beverly Hills Cop III, "Right Thing, Wrong Way", which he wrote and produced with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Another of his songs, "What Shall I Do?", was also featured in an episode of the UPN television series Girlfriends. In 2007, three songs appeared on Judd Apatow's movie Knocked Up.

Succes 2011: Johan Neeskens

Johannes Jacobus "Johan" Neeskens is a Dutch football manager and former midfielder. As a player, he was an important member of the Dutch national team that finished as runner-ups in the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups. Former England manager Alf Ramsey said Neeskens was "as good as any player" in the tournament. He was the assistant coach to Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona but was sacked along with Rijkaard as the end of the 2007–08 season. He was the head coach of the Dutch B national team until June 2009, at which date he has been appointed as the assistant coach to Frank Rijkaard at Galatasaray SK.

Neeskens, a native of Heemstede, Noord-Holland, started his career at RCH Heemstede in 1968, before being spotted by Rinus Michels and signed for Ajax in 1970. The youngster impressed at right-back, playing in that position for Ajax in the 1971 European Cup Final win against Panathinaikos. During the 1971–72 season, Neeskens took up more of a central midfield role, in support of Johan Cruijff. He adapted well to his new central midfield role because he was a tireless runner, had great technical skills and scored his fair share of goals. Ajax completed a hat-trick of European Cup wins between 1971 and 1973, and Neeskens moved on to FC Barcelona in 1974 to join Cruijff and Michels. There he was nicknamed Johan Segon (Johan the Second).
While his time at Barça was relatively unsuccessful for the club (one cup title ('78) and the 1979 Cup Winners' Cup), he was hugely popular amongst the fans. In 1979, he accepted an offer from the New York Cosmos, spending 5 years at the club. The Cosmos released him October 1984. He also played for FC Groningen during the 1984–85 season. In June 1985, he signed with the Fort Lauderdale Sun of the United Soccer League.[4] The USL collapsed six games into the 1985 season. On August 15, 1989, he signed with the Kansas City Comets of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
He then played for FC Baar (1988–90) and FC Zug in Switzerland, finally hanging up his boots in 1991.

Neeskens was capped 49 times for his country, scoring 17 goals. He made his debut against East Germany, and played a crucial role in the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups, playing in central midfield. Neeskens scored the opening goal of the 1974 World Cup final against West Germany on a penalty kick after only 2 minutes of play.
Four years later, Neeskens was a crucial player for the Dutch (despite a rib injury suffered in the Scotland defeat), in the absence of Cruijff who had retired from international football in 1977. The Netherlands again reached the final, only to lose to the hosts, this time Argentina, going down 3–1 after extra time (the score at the end of regulation was 1–1). He played his final international game in 1981 in a 2–0 defeat against France in a qualifier for the 1982 World Cup.
Neeskens was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Succes 2010: Nicolas Cage, Ghost Rider prin Transilvania

Ultimul si poate cel mai interesant - prin felul in care l-am obtinut! - autograf primit in acest an, personalizat, este cel al superstarului Nicolas Cage, aflat in Romania pentru a filma partea a doua a filmului Ghost Rider. Am asteptat aproape trei luni, dar a meritat!

Succes 2010: Richard Sims, unul dintre detectivii care l-au pazit pe asasinul lui JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald

Detectives Richard M. Sims and Elmer "Sonny" Boyd spent more time than anyone else with Oswald in the days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Mr. Sims and Mr. Boyd, who had been professionally paired since 1957, were assigned by their boss, Will Fritz, captain of the homicide and robbery division, to escort Oswald after his capture in the shootings of the president and of Dallas police Officer J.D. Tippit.

Succes 2010: Ahmad Jamal, jazz living legend

Ahmad Jamal is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, teacher, and jazz theoretician. According to Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker. For five decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.
Since the 1980s Jamal has been regularly touring the major clubs of the United States and the large European jazz festivals. He is generally accompanied by bassist James Cammack and drummer Idris Muhammad. He has also performed regularly with saxophonist George Coleman.

Ahmad Jamal is an acclaimed virtuoso jazz pianist and keyboardist, composer, and innovative trio leader. He was born Freddy "Fritz" Jones, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jamal attended George Westinghouse High School. He began playing piano at the age of three, when his uncle Lawrence challenged him to duplicate what he was playing on the piano.[3] Jamal began formal piano training at the age of seven with Mary Cardwell Dawson, whom he describes as greatly influencing him. He converted to Ahmadiyya Islam in 1952, officially changing his name at that time. On joining Musicians Union Local 208 in Chicago, he was referred to as Fritz Jones in the minutes of the local's Board meetings until his name change. His first OKeh record was credited in advertisements to the Fritz Jones Trio, but it did not see release until after the name change, so the name Ahmad Jamal appears on all of his released recordings. He is a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Jamal began touring with George Hudson's Orchestra. He joined another touring group known as The Four Strings, which was soon disbanded. He moved to Chicago in 1950, and made his first sides in 1951 for the Okeh label with The Three Strings; the other members were guitarist Ray Crawford and a bassist (at different times, Eddie Calhoun, Richard Davis, and Israel Crosby). Jamal subsequently recorded for Parrot (1953–1955) and Epic (1955) using the piano-guitar-bass lineup. The trio's sound changed significantly when Crawford was replaced with drummer Vernel Fournier in 1957, and the group worked as the "House Trio" at Chicago's Pershing Hotel. The trio released the live album But Not for Me which stayed on the Ten Best-selling charts for 108 weeks. Jamal's well known song "Poinciana" was first released on this album. The financial success of the album allowed Jamal to open a restaurant and club called The Alhambra.
Jamal typically plays with a bassist and drummer; his current trio is with bassist James Cammack and drummer Idris Muhammad. At the Toronto Jazz Festival (June 2008) and perhaps elsewhere, Jamal's group included innovative percussionist Manolo Badrena. Jamal has also recorded with saxophonist George Coleman on the album The Essence; with vibraphonist Gary Burton on the recording "In Concert"; with the voices of the Howard A. Roberts Chorale on the recordings "Bright, Blue and Beautiful" and "Cry Young"; with brass, reeds, and strings celebrating his hometown of "Pittsburgh"; and with "The Assai Quartet", among other non-trio achievements.

Miles Davis, Randy Weston, Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, and Gary Peacock all cite Jamal as a major influence in use of rhythm and space as well as his innovative use of multi-tonal melodic lines and his unique extended 'vamps'. The element of surprise is an important part of Jamal's improvisations to them all. John Coltrane must have also been influenced by Jamal. His composition "Impressions", bears a striking resemblance to a small section of the song "Pavanne" which Ahmad Jamal recorded in 1955 with Israel Crosby and guitarist Ray Crawford. Halfway through the song there is a vamp on the same harmonic progression as "So What" (by Miles Davis) and "Impressions" (John Coltrane). During this vamp Ray Crawford improvises a line which is practically identical to the melody of "Impressions", including the harmonic shift.
At the Pershing: But Not for Me (1958) is considered a jazz classic. The Ahmad Jamal trio played on it and featured Jamal on piano, Israel Crosby on bass, and Vernel Fournier on drums.
Jamal's style has changed steadily over time - from the lighter, breezy style heard on his 1950s recordings to the Caribbean stylings of the 1970s and onto the large open voicings and bravura-laden playing of the nineties. Jamal has always been distinctive however for his use of space, his dramatic crescendos, and for a very staccato orientation with chords.
Clint Eastwood featured two recordings from Jamal's But Not For Me album — "Music, Music, Music" and "Poinciana" — in the 1995 movie The Bridges of Madison County.
The French government has inducted Ahmad Jamal into the prestigious Order of the Arts and Letters by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, naming him Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on June 2007. At age 80, Mr Jamal still continues to tour extensively with his trio.
In 1994, Jamal received the National Endowment for the Arts American Jazz Masters award and was also named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University.