|
|
Roland Hanna |
view all recordings Sir Roland Hanna (1932-2002) was one of the major artists in jazz, and one of the most accomplished pianists of his generation. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Sir Roland began his piano studies at an early age. After graduation from the Juilliard School of Music, he joined Benny Goodman for a European concert tour, beginning a career that took him to concert halls and clubs in the major cities of the world. He was knighted, in 1970, by then President William V.S. Tubman of Liberia for humanitarian services to that country.
Sir Roland performed throughout the world as a solo pianist and as a leader and featured soloist with orchestras, big bands and small groups of all kinds. He performed with most of the great jazz musicians of the past 50 years, such as Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, Sarah Vaughn (for whom he was musical director), Carmen McRae and many other giants, and was a featured soloist with The Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, The Eastman Symphony Orchestra, The New York Jazz Quartet, The American Composers Orchestra, the Lincoln Center and Smithsonian Jazz Orchestras, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra.
Sir Roland was also a prolific composer. A catalog of over 400 compositions includes not only works for standard jazz ensembles recorded by him and other jazz artists; it also includes chamber works and larger works for piano and orchestra. Among his compositions is a ballet for jazz orchestra and strings, commissioned by the BalletMet of Columbus Ohio and choreographed by Graciela Daniele. A four-movement "Sonata For Chamber Trio and Jazz Piano," was recorded on Angel Records in 1994; and, in 1996, his "Sonata For Piano and Violin," commissioned by The Library of Congress, premiered in Washington, DC. Expanded in 2000 to include cello, the work has been performed by the New York Philomusica Chamber Ensemble and the Sanford Allen Chamber Ensemble.
Sir Roland was a tenured professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, The City University of New York.
Click here to visit the Roland Hanna web site:
Featured Artists
Roger Kellaway & Eddie Daniels
(From BillBoard review of latest IPO release)
Clarinetist Eddie Daniels and pianist Roger Kellaway have been both revered and sublimated by critics and listeners during their long and sometimes obscured careers. Make no mistake, though -- they are great musicians who somehow do not get the credit they deserve as true jazz masters. When Daniels has played more commercially oriented music, he's branded a sellout, while Kellaway's profile is so low-key, he's practically off the radar except when releasing a recording. Fact is, Daniels is as limber, facile, tuneful, and literate as any clarinet player on the contemporary scene, while Kellaway's understated brilliance is balanced by a sense of wonder and empowerment tempered by a veteran's common sense and deep wisdom. Both have made important strides in recent years to change minds and hearts with several very fine efforts in the modern mainstream idiom, but these duets recorded live at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles have to be a high watermark for them, individually and together... This is a wondrous duet date featuring extraordinary musicians taking chances and thankfully succeeding on all levels, not the least of which are in the enviable elements of pace, placement, and depth.
view all artists