(Wo)Mentalist

Hiromi: “Her energy was always so high, and she was so emotional,” Hiromi says of her first piano teacher. “When she wanted me to play with a certain kind of dynamics, she wouldn’t say it with technical terms. If the piece was something passionate, she would say, ‘Play red.’ Or if it was something mellow, she would say, ‘Play blue.’

Spivey Records : “I think one of the best records that I’ve ever been a part of was the record I made with Big Joe Williams and Victoria Spivey. Now that’s a record that I hear from time to time and I don’t mind listening to it. It amazes me that I was there and had done that.” Bob Dylan

Ruth Brown : Known as “The Girl with a Tear in her Voice”, “The Original Queen of Rhythm & Blues,” “Miss Rhythm & Blues,” and the well-known moniker of “Miss Rhythm,” the nickname given her by Mr. Rhythm, Frankie Laine, Ruth Brown was also credited as the first star made by Atlantic Records.

Carmen Cuesta : After one of the shows, Carmen and Chuck met, and it was love at first sight. Over the next few months they stayed in contact, despite Carmen’s busy work scene and Chuck’s touring, and within six months of their first encounter, Carmen relocated to New York City, and they were married, with Getz acting as best man at their wedding.

Neja : Neja is from Turino, Italy, where she was born under the Leo sign. She falls hopelessly in love with music as a young child and later gets her start in show business by singing with gospel choirs and jazz bands. As a teenager, she realizes her dream thanks to her dance music. Everything starts out with the smash hits Restless and Shock!, two chart-topping successes danced all over the world.

Ruth Young : But nothing in Young’s life has come without trouble, especially after she met Baker. By his side everywhere, from beer-stinking dives to Carnegie Hall, she absorbed his minimalist style; enduring his self-destruction through drugs, she learned about survival. As much as she loved him, she had to step out of the path of a speeding train, which she did when she left him. Pauline Kael, the New Yorker film critic, would aptly call her “lively, witty, and tough.

Red Hot Jazz Archive : Ida Cox sang in church choirs as a child in Georgia. She ran away from home in 1910 when she was a teenager and performed in minstriel and tent shows as a comedienne and singer. Sometime during this period she married a performer minstriel named Alder Cox. Ida worked her why into vaudeville and eventually became a headliner.

Helen Merrill : Helen Merrill lived for a number of years in Europe and recorded jazz albums in Italy, France and Norway and did frequent concerts. She made a number of trips to Japan for concerts and recorded for Japan Victor. She eventually moved to Tokyo in 1967. She returned to New York in 1972 where she now lives, making annual concert tours in Japan and Europe.

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