Hey Joan...Bright Moments!
It's ALWAYS a "Bright Moment" hearing from you with some "Sunshine" about your constant determination to travel through the world of "Jazz", as "Up Hill" as it always seems to be! I really admire you tenacity! Keep doing what you're doing, it's wonderful!
Hopefully your Spirit is being properly nutritionally fed with all of the variety of things that you make happen! My world is also holding it's own musically... check out my "Web Site", it's always being Up dated with New and Current stuff!!
Some really exciting events have been surfacing in my world, last year was incredible, and if God wills, this year will be just as, or even more exciting than last year! Let's you and I Pray on the success of our visions , our family, the health of our Body and Minds, Positive Creative Energy each day, and that hopefully, this year we'll finally SEE EACH OTHER once again!!!!
Keep sending me stuff,
- Toshiko
Akiyoshi
Geri
Allen
- Andrews Sisters
- Angela Andrews
- Lil Harden Armstrong
- Dorothy Ashby
- Pearl Bailey
- Beverly Barkley
- Karen Briggs
- Ruth Brown
- Diane Cameron
- Betty Carter
- Joan Cartwright
- Kim Clarke
- Gloria Coleman
- Alice Coltrane
- Dorothy Donegan
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Rita Graham
- Jace Harnage
- Billie Holiday
- Bertha Hope
- Shirley Horn
- Lena Horne
- Alberta Hunter
- Jus' Cynthia
- Sandra Kaye
- Emme Kemp
- Vinnie Knight
- Lavelle
- Peggy Lee
- Abbey Lincoln
- Melba Liston
- Gloria Lynne
- Tania Maria
- Marian McPartland
- Carmen McRae
- Mabel Mercer
- M'zuri
- Sandy Patton
- Trudy Pitts
- Cheryl Porter
- Shirley Scott
- Nina Simone
- Bessie Smith
- Carol Sudhalter
- Sarah Vaughn
- Dinah Washington
- Ethel Waters
- Mary Lou Williams
Trudy Pitts
is a native Philadelphian who began playing piano at age six. Her
mother, too, was a musician and inspired this family tradition. "My
family was deeply involved in the church community," says Trudy,
"and I started playing piano for Sunday school when I was about
nine or ten. As time went on, I was introduced to the church organ, and
I played organ in Sunday school."
Trudy later helped with the senior choir during the main services and
from there went on to her own church choirs in various other settings.
As she puts it, "It was just a musical atmosphere. You did whatever
you had to do wherever you were."
Earning a degree in music education was only natural for this talented
prodigy. She studied at Philadelphia's Musical Academy, Temple
University, and Julliard, among other institutions. During these years
she reached out to the classics and built a base from which future
compositions and arrangements would spring.
Always seeking new musical challenges, Trudy accepted an offer to sit in
the pit as an assistant to the pianist in the Tony Award-winning show "Raisin"',
when it traveled through Philadelphia.
"I did that
for the month or two that they were in town. Then, not too much later I
got a call from the manager inquiring if I could join the company for
the rest of the tour." [More.
. .]
