Month: April 2016

Jimmy Scott, “I’ll Be Around”

Jimmy Scott, “I’ll Be Around”

“This man is all about feeling. He defined what ‘soul’ is all about in singing long before anyone was using that word!”- Ray Charles

He first rose to prominence as “Little Jimmy Scott” in the Lionel Hampton Band when he sang lead on the late 1940s hit “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”, recorded in December 1949, and which became a top ten R&B hit in 1950. Credit on the label, however, went to “Lionel Hampton and vocalists”, so the singer’s name did not appear on any of the songs.

This omission of credit was not only a slight to Scott’s talent but a big blow to his career. A similar professional insult occurred several years later when his vocal on “Embraceable You” with Charlie Parker, on the album One Night in Birdland, was credited to female vocalist Chubby Newsome.

Lionel Hampton gave him the stage name of “Little Jimmy Scott” because he looked so young, and was short and of slight build. However, it was his extraordinary phrasing and romantic feeling that made him a favorite singer of fellow artists such as Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Frankie Valli, Dinah Washington and Nancy Wilson.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

Achilles Vaslielou

Achilles Vaslielou, War Memorial of the Battle of Salamis, Greece, Bronze

This war memorial monument is the work of sculptor Achilles Vasileiou, in honor of the Greeks who fought in the naval battle of Salamis in 480 BC. The monument is located on the Kynosoura peninsula, Salamis Island of Greece.

The Battle of Salamis marked the turning point in the Greco-Persian wars. After Salamis, the Peloponnesus, and by extension Greece as an entity, was safe from conquest; and the Persians suffered a major blow to their prestige and morale (as well as severe material losses). At the following battles of Plataea and Mycale, the threat of conquest was removed, and the Allies were able to go on the counter-offensive.

The Greek victory allowed Macedon to revolt against Persian rule; and over the next 30 years, Thrace, the Aegean Islands and finally Ionia would be removed from Persian control by the Allies, or by the Athenian-dominated successor, the Delian League. Salamis started a decisive swing in the balance of power toward the Greeks, which would culminate in an eventual Greek victory, severely reducing Persian power in the Aegean.

Thanks to http://hadrian6.tumblr.com

Andrea Mantegna

Andrea Mantegna, “Parnassus (Mars and Venus)”. Detail, 1496-1497, Tempera and Gold on Canvas, Musee du Louvre, Paris

Born in Isola di Carturo in the Venetian Republic, Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman Archeology, and the son-in-law of Jacopo Bellinin, one of the founders of the Renaissance style of painting. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective in his works, lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality. His flinty, metallic landscapes and somewhat stony figures give evidence of his fundamentally sculptural approach to painting. Mantegna also led a workshop that was the leading producer of Venetinan prints before 1500.

In terms of Classical taste, Mantegna distanced all contemporary competition. Though substantially related to the 15th century, his influence on the style and trends of his age was very marked over Italian art generally. Giovanni Bellini, in his early works, and Albrecht Durer, in his engravings, were influenced by Mantegna’s style.

Mantegna’s main legacy in considered the introduction of spatial illusionism, both in frescoes and in paintings of the Virgin Mary and child in informal group setttings. Mantegna’s tradition of ceiling decoration was followed for almost three centuries. Starting from the faint cupola of the Camera deli Sposi, Antonio da Correggio, a student of Mantegna, built perspective constructions based on the research of his master, eventually producing a masterwork like the dome of Cathedral of Parma, in Majorca, Spain.

Richard Lindner

Richard Lindner, “Profile”, from Lindner’s “After Noon” Portfolio, Edition 250

Richard Lindner was born in Hamburg, Germany to an American mother and German father. He enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1925. Fleeing Nazi Germany, Lindner moved to the USA, and worked as a magazine illustrator for Vogue, Fortune and Harper’s Bazaar.

In 1952 he began his career as a painter. Critiques have call Lindner’s work “mechanistic cubism.” Streetwalkers, continental circus women, and men in uniforms are Linder’s primary subject matter. Richard Lindner taught at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and Yale University.

Lindner’s work was influential to an entire generation, and he was honored by the Beatles, who included him in the second row of people depicted on the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band LP cover. He died in 1978.