Historical Dictionary of Jazz. John S. Davis

that would span several decades, including work in the Liebman-created group Quest. Beirach continues to work as a sideman and lead his own small groups. Beirach moved to Leipzig in 2000 and holds a professorship of jazz piano at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy conservatory.

      BELGRAVE, MARCUS (1936–2015)

      A trumpet player, Belgrave was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1962 he relocated to Detroit, where he established himself as a studio musician for Motown Records. In addition to remaining active in Detroit and on the international jazz scenes, he was a cofounder of Tribe Records. In 1988, he became an original member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at the request of Wynton Marsalis. He served as an instructor or visiting artist at a number of academic institutions, including Stanford University and Michigan State University.

      BELLSON, LOUIE (1924–2009)

      Bellson’s career began with a series of youth appearances both as a drummer and a tap dancer before being hired at the age of 18 to play drum set with Benny Goodman. Between the years of 1946 and 1967, Bellson spent time with many of the top-working big bands, including tours with Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, and briefly with Count Basie. Bellson began leading his own groups in the late 1960s and became more interested in education throughout the 1970s. Bellson mostly fronted his own ensembles for the remainder of his career, including several big bands, most notably an all-star band that featured many members of the Count Basie bands, including Al Grey and Harry “Sweets” Edison.

      BEND

      A term that describes when an instrumentalist uses the embouchure to alter a pitch either sharp or flat and then return it to its original pitch.

      BENNETT, TONY (1926–)

      Bob Hope discovered the showman Joe Bari and suggested he change his name to the more marketable Tony Bennett. Bennett rose to prominence during the 1950s and had several popular records. Popular with jazz musicians, Bennett would perform with several famous bands during the 1960s, including Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and was later featured with the Bill Evans Trio in the 1970s. In the 1980s, Bennett recorded with George Benson, Dexter Gordon, and Dizzy Gillespie, and he would use pianist Bill Charlap in his later groups. He experienced a resurgence in his career during the 2000s and recorded an album, Duets: An American Classic (2006, RPM), which went on to become one of the best-selling albums of the year and of Bennett’s career. Also during 2006, Bennett was named an NEA Jazz Master and won the Billboard Magazine Century Award, the magazine’s highest honor for creative achievement. The recording led to a television special, Tony Bennett: An American Classic, which won seven Emmy Awards in 2007. Since then, he has recorded and performed with Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, and others. His 2015 release, The Silver Linings: The Songs of Jerome Kern (RPM/Columbia), won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Bennett has received 19 Grammy Awards and a total of 36 nominations and was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. In addition to music, Bennett is a dedicated painter and has been commissioned by the United Nations for two paintings, including one in recognition of their 50th anniversary.

      BENSON, GEORGE (1943–)

      Despite his excellent guitar playing, Benson’s career was always split between singing and playing, beginning at the age of eight. Benson worked with many popular fusion and soul jazz artists of the 1960s, including Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard, before branching out in his own career. Benson’s guitar playing was consistently overshadowed by the commercial nature of his work, including pop vocal hits during the 1970s. Benson continued to record popular and contemporary albums in the 1980s and 1990s but never fully returned to playing jazz full time. In 2009, Benson was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a Jazz Master.

      BERIMBAU

      A Brazilian stringed instrument frequently used in capoeira. It is not common in jazz.

      BERKLEE COLLEGE (SCHOOL) OF MUSIC

      A college located in Boston, Massachusetts, that has been active in jazz, pop, and rock education since the 1950s. Founded by Lawrence Berk in 1945 as the Schillinger House of Music, the school officially changed its name first in 1954 to the Berklee School of Music, although no degrees were offered until 1962. Berk’s son, Lee, was responsible for oversight of the institution from 1979 to 2004 and changed the name one final time to the Berklee College of Music. The college offers degrees in many areas, including music production, music business, and jazz performance. Throughout the last few decades, Berklee has created numerous educational programs outside of Boston, including a variety of summer camps across the globe. The Berklee College of Music has a long pedigree of alumni including Gary Burton, John Scofield, Branford Marsalis, and Sadao Watanabe and consistently features a faculty of high-caliber teachers and performers. Berklee alumni have garnered more than 200 Grammy Awards.

      BERLINER JAZZTAGE

      Original name for the Jazzfest Berlin founded in 1964. The Jazzfest was referred to as the Berliner Jazztage until 1982.

      BERRY, LEON BROWN “CHU” (1908–1941)

      Berry, a tenor saxophonist, became interested in music at an early age, first playing alto saxophone with local bands. He graduated from Lincoln High School in Wheeling, West Virginia, and attended West Virginia State College for three years. He was inspired to take up the tenor sax after hearing Coleman Hawkins on tour. In 1929, he received his first nationally important professional engagement when he joined the Sammy Stewart band in Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. He relocated to New York City and began playing with the bands of Benny Carter, Teddy Hill, and Fletcher Henderson. He joined Cab Calloway’s band in 1937. Though strongly influenced by Hawkins, Berry soon developed his own style. He excelled at performing fast tempos, was a master of advanced harmonies, and played with a strong tone with heavy drive. He was especially adept at inserting a lot of individuality into a short space. This was a quality that endeared him to big band leaders because so many of the arrangements left time for only shorter-length solos. Throughout his career, he was in demand as a sideman, working with Bessie Smith, Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, and Lionel Hampton, among others. He died at the age of 33 while still a member of Calloway’s band when he was injured as the result of a car accident while a passenger with other band members on the way to Canada for a job.

      BETHLEHEM

      A record company founded in 1953 that released many significant jazz albums. Bethlehem was a diverse label with offices in Hollywood and New York, catering to many different jazz audiences by distributing albums of artists including Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Zoot Sims, and Herbie Nichols. The discs distributed by Bethlehem remained popular throughout the decades and were often rereleased. See also RECORD LABEL.

      BEY, ANDY (1939–)

      Bey was born in Newark, New Jersey, and he began his vocal career playing in clubs in his hometown when he was young. In the 1960s, Bey performed with numerous jazz musicians, including Howard McGhee, Max Roach, and Horace Silver, before spending part of the 1970s working with the Thad Jones–Mel Lewis Orchestra. After his tenure with the Jones-Lewis Orchestra, Bey semiretired from performing to focus instead on teaching. Bey’s performing career began to pick up again at the end of the late 1980s, and he was actively singing again in the 1990s. Bey recorded several times during the 1990s, in addition to frequently being featured in concerts in a variety of contexts. Producer Herb Jordan supported Bey in the resurgence of his recording career, and their 1996 recording, Ballads, Blues & Bey (Evidence), returned