Tap Duo Pops and Louis from the Hit Parade of 1943.
Enjoy the opening of Count Basie’s piano and his big band playing for the remarkably talented singer Dorothy Dandridge.
Enjoy…
Preserving and Advancing the Art of Tap Dance.
By Tap Legacy
Tap Duo Pops and Louis from the Hit Parade of 1943.
Enjoy the opening of Count Basie’s piano and his big band playing for the remarkably talented singer Dorothy Dandridge.
Enjoy…
By Tap Legacy
Sammy Davis Jr. and Count Basie with his Orchestra.
Although the video quality is scratchy, but the historical opportunity to be able to witness the two Giants playing together around 1966 And not just read about it is not to be passed…
Enjoy what entertainment was…. let us go back to it… Simply elegant execution… Flowing with Rhythm and Rhythmic Musicality from both.
By Tap Legacy
A Tap Master, National Treasure, Historian, Educator and an Honorary Board member of The Tap Legacy™ Foundation.
At 15 she danced professionally, later with Frank Hatchette trio for 3 years, a featured dancer with Redd Foxx, Phylis Diller, Dakota Staton, Dexter Gordon Jazz Concert, Count Basie and the Barry Harris Jazz Ensemble Concerts.
By Tap Legacy
Dr. Jimmy Slyde .. Enough said .. Enjoy The Master at Play…
He formed The Slyde Brothers duo with Jimmy Sir Slyde Mitchell. Toured with Duke Ellington and Count Basie in the late 40s and early 50s.
In the 1960s and after Broadway and Hollywood lost their flare for tap dance, he moved to Paris and danced in Europe for six years. A Major influence on tap dance revival of the 1980s.
Check http://www.jimmyslyde.org/
Slyde is the recipient of the Flo-Bert Award 1991, The NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award 1999, the Charles Honi Coles Award among many others.
Check the website link above to learn more.
The clip is Dr. Jimmy Slyde, George Benson, Jo Jones and Milt Buckner in L’Aventure du Jazz.
By Tap Legacy
To all dancers, dance enthusiasts and tap dancers, join us in celebrating the Birthday of Steve Condos today 10/12/1918 born Steven Kontas in Pittsburgh PA.
The youngest of three brothers Steve grew up in South Philadelphia, a well known hot bed of talent in the 1920s. His father owned a restaurant across the street from The Standard Theatre, the largest black Vaudeville house in the area, and the place where Steve first heard Louis Armstrong play. Steve would continue to credit Armstrong as a musical influence throughout his career.
Steve began dancing on the streets of Philly and later paired with his brother Nick at age 14 continuing the tradition of The Condos Brothers. Nick and Frank, the eldest of the brothers, had started the act some years earlier following Frank’s departure from his first act King and King with partner Mateo Olvera.
The Condos Brothers earned a reputation for complicated footwork – one of Steve’s specialties punctuated with flash Nick’s forte, and a dynamic overall style. A favorite of Hollywood producer Daryl Zanuck’s, The Condos Brothers – Nick and Steve may be seen in a number of feature films including Wake Up and Live – 1937 The clip is from this film, Happy Landing – 1938, In the Navy – 1941, Pin-Up Girl – 1944, The Time, the Place and the Girl – 1946, and She’s Back on Broadway – 1953, among others. The Condos Brothers also played internationally, including a one year run at the London Palladium with the Crazy Gang.
As a soloist Steve performed with the Woody Herman’s Big Band, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and childhood friend Buddy Rich. On Broadway Steve appeared in Heaven on Earth and Say Darling and created the role of Spats Palazzo in Sugar – 1972, with director and choreographer Gower Champion allowing Steve the rare liberty of improvising his entire solo feature every night.
Steve’s work during the resurgence of tap dance as a teacher, at festivals such as the Colorado Mile High Tap Summit, and proponent of the form, featured in the documentary film About Tap and in a program of jazz tap improvisation at the Smithsonian Institution with Jimmy Slyde, have had an enormous impact.
Steve’s rudimentary approach to the technique of tap dance, his complete and unwavering focus on the musical aspects of the form, and his excitement with regards to the seemingly infinite possibilities of improvisational play are all major influences on today’s rhythm tap dancers.
Not long after a featured role in the 1989 film Tap, Steve performed what would be his last concert at the Lyons International Dance Biennial, in Lyon, France. Following his performance in the third concert of the event – a concert added to meet public demand – Steve suffered a fatal heart attack.
Steve was an honorary member of the original Copasetics, Inc., and a 2002 inductee of the Tap Dance Hall of Fame. His work lives on in every dancer that thinks of a rudiment as a way to freedom.
By Tap Legacy
to all dancers, dance enthusiasts and tap dancers. Join us in celebrating the Birthday of Charles Cholly Atkins today 09/30/1913, born Charles Sylvan Atkinson in Alabama. A Tap Master and National Treasure.
Atkins, a tap dancer and vaudeville performer, would later become the house choreographer for the various artists on the Motown music label.
Atkins’ first found fame was in one of the top vaudeville class acts with partner Charles Honi Coles. Billed as Coles & Atkins, they toured nationally and internationally performing with the bands of Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and Count Basie, among others.
In 1964, following many years as a freelance choreographer for vocal groups, Atkins was hired by Berry Gordy to work with the artists on his newly formed Motown label. Atkins’ new style of vocal choreography would define an entirely new kind of choreographic style and supply the trademark moves of many quintessential Motown acts such as Gladys Knight and The Pips, The Supremes, The Temptations, and The Four Tops, among others.
Atkins continued working with Motown artists well into the 1980s, however, over the years Atkins’ own choreography may also be seen in groups outside of the Motown family, such as The Cadillacs and the O’Jays. All totaled Atkins worked with more that 75 vocal groups and 20 solo acts over the course of his choreographic career.
Atkins received a Tony Award in 1989 for choreography of the Broadway show Black and Blue, which he shared with Henry LeTang, Frankie Manning and Fayard Nicholas. In 1993, The National Endowment for the Arts awarded Atkins its most prestigious dance honor: a three-year choreographers fellowship.
Other awards and honors include induction in the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, the first recipient of the Elder Mentors Award from the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for African American History and Culture, an Honorary Doctorate in Dance from Oklahoma City University. Atkins was also a founding member of the Copasetics and a member of the Tap Legacy Foundation’s Honorary Board.
Sit back and enjoy this clip of Coles and Atkins, Cholly is on screen left when the clip starts.
Class… Rhythm and Musicality like no other, WOW!!!