Gloria DeNard

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Gloria DeNard (actually Gloria C. Denard , born October 11, 1926 in Brooklyn , New York City , † May 30, 2020 in East Harlem , New York City) was an American jazz musician ( vocals , also piano , composition ) and music teacher who stood out as the founder of the Manna House Workshops neighborhood initiative in New York's Harlem neighborhood .

Live and act

Gloria DeNard grew up in the Bedford – Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. She received her first music lessons from her mother when she was three years old. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School , where she studied singing and piano. Although she initially focused on European classical music, her affinity for jazz developed when she understood that jazz is the classical music of America. During her career she was a singer of commercial jingles ; she also composed and sang for radio and television. She also performed in well-known clubs in New York City, including a. on Broadway , at Judy's (44th Street, with the James Weidman Trio) and at PeeWee's (12th Street). In later years she performed as a soloist in churches and music theaters in New York and New Jersey. She released three albums under her own name, All Mine for You with her own compositions, as well as Soul Cool and Elegantly Ellington .

The Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church

DeNard founded the Manna House Workshops series of events in 1967 , which began as a monthly coffee house in the basement of Ascension Church in East Harlem. The workshops for economically disadvantaged groups were soon moved to a shop; In 1970 DeNard bought a building (338 E 106th Street) in Manhattan with funds from Riverside Church and Chemical Bank and Manna House Workshops had a permanent location for music education and concert presentations in East Harlem. It was also here that students were prepared for entry into LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, the Juilliard Music Advancement Program, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center middle school program .

In 1980 DeNard Music for Entertainment Education and Enlightenment (MEEE) initiated a concert series with professional musicians and composers from minorities. She was instrumental in the construction of the Manna Mini Theater and produced the monthly cable television show The Best Kept Secret on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network Channel with emerging and experienced artists.

DeNard had two children, Dale Sims and the drummer Kenwood Dennard (* 1956), with whom she also appeared and wrote teaching compositions such as "Help Me".

DeNard's work is documented in the film Manna - Jazz and Survival in East Harlem by Peter Urpeth, which premiered in 2019 at the African World Film Festival at the Charles H. Wright Museum, Detroit.

Discographic notes

  • Come Feel the Things You Cannot Touch (ca.1989), with Phil Greene, Richard Cummings, Geri Allen , Bertha Hope , Rodney Jones , Andrei Carriere, Anthony Jackson , Jeff Anderson, Dan Krimm, Kenwood Dennard, Randy Jarrett, Warren Benbow, Gary Cummings, Dale Sims

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Library of Congress. Copyright Office: Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series . 1974
  2. ↑ Steven Kurutz: Gloria Denard, Who Educated Through Jazz, Is Dead at 93. In: The New York Times . August 9, 2020, accessed on August 9, 2020 .
  3. ^ New York Magazine Sept. 13, 1993
  4. ^ New York Magazine Apr. 17, 1972
  5. ^ A b c Woman in Jazz: Gloria DeNard. wijsf.com, May 1, 2020, accessed June 15, 2020 (English).
  6. ↑ Bross Townsend (piano), Alex Blake (bass) and Kenwood Dennard played in their accompanying trio. See New York Magazine June 29, 1981
  7. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed June 15, 2020)
personal data
SURNAME DeNard, Gloria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Denard, Glora
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (vocals) and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 2020
Place of death East Harlem , New York City