BIRTHDAYS
1962     Jann Arden, vocals, b: Calgary, Canada. Often called "the quirky diva of down: or sometimes the "queen of mopey rock". She has real reason to be sad. Her family battled drug abuse, run-ins with the law, and her brother, Duray Richard was convicted of murder in 1994. Drugs and Alcohol ruined the lives of the entire family. Jann continues on trying to rebuild a life.
1934     Alan Arkin, actor/vocals. né: Alan Wolf Arkin. Originally a member 'The Tarriers' vocal group, before becoming an 'Oscar' winning actor.
1925     Harold Kenneth Ashby, Tenor Sax, b. Kansas City, MO, USA. d. June 13 2003. First inspired by Benny Goodman, with whom he later performed, he began playing clarinet in his early teens. He played clarinet in his high school band, but changed to saxophone while at Lincoln Junior College. Two of his brothers played in local Kansas City bands. Served in the US Navy during WWII, then returned to Kansas City where he played with Tommy Douglas and John Jackson, and, in 1949, made his recording debut with vocalist Walter Brown. In 1951, relocated to Chicago. Worked with bassist Willie Dixon in Chuck Berry's first road band, and recorded often for the Chess label, including sides with bluesmen Lowell Fulson, Little Walter and Otis Rush. "I used to play cards, and gamble and drink, until I got tired of it," he told writer Stanley Dance. In 1957, he relocated to New York city, where Ben Webster helped him. He recorded with Webster, Johnny Hodges and Lawrence Brown, and also found regular work in Harlem with Texas bandleader Milt Larkins. In Harlem, he met Mercer Ellington, the Duke's son, who brought him into the Ellington orchestra, covering for absent or ailing regulars. It has been reported that one day, when Ashby was peering intently at the music, his fellow saxophonist Russell Procope said, "This band isn't like any other band; you just blow." In 1963, Ashby also played with the second Ellington orchestra at the My People stage show, scored by the Duke, and choreographed by Alvin Ailey. In July 1968, he became a fulltime member of the Ellington orchestra whose first engagement was the Newport Jazz Festival. There followed numerous overseas tours, including to the Soviet Union, where, Duke Ellington said, he was "definitely the soloist" and in constant demand for encores. In 1973, besides playing on such Ellington albums as 'Afro-Eurasian Eclipse' and 'The New Orleans Suite', he was also a significant part in the Sacred concert at Westminster Abbey (England). After Duke's death in 1974, he stayed on briefly when Mercer took over, and then freelanced. He worked with George Wein's Newport All-Stars, and began recording regularly under his own name, invariably playing Ellington themes. Ashby also continued to play nightclub and festival engagements until taken ill in 2002, in Kansas City, while on tour with 'The Duke's Men'. Although he was always happy to perform with contemporary, or modernist players, his preferred style was based on Ben Webster's example, his predecessor as tenor soloist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. On the bandstand, his fellow musicians knew he would keep them on a creative straight and narrow path. cornetist Warren Vache once observed "He was a real pistol".
1950     Tony Banks, keyboards, b. East Hoathly, England. Member group: 'Genesis'
1927     Bill Barron, Tenor-soprano sax/clarinet, b. Philadelphia, PA, USA, d. Sept. 21, 1989.
1937     Jules Broussard, tenor/soprano saxes. b. Alexandria, Louisiana, USA. He was already playing publicly when he was only twelve years old. He learned to play by listening to Louis Jordan, Illinois Jacquet, and Earl Bostic in the 1940's. Served in US Air Force, and then settled permanently in San Francisco, CA. In the '70s and early 80s, He had a band that was one of the hottest in the Bay Area. During his career, he has played with such stars as Van Morrison, Ray Charles, Carlos Santana, Earl Grant, Boz Scaggs, Elvin Bishop, Art Garfunkel and Doctor Hook. In recent years (ca. 2002), in addition to appearing at various Jazz Fests, and concerts, he has also worked as a member of 'Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers'.
1912     Bill Callahan, Singer/Yodeler/Guitar/Bass Fiddle/Mandolin, b. Madison County, NC, USA. né: Homer C. Callahan Member: 'The Callahan Brothers', a duo of Bill and his brother Joe Callahan, Singer/Yodeler/Guitar/String Bass/Comedy, b. January 27, 1910, Madison County, NC, USA. d. September 10, 1971. né: Walter Tommie Callahan.
1970     Mariah Carey, Pop vocals, b. New York, NY, USA.
1905     Leroy Carr, Pianist/vocals, b. Nashville, TN, USA. d. April 29, 1935, Indianapolis, IN, USA. (alcoholism). One of the top blues stars of his day.
1931     Burt I. Collins, Trumpet, b. New York, NY, USA. d. Feb. 23, 2007
1937     Johnny Copeland, blues vocals, b. Haynesville, LA, USA, d. July 1997 (Heart related).
1964     Clark Datchler, vocals, b. London, England. Member group: 'Johnny Hates Jazz'
1926     Frankie Ervin, vocals, b. Blythe, CA, USA
1948     Leon Everette, (C&W) vocals, b. Aiken, SC, USA (raised New York (Queens), NY, USA, (Some sources say b. June 21, 1948, Aiken, SC)
1959     Andrew Farriss, keyboard/guitar, b. Cottesloe, Australia. Member group: 'INXS'
1969     Keith Flint, vocals, Member group: Prodigy, 1996 single "Firestarter" charted UK No.1. (He wrote the lyrics of "Firestarter" about himself.) Currently (2004) not active musically....does some Motorcycle racing.
1916     Albert T. Frisch, sax/songwriter, b. New York, NY, USA.
1892     Ferde Grofe Sr., Arranger/Composer/Piano, b. New York, NY, USA. d. April 3, 1972, Santa Monica, CA, USA.
1920     Richard Hayman, composer, b. Cambridge, MA, USA.
1970     Brendan Hill, drums, b. London, England, UK. Member group: 'Blues Traveler'
1868     Patty Smith Hill, Educator/Songwriter, b. Anchorage KY, USA. Most folks do not know who Patty Hill was, but most everyone knows the song she wrote for her Kindergarten classes, - "Happy Birthday To You".
1905     Hal Kemp, Leader/Clarinet/alto sax, b. Marion, AL, USA, d. Dec. 21, 1940, Madera, CA, USA. (Auto Accident) né: James Harold Kemp.
1968     Stacey Kent, (Jazz) vocals, b. New York, NY, USA. Wife of saxophonist Jim Tomlinson Life can take some interesting twists. Stacy was just another American student visiting Europe to study French, Italian and German for a Masters degree in comparative literature. While attending Oxford University, she chanced to meet saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, -- who was also embarked on an academic path. However, that chance meeting sparked a mutual desire to pursue their love of music together. Stacey then spent a year studying music at London's famed 'Guildhall School of Music', after which she set about honing her skills on the London jazz scene in the company of, now husband, Jim Tomlinson. These days, Stacey can boast of six best-selling albums, a string of awards, including the 2001 British Jazz Award and 2002 BBC Jazz Award for 'Best Vocalist,' and the 2004 Backstage Bistro Award, a fan base that enables her to sell out concert halls around the world, as well as a voice on BBC Radio 3, as presenter of Jazz Line Up.
1937     Miriam Klein, vocals, b. Basle, Switzerland. Singer Miriam Klein and her trumpet player husband, Oscar Klein, are well known European Jazz artists. Their son, drummer David Klein, at age 16, was already playing in his mother's quintet. David subsequently went on to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Among the artists with whom he has performed are Kenny Clarke, Roland Hanna, Billy Cobham, Weather Report's Victor Bailey and renowned singer Dee Dee Bridgewater.
1963     Dave Koz, Sax, b. San Fernando Valley, CA, USA.
1914     "Snooky" Lanson, Vocals, Memphis, TN. Best remembered today for his work on the famed "Your Hit Parade" and the '5 Star Jubilee'
1915     Robert 'Junior' Lockwood Jr., (Blues) 12-string electric guitar/vocals, b. Turkey Scratch (near Helena), AR, USA, d. Nov. 21, 2006, Cleveland, OH, USA. Lockwood learned his Blues first-hand from Robert Johnson (b. May 8, 1911, Hazlehurst, MS, USA, d. August 16, 1938, Greenwood, MS, USA (pneumonia, due to poison in his whiskey). Lockwood was one of the last living links to the Robert Johnson Blues legacy. Growing up in rural Arkansas, Lockwood, the grandson of a preacher, also enjoyed playing the blues on the organ. He first learned guitar from two of his cousins. When he was only age 11, Johnson showed up at his home, and remained with Lockwood's mother, on and off, for 10 years. Lockwood learned guitar fundamentals from Johnson, who functioned as a stepfather (though the two men were only a four years apart in age). By age 15, Lockwood was already a professional musician. In the early 1940s, he could be heard playing over a Helena, AR radio station, -where one listener, B.B. King, became Lockwood's pupil. He was later heard on the "King Biscuit Time," a 15-minute noon hour radio program broadcast from Helena, and later switched to an all-jazz format for a competing show sponsored by "Mother's Best Flour", a show that had national reach. In 1938, when Johnson died, Lockwood relocated to Chicago, IL, where he made his first recordings, backing singer "Doctor" Clayton. In 1950,during the post world war II era, he became a session guitarist for Chess Records, the premier blues label. In 1960, his old friend, harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson II (also called "Rice" Miller), lured him to Cleveland, OH. In Cleveland, his "day jobs" including working as a chauffeur and nightclub manager. During this time he recorded a guitar-piano duet with Otis Spann, who had been Muddy Waters's pianist. Their 1960 release, "Otis Spann Is the Blues", featured the tune "Little Boy Blue.", which later became Lockwood's unofficial theme song. In 1998, his guitar duet with B.B. King, "I've Got to Find Me a Woman," received a Grammy Award nomination for traditional blues album. In 2000, "Delta Crossroads" released on the Telarc label, received a second nomination. In the last decades of his life, he almost exclusively played the 12-string guitar, and was known to many as the least-known elder statesman in Blues music. He both sang and composed songs, and was a well-disciplined, unflashy musician. Lockwood was 91 years of age when he died.
1957     "Billy" (William) MacArthur Mackenzie, vocals, d. Jan. 22, 1997.
1931     John Marascalco, songwriter, b. USA. Best recalled composition: "Good Golly, Miss Molly"
1940     Janis Martin, C&W vocals, b. Sutherlin, VA, USA. Tag: the "Female Elvis"
1903     "Chummy" MacGregor, piano, b. Saginaw, MI, USA, d. 1973. né: John Chalmers MacGregor.
1908     "Skip" Morr, trumpet, trombone, piano, b. Chicago, IL, USA. né: Charles Coolidge. Charles "Skip Morr". Even as a youngster, Morr growing up in a musical family, exhibited a vocal talent as well as abilities as both a percussionist and brass player. Coolidge originally studied drums while in high school, but soon switched to the trombone. In the early 1930s. Morr, then recently graduated from Northwestern University, worked with the Henry Busse orchestra (who featured Morr's singing on a 78RPM recording of "Rainbow 'Round the Moon"), and also worked with the Ted Weems and Bill Hogan bands. Subsequently, after relocating to the West Coast, Morr worked with Artie Shaw, Charlie Barnet, Ray Conniff, and others. In the 1950s, he became more and more associated with the "Dixieland" style. One of his best performances as a Dixieland trombonist was a 1953 live recording from San Francisco, in which soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet fronted the band.
CAUTION: There are two musicians with similar names, and who both used aliases.
** 1.) Skip Morr (b. 1908, Chicago, IL, USA), an alias for jazz trombonist Charles Coolidge.
** 2.) Skip Moore (b. Tacoma, WA, USA), also an alias -for drummer Howie Johnson. Originally the drummer with the 'Surf' music group 'The Ventures', - he departed when they became stars (because he didn't want to go on the road with them).
1957     Billy McKenzie, vocals, b. Scotland, UK. Member group: 'The Associates' (1997)
1909     Moon Mullican, piano, b. Corrigan, TX, USA.
1920     Carl-Henrik Norin, Tenor Sax, b. Vasteras, Sweden, d. 1967.
1932     Junior Parker, Blues vocals/harmonica/ band leader/songwriter, b. West Memphis, AR, USA. d. Nov. 18, 1971. Parker was best known for his vocals. His rendition of "Mystery Train" (his own composition) made it to number 5 on the R&B charts and was later covered by Elvis Presley.
1936     David Rogers, C&W Singer-Songwriter/Guitar, b. Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
1906     "Pee Wee" Russell, Clarinet, b. St.Louis, MO, USA, d. Feb. 15, 1969, Alexandria, VA, USA. One of the great Chicago Style Dixieland Clarinetists.
1913     Eddie Shuler, label owner (Goldband)/producer, b. Wrightsboro, TX, USA.
1941     Bunny Sigler, (R&B) vocals, b. Philadelphia, PA, USA. né: Walter Sigler.
1954     Walter Stocker, guitar/vocals. Member groups: 'The Babys', and 'Air Supply'
1924     Sarah Vaughn, Vocal, b. Newark, NJ, d. April 3, 1990, Hidden Hills, CA, USA. Age 66. (Lung Cancer) Had only one daughter, Paris Vaughn. née: Lois Vaughn, the daughter of Asbury (a carpenter) and Ada (a laundress).
Tags: "Sassy" and "The Divine One". "Sassy" had a truly lovely contralto voice with a great range and vibrato. One can only speculate on what her career might have been had she also studied voice for an Operatic career. At just age seven, she began the study of Piano and later the Organ also. While still a child she sang in the choir at the MT Zion. Baptist church in her home town of Newark, New Jersey, and also played the piano and organ in her high school's shows. She won a $10.00 prize and a week's engagement for singing "Body and Soul", - in an amateur contest at New York's famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. From 1944 to 1945, she sang with Billy Eckstein and orchestra. In 1947, she married her manager (and trumpeter) George Treadwell. The marriage ended in divorce.Later husbands included pro football player Clyde Atkins, trumpeter Waymon Reed, and Marshall Fisher - all ending in divorce. Her "Emmy" in 1981 for a tribute to George Gershwin and a 1983 "grammy" are just two of her many awards.
1909     Ben Webster, Tenor Sax, b. Kansas City, MO, USA. d. Sept. 20, 1973, Amsterdam, Netherlands. né: Benjamin Francis Webster. During the Big Bands Swing era, the "big three" tenorsax men were Ben, Coleman Hawkins (Ben's main influence) and Lester Young. Webster first studied violin and piano, and even began his career playing the piano. Ca. 1930, he began playing the tenor sax, and within a year was playing with Benny Moten's band, and later with the Andy Kirk and Fletcher Henderson bands. The mid-1930s found him playing with bands mostly in and around New York city, including a brief stint with Duke Ellington. From 1940 to 1942, he was a permanent member of the Ellington band, becoming one of the most popular and imitated soloists. In the late 1940s, he briefly rejoined Ellington, after which he played with 'Jazz At The Philharmonic'. Starting in the 1950s, and throughout the rest of his life, he worked mostly as a single, touring extensively, especially to Europe ,and to Scandinavia where he was very popular. He was briefly resident in Holland before moving to Denmark, living there for the rest of his life. In Europe, he recorded prolifically often with just a local rhythm section, and occasionally with other American Jazz musicians, including Bill Coleman and Don Byas. Although he was with Ellington's band for only three years, his influence upon it was enormous. Webster's distinctive playing style was characterized by a "breathy" sound and emotional vibrato. The extrovert side of his nature was best displayed by his fast Blues solos, yet he may have been at his best with slow, languorous ballads, which he played with deeply introspective feeling and astonishing sensuality. This musical dichotomy was reflected in his personality. Many of the mwn who worked with him have described Webster's personality as alternating between a Dr. Jekylle and a Mr Hyde. As the years passed, he favored ballads over the "flag-wavers" of his younger days. From his early work with Ellington, through the 1940s small group sides, a quite interesting set of ballad duets with Coleman Hawkins, to his late work in Europe, Webster has left a wonderful Jazz legacy. He was a true giant of Jazz.
1939     Bo Winberg, guitar, b. Sweden. Member group: Spotnicks.
1936     Jan Wroblewski, Tenor-baritone Sax, b. Kalisz, Poland
1963     "Xuxa", vocals, b. Brazil. She is one of the leading celebrities in South America.
Notable Events occuring this date include:
1942.    George G. DeSylva, John Mercer, and Glenn E. Wallichs appear before Los Angeles county and California state Notary Public Leta Niccum to acknowledge that they have executed articles of incorporation for Liberty Records, Inc. which will be filed with the state of California on April 9, 1942. The three will apply for a Certificate of Amendment on May 27, 1942, before Ms. Niccum again, to change the name of the corporation to Capitol Records, Inc. which will be filed with the state of California on June 1, 1942. (thanks to Mr. Mark Heimback-Nielsen for this information)
1945.    Ella Fitzgerald and the Delta Rhythm Boys recorded "Its Only a Paper Moon" (Decca).
1958.    CBS Laboratories introduced 'Stereophonic Recordings' - playable on either ordinary LP phonographs (monaural), or on 'special' stereo equipment.
1972.    Joe "Sharkey" Bonano, trumpet, died in New Orleans, LA, USA. Age: 72
1975.    Billy Gray, Western Swing singer-songwriter/guitarist, died during heart surgery. (b. Dec. 29, 1924, Paris, Texas, USA)
1976.    Leon Carr, piano/songwriter, died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 65
1978.    Dwayne "Fatman" Wilson, R&B vocals, died in Providence, RI, USA. Age: 39
1993.    Clifford Jordan, tenor sax, died in New York (Manhattan), NY, USA. Age: 61
Songs Recorded/Released this date include:
     1913 "The Spaniard That Blighted My Life" Al Jolson
     1942 "I Don't Want To Walk Without You", Bing Crosby
     1942 "Jersey Bounce", Benny Goodman Orch
     1942 "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place", Russ Morgan Orch
     1961 "One Mint Julep", Ray Charles
     1961 "Runaway", Del Shannon
     1961 "Take Good Care Of Her", Adam Wade
     1965 "I'm Telling You Now", Freddie & The Dreamers
     1965 "Tired Of Waiting For You", Kinks
     1965 "Go Now!", Moody Blues
     1965 "Game Of Love", Mindbenders
     1971 "Stay Awhile", Bells
     1971 "Put Your Hand In The Hand", Ocean
     1971 "Joy To The World", Three Dog Night
     1982 "I've Never Been To Me", Charlene
     1993 "Looking Through Patient Eyes", P.M. Dawn