March 15, 1959 Lester Willis Young, jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist, died. Young was born August 27, 1909 in Woodville, Mississippi and played in his family’s band on the vaudeville and carnival circuit. He left the family band in 1927 because he refused to play in the South where Jim Crow Laws were in effect. […]
Tag Archives | jazz
March 12th in African American History – Charles “Bird” Parker, Jr.
March 12, 1955 Charles “Bird” Parker, Jr., jazz saxophonist and composer, died. Parker was born August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas. He began playing the saxophone at age 11 and by 1938 was touring nightclubs and other venues in the southwest. In 1939, he moved to New York City where on November 26, 1945, […]
March 12th in African American History – Romare Bearden
March 12, 1988 Romare Bearden, artist and writer, died. Bearden was born September 2, 1911 in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1935, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in science and education from New York University. He went on to study at the Arts Student League from 1936 to 1937. From 1942 to 1945, Bearden […]
March 2nd in African American History – Charles Henry Christian
March 2, 1942 Charles Henry Christian, swing and jazz guitarist, died. Christian was born July 29, 1916 in Bonham, Texas but raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. By 1936, he was playing electric guitar and had become a regional attraction. In 1939, he was hired by Benny Goodman for the newly formed Goodman sextet. By 1940, […]
February 26th in African American History – Roy David Eldridge
February 26, 1989 Roy David Eldridge, jazz trumpeter, died. Eldridge was born January 30, 1911 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He originally played drums, tuba, and trumpet. Eldridge led bands from his early years, moving to St. Louis and New York, where he played in various bands in the early 1930s. From 1941 to 1943, he played […]
February 17th in African American History – Thelonious Monk
February 17, 1982 Thelonious Monk, jazz pianist and composer, died. Monk was born October 10, 1917 in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina and began playing the piano at the age of six. In the early to mid-1940s, he served as the house pianist at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem, New York which featured most of the leading […]
February 14th in African American History – Warren “Baby” Dodds
February 14, 1959 Warren “Baby” Dodds, Jazz drummer, died. Dodds was born December 24, 1898 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He gained a reputation as a top drummer at an early age, working with Louis Armstrong on Mississippi River steamboat bands. In 1921, Dodds moved to California to work with Joe “King” Oliver and then followed […]