by David H. Jackson Jr. | Oct 21, 2023 | African American History, People
Orchestral pianist, violinist, conductor, composer, and arranger of the Swing to Bebop eras, Teddy Wilson was born Theodore Shaw Wilson on November 24, 1912, in Austin, Texas. He and his brother Gus Wilson, however, were reared on the campus of Tuskegee Institute (now...
by StanleyFreeman | Dec 13, 2021 | African American History, People
Grover Washington was a popular American jazz saxophonist, with a style reflecting soul-jazz and jazz funk, as well as a songwriter, throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Born in Buffalo, New York, on December 12, 1943, to Grover Washington Sr., a tenor saxophonist, and...
by David H. Jackson Jr. | Dec 6, 2021 | African American History, People
Composer/ Improvisational Jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders was born on October 13, 1940, in Little Rock, Arkansas, as Farrell Sanders. An only child, Sanders’ mother worked as a cook in a school cafeteria, and his father worked for the City of Little Rock. They, too,...
by David H. Jackson Jr. | Aug 14, 2021 | African American History, Groups & Organizations
The musical moment in jazz fusion in the United States was 1954 when pianist Joseph Leslie Sample, born on February 1, 1939, began with tenor saxophonist Wilton Lewis Felder, born on August 31, 1940, and percussionist Nesbert “Stix” Hooper, born August 15,...
by David H. Jackson Jr. | Aug 14, 2021 | Global African History, People
Virtuoso technician Classical, jazz, composer Nestor Miguel Torres was born on April 25, 1957, in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, to Nestor Torres Sr., pianist and vibraphone, and Ana E. Salcedo Baldovino-Torres. His first percussion and piano teacher was his father. However,...
Recent Comments