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Millions of people have this story. This is Mine. Some said he’d gone “Vegas.” The story was he’d seen Neil Diamond perform there and had the idea of a real “presentation.” He was fronting the largest band he has ever had: Sax, keyboards, percussion, drums, two guitarists, one of whom also played violin, and three…
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Born 110 years ago today in Birmingham, Alabama, Herman Poole Blount. He was named for his mother’s favorite entertainer Benjamin Rucker, a vaudevillian magician known as Black Herman. To his family though, he was simply Sonny. He was already an accomplished pianist by his 12th birthday, composing and transcribing big band arrangements, often by memory,…
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Born 96 years ago today in Berkeley, California, Alfred Manuel BILLY Martin. On the occasion of his 29th birthday, Wednesday, May 16, 1957, Billy and some of his Yankees teammates, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Hank Bauer, and Johnny Kucks, along with their respective wives, had themselves a night on the town. They started…
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71 years ago today, The Quintet performs their one and only concert, often referred to as “The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever.” On May 15, 1953, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell and Max Roach came together to perform at Toronto’s Massey Hall, presented by the Toronto New Jazz Society (TNJS). The original plan…
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The great Steve Winwood turned 76 a couple of days back on Sunday the 12th. That means he is in his 68th performing year. His first gig was at age 8, playing with his Father and brother Muff Winwood in the Ron Atkinson band. The piano would be turned with it’s back to the crowd…
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I had a circuitous conversation today with a co-worker. It began with a work issue, segued into how things used to be at our gig, and finally landed at how things are now. In between each category, there were detours. Remembrances of people no longer working there, several of whom one of us had no…
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Born 113 years ago today in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, the legendary Robert Johnson. His story is extremely well documented, and his influence can be plainly understood simply by listening to his 41 total recordings from 1936 and 1937. Keith Richards famously recounted hearing Johnson for the first time, courtesy of Brian Jones. They’d gone to Brian’s…
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Born on the 5th day of May in 1898, William Samuel McTier. At any given time in his performing career, he was known as Georgia Bill, Hot Shot Willie, Barrelhouse Sammy, Pig & Whistle Red, Blind Doogie, and Red Hot Willie Glaze, among others. But his legacy is with the name Blind Willie McTell. He…
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I love Baseball records. Some wild things have happened on this date in Baseball:*In 1909, Honus Wagner steals his way around the bases in a game against the Cubs. It was the 4th time he’d done it. *Eight years later, Hippo Vaughn and Fred Toney, pitching for the Cubs and Reds respectively, both have no-hitters…
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The indefatigable Willie Hugh Nelson turns 91 today. It would be a project unto itself to not only document his achievements, but to even attempt to outline every official album release under his own name or with others. In fact, he has a new album on the way toward the end of May, The Border,…
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