Five Points Jazz Festival is back in person for the first time since 2019

Prosper, Pierre-Richard (1963– )

Pierre-Richard Prosper is an attorney and diplomat who turned his passion for the rule of law into a global pursuit for justice for victims of the worst crimes of humanity, and accountability for the perpetrators of those

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Source: Black Past

Sep

11

2001

Singer Roberta Flack born

b. 10 February 1937, Asheville, North Carolina, USA. Born into a musical family, Flack graduated from Howard University with a BA in music. She was discovered singing and playing jazz in a Washington nightclub by pianist Les McCann, who recommended her talents to Atlantic Records. Two classy

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Feb

10

1940

Rice, Condoleezza (1954- )

Condoleezza Rice has earned distinction as a scholar, expert on international politics, and with her appointments as the first African American woman National Security Advisor and Secretary of State of the United

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Source: Black Past

Nov

14

1954

Earl Whaley Band

Earl Whaley was an alto-saxophone player and bandleader from the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved to Seattle and led one of the first swing bands on the West Coast, The Red Hot Syncopators, who started performing successfully around Seattle at the Broadway and Finnish Halls in 1932. The band never

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Source: Black Past

Fats Waller

Name at birth: Thomas Wright Waller

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Akon

Akon is an American Hip Hop artist who has produced several platinum albums, appeared in television and film roles, received several Grammy nominations and owns two record labels. He was born Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam in St. Louis, Missouri on April

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Source: Black History Resources

Apr

16

1973

Moore, Kermit (1929-2013)

Over a long distinguished career Kermit Moore has been a cellist of outstanding acclaim, an orchestra conductor, composer, teacher, and mentor. Through these activities in classical music he has been successful in breaking down racial and social

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Source: Black Past

Fitzgerald, Ella (1917-1996)

Ella Fitzgerald was a female jazz singer considered without equal at the height of the jazz era. Her voice had an amazing and vibrant range that allowed her to sing nearly every jazz style. Ella was also an accomplished composer and bandleader who performed into the

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Source: Black Past

Apr

25

1917

Death of Charlie Parker

Death of Charlie Parker (34), one of the founders of the modern jazz movement, in New York City.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Mar

12

1955

Thelonious Monk

Name at birth: Thellous Junior Monk

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Mercer, Mabel Alice Wadham (1900-1984)

Mabel Mercer was one of the most important jazz cabaret singers of the 20th Century. Her personal singing style emphasizing interpretation, diction, lyrics, and projection over vocal proficiency influenced numerous leading singers including Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Nat

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Source: Black Past

Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte is an eminent African-American figure in the American entertainment industry. He is a notable singer, lyricist, actor and social activist. Belafonte came to international stardom as “King of Calypso” for his popular Caribbean musical style. He is famous for his

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Source: Black History Resources

Mar

1

1927

Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack is known as a singer of soulful jazz and pop ballads. Her particular heyday was the 1970s, when she recorded a string of hits including Feel Like Makin Love and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. (The latter was included on the jazz-tinged soundtrack for Clint Eastwoods 1971 film

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Nat King Cole

Born: 3/17/1919 Montgomery, AlabamaDied: 2/15/1965 Santa Monica, CaliforniaNathaniel Adams Coles, known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist.Awards / Achievements:

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Lane, William Henry/Master Juba (1825-c. 1852)

William Henry Lane is credited as one of the most influential figures in the creation of American tap dance. Lane developed a unique style of using his body as a musical instrument, blending African-derived syncopated rhythms with movements of the Irish jig and reel. Lane’s melding of these

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Source: Black Past

Hunter, Alberta (1895-1984)

Alberta Hunter was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but left for Chicago, Illinois at age 11 after her father died. She peeled potatoes in a boarding house until she could find a job singing blues, the first opportunity was at a Chicago brothel, as entertainment for the prostitutes and their

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Source: Black Past

Morton, Jelly Roll

Morton, Jelly Roll, 1890–1941, American jazz musician, composer, and band leader, originally named Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe, b. Gulfport, La. He began studying piano as a child and in his youth was a pianist in the colorful Storyville district of New Orleans. Later he played with Johnny

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

First Woman Millionaire

Madame C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove on this day, starts a Black hair-care business in Denver, CO; she alters curling irons that were popularized by the French to suit the texture of Black womens hair. She is arguably ther first woman millionaire in the U.S.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

23

1867

Louis Armstrong influenced direction of jazz

Louis Armstrong recorded the first of Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings that influenced the direction of jazz.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Nov

11

1925

Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson (born. Dec 4, 1955) is a best known as an American songwriter, singer, jazz musician and music producer who hails from Jackson, Mississippi. Wilson, whose ancestry includes Welsh, Eastern European and West African blood is the third youngest child of jazz musician Herman Fowlkes

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Source: Black History Resources

Dec

4

1955

Basie, Count (William Allen “Count” Basie) (1904-1984)

A jazz pianist and bandleader, Count Basie was one of the leading musicians of the Big Band “Swing” era. His Count Basie Orchestra was formed in 1936, and featured singers such as Billie Holliday, and notable musicians including Lester Young, Jo Jones, and Walter Page. The band lasted

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Source: Black Past

First recorded use of oboe in jazz

Don Redman, musical prodigy, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, vocalist and bandleader, was the first musician to use the oboe as a jazz instrument in a solo he performed in a recording of After the Storm, with Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra. The piece was recorded by Pathe Actuelle

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

28

1924

The famous jazz singer Billy Ecktine was born

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

8

1914

Birthday

Carmen McRae Born April 8, 1920. After winning an amateur contest at Harlems legendary Apollo Theatre in her hometown New York City, McRae went on to become a noted jazz singer with Earl Hines, Mercer Duke Ellington and Benny Carter bands among others and recording more than 20 albums. She Died

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

8

1920

Spike Lee

Spike Lee is a famous American award winning director. His birth name is Shelton Jackson Lee and he was born in Atlanta, Georgia to an arts teacher named Jacqueline Carroll and a jazz musician named William James Edward Lee III. He was nicknamed “Spike” by his mother who encouraged his

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Source: Black History Resources

Patrick, Deval L. (1956 - )

Deval L. Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts was elected in 2006. He became at that time only the second African American elected as a state Governor in the history of the United States. Patrick was born on July 31, 1956 in Chicago to Laurdine Pat Patrick and Emily Mae Wintersmith, and raised in

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Source: Black Past

Jul

31

1956

Diana Ross

Best Known

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Still, William Grant (1895-1978)

Considered by many as the dean of African American composers,William Grant Still, the son of educators, was born in Woodville, Mississippi onMay 11, 1895. His father, a musician whoonce taught music at Alabama A&M College,died when he was an infant; his mother, a schoolteacher, moved to Little

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Source: Black Past

Oct

28

1931

Virginia State University (1882 - )

Virginia State Universityis a public, historically black college located in Petersburg, Virginia. The university is the first fully supported,four year institution for African Americans in the UnitedStates and is one of two land-grant colleges in the Stateof

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Source: Black Past

Smith, Bessie (1894-1937)

Along with Ma Rainey and Mamie Smith, singer Bessie Smith helped pioneer the genre of blues music and propel it into popular culture. Her early death at the age of 43 cut short a career that influenced the direction of American music and contributed to the success of African Americans in the

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Source: Black Past

Sep

26

1937

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