Only Black composer on A-Level music syllabus dropped

Freedmen's Town, Houston, Texas (1865- )

Freedmen’s Town is a nationally registered historical site. The site was originally a community located in the fourth ward of Houston, Texas that began in 1865 as the destination for former enslaved people from surrounding plantations in Texas and Louisiana after the Civil

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Source: Black Past

Jun

19

1865

Acox, Jr., Clarence (1947- )

Clarence Acox, Jr. is an award-winning American jazz drummer and band director. Born in October 1947, he is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. Since his arrival in Seattle in 1971 he has become one of the most influential musical directors in the Pacific Northwest and one of the most successful

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Source: Black Past

Jessye, Eva (1895-1992)

Eva Jessye was a pioneer in the world of African American music and is recognized as the first black woman to receive international distinction as a choral director. She was born in Coffeyville, Kansas on January 20, 1895 to Albert and Julia Jessye, but was raised by various relatives after her

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Source: Black Past

Oct

1

1978

Black Composers and Musicians in Classical Music History

Utilizing the research of Professor Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, historian William J. Zick in the article below provides vignettes which comprise an overview of various composers and musicians of African ancestry who performed in Europe, North America, and

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Source: Black Past

May

24

1803

Mathis, Johnny (1935 - )

John “Johnny” Royce Mathis, singer, was born in Gilmer, Texas on September 30, 1935, the fourth of seven children born to Clem, a chauffeur and handyman, and Mildred, a maid. The Mathis family moved to San Francisco, Californias Fillmore District when Mathis was a young child. When

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Source: Black Past

Sep

30

1935

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

Race, Gender, Jazz & Local 493: Black Women Musicians in Seattle: 1920-1955

During its brief and rocky tenure from 1918 to 1924, pianist Gertrude Harvey Wright was one of four women in Seattle’s first black musicians’ union, the American Federation of Musicians’ Local 458. Wright, Virginia Hughes, a “Mrs. Austin,” and (Edythe) “Turnham,” all

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Source: Black Past

birthday

Cab Calloway, bandleader and first jazz singer to sell a million records is born in Rochester,NY.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

25

1907

Fats Waller

Name at birth: Thomas Wright Waller

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Ella Fitzgerald Born

Ella Fitzgerald, First Lady of Song, born. In 1934, an awkward sixteen-year-old girl made her singing debut at the Harlem Apollo Theatre amateur night in New York City. She intended to dance, but she lost her nerve when she got on stage. The man said, do something while youre out there, the singer

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

25

1918

Russia’s Black Entertainment Empresario: The Remarkable Saga of Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas (Frederick Bruce Thomas)

Yale University literature scholar and historian Vladimir Alexandrov introduces The Black Russian— his new biography of a forgotten African American who led an extraordinary life in Russia and Turkey at the beginning of the twentieth

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Source: Black Past

Jul

8

1928

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

Innovative and famed jazz musician, John Coltrane dies, 1967

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

17

1967

Musician Miles Davis receives award

In Paris, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis was named a Knight in the (French) Legion of Honor, one of that nations highest cultural honors.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

16

1991

Cab Calloway

Cab Calloway was an American jazz musician of the 20th century. He was born in Rochester, New York, on December 25, 1907 to Martha Eulalia Reed and Cabell Calloway, Jr., both of whom were college graduates. Martha was a teacher and church organist whereas Cabell was a lawyer and also worked in real

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Source: Black History Resources

Nov

18

1994

Kay, Ulysses S. (1917-1995)

Ulysses Simpson Kay, Jr., was one of the leading black composers in the classical music industry in the 20th Century. Born in Tucson, Arizona, Kay grew up in a musically talented family. His mother, Elizabeth Kay, was a church pianist. His step-brother played the violin and his step-sister played

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Source: Black Past

May

20

1995

Lionel Hampton

Best Known

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Photographs of the 369th Infantry and African Americans during World War I | National Archives

While the Great War raged in Europe for three long years, America steadfastly clung to neutrality. It was not until April 2, 1917, that President Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. The world, he said, must be made safe for democracy. Quickly, Americans swung into action to

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Source: Archives Library Information Center (ALIC)

Apr

2

1917

Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington was an eminent twentieth century African American composer and pianist. He was also a bandleader of jazz orchestras which he led from 1932 till his demise. He served the American music industry for over 50

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Source: Black History Resources

Apr

29

1899

Clifford Brown dies

Jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown dies in an auto accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Founder of the Brown-Roach Quintet with Max Roach two years earlier, Brown had built a reputation as one of the finest jazz trumpeters of his day as a major proponent of hard bop.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jun

26

1956

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

Lionel Hampton is born

Lionel Hampton, musician and bandleader, Born April 12, 1913. He recorded with Louis Armstrong and worked with Benny Goodman and was also responsible for introducing the vibraphone into jazz.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Apr

12

1913

Black Indians: A Personal and Historic Journey

William Loren Katz has devoted his life to researching and writing African American history. In the following account written to describe the reissue of one of his most successful books, Black Indians, he describes how he became an historian of African America and particularly the black

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Source: Black Past

Simons, Milt (1923-1973)

Milton Simons was a major Seattle African American multi-faceted artist from the 1940s until his death in 1973. In addition to his skills as a painter, Simons was an educator, poet, dancer, and noted

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Source: Black Past

James, Sylvester (1947-1988)

Sylvester James, American singer and songwriter, was born in the Watts section of Los Angeles, California to Sylvester James and Letha Weaver on September 6, 1947. He grew up with his mother and stepfather Robert Hurd, as well as five siblings: John James, Larry James, Bernadette

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Source: Black Past

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

Hughes, Langston (1902-1967)

Poet, novelist, playwright, librettist, essayist, and translator, James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri on Februray 1, 1902 to parents Caroline (Carrie) Mercer Langston, a school teacher, and James Nathaniel Hughes, an attorney. His parents separated before Langston was born and

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Source: Black Past

May

22

1967

Thelonious Monk

Name at birth: Thellous Junior Monk

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Ralph Ellison

Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the year 1914, Ralph Ellison was a celebrated National Book Award winner for his novel “Invisible Man”. He was awarded this this title in the year 1953. Even though he was best known for this novel, that is not all Ralph Ellison was. Ralph

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Source: Black History Resources

Apr

16

1994

Dinah Washington

Dinah Washington was a popular singer from the 1950s who sang jazz, blues, R&B and pop. Her birth name was Ruth Lee Jones. She was born on August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and moved to Chicago at a very young age. Her first exposure to music stemmed from the church, where she learned to

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Source: Black History Resources

Aug

29

1924

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Only Black composer on A-Level music syllabus dropped - Voice Online

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