People, Locations, Episodes

Muriel Rahn, Vocalist born

*Muriel Rahn was born on this date in 1911. She was a Black vocalist and actress.   Muriel Ellen Rahn was born in Boston in 1911, the daughter of Willie and Elizabeth “Bessie” Smith. After her father’s death, she moved with her mother to New York City, where Bessie met and married Cornelius M. Battey, who […]

Mark O. Fax, Composer and Professor of Music born.

*Mark Oakland Fax, a child prodigy born in Baltimore, Maryland, was born on this date in 1911. He was a Black composer and a professor of music. By age fourteen, Fax worked as a theater organist, playing scores for silent films in Baltimore’s Regent Theater on Saturdays and gospel music at a Black church on […]

Portia White, Classical Vocalist born

Portia White, an African Canadian classical singer, was born on this date in 1911.

Portia May White was born in the town of Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada to the Reverend William Andrew White and Izie Dora White. She made her musical debut at the age of six in her father’s church choir. At the age of 17, while teaching school, she received her first break, winning a silver cup in the Nova Scotia Music Festival.

Jo Jones, Jazz Drummer born

*Jo Jones was born on this date in 1911. He was a Black drummer, one of the most influential in jazz history. Born Jonathan Jones in Chicago, Illinois, he moved to Alabama, where he learned to play the saxophone, piano, and drums. He worked as a drummer and tap dancer at carnival shows until joining […]

Sonny Terry, Bluesman born

This date marks the birth of Sonny Terry, born in 1911. He was an African American blues singer and harmonica player who became the touring and recording partner of guitarist Brownie McGhee in 1941.

Buck Clayton, Trumpeter born

On this date in 1911, Buck Clayton was born. He was an African American jazz musician.

Lightnin Hopkins, Texas Blues Musician born

*On this date, in 1912, we remember the birth of Lightnin Hopkins. He was a Black blues artist.

Sam Hopkins (his real name) was a Texas country blues-man, whose sixty-year career began in the 1920s. Along the way, Hopkins watched the blues change and grow remarkably, but he never significantly altered his mournful Lone Star Texas sound, which converted onto both acoustic and electric guitar. Hopkins’s two brothers, John Henry and Joel, were also talented blues-men, but it was Lightnin that became a star.

Marshal Royal, Musician born

*Marshal Royal was born on this date in 1912. He was an African American jazz musician.

From Sapulpa, Oklahoma he was raised in Los Angeles. His mother, his father and his uncle had a pre-World War I group called the Royal Family Orchestra. His father was a Music teacher and bandleader, his mother played piano, and his brother Ernie is a well-known jazz trumpeter. In 1925, young Marshal joined up on violin. From the 1930’s through the seventies he performed with Lionel Hampton, Earl Hines, and Duke Ellington besides his time with Basie.

Don Byas, Tenor Saxophonist born

On this date in 1912, Don Byas was born in Oklahoma. He was an African American tenor jazz saxophonist.

Teddy Wilson, Pianist born

This date marks the birth of Teddy Wilson, an African American musician, in 1912.

Born in Austin, TX, Wilson began his career in the late 1920s in various Midwest bands. He ended up in Chicago, where he substituted for Earl Hines occasionally and made his first records with Louis Armstrong. He held his own in duets with Art Tatum in the early 1930s, and soon joinED Benny Carter’s band in New York.

Luiz Gonzaga, Afro Brazilian Musician born

*Luiz Gonzaga was born on this date in 1912. He was an Afro Brazilian singer, songwriter, musician, and poet. The son of a farmer, Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento, was born in Recife, Brazil. He was very early attracted to the accordion and used to accompany his father at parties and religious celebrations. He later went to do […]

Louise Jarrett Shropshire, Composer born

*Louise Shropshire was born on this date in 1913. She was an African American composer for her religion and the church.

Born Louise Jarrett, the granddaughter of slaves and sharecroppers, she was born in Coffee County, Alabama. In 1917, her family relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio. As a young girl, Jarrett demonstrated a gift for music and composed many hymns as a member of the Baptist Church. Sometime between 1932 and 1942, after marrying Robert Shropshire, she composed a gospel hymn entitled, If My Jesus Wills.

Margaret Bonds, Teacher, and Composer born

On this date in 1913, Margaret Bonds was born. From Chicago, Illinois, she was an African American pianist and composer.

Etta Baker, Folk Artist born

*Etta Baker was born on this date in 1913. She was an African American singer, composer, and musician one of the last surviving original American folk-blues performers.

Helen Humes, Singer born

On this date in 1913, Helen Humes was born. She was an African American singer.