People, Locations, Episodes

Archie Shepp, Musician, and Music Educator born

*Archie Shepp was born on this date in 1937. He is a Black saxophonist, educator, and playwright who has played a central role in the development of avant-garde jazz since the 1960s. Archie Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before focusing on the tenor saxophone, he studied piano, clarinet, […]

Wings Over Jordan, Choir is Formed

*On this date from 1937, we celebrate the founding of Wings Over Jordan Choir. This group was organized by the Rev Glen T. Settles in Cleveland, Ohio and was perhaps the most beautiful sounding of all Gospel choirs.

Their otherworldly and almost ghostly sound was heard on over 50 recordings. In the days before television, when families would sit around the radio together, Wings Over Jordan was a popular family radio program that featured this talented African American choir. Beginning in the late 1930s, the show was broadcast out of Cleveland on the CBS network.

Alice Coltrane, Jazz Musician born

Alice Coltrane was born on this date in 1937. She was an African American pianist, organist, harpist, and composer.

Born Alice McLeod in Detroit, she was raised in a religious family, the daughter of Solon and Anne McLeod. She began studying music at age seven.

Not only did she study jazz with Bud Powell, but she also worked in classical and church environments. After performing with Kenny Burrell, Johnny Griffin, Lucky Thompson, and Yusef Lateef, she toured and recorded with Terry Gibbs in the early 1960s.

Jonas Gwangwa, Musician born

*Jonas Gwangwa was born on this date in 1937.  He was a Black South African jazz musician, songwriter, and producer.  Jonas Mosa Gwangwa was born in Orlando East, Soweto, South Africa.   He first gained prominence playing trombone with The Jazz Epistles. After the short-lived group broke up, he became important to the South African […]

O’Kelly Isley, Rhythm and Blues Vocalist born

On this date in 1937, O’Kelly Isley was born. He was an African American R&B vocalist.

Born in Cincinnati, he, along with siblings Ronald, Rudolph, and Vernon Isley, were known as the Isley Brothers. They began singing in church while their mother played piano for them. They also sang at school functions and social gatherings, such as Girls’ Town and Boys’ Town. They won talent shows on TV. Vernon died in 1955 in a bicycling accident, and Ronald was tapped as the remaining trio’s lead vocalist.

Julius Hemphill, Musician, and Teacher born

*Julius Hemphill was born on this date in 1938. He was a Black jazz composer and saxophone player. Julius Arthur Hemphill was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and attended I.M. Terrell High School. He studied music at North Texas State College. Hemphill joined the Army in 1964 and served several years in the United States Army Band. He later […]

Etta James, Singer born

*Etta James was born on this date in 1938. She was an African American singer.

Charles Lloyd, Musician born

*Charles Lloyd was born on this date in 1938.  He is a Black jazz musician and composer. Lloyd grew up in Memphis and was exposed to blues, gospel, and jazz. He is of African, Cherokee, Mongolian, and Irish ancestry. He was given his first saxophone at the age of 9 and was fascinated by 1940s […]

Freddie Hubbard, Trumpeter born

*Freddie Hubbard was born on this date in 1938. He was an African American jazz musician.

From Indianapolis, IN. He started playing the mellophone and trumpet in his school band at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. Trumpeter Lee Katzman, former sideman with Stan Kenton, recommended that he begin studying at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music (now the Jordan College of the Arts at Butler University) with Max Woodbury, the principal trumpeter of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Johnnie Taylor, Rhythm & Blues Singer born

Johnnie Taylor was born on this date in 1938. He was an African American singer and producer.

Born in Crawford, Arkansas, Johnnie Harrison Taylor was raised in nearby West Memphis. Inspired equally by gospel and blues (the legendary blues man Junior Parker was his neighbor), Taylor first recorded in the early 1950S as part of the Five Echoes, a Doo-Wop group. Taylor’s lead singing was strikingly close to Sam Cooke, and he took Cooke’s place in the Soul Stirrers in 1957. After two years, Taylor left to pursue a short career as a preacher.

Bill Withers, Singer, Lyricist born

*Bill Withers was born on this date in 1938. He was a Black singer-songwriter and musician. William Harrison “Bill” Withers Jr., the youngest of six children, was born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. He was the son of Mattie (Galloway), a maid, and William Withers, a miner. He was born […]

Lee Morgan, Trumpeter born

*Lee Morgan was born on this date in 1938.  He was a Black jazz trumpeter and composer.     Edward Lee Morgan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest of Otto Ricardo and Nettie Beatrice Morgan’s four children.  Originally interested in the vibraphone, he soon grew enthusiastic about the trumpet. Morgan also knew how to play the alto saxophone. On his thirteenth birthday, his […]

Sylvia Moy, Lyricist and Singer born

*Sylvia Moy was born on this date in 1938. She was a Black songwriter, singer, and record producer. Born and raised on the northeast side of Detroit, Sylvia Rose Moy studied and performed jazz and classical music at Northern High School. In 1963, she was seen performing in a club by Marvin Gaye and Mickey Stevenson. Motown […]

Ben E. King, Singer born.

*Ben E. King was born on this date in 1938. He was an African American Singer.

Fela Kuti, Musician and Nigerian Activist born

*Fela Kuti was born on this date in 1938. He was a Black multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti was born into the Ransome-Kuti family, an upper-middle-class family in Abeokuta, Nigeria. His mother, Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a Nigerian women’s rights activist.  His father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, was an Anglican […]