December 0

Blog Archive

Thu, 31.07.2025

Traditional singing defined, my tresured moments as a singer, Linder Konneh

Linder Konneh is a Liberian singer, nonprofit administrator, and minister. In this segment, she explains what traditional singing is and shares two fond memories of her as a singer.

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Tue, 29.07.2025

Zilphia Horton, Musician and Educator born.

*Zilphia Horton was born on this date in 1910. She was a white-American musician, community organizer, educator, activist, and folklorist. Zilphia was born Zilphia Mae Johnson in the coal mining town of Spadra, Arkansas. She was the second child of Robert Guy Johnson and Ora Ermon Howard Johnson. Her father was superintendent of the local […]

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Thu, 19.06.2025

Hiram H. Thweatt, Music Administrator and Activist born.

*Hiram H. Thweatt was born on this date in 1864. He was a Black activist, educator, and music administrator.  Hiram H. Thweatt was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. He worked at the Tuskegee Institute as their choir director. And as a “School Teacher” in the 1900 Census, as was their wife, Janice. He was the President […]

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Wed, 14.05.2025

The Blue Notes African Choral History, JD Steele

JD Steele is a composer, singer, arranger, choral director, publisher, and educator. In this segment, he shares his global and historic view of the blues and the blue note.

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Thu, 01.05.2025

Alan Freed, Disc Jockey born

*Alan Freed was born on December 15, 1921. He was a white-American disc jockey. Albert James “Alan” Freed was born to a Welsh-American mother, Maude Palmer, and a Russian-Jewish immigrant father, Charles S. Freed, in Windber, Pennsylvania. In 1933, Freed’s family moved to Salem, Ohio, where Freed attended Salem High School, graduating in 1940. While […]

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Fri, 28.03.2025

David Murray, Musician and Composer born.

*David Murray was born on February 19, 1955. He is a Black jazz saxophonist and composer. Since the mid-1970s, he has recorded prolifically for many record labels. David Keith Murray was born in Oakland, California, United States. He attended Pomona College for two years as a member of the class of 1977 and received an […]

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Thu, 20.03.2025

Nicole Mitchell, Flutist and Composer born

*Nicole Mitchell was born on February 17, 1967. She is a Black jazz flutist, composer, and professor. Mitchell was born in Syracuse, New York, and moved to Anaheim, California, at eight. Her first instruments were piano and viola, which she started playing in fourth grade. She was classically trained in flute and played in youth […]

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Thu, 20.03.2025

Anne Kennedy, Classical Pianist and Professor born.

*Anne Kennedy was born on this date in 1920. She was a Black classical pianist and piano professor. Anne Lucille Gamble was born in Charleston, West Virginia, to Dr. Henry Floyd Gamble and the former Nina Hortense Clinton. She was the younger of two children born into that union. Gamble had two older step-siblings as […]

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Thu, 20.03.2025

Hamid Drake, Drummer and Percussionist born.

*Hamid Drake was born on this date in 1955. He is a Black jazz drummer and percussionist. Hamid Drake (Henry Lawrence Drake) was born in Monroe, Louisiana, and when he was a child, his family moved to Evanston, Illinois. There, he started playing with local rock and R&B bands, eventually bringing him to the attention […]

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Thu, 20.03.2025

The Five Spot Café, a story

*The Five Spot Café opened on this date in 1956. The Five Spot Café was a jazz club in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City, between the East and West Village. Its friendly, non-commercial, low-key atmosphere, affordable drinks and food, cutting-edge bebop, and progressive jazz attracted many avant-garde artists and writers. In 1937, Salvatore […]

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New Poem Each Day

Poetry Corner

If I be you Let me not forget To be the pistol Pointed To be the madwoman At the rivers edge Warning Be free or die And isabell If I... HARRIET by Lucille Clifton.
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