*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*Roy Ayers was born on this date in 1940. He was a Black vibraphonist, record producer, and composer. Roy Ayers was born in Los Angeles. He grew up in a musical family, where his father played trombone, and his mother played piano. Lionel Hampton gave him his first pair of vibraphone mallets when he was […]
learn more*Walter Craig was born on this date in 1854. He was a Black violin soloist and orchestra director. Walter F. Craig was born to Charles A. and Sarah E. Craig in Princeton, New Jersey. He moved to New York City in 1861, where he went to Colored School No. 7 under principal Charlotte Smith, who […]
learn more*Kendrick Lamar was born on this date in 1987. He is a Black rapper and lyricist. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in Compton, California. He is the first child of former gang hustler Kenneth “Kenny” Duckworth and hairdresser Paula Oliver. Both of his parents are African Americans from the South Side of Chicago. As teenagers, […]
learn more*The beginning of the Federal Music Project (FMP) is celebrated on this date in 1935. FMP was a part of the New Deal program Federal Project Number One provided by the U.S. federal government, which employed musicians, conductors, and composers during the Great Depression. During President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s term, he proposed increasing public projects […]
learn more*Gigi Gryce was born on this date in 1925. He was a Black jazz saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator. George General Gryce Jr. was born in Pensacola, Florida, and spent most of his early life in Hartford, Connecticut. His family’s strong emphasis on music, manners, and discipline tremendously affected him as a child […]
learn more*Chi-Chi Nwanoku was born on this date in 1956. She is a Black British double bassist and Historical Double Bass Studies professor. Chinyere Adah “Chi-Chi” Nwanoku was born in Fulham, London, and is of Nigerian and Irish descent. She is the oldest of her parents’ five children, Dr. Michael Nwanoku and his wife Margaret (née […]
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