News & Updates — Celebrate Icons

Pete Cosey / Oct 9, 1943 - May 30, 2012

Pete Cosey / Oct 9, 1943 - May 30, 2012

Pete Cosey is a Chicago guitar legend, a heavy man with a heavy sound. He is best known for his mid-'70s work for Miles Davis. Despite having never recorded as a leader, he has gotten on many sessions and had a notable career as a Hendrix-esque sonic poet. He was born into a jazz family in Chicago, his father played sax with Sidney Bechet, Louis Jordan, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Big Bill Broonzy and Josephine Baker, and his mother was a composer. He spent his teenage years in Tucson but came back to Chicago for some session work at Chess. He...

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Yusef Lateef / Oct 9, 1920 - Dec 23, 2013

Yusef Lateef / Oct 9, 1920 - Dec 23, 2013

One of the (gentle) giants of American music, the career Brother Yusef Lateef stretches way back to the '40s and he has played with many greats and inspired many others. The man played tenor sax, flute, oboe, basson, shenai, koto and many other obscure or Eastern instruments, as well as electronics. He was an early fusionist of "world music" and jazz. His base was very bluesy, and his music also touched on funk, new age, film music, gospel, avant-garde, bop, electro-acoustic, European classical and various Eastern and African forms. He was born in Chattanooga but grew up as William Evans in...

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Larry Young / Oct 7, 1940 - March 30, 1978

Larry Young / Oct 7, 1940 - March 30, 1978

One of the greatest of jazz Hammond organists, Larry Young (aka Khalid Yasin Abdul Aziz) played with Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Grant Green, Santana, Booker Ervin and others in a career that played bop, soul-jazz, blues, psych-rock, avant-garde jazz, modal and funk-rock. The Lawrence of Newark was born in Jersey and learned organ and piano from his father. He played R&B in the '50s before working with Kenny Dorham, Lou Donaldson, Hank Mobley and others. He recorded for Prestige and Blue Note in the '60s before hooking up with Hendrix on some well-circulated (and worthy) sessions. He played...

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Leon Thomas / Oct 4, 1937 - May 8, 1999

Leon Thomas / Oct 4, 1937 - May 8, 1999

One of the most unique vocalists of the jazz world, Brother Leon Thomas had an updated, yet ancient, style of scat-yodeling that was quite soulful and seemed to come from deep, not just from his inner being but also traveling folky songlines. He claimed to have discovered using that style after breaking his teeth before a concert. Most famous for his contributions to the great late '60s run of Pharoah Sanders albums on Impulse! followed by an early '70s run with the Santana band (including the amazing 1973 tour of Japan), he also cut records of his own including some...

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Violeta Parra / Oct 4, 1917 - Feb 5, 1967

Violeta Parra / Oct 4, 1917 - Feb 5, 1967

Here's a birthday honor to pioneering nueva-canción singer and folklorist from Chile, Violeta Parra aka "Violeta de Mayo". She was born into an educated family of poets, artists and singers, and she started playing and singing at 9. Her musician/farmer father died when she was 12, and the family started struggling financially. She started her music career in clubs playing boleros and Mexican styles before marrying a Communist in 1938. She started singing songs from all over Latin America. After her first marriage dissolved, she formed a duo with her sister and made some records, followed by some touring through...

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