News & Updates — classic albums

Jesse Ed Davis / Sept 21, 1944 - June 22, 1988

Jesse Ed Davis / Sept 21, 1944 - June 22, 1988

One of the most-called session men of his day, the Comanche/Kiowa tribal guitarist/pianist Jesse Ed Davis was born on this day in 1944. His father Jesse was a well-known "True Indian" painter. The younger Davis got his musical career started in his native Oklahoma in a band in the late '50s with future Blood Sweat & Tears vocalist Jerry Fisher. In the mid-'60s he went on the road as a member of Conway Twitty's band before settling in California. Through friends Leon Russell and Levon Helm he got acquainted with the studio scene and started working as a session man/secret...

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Harry Whitaker / Sept 19, 1942 - Nov 17, 2010

Harry Whitaker / Sept 19, 1942 - Nov 17, 2010

Here's a nod to the underknown pianist Harry Whitaker, on his day of birth. Harry was more of a behind-the-scenes guy, best known for his work with Roy Ayers' Ubiquity (he composed the classic "We Live In Brooklyn Baby") and Roberta Flack (during her peak years). From Pensacola FL, he started playing piano at 5. His family moved later to Detroit, and he got his career started there with local gigs as a teenager. In 1960 he moved to NYC. He played with Slide Hampton in '65 before taking to playing on the road in various bands. He joined Ayers...

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King Stitt / Sept 17, 1940 - Jan 31, 2012

King Stitt / Sept 17, 1940 - Jan 31, 2012

Here's a shout-out to "The Ugly One", pioneering Jamaican dee-jay "toaster" Winston Sparkes aka King Stitt. Born with a unique face and a stuttering habit, he embraced these attributes and they became part of his public persona. He got his start as an early deejay for Coxone Dodd's Downbeat sound system in 1956 after being spotted by the OG deejay Count Machuki and went on to be a popular attraction during the ska years. In '69 he cut his first recordings for producer Clancy Eccles (not including some live action sound system recordings from '63 that weren't released until later)....

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Julian "Cannonball" Adderley / Sept 15, 1928 - Aug 8, 1975

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley / Sept 15, 1928 - Aug 8, 1975

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley became one of the highly respected alto saxophonists of the hard bop and soul-jazz eras. Indeed, with his bluesy wail and accessible style he was one of jazz's most popular and visible artists in the late '60s and into the '70s before his death from a stroke. Originally from Tampa, he and his brother Nat, a cornetist, grew up in Tallahassee FL, both of them earning early professional experience in the early '40s backing Ray Charles in Florida. Cannon moved to Ft Lauderdale for awhile before a move to NYC in '55, the year he first recorded...

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Cachao / Sept 14, 1918 - March 22, 2008

Cachao / Sept 14, 1918 - March 22, 2008

The greatest. Bassist, composer, Cuban music figure, master of the tumbao, inventor of Latin jazz, fine-tuner of the charanga, Israel López "Cachao" Valdéz was born in Old Havana, into a family of bass players. He grew up in the house that Jose Martí used to live in. He started at 8 on bongos, and was playing bass by age nine accompanying silent films. He received classical training and as a teenager joined Orquesta Filharmónica de La Habana, which included guest conductions by Stavinski & Villa-Lobos. He stayed thirty years with the orchestra. Along with his brother Orestes "Macho' López, he...

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