News & Updates — Video

Horace Silver / Sept 2, 1928 - June 18, 2014

Horace Silver / Sept 2, 1928 - June 18, 2014

Happy birthday to that great hard bop pianist Horace Silver! He was of Cape Verdean heritage but grew up in Connecticut. He studied classical music as well as taking in the music of Cabo Verde that his father taught him. As a teenager he gigged on both piano and tenor sax. After playing with Stan Getz in Hartford in '50 he went on tour with him. He moved to NYC in '51 and started playing with Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins and Lou Donaldson. In '52 he began working for Blue Note Records, as a session pianist and as a recording...

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Billy Preston / Sept 2, 1946 - June 6, 2006

Billy Preston / Sept 2, 1946 - June 6, 2006

Happy birthday to another one they sometimes call The Fifth Beatle, Billy Preston. The future top session man grew up in Los Angeles a piano prodigy. At 10 he was performing with Mahalia Jackson and was on TV at 11 dueting with Nat King Cole. He played a young WC Handy in the biopic St Louis Blues in '58. He joined Little Richard's group in '62 as the band organist, meeting the Beatles in Germany. In '63 he played on Sam Cooke's absolute classic Night Beat. The same year Cooke produced Preston's first album, 16 Year Old Soul. He joined Ray...

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Dave Brockie / Aug 30, 1963 - March 23, 2014

Dave Brockie / Aug 30, 1963 - March 23, 2014

Here's a shout-out to the original scumdog of the universe, Dave Brockie, better known as Oderus Urungus of the heavy metal/comedy/theatre/shock troupe GWAR. A Canadian, Brockie played bass, guitar or sang in the bands Death Piggy, X-Cops and DBX. For GWAR he reinvented himself as the 50 billion-year old caresser of his cuddlefish, dubbing himself Oderus Urungus, spewing fluids all over his audiences in outrageous costumes with equally outrageous storylines, attracting both positive and negative mainstream attention. As Oderus, he also had a character in the nutty TV sitcom Holliston. Happy birthday Dave Brockie, RIP.

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Sonny Sharrock / Aug 27, 1940 - May 25, 1994

Sonny Sharrock / Aug 27, 1940 - May 25, 1994

Sonny Sharrock came around 'bout the same time as Jimi Hendrix and brought a fast & heavy string-shaking style into free jazz, with massive chords and rock energy. His sound & style contained elements of hard rock, doo-wop, funk, bop and soul, and he claims to model his playing after jazz saxophonists and John Coltrane in particular. (He claimed that asthma prevented him from playing a horn and that he thought himself "a horn player with a really fucked up axe".) Warren Sharrock hailed from Westchester County NY and sang doo-wop as a teenager. He got into jazz and made...

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Count Basie / Aug 21, 1904 - April 26, 1984

Count Basie / Aug 21, 1904 - April 26, 1984

Happy birthday to that great big-band leader Count Basie. His preserve in the history of jazz is well-documented and much loved. From New Jersey, William James Basie got his start playing in the '20s in Harlem and the Jersey Shore before touring the Vaudeville circuit. He moved to Kansas City in '29 to play with Benny Moten, eventually taking over the band. The group was a hit with the swinging Kansas City scene for many years. After a brief stay in Chicago the band moved to NYC in '37, joining the competitive big band action the city's scene was entertaining...

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