musical excerpts, fyi. randye
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* Today in Black History - January 22 *
1920 - William Warfield is born in West Helena, Arkansas, the eldest of
five sons. He will become a singer and have his recital debut
in New York's famous Town Hall on March 19, 1950, putting him
into the front ranks of concert artists overnight. His career
will span almost fifty years and among his frequent appearances
in foreign countries, this artist has made six separate tours
for the U.S. Department of State, more than any other American
solo artist. He will receive a Grammy in the "Spoken Word"
category (1984) for his outstanding narration of Aaron
Copeland's "A Lincoln Portrait" accompanied by the Eastman
Philharmonic Orchestra. He is best known for his role in
"Showboat."
1924 - James Louis (J.J.) Johnson is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He
will become one of the greatest trombonists and composers in
jazz. He will be originally influenced by Fred Beckett of
Harlan Leonard's band. Soon thereafter, he will join Benny
Carter. He will play with Count Basie (1945-1946) and record
his first solo improvisation. During the 1954-1956 period,
J.J. Johnson will take a brief break from bands and team up with
Kai Winding for a commercially successful trombone duo. He
will prefer the use of pure tones when playing the trombone,
focusing on line, interval and accent. His solos will show
virtuosity because of their remarkable mobility, which many
artists find difficult to duplicate or imitate. These endeavors
will be fruitless in the early 1950s and for a couple of years
he will work as a blueprint inspector. In the 1970s, Johnson
will move from New Jersey to California, concentrating exclusively
on film and television scoring. In 1984, Johnson will reenter the
jazz scene with a tour of the "European Festival Circuit." He
will join the ancestors in 1991 from complications from a stroke.
1931 - Samuel "Sam" Cooke is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He will grow
up in Chicago, Illinois, after moving there with his family in 1933.
He will become a singer and be best known for his recordings "You
Send Me" and "Twisting the Night Away." Cooke will be one of the
most popular singers of the 1960's. He will join the ancestors on
December 11, 1964. He will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame on January 23, 1986.
* Today in Black History - January 23 *
1943 - Duke Ellington's band plays for a black-tie crowd at Carnegie
Hall in New York City. It is the first of what will become an
annual series of concerts for 'The Duke'.
1976 - Paul Robeson joins the ancestors, as the result of a stroke, in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He had been a world-renown actor and
singer. He was perhaps the best known and most widely respected
African American of the 1930s and 1940s. Robeson was also a
staunch supporter of the Soviet Union, and a man, later in his
life, widely vilified and censored for his frankness and
unyielding views on issues to which public opinion ran contrary.
As a young man, Robeson was virile, charismatic, eloquent, and
powerful. He learned to speak more than 20 languages in order to
break down the barriers of race and ignorance throughout the world,
and yet, as Sterling Stuckey pointed out in the "New York Times
Book Review," for the last 25 years of his life his was "a great
whisper and a greater silence in black America."
1986 - The first annual induction ceremony for the Rock 'N' Roll Hall
of Fame is held in New York City. Among those inducted were
Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, and Fats Domino.
* Today in Black History - January 25 *
1938 - Jamesetta Hawkins is born in Los Angeles, California. She will
become a rhythm and blues singer known as "Etta James." She will
be described as "one of the great forces in American Music." She
will become a star scoring her first national pop hit, "Roll With
Me, Henry", at age sixteen, and be recognized as a master in the
fields of blues, R&B, jazz, and pop, crossing genres time and
again. Between 1955 and 1975, Etta will create a dozen Top-10
Rhythm & Blues hits and more than 25 chart hits. They will include
such soulful performances as "All I Could Do Was Cry" (1960), "At
Last" (1961), "Trust in Me" (1961), "Stop the Wedding" (1962),
"Tell Mama" (1967), and "Security" (1968). She will be inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. She will be nominated
for six Grammy Awards and will win the award for her 1994 recording
of "Mystery Lady," saluting Billie Holiday.
1980 - Black Entertainment Television, better known as BET, begins
broadcasting from Washington, DC. Robert L. Johnson, who
established the company with a $ 15,000 personal loan, will make
BET one of the most successful cable television networks, with
25 million subscribers by its tenth anniversary and, in 1991,
the first African American-owned company to be listed on the
New York Stock Exchange.
* Today in Black History - January 26 *
1928 - Eartha Mae Kitt is born in North, South Carolina. She will start
her career as a professional dancer with the Katherine Dunham
Dance Troupe, which will take her to Paris, where she will tour
as a nightclub singer. She will eventually return to the United
States and roles on Broadway and in films.
1934 - The Apollo Theatre opens in New York City as a 'Negro vaudeville
theatre'. It will become the showplace for many of the great
African American entertainers, singers, groups and
instrumentalists in the country. The saying will become common
"If you made it... you played it..." at the Apollo Theatre.
1934 - Huey "Piano" Smith is born. He will become a Rhythm and Blues
pianist and will be best known for his recording of "Having a
Good Time."
1958 - Anita Baker is born in Toledo, Ohio. A singer of ballads and
jazz-inspired Rhythm and Blues, her 1986 album "Rapture" will
sell five million copies and earn her a 1987 Grammy. She will
win two more in 1989.
* Today in Black History - January 27 *
1869 - Will Marion Cook, who will become a noted composer and conductor,
is born in Washington, DC. Studying the violin at age 13, at 15
Cook will win a scholarship to study at the Berlin Conservatory.
Among other accomplishments, he will introduce syncopated
ragtime to New York City theatregoers in his operetta "Clorinda."
Duke Ellington will call him the "master of all masters of our
people."
1930 - Bobby 'Blue' Bland is born in Rosemark, Tennessee. He will
become a singer and start his career as a member of The Beale
Streeters with Johnny Ace. He will become a solo artist with
the Malaco label and record "That's the Way Love Is," "Call on
Me," "Turn on Your Love Light," and "Ain't Nothin' You Can Do."
1961 - Leontyne Price makes her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in
New York City. She sings in the role of Leonora in "Il
Trovatore". Price is the seventh African American singer to
make a debut at the Met. Marian Anderson was the first in 1955.
1972 - Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer, joins the ancestors in Evergreen
Park, Illinois at the age of 60. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana,
she began her singing career with the Salem Baptist Choir in
Chicago, Illinois. She achieved national fame with her recording
of "Move on Up A Little Higher," which sold over a million copies.
Many considered her rich contralto voice the best in gospel
music.
1984 - Singer Michael Jackson's hair catches on fire during the filming
of a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium.
Pyrotechnics did not operate on cue, injuring the singer. Jackson
is hospitalized for a few days and fans from around the world send
messages of concern.
* Today in Black History - January 28 *
1972 - Scott Joplin's Opera "Treemonisha," published 61 years earlier,
has its world premiere with Robert Shaw and Katherine Dunham
directing.
* Today in Black History - January 29 *
1981 - William R. "Cozy" Cole joins the ancestors in Columbus, Ohio. A
jazz drummer who played with Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong,
he was known as a versatile percussionist who played in big
bands, comedy jazz groups, and Broadway musicals. In 1958, his
recording of "Topsy" became the only drum solo to sell more than
one million records.
1999 - Ronnie Lott, formally of the San Francisco 49'ers, is elected to
the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
* Today in Black History - January 30 *
1928 - Ruth Brown is born in Portsmouth, Virginia. She will become a
Rhythm & Blues and jazz singer, recording "So Long," "Teardrops
from My Eyes," "Hours," "Mambo Baby," "Lucky Lips," and "This
Little Girl's Gone Rockin'." She will be a Tony Award winner
and a rhythm-and-blues revolutionary--a woman whose early
successes earned her instant worldwide fame and launched a
career that has influenced such legendary performers as Aretha
Franklin, Dinah Washington, Little Richard and Stevie Wonder.
* Today in Black History - January 31 *
1928 - Harold "Chuck" Willis is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He will become
a rhythm and blues singer and be best known for his recording of
"C.C. Rider" in 1957. He will join the ancestors in 1958 after
succumbing to peritonitis.
1934 - Etta Moten sings for President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt
at a White House dinner for family and friends. Moten, a stage
and screen star, sings songs from her role in the movie
"Golddiggers of 1933 and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot." It is the
first time an African American actress performs at the White
House.
1972 - Aretha Franklin sings "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" at Mahalia
Jackson's funeral. Over 40,000 mourners view the coffin.
______________________________________________________________
Munirah Chronicle is edited by Brother Mosi Hoj
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