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Posted by: Pat Padua
Pianist, bandleader, composer, William “Count” Basie was born on this day in 1904. Some of the greatest names in jazz passed through his band, from tenor legend Lester Young to singers like Bille Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, and Joe Williams, just to name three. Basie’s career spanned fifty years and did not shy from whatever music happened …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Composers, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Summer means baseball, and baseball has a long history of superstition, but before you decide to stop bathing after your next no-hitter, remember that the performing arts is far from immune to the allure of old wives’ tales. The most notable superstition in the repertoire may be that of theater professionals who refer to one …
Posted in: Composers, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
In the Muse does not ordinarily send two missives into the blogosphere in a single day, but we could not let the day pass without honoring the man playing trumpet on the banner that heads every page of this blog. Jazz legend Louis Armstrong was born on this day in 1901. His influence can be …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The Music Division was saddened to hear that record producer/ recording artist/television legend Mitch Miller passed away on saturday in Manhattan. Miller lived to the venerable age of 99 years and thus bore witness to nearly a century of popular music history. As an executive at Mercury and then Columbia records, Miller played a vital …
Posted in: In Memoriam, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Today we remember the July birthdays of two very different musical luminaries represented in the Music Division’s august coffers. Ernest Bloch was born July 24th, 1880. A special performance of his viola suite was given on December 10th, 2009, in the Coolidge Auditorium by violist Roberto Diaz and pianist Andrew Tyson to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The phrase “there’s a sucker born every minute” is commonly attributed to famed showman Phineas Taylor Barnum. The quote’s provenance is disputed, its sentiment cynical, but as adaptable headline fodder it is unsurpassed. If the reader so desires, the remainer of this paragraph may be read out loud in the booming voice of a carnival …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Guitarist and inventor Les Paul was born on this day in 1915. Paul helped develop the Gibson Les Paul solid-body electric guitar, an instrument so iconic that the foreword to Les Paul’s memoir was written by none other than Paul McCartney. Les Paul died last year, but his handiwork continues to be heard from the …
Posted in: Birthdays, Musical Instruments, Musicians
Posted by: Pat Padua
Last week we celebrated birthdays of a diverse array of musical luminaries. Pianist Wladziu Valentino was briefly known as Walter Busterkeys before using the name by which we all know him: Liberace was born May 16, 1919. Read about him in the Nevada section of the Local Legacies project in The American Folklife Center. Alexander Warrack’s Scots Dictionary …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Digital Collections, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The jazz world has lost one of its great pianists, Hank Jones, who died yesterday in New York. He was 91. During his long and storied career Jones appeared on countless sessions with legends from all walks of jazz: Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Jazz writer Howard Mandel …
Posted in: Composers, In Memoriam, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections