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Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer
February is Black History Month! The Music Division has all the resources you need to explore and appreciate African-American contributions to the performing arts year-round, not only in February.
Posted in: African American History, Exhibitions, Musicians, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
Sunday February 3 gives us the opportunity to remember one of the first important songwriters in jazz, Lillian Hardin Armstrong. She was born on that day in 1898 in Memphis and may be best known as Louis Armstrong’s second wife and writer of some of his enduring classics, such as “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue,” which …
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Jazz, Special Collections, Webcasts
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
Today marks the 95th birthday of jazz drummer, bandleader and educator Max Roach (1924-2007). His papers are among the most heavily researched jazz archival collections in the Music Division revealing much about jazz and the intersection of modernism and the development of Black political consciousness in 20th-century music. And though the collection includes a draft …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections, Webcasts
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
In January of 2017, I traveled to a suburb outside of Phoenix, Arizona to meet Dr. Gregory Morris and family. Morris is the nephew of Billy Strayhorn and Executor of the Billy Strayhorn Estate. Dr. Morris, a retired educator originally from Pittsburgh, kept the collection in safe hands for nearly five decades. The papers, including …
Posted in: African American History, Interviews, Jazz, New Acquisitions, Special Collections
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
Today marks the birthday of singer, songwriter, actress, and political activist Abbey Lincoln (Anna Marie Wooldridge August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010). One of many singers influenced by Billie Holiday, she made her breakthrough in 1956 with her first recording, Abbey Lincoln’s Affair, and her appearance in the film The Girl Can’t Help It. Though she …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Interviews, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
A deep bow of respect for pianist, composer, bandleader and jazz activist Billy Taylor on what would be his 97th birthday. He was born in North Carolina but grew up in Washington, D.C. and studied with Henry Grant, who taught Duke Ellington a generation before. After moving to New York Taylor began working and recording …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Composers, Guest bloggers, Interviews, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
We were sad to learn earlier this week about the passing of pianist, composer, singer and educator Henry Butler, who lost his struggle with cancer on Monday at the age of 68. I’d seen this blind virtuoso many times over the years but it’s worth remembering two meetings that had the most impact on me …
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Curators, Guest bloggers, In Memoriam, Jazz, Musicians
Posted by: Cait Miller
It’s International Jazz Day! When our friends from the Prints & Photographs Division let us know that they’d be featuring favorite jazz-related items today on their blog, Picture This, I couldn’t let the day go by without a related post. Of course, the Music Division is home to outstanding jazz collections that document the life …
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Jazz, Musicians, Sheet Music, Sound recordings, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
In a 1972 concert in Berlin, Germany, composer Eubie Blake introduced one of his piano rags by announcing, “Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to play you the first number that I composed, in 1899….Well I’ll tell you, what gives me the license to say that – I was born in Baltimore in 1883, the …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Composers, Musicians, Special Collections