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Posted by: Pat Padua
Otto. Cutey. Stinkpot. Wucker. Dumplin’. Maestro. Big Red. Head Knocker. Puddin’. These are some of the many nicknames given the man born Edward Kennedy, whom we all know as “Duke” Ellington. Born April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C., Ellington was one of the great jazz bandleaders, pianists, and composers. The Music Division is home to …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Composers, Jazz, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Billie Holiday, one of the great jazz singers, was born April 7, 1915. She recounted her hard life in the autobiography Lady sings the blues, but despite her suffering at the hands of family, a racist society, and her own addictions, despite the smoky, world-weary voice of her later years, the joy her music brought to …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
“He was our benefactor and inspiration. Even more, he was the Martin Luther King of Music.” Pianist Eubie Blake said this of composer/bandleader James Reese Europe, who was born in Mobile, Alabama on February 22, 1881. Europe’s accomplishments run from the grand “Concert of Negro Music” that he conducted for a 125-man orchestra at Carnegie Hall in …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Composers, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Celebrate African-American History month with a presentation of African-American Band Stocks on the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. This collection of “stock” arrangements – published orchestrations for instrumental groups – is written by some of the most important African-American composers of the early 20th century. Among those represented are J. Rosamond Johnson, whose most famous song, ”Lift Ev’ry Voice …
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Digital Collections, Musicians
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
The discovery five years ago of the Thelonious Monk-John Coltrane 1957 Carnegie Hall concert tapes focused attention on the deep jazz collections here at the Library of Congress (//www.loc.gov/today/pr/2005/05-090.html). The tapes, found while preserving the Voice of America Collection, were subsequently issued by Blue Note Records and became a sensation in the jazz world. Since …
Posted in: African American History, Jazz, Special Collections