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Posted by: Pat Padua
The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s recording of saxophonist Paul Desmond’s signature tune “Take Five” is one of the best known jazz compositions – even if you don’t know the name of it, you’ve heard it, anywhere from your local coffee shop to The Sopranos. Brubeck was the recipient of a Living Legend Award in 2003. Wish a …
Posted in: Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Many virtual servings of cake and ice cream are on hand this week in the Music Division, as we celebrate the birth dates of a veritable constellation of stars in the musical firmament. These October children grew to be the august personages who populate the Performing Arts Encyclopedia with dulcet tones – or, in some …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Digital Collections, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The thirteenth of October may fill the superstitious with dread, but today we celebrate the birthdays of three great musicians whose work fills the Music Division’s precious vaults. Celebrate gospel singer Shirley Caeasar (born October 13, 1938) with a medley including “You’re Next in Line,” an excerpt from Gospel: A Joyful Sound, a concert Caesar and her …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Concerts and Events, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The rejuvenative force of spring (or is it hunkering down for the winter?) leads to many an autumn baby. This week In the Muse would like to celebrate the birthdays of two alliteratively named figures whose work can be found in the Music Division’s diverse collections. Vaudeville, Broadway, and film dancer Harriet Hoctor was born September …
Posted in: Birthdays, Dance, Musicians, Special Collections, Women in Dance
Posted by: Pat Padua
Composer Arnold Schoenberg was born on this date in 1874. The Music Division is home to the Arnold Schoenberg Collection. Highlights of this collection include a correspondence between Schoenberg and his students Alban Berg and Anton Webern; a Wassily Kandinsky letter (Schoenberg exhibited his paintings with the Blue Rider group in 1912) that deals with …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
“You probably know the one about the two monks, but I’ll tell it anyway.” –John Cage, Indeterminacy. Sunday, September 5th marks the birthday of two legendary Americans: outlaw Jesse James and composer John Cage. The astonishing range of Cage’s works is just hinted at by the names of the diverse artists he worked with: choreographer Merce Cunningham; pianist David Tudor, …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Today, as will happen every other Friday for the next several months, additional batches of photographs from the William P. Gottlieb Collection have been uploaded to Flickr . This week’s set is particularly varied, with classic portraits of Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Tommy Dorsey, Doris Day, Nat “King” Cole, and Perry Como. In addition to these portraits are …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
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
This post is excerpted from an article written by James Wolf, Digital Conversion Specialist, Music Division. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (named after the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge) was born in Croydon, England on August 15, 1875. Coleridge-Taylor studied with Charles Villiers Stanford, and at the suggestion of Edward Elgar, was commissioned to write a piece for a …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Composers, Special Collections