November 3rd: Today In Music History

Juilliard-trained bassist Henry Grimes, born in Philadelphia on this day in 1935, is known for one of the most intriguing comebacks in jazz history. After performing with such legends as Sonny Rollins, Benny Goodman, Monk and Mingus, he disappeared to California in...

November 2nd: Today In Music History

A jazz trumpeter who performed as a soloist in bands fronted by Rudy Vallee, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman; backed up Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday; and fronted his own band — all before his death at age 33 from alcohol-fueled cirrhosis — Roland Bernard “Bunny”...

November 1st: Today In Music History

Happy 94th birthday to jazz saxophone legend Lou Donaldson, born in Badin, North Carolina, on this day in 1926. “His distinctive blues-drenched alto has been a bopping force in jazz for more than six decades,” says the National Endowment for the Arts, which named him...

October 31st: Today In Music History

A trailblazer vocalist and actress who was the second African American to be nominated for an Academy Award and the first to star in her own television show, Ethel Waters was born in Chester, PA, on this day in 1896. She rose from a difficult childhood to begin...

October 29th: Today In Music History

Do you remember that mellow sax solo on Phoebe Snow’s 1975 hit “Poetry Man”? That’s our birthday man John Haley “Zoot” Sims, born in Inglewood, California, on this day in 1925 (his solo kicks in around the 2:30 mark). After serving as an Army corporal during World War...

October 28th: Today In Music History

Whole lotta shakin’….is wrong?! On this day in 1957, Los Angeles police told Elvis Presley that he was not allowed to wiggle his hips on stage. To drive their point home, the local press also ran headlines saying The King would have to clean up his...