"Big Mama" Thornton (1926 - 1984)

Willie Mae ("Big Mama") Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984) was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million copies. Three years later, Elvis Presley recorded his version, based on a version performed by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. In a similar occurrence, she wrote and recorded "Ball 'n' Chain," which became a hit for her. Janis Joplin later recorded "Ball and Chain," and was a huge success in the late 1960s.

As an influence over the music and musicians which followed her, her importance cannot be overstated. Her name and legacy will forever remain among the very greatest of blues legends. Thornton's mighty voice, take-no-guff attitude, and incendiary stage performances influenced generations of blues and rock singers and carried on the tradition of tough "blues mamas" like Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, and Ma Rainey.

Thornton is also the namesake of the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls.

Willie Dixon, Memphis Slim, T-Bone Walker Play The Blues!

Blues emerged as an accessible form of self-expression in African-American communities of the United States from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The use of blue notes and the prominence of call-and-response patterns in the music and lyrics are indicative of African influences. The blues influenced later American and Western popular music, as it became the roots of jazz, rhythm and blues, bluegrass and rock and roll.

After World War II and in the 1950s, new styles of electric blues music became popular in cities such as Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. Electric blues used amplified electric guitars, electric bass, drums, and harmonica played through a microphone and a PA system or a guitar amplifier. Chicago became a center for electric blues in the early 1950s. Chicago blues is influenced to a large extent by the Mississippi blues style, because many performers had migrated from the Mississippi region. Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Jimmy Reed were all born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago during the Great Migration. Their style is characterized by the use of electric guitar, sometimes slide guitar, harmonica, and a rhythm section of bass and drums. J. T. Brown who played in Elmore James's bands, or J. B. Lenoir's also used saxophones, but these were used more as "backing" or rhythmic support than as solo instruments.

Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) are well known harmonica (called "harp" by blues musicians) players of the early Chicago blues scene. Other harp players such as Big Walter Horton were also influential. Muddy Waters and Elmore James were known for their innovative use of slide electric guitar. B. B. King and Freddie King (no relation), who did not use slide guitar, were influential guitarists of the Electric blues style, even though they weren't from Chicago. Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters were known for their deep, "gravelly" voices.

Bassist and composer Willie Dixon played a major role on the Chicago blues scene. He composed and wrote many standard blues songs of the period, such as "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (both penned for Muddy Waters) and, "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Back Door Man" for Howlin' Wolf. Most artists of the Chicago blues style recorded for the Chicago-based Chess Records label. Other prominent blues labels of this era included J.O.B. Records and Vee-Jay Records.

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee

Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry (24 October 1911, Greensboro, North Carolina - 11 March 1986, Mineola, New York[1]) was a blind blues musician. He was most widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.

Walter Brown ("Brownie") McGhee (November 30, 1915 - February 16, 1996) was a folk-blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.

At age 22, Brownie McGhee became a traveling musician, working in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and befriending Blind Boy Fuller, whose guitar playing influenced him greatly. After Fuller's death in 1941, J. B. Long of Columbia Records had McGhee adopt his mentor's name, branding him "Blind Boy Fuller No. 2." By that time, McGhee was recording for Columbia's subsidiary Okeh Records in Chicago, Illinois, but his real success came after he moved to New York City in 1942, when he teamed up with Sonny Terry, whom he had known since 1939 as Blind Boy Fuller's harmonica player. The pairing was an overnight success; as well as recording, they toured together until around 1980. As a duo, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee did most of their work from 1958 until 1980, spending eleven months of each year touring, and recording dozens of albums.

Despite their later fame as "pure" folk artists playing for white audiences, in the 1940s Terry and McGhee also attempted to be successful black recording performers, fronting a jump blues combo with honking saxophone and rolling piano, variously calling themselves "Brownie McGhee and his Jook House Rockers" or "Sonny Terry and his Buckshot Five," often with Champion Jack Dupree and Big Chief Ellis. They also appeared in the original Broadway productions of Finian's Rainbow and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

During the blues revival of the 1960s, Terry and McGhee were very popular on the concert and festival circuits, occasionally adding new material but usually remaining faithful to their roots music and their white customers.

from Wiki

"Lady Day" Billie Holiday

In 1987, Billie Holiday was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1994, the United States Postal Service introduced a Billie Holiday postage stamp, she ranked #6 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock n' Roll in 1999, and she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Over the years, there have been many tributes to Billie Holiday, including "The Day Lady Died", a 1959 poem by Frank O'Hara, and "Angel of Harlem", a 1988 release by the group U2.

from Wiki

Billie Holiday (1915 - 1959)

Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan Gough; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Ladybug" by her sometime collaborator Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style — strongly inspired by instrumentalists — pioneered a new way of manipulating wording and tempo, and also popularized a more personal and intimate approach to singing. Critic John Bush wrote that she "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing jazz standards written by others, including "Easy Living" and "Strange Fruit."

Neville Brothers "Brother John and Iko Iko"

Happy Mardi Gras from the Silver Spring Town Center, Inc!

Bernie Mac (1957 - 2008)

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American actor and comedian. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D.L. Hughley as The Original Kings of Comedy.

After briefly hosting the HBO show Midnight Mac, Mac appeared in several films in smaller roles. His most noted film role was as Frank Catton in the remake Ocean's Eleven and its two sequels. He also starred in several films, including Mr. 3000. He was the star of The Bernie Mac Show, which ran from 2001-2006, earning him two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. His other films included starring roles in Friday, Bad Santa, Pride, and Soul Men which was one of his final two films.

from Wiki

Richard Pryor - Comedian (1940 - 2005)

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an African-American comedian, actor and writer.

Pryor was a storyteller known for unflinching examinations of racism and customs in modern life, and was well-known for his frequent use of colorful, vulgar and profane language and racial epithets. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations. He is widely regarded as one of the most important stand-up comedians of all time: Jerry Seinfeld called Pryor "The Picasso of our profession"; Whoopi Goldberg cited him as her biggest influence, stating "The major influence was Richard - I want to say those things he's saying."[citation needed] Bob Newhart has called Pryor "the seminal comedian of the last 50 years."

His body of work includes such concert movies and recordings as Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin' (1971), That Nigger's Crazy (1974), ...Is It Something I Said? (1975), Bicentennial Nigger (1976), Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979), Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982) and Richard Pryor: Here and Now (1983). He also starred in numerous films as an actor, usually in comedies such as Silver Streak, but occasionally in dramatic roles, such as Paul Schrader's film Blue Collar and epic roles like Gus Gorman from Superman III (1983). He also collaborated on many projects with actor Gene Wilder. He won an Emmy Award in 1973, and five Grammy Awards in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1982. In 1974, he also won two American Academy of Humor awards and the Writers Guild of America Award.

Joshua Nelson

Joshua Nelson is an American gospel singer and Hebrew teacher. Nelson transcends differences between races and faiths through his music. He is both an up-and-coming Jewish Gospel singer in the tradition of Mahalia Jackson, and a Hebrew teacher full-time in the Hebrew school at Sharey-Tefilo-Israel, a Reform synagogue in South Orange, NJ, when he is not on the road. He also serves as director of music at Hopewell Baptist Church in Newark, NJ, which is housed in a former synagogue (the former B’nai Jeshurun.

Through his composing, gospel singing, and chanting Torah, Nelson is the musical embodiment of cultural harmony, with his rich voice, charismatic personality, and personal mission to build bridges between the races.

Nelson created a new sound that blends Jewish liturgical and African American spiritual styles.

Nelson has performed with musical legends including Wynton Marsalis and Aretha Franklin and Stephanie Mills and Billy Preston, as well as gospel singers Albertina Walker, the Barret Sisters, Hezekiah Walker, Kirk Franklin, Dottie Peoples, Dorothy Norwood, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Reverend Timothy Wright, and Bobby Jones & New Life. Nelson also performs frequently with the Jewish Klezmer band The Klezmatics, and performed with the late jazz greats Cab Calloway and Dizzy Gillespie.

Nelson sang before Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, and performed for an audience in Jerusalem that included then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

From Wiki

Marion Williams - American Gospel Singer

Marion Williams (August 29, 1927 – July 2, 1994) was an American gospel singer. She was born in Miami, to a religiously devout mother and musically inclined father. She left school when she was nine years old to support the family. She worked as a maid and a nurse and in factories and laundries. Even then, she was singing before audiences. As was common in the area, Williams was exposed to African American blues and jazz, alongside Caribbean calypso. Poverty caused Williams to leave school at fourteen, working with her mother at a laundry. She was singing at church and on street corners, inspired by a wide range of musicians including Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Smith Jubilee Singers. She stuck with gospel, however, in spite of pressure to switch to popular blues tunes or the opera.

In 1946, while visiting her sister in Philadelphia, she happened to sing before an audience that included Clara Ward and Gertrude Ward. They recognized her talent and offered her a job. A year later, she became a part of the famous Ward Singers. Her growling, hands-on-the-hips vocal style made her the group's undisputed star.

In 1958, she and other members of the Ward group formed the Stars of Faith. In 1965, began her solo career. For the next 15 years she toured the United States, Africa and the West Indies.

SAVE THE DATE: First Annual Silver Spring Blues Festival - Saturday, May 9, 2009

We're pleased to announce the first Annual "Silver Spring Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring!

Join us, Saturday, May 9, 2009 from 3 pm to 6 pm at the Silver Fountain on Ellsworth Drive.

The Silver Spring Town Center, Inc., in partnership with the D.C. Blues Society, Montgomery College and PFA Inc., will present an afternoon of hard-hitting electric blues by some of the area’s most popular bands.

Watch this space for more information about this exciting event.

Subscribe to the Silver Spring Town Center, Inc.'s blog at www.silverspringtowncenter.blogspot.com and and join our Silver Spring Town Center Group on Facebook.com

And check our event website www.silverspringblues.com

The Drifters - Save the last dance for me

The Drifters are a long-lived American doo wop/R&B vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1962. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame has inducted both 'The Original Drifters' (1998) and 'Ben E. King and The Drifters'(2000). In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Drifters #81 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Their hits include Up on the Roof, Under the Boardwalk, Save the Last Dance for me, Saturday Night at the Movies, This Magic Moment, On Broadway, Some Kind of Wonderful, Please Stay, There Goes My Baby, Fools Fall in Love…

from Wiki

Junior Wells (1932 – 1998)

Junior Wells (December 9, 1932 – January 15, 1998), born Amos Blakemore, was a blues vocalist and harmonica player based in Chicago who was famous for playing with Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison among others. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Arkansas. Initially influenced by fellow Memphian Junior Parker, and both Sonny Boy Williamsons, Wells moved to Chicago in 1948 and began sitting in with local musicians at house parties and taverns. He began performing with The Aces (guitarist brothers Dave and Louis Myers and drummer Fred Below) and developed a more modern amplified harmonica style influenced by Little Walter. He made his first recordings at age 18, when he briefly replaced Little Walter in Muddy Waters' band and appeared on one of Muddy's sessions in 1952. His first recordings as a band leader were made in the following year for States Records; in the later '50s and early '60s he also recorded singles for other local Chicago labels. He worked with Buddy Guy in the 1960s and recorded his first album for Delmark Records. His most memorable songs are "Messin' With The Kid" and "Little by Little," which were written and composed by Chicago blues producer Mel London. His best-known album is 1965's Hoodoo Man Blues on Delmark Records, which featured Buddy Guy on guitar and evokes the smoky atmosphere of the era's Westside Chicago blues bars.

from Wiki

Sam and Dave - Hold on, I'm coming

Sam & Dave were an American soul and rhythm and blues (R&B) duo who performed from 1961 through 1981. The tenor (higher) was Samuel David Moore (born Samuel David Hicks on October 12, 1935 in Winchester, Georgia), and the baritone/tenor Dave Prater (May 9, 1937, Ocilla, Georgia – April 9, 1988, Sycamore, Georgia).

Sam & Dave are members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame,the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and are Grammy Award and multiple Gold Record award winning artists. According to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Sam & Dave were the most successful soul duo, and brought the sounds of the black gospel church to pop music with their call-and-response records. Recorded at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1965 through 1968, these included "Soul Man", "Hold On, I'm Comin", "I Thank You", "When Something is Wrong with My Baby", "Wrap It Up", and many other Southern Soul classics. Other than Aretha Franklin, no soul act during Sam & Dave's Stax years (1965-1968) had more consistent R&B chart success, including 10 consecutive top 20 singles and 3 consecutive top 10 LPs.

John Coltrane (1926 – 1967)

John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Starting in bebop and hard bop, Coltrane later pioneered free jazz. He influenced generations of other musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history. He was astonishingly prolific: he made about fifty recordings as a leader in his twelve-year-long recording career, and appeared as a sideman on many other albums, notably with trumpeter Miles Davis.

As his career progressed, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension. His second wife was pianist Alice Coltrane, and their son Ravi Coltrane is also a saxophonist. He received a posthumous Special Citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board in 2007 for his "masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_coltrane

"Mississippi" John Hurt (1893 - 1966)

Mississippi" John Smith Hurt (July 3, 1893, or March 8, 1892, Teoc, Carroll County, Mississippi - November 2, 1966, Grenada, Mississippi) was an influential blues singer and guitarist. Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, he learned to play guitar at age 9. He spent much of his youth playing old time music for friends and dances, earning a living as a farm hand into the 1920s. In 1923 he partnered with the fiddle player Willie Narmour (Carroll County Blues) as a substitute for his regular partner Shell Smith. When Narmour got a chance to record for Okeh Records as a prize for winning first place in a 1928 fiddle contest, Narmour recommended John Hurt to Okeh Records producer Tommy Rockwell. After auditioning "Monday Morning Blues" at his home, he took part in two recording sessions, in Memphis and New York City (See Discography below). The "Mississippi" tag was added by Okeh as a sales gimmick. After the commercial failure of the resulting records, and OKeh records going out of business during the depression, Hurt returned to Avalon and obscurity, working as a sharecropper and playing local parties and dances.

In 1963, however, a folk musicologist named Tom Hoskins, inspired by the recordings, was able to locate[5] John Hurt near Avalon, Mississippi. In fact, in an early recording, Hurt sang of "Avalon, my home town." Seeing that Hurt's guitar playing skills were still intact, Hoskins encouraged him to move to Washington, DC, and begin performing on a wider stage. Whereas his first releases had coincided with the Great Depression, his new career could hardly have been better timed. A stellar performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival saw his star rise amongst the new "folk revival" audience, and before his death in 1966 he played extensively in colleges, concert halls, coffee houses and even the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, as well as recording three further albums for Vanguard Records. John Hurt's influence spans several music genres including blues, country, bluegrass, folk and contemporary rock and roll. A soft-spoken man, his nature was reflected in the work, which remained a mellow mix of country, blues and old time music to the end.

Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) The Greatest Guitarist of All Time

James Marshall Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter whose guitar playing continues to be a considerable influence on rock music. After initial success in Europe, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.

Hendrix often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar feedback. [2] Hendrix, along with bands such as Cream was one of the musicians who popularized the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends and use of legato based around the pentatonic scale. He was influenced by blues artists such as B. B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, as well as by some modern jazz. In 1966, Hendrix, who played and recorded with Little Richard's band from 1964 to 1965, was quoted as saying, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice."

Carlos Santana has suggested that Hendrix' music may have been influenced by his Native American heritage. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic and phasing effects for rock recording.

Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage "Blue plaque" was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the top guitarist on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003.

From Wiki

Dorothy Donegan (April 6, 1922 — May 19, 1998)

Dorothy Donegan (April 6, 1922 — May 19, 1998) was a classically trained jazz pianist primarily known for performing in the stride piano and boogie-woogie style. She also played bop, swing jazz, and classical music. Obituaries for her argued that her flamboyant personality, tendency to mix unrelated genres in the same concert, and willingness to do lounge music may have caused her to be undervalued in jazz circles.

Donegan was born and grew up in Chicago, Illinois and began studying classical piano at age six. In her early years, she studied at the Chicago Musical College and by age eight her potential was recognized. In the 1940s she became Art Tatum's protégée and in 1942 she made her recording debut. She appeared in Sensations of 1945 with Cab Calloway, Gene Rodgers and W. C. Fields and was known for her work in Chicago nightclubs. She began a trio in 1945, but then returned to solo work. She expressed some interest in returning to classical music after this.

Her first six albums would prove to be obscure when compared to her success at live performance. It was not until the 1980s that her work gained notice in the recorded jazz world, and her live albums from 1991 perhaps gained her the most acclaim. Even at that point, she remained best known for concerts and live performances. At these she would draw crowds with her eclectic mixture of styles and her personality. She died of cancer in 1998 in Los Angeles, California and in the same year was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

The Jazz Academy of Music's JAM CAMP 2009

Announcing The Jazz Academy of Music's JAM CAMP 2009
June 29 - July 17, 2009 from 1 to 5 p.m. (no camp July 3)
Sligo Middle School
1401 Dennis Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20902

This camp was founded and is run by professional musician and teacher Paul Carr. The staff is comprised of professional jazz musicians who also have extensive teaching experience.

Students who have achieved the proficiency level of advanced beginner and above are eligible to attend the camp. Students will be admitted to the camp on a first -come, first -served basis until all instrument slots are filled.

During camp days, students work in Big Band and Small Combo sessions and learn an overview of the history of jazz and improvisation and music theory. Master Classes with visiting, established recording artists are also held periodically during camp sessions, and the camp culminates in a final concert in which campers perform with a Grammy-award winning artist.

This is an outstanding opportunity for students to gain an appreciation for the jazz artform and gain valuable playing experience. Slots can fill quickly. Please visit the Jazz Academy website, www.JazzAcademy.org to learn more about the camp and to register.

Paul Robeson at St Paul's Cathedral in London

In the 1920s, Robeson found fame as an actor and singing star of both stage and radio with his bass voice and commanding presence. He was one of the few true basses in American music, with his beautiful and powerful voice descending as low as C below the bass clef. In addition to his stage performances, his renditions of old spirituals were acclaimed; Robeson and his accompanist and arranger Lawrence Brown were the first to bring them to the concert stage. Paul Robeson also recorded over a hundred songs, making him first black actor to attempt to play roles which had dignity and stressed African pride.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson

Paul Robeson Discuss Othello

In 1930 Robeson starred in the title role in William Shakespeare's Othello in England, when no U.S. company would employ him for the part. Peggy Ashcroft co-starred as Desdemona. He would reprise the role in New York in 1943, and tour the U.S. with it until 1945. His Broadway run of Othello is still, as of 2009, the longest of any Shakespeare play. He won the Spingarn Medal in 1945 for his portrayal of Othello. For the Broadway production Uta Hagen played Desdemona, and José Ferrer played Iago. Robeson's final portrayal of Othello in 1959 at The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon was directed by Tony Richardson and also proved to be his theatrical swan song.

Robeson also played the role of Joe, which was written for him, in the 1928 London production of Show Boat, and repeated his performance in the 1932 Broadway revival of the show, the 1936 film version, and a 1940 Los Angeles stage production. His rendition of "Ol' Man River" is widely considered the definitive version of the song with Robeson making alterations to the lyrics to transform it from a song of black lament to one of defiance and perseverance.

Paul Robeson- Old Man River

Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an African American actor of film and stage, All-American and professional athlete, writer, multi-lingual orator, lawyer, and basso profondo concert singer who was also noted for his wide-ranging social justice activism. A forerunner of the civil rights movement, Robeson was a trades union activist, peace activist, Phi Beta Kappa Society laureate, and a recipient of the Spingarn Medal and Stalin Peace Prize. Robeson achieved worldwide fame and recognition during his life for his artistic accomplishments, and his outspoken, radical beliefs which largely clashed with the colonial powers of Western Europe and the Jim Crow climate of pre-civil rights America.

Paul Robeson was the first major concert star to popularize the performance of Negro spirituals and was the first black actor of the 20th century to portray William Shakespeare's Othello. His 1943-44 Broadway run of Othello still holds the record for longest running Shakespeare play. Despite Robeson's vocal dissatisfaction with movie stereotypes, his roles in both the American and British film industry were some of the first parts ever created that displayed dignity and respect for the African American film actor, paving the way for Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte.

Muddy Waters - You Can't Loose What Your Never Had

On November 25, 1976, Muddy Waters performed at The Band's farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco. The concert was released as both a record and a film, The Last Waltz, featuring Waters' performance of "Mannish Boy" with Paul Butterfield on harmonica.

In 1977 Johnny Winter convinced his label, Blue Sky, to sign Waters, the beginning of a fruitful partnership. Waters' "comeback" LP, Hard Again, was recorded in just two days and was a return to the original Chicago sound he had created 25 years earlier, thanks to Winter's production. Former Waters sideman James Cotton contributed harmonica on the Grammy Award-winning album and a brief but well-received tour followed.

The Muddy Waters Blues Band included guitarist Bob Margolin, pianist Pinetop Perkins, and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Winter played guitar in addition to producing. Waters asked James Cotton to play harp on the session, and Cotton brought his bassist Charles Calmese. According to Margolin's liner notes, Waters did not play guitar during these sessions. The album covers a broad spectrum of styles, from the opening of "Mannish Boy", with shouts and hollers throughout, to the old-style Delta blues of "I Can't Be Satisfied", with a National Steel solo by Winter, to Cotton's screeching intro to "The Blues Had a Baby", to the moaning closer "Little Girl". Its live feel harks back to the Chess Records days, and it evokes a feeling of intimacy and cooperative musicianship

Silver Spring Stage Presents "A Bad Friend" 2/20-3/15

Silver Spring Stage Presents "A Bad Friend" Powerful and Personal Drama 2/20-3/15

by BWW News Desk

Silver Spring Stage presents A Bad Friend by Jules Feiffer, directed by Seth Ghitelman and produced by Brenda Ryan Ghitelman, set in the 1950's McCarthy era, an eloquent and honest story of a teenager trying to find her own voice in a time when having one's own ideas are under threat. The community theatre premiere of A Bad Friend will perform weekends February 20 to March 15.

Silver Spring Stage is located in the Woodmoor Shopping Center, lower level (next to the CVS) at Colesville Road and University Boulevard. Ticket prices range from $13 to $18. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday matinees on March 1 and March 15 at 2:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased at www.ssstage.org. Information is also available=2 0by calling (301) 593-6036.

Known prominently for his humorous and biting Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoons, Jules Feiffer has used words and pictures for half a century powerfully and personally to express the uniqueness of one's individual ideas. He's still going strong at 80 with a body of work of plays, screenplays, children's books and artwork. Feiffer said about his own work that it dealt "with going up against authority and conventional wisdom, and how people use language not to communicate, and the use of power in relationships." A Bad Friend, written in 2003, revives an era where individual ideas were considered dangerous. However, he tells the story through the timeless prism of a young woman trying to find her own way in adolescent rebellion to her parents while captivated by an intriguing stranger who seems to understand her. Feiffer based the characters on himself and his sister who was a member of the Communist Party in the 1950's. The Feiffer household as recreated in A Bad Friend was a scene of lively discourse on politics. Feiffer jested once: 'Do you think I would have dared write this if my sister were alive?'. Though set 50 years ago, A Bad Friend resonates today as encouraging and expressing individualism in society is a precious liberty in constant need of nourishment. Feiffer presents a moving and honest portrait of a young woman in search of her own character and inspiration - a search that all of us can remember.

Set in Brooklyn during the 1950's McCarthy era, A Bad Friend introduces the household of Shelly and Naomi Wallach (GorDon Adams and Sally Cusenza), a middle-aged couple who are as fervently opposed to McCarthyism, anti-Semitism and exploitation of the working class as they are passionately committed to the Rosenbergs, civil rights and Stalin. Their independent-minded teenage daughter, Rose (Lauren Uberman), squirms under the weight of her parents' oppressive Marxist principles. She meets a man Emil (Craig Miller) on the Brooklyn Heights promenade one day and develops a friendship with him. That friendship, however, comes under scrutiny as there is suspicion as to Emil's interest in the Wallach family and their involvement with communism. Naomi's brother Morty (Brian Turley) is a screenwriter and seeming victim of the Blacklist. Entering the picture, Fallon (Stuart Fischer) is investigating the entire scenario. Feiffer builds the tension and suspense between Rose and her mother and Rose and her "friend" as to the lines between personal and politics and the price of one's beliefs.

The production team includes Anne Cary (Assistant Director/Stage Manager), Mikel Stitka (Set Design), Peter Caress (Light Design), Ed Moser (Sound Design), Crystal Fergusson (Costume Design), and Linda Senne (Props Design).

The Stage's 2008-2009 "Find Yourself" season continues with the provocative expose on the 10th anniversary of the school massacre columbinus (Apr. 3-26), comic romp As Bees in Honey Drown (May 15-Jun. 7), and classic Agatha Christie suspense The Mousetrap (Jun. 26-July 26).

Silver Spring Stage is grateful for support from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and the Maryland State Arts Council.

From Broadway World

Muddy Waters - Got my Mojo Workin'

McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1915 – April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues". He is also the actual father of blues musicians Big Bill Morganfield and Larry "Mud Morganfield" Williams. Considered one of the greatest bluesmen of all time, Muddy Waters was a huge inspiration for the British beat explosion in the 1960s[1] and considered by many to be one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. In 2004 Waters was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

His influence is tremendous, over a variety of music genres: blues, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, folk, jazz, and country. Waters also helped Chuck Berry get his first record contract. His 1958 tour of England marked possibly the first time amplified, modern urban blues was heard there, although on his first tour he was the only one amplified. His backing was provided by Englishman Chris Barber's trad jazz group. (One critic retreated to the toilets to write his review because he found the band so loud.)

The Rolling Stones named themselves after Waters' 1950 song "Rollin' Stone", (also known as "Catfish Blues", which Jimi Hendrix covered as well). Cream covered "Rollin' and Tumblin'" on their 1966 debut album Fresh Cream, as Eric Clapton was a big fan of Muddy Waters when he was growing up, and Waters' music influenced Clapton's music career. The song was also covered by Canned Heat at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival and later adapted by Bob Dylan on the album Modern Times. One of Led Zeppelin's biggest hits, "Whole Lotta Love", is lyrically based upon the Waters hit "You Need Love", written by Willie Dixon. Dixon wrote some of Muddy Waters' most famous songs, including "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (a big radio hit for Etta James, as well as the 1970s rock band Foghat), "Hoochie Coochie Man," which The Allman Brothers Band famously covered, and "I'm Ready", which was covered by Humble Pie. In 1993, Paul Rodgers released the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters, on which he covered a number of Muddy Waters songs, including "Louisiana Blues", "Rollin' Stone", "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I'm Ready" (among others) in collaboration with a number of famous guitarists such as Brian May and Jeff Beck.

from Wiki

Etta James - "At Last"

Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938) is an American blues, soul, R&B, rock & roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter. James is the winner of four Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame both in 1999 and 2008.[2] In the 1950s and 60s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer. She is best known for performing "At Last", which has been featured in many movies, television shows, commercials, and web-streaming services since its release. James has a contralto vocal range.

Etta James had once been considered one of the most overlooked Blues and R&B musicians in American music history. It wasn't until the early 1990s when James began receiving major industry awards from the Grammys and the Blues Foundation that she began to receive wide recognition. In recent years, she has been seen as bridging the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. James has influenced a wide variety of American musicians including Janis Joplin, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Christina Aguilera and even Hayley Williams of Paramore as well as British artists The Rolling Stones and Adele. Beyonce Knowles has also cited James as a musical influence.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head

Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was a pioneering Gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist who attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and early rock accompaniment. She became the first great recording star of Gospel music in the late 1930s and also became known as the "original soul sister" of recorded music.

Willing to cross the line between sacred and secular by performing her inspirational music of 'light' in the 'darkness' of the nightclubs and concert halls with big bands behind her, her witty, idiosyncratic style also left a lasting mark on more conventional gospel artists, such as Ira Tucker, Sr., of the Dixie Hummingbirds. While she offended some conservative churchgoers with her forays into the world of pop music, she never left gospel music.

Born Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, she began performing at age four, billed as "Little Rosetta Nubin, the singing and guitar playing miracle", accompanying her mother, Church of God in Christ (COGIC) evangelist Katie Bell Nubin, who played mandolin and preached at tent revivals throughout the South. Exposed to both blues and jazz both in the South and after her family moved to Chicago in the late 1920s, she played blues and jazz in private, while performing gospel music in public settings. Her unique style reflected those secular influences: she bent notes the way that jazz artists did and picked guitar like Memphis Minnie.

A number of musicians, ranging from Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis to Isaac Hayes and Aretha Franklin, have identified her—or, more particularly, her singing, guitar playing and showmanship—as an important influence on them. Little Richard referred to the stomping, shouting Gospel music legend as his favorite singer when he was a child. In 1945, she heard Richard sing prior to her concert at the Macon City Auditorium and later invited him on stage to sing with her. Following the show, she paid him for his performance. Johnny Cash's daughter Rosanne similarly stated in an interview with Larry King that Tharpe was her father's favorite singer.

Mahalia Jackson - He's got the the whole world in his hand!

Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911[1] – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer, widely regarded as the best in the history of the genre, and is the first "Queen of Gospel Music". With her powerful, distinct voice, Mahalia Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world. She recorded about 35 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen "golds"—million-sellers. She had a contralto voice range.

Mahalia Jackson is widely regarded as the greatest gospel singer in history and one of the great voices of the twentieth century. Her music was never played widely on any but traditional gospel and traditional Christian radio stations. Her music was heard for decades on Family Radio. Her good friend Martin Luther King Jr said, "A voice like hers comes along once in a millennium."

In addition to sharing her singing talent with the world, she mentored the extraordinarily gifted Aretha Franklin. Mahalia was also good friends with Dorothy Norwood and fellow Chicago-based gospel singer Albertina Walker (who is the present "Queen of Gospel Music", heir to Mahalia's legacy.) She also discovered a young Della Reese.

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences created the Gospel Music or Other Religious Recording category for Mahalia making her the first Gospel Music Artist to win the prestigeous Grammy Award. She performed for Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. She has also given performances for Queen Elizabeth II and Sir Winston Churchill of the U.K., the King and Queen of Denmark, the Presidents of France and Liberia, the Empress of Japan, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India, the prime ministers of several Caribbean islands and several other heads of state and political figures worldwide.

from Wiki

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974)

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.

Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential figures in jazz, if not in all American music. His reputation has increased since his death, including a special award citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board.

Ellington called his style and sound "American Music" rather than jazz, and liked to describe those who impressed him as "beyond category." These included many of the musicians who served with his orchestra, some of whom were considered among the giants of jazz and performed with Ellington's orchestra for decades. While many were noteworthy in their own right, it was Ellington who melded them into one of the most well-known orchestral units in the history of jazz. He often composed specifically for the style and skills of these individuals, such as "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Concerto for Cootie" ("Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me") for Cootie Williams and "The Mooche" for Tricky Sam Nanton. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan" and "Perdido" which brought the "Spanish Tinge" to big-band jazz. After 1941, he frequently collaborated with composer-arranger Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his alter-ego.

One of the 20th century's best-known artists, Ellington recorded for many American record companies, and appeared in several films. Ellington and his orchestra toured the United States and Europe regularly before and after World War II. Ellington led his band from 1923 until his death in 1974.

From Wiki

Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers - Jumpin Jive

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was a famous American jazz singer and bandleader.

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86.

Calloway was born in a middle-class family in Rochester, New York, on Christmas Day 1907 and lived there, until 1918, on Sycamore Street. He was later raised in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Cabell Calloway II, was a lawyer and his mother, Martha Eulalia Reed, was a teacher and church organist. His parents recognized their son's musical talent and he began private voice lessons in 1922. He continued to study music and voice throughout his formal schooling. Despite his parents' and vocal teachers' disapproval of jazz, Calloway began frequenting and eventually performing in many of Baltimore's jazz clubs, where he was mentored by drummer Chick Webb and pianist Johnny Jones.

In 1931 he recorded his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher". That song and "St. James Infirmary Blues" and "The Old Man Of The Mountain" were performed for the Betty Boop animated shorts Minnie the Moocher, Snow White and The Old Man of the Mountain, respectively. Through rotoscoping, Calloway not only gave his voice to these cartoons but his dance steps as well. He took advantage of this and timed his concerts in some communities with the release of the films in order to make the most of the attention. As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher" he became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man". He also performed in a series of short films for Paramount in the 1930s (Calloway and Ellington were featured on film more than any other jazz orchestras of the era). In 1943 he appeared in the high-profile 20th Century Fox musical film, Stormy Weather.

The Toys - Lovers Concerto

The Toys were an American pop girl group from Jamaica, New York, which was formed in 1961 and disbanded in 1968. The trio consisted of Barbara Harris (who sang lead most of the time), Barbara Parritt (born 1 October 1944, Wilmington, North Carolina), and June Montiero (born 1 July 1946, Queens, New York).

The Toys were discovered at a talent show by manager Vince Marc, who introduced them to songwriters Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell. Linzer and Randell wrote most of the songs recorded by them, including their U.S. #2 hit single "A Lover's Concerto", and also produced the group's 1965-66 recordings on Bob Crewe's DynoVoice record label. Global sales of this disc exceeded two million copies, with a gold record awarded by the R.I.A.A. in 1965. Their first U.S. tour was with Gene Pitney. In 1967 the group changed labels and producers, but charted only one more minor single (a cover of Brian Hyland's "Sealed with a Kiss") before breaking up.

The Toys appeared on most of the major TV rock programs, including Shindig!, Hullabaloo, and American Bandstand.They also had a cameo role in the 1967 beach movie It's a Bikini World.

from Wiki

The Five Satins - In the Still of the Night - 1956

The Five Satins are an American doo wop group, best known for their 1956 song, "In the Still of the Night".

The group, formed in New Haven, Connecticut, consisted of leader Fred Parris, Lou Peebles, Stanley Dortch, Ed Martin and Jim Freeman in 1954. With little success, the group reorganized, with Dortch and Peebles leaving, and new member Al Denby entering. The group then recorded "In the Still of the Night", which was originally released as the b-side to the single, "The Jones Girl". The single was released the following year, and "In the Still of the Night" ended up charting at number three on the R&B chart and number 25 on the pop charts. Parris entered the Army soon after, and the group reorganized again, with Martin, Freeman, Tommy Killebrew, Jessie Murphy and new lead Bill Baker. This lineup hit with another highly successful song, Billy Dawn Smith's "To The Aisle".

Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which developed in African-American communities in the 1940s and which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s the 1960s.[1] An African-American vocal style known as doo-wop emerged from the streets of north-eastern Rust Belt cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Baltimore. With its smooth, consonant vocal harmonies, doo-wop was one of the most mainstream, pop-oriented R&B styles of the 1950s.

Ray Charles - Hit the Road, Jack!

Besides winning 17 Grammy Awards in his career (include five posthumous ones), Charles was also honored in many other ways. In 1979, he was one of the first honorees of the Georgia State Music Hall of Fame being recognized for being a musician born in the state. Ray's version of "Georgia On My Mind" was made into the official state song for Georgia. In 1981, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was one of the first inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural ceremony in 1986. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986. In 1987, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1991, he was inducted to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. In 1998 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize together with Ravi Shankar in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2004 he was inducted to the Jazz Hall of Fame, and inducted to the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #10 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Ray Charles - What'd I Say

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues. He brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his Modern Sounds recordings, as well as a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of the song, an American anthem — a classic, just as the man who sung it." Frank Sinatra called him "the only true genius in the business".

In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Charles number ten on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and also voted him number two on their November 2008 list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Ray Charles was not born blind, he started to lose his sight around the age of five. He was rendered totally blind by the age of seven. Charles never knew exactly why he lost his sight, though there are sources that suggest his blindness was due to glaucoma, and some other sources suggest that Ray began to lose his sight from an infection caused by soapy water to his eyes which was left untreated. He attended school at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida. He also learned how to write music and play various musical instruments. While he was there, his father died when he was ten followed by his mother five years later.

In 1959, Charles crossed over to top 40 radio with the release of his impromptu blues number, "What'd I Say", which was initially conceived while Charles was in concert. The song would reach number 1 on the R&B list and would become Charles' first top ten single on the pop charts, peaking at number 6. Charles would also record The Genius of Ray Charles, before leaving Atlantic for a more lucrative deal with ABC Records in 1959.

Hit songs such as "Georgia On My Mind" (US #1), "Hit the Road Jack" (US #1) and "Unchain My Heart" (US #9) helped him transition to pop success and his landmark 1962 album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and its sequel Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 2, helped to bring country into the mainstream of music. He also had major pop hits in 1963 with "Busted" (US #4) and "Take These Chains From My Heart" (US #8), and also scoring a Top 20 hit four years later, in 1967, with "Here We Go Again" (US #15) (which would later be duetted with Norah Jones in 2004).

Miles Davis and John Coltrane - So What - 1959

Miles Davis and John Coltrane play one of the best renditions of SO WHAT ever captured on film, live in New York, April 2, 1959. Recorded by CBS producer Robert Herridge. Cannonball Adderley had a migraine and was absent from the session. Wynton Kelly played piano--he was the regular band member at this time--but Bill Evans had played on the original recording of "So What" on March 2, 1959. The other musicians seen in the film were part of the Gil Evans Orchestra, who performed selections from "Miles Ahead". Jimmy Cobb on drums.

--YouTube

Miles Dewey Davis III - Kind of Blue

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jazz records; he was partially responsible for the development of hard bop and modal jazz, and both jazz-funk and jazz fusion arose from his work with other musicians in the late 1960s and early 1970s; and his final album blended jazz and rap. Many leading jazz musicians made their names in Davis's groups, including: Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, saxophonists John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, George Coleman, and Kenny Garrett, drummer Tony Williams and guitarist John McLaughlin.

As a trumpeter, Davis had a pure, round sound but also an unusual freedom of articulation and pitch. He was known for favoring a low register and for a minimalist less-is-more playing style, but Davis was also capable of highly complex and technically demanding trumpet work.

On March 13, 2006 Davis was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame, Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame, and Down Beat's Jazz Hall of Fame.

Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released August 17, 1959 on Columbia Records, in both mono and stereo. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22 of 1959. Following the inclusion of pianist Bill Evans into his sextet, Davis followed up on the modal experimentations of his Milestones album and the '58 Sessions. The album is based entirely on modality in contrast to his earlier work with the hard bop style of jazz and its complex chord progression and improvisation.

Though precise figures have been disputed, Kind of Blue has been cited by many music writers as Davis' best-selling album, as well as the best-selling jazz record of all time. On October 7, 2008, the album was certified quadruple platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America.[5] It has also been regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz album of all time and ranks at or near the top of several "best album" lists in disparate genres. The album's influence on music, ranging from jazz to rock and classical music, has led critics to acknowledge it as one of the most influential albums of all time. In 2002, Kind of Blue was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 2003, the album was ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[13] On September 30, 2008, a box set edition of Kind of Blue was issued by Legacy Records in honor of the album's fiftieth anniversary.

Tupac Shakur - California Love Pt. 2 featuring Dr. Dre

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 — September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. In addition to his status as a top-selling recording artist, Shakur was a successful film actor and a prominent social activist. Most of Shakur's songs are about growing up amid violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in society and conflicts with other rappers. Shakur's work is known for advocating political, economic, social and racial equality, as well as his raw descriptions of violence, drug and alcohol abuse and conflicts with the law. Shakur was initially a roadie and backup dancer for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground. Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, gained critical recognition and backlash for its controversial lyrics.

Shakur became the target of lawsuits and experienced other legal problems. He was later shot five times and robbed in the lobby of a recording studio in New York City. Following the event, Shakur grew suspicious that other figures in the rap industry had prior knowledge of the incident and did not warn him; the controversy helped spark the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry. Shakur was later convicted of sexual abuse. After serving eleven months of his sentence he was released from prison on an appeal financed by Marion "Suge" Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records. In exchange for Suge's assistance, Shakur agreed to release three albums under the Death Row label.

On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He died six days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Center.

MTV ranked him at #2 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time. Shakur has become a cultural icon due to his success and influences in music and poetry in spite of his assassination more than a decade ago.

"California Love" is a hip hop song by 2Pac featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman. The song was released as 2Pac's comeback single upon his release from prison in 1995. A popular remix version of the song appeared on his 1996 double album All Eyez on Me. This is perhaps 2Pac's best-known song and his most successful, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. The song was nominated for a posthumous Grammy Award as a Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (with Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) in 1997. The song was actually written and performed by Roger Troutman in the Original Version of California Love, Tupac and Dr. Dre made a modern day version of the song.

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson (May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949)

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson dances the stairs with Shirley Temple from "The Little Colonel" (1935)

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson (May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949) was an American tap dancer and actor of stage and film. At the age of six, Robinson began dancing for a living appearing as a "hoofer" or song-and-dance man in local beer gardens. At seven, Bill dropped out of school to pursue dancing. He invented a type of dancing called stair dancing in 1884. Two years later in Washington, DC, he toured with Mayme Remington's troupe. In 1891, at the age of 12, he joined a traveling company in The South Before the War, and in 1905 worked with George Cooper as a vaudeville team. He gained great success as a nightclub and musical comedy performer, and during the next 25 years became one of the toasts of Broadway. Not until he was 50 did he dance for white audiences, having devoted his early career exclusively to appearances on the black theater circuit.

Toward the end of the vaudeville era, a white impresario, Lew Leslie, produced Blackbirds of 1928, a black revue for white audiences featuring Robinson and other black stars. From then on, his public role was that of a dapper, smiling, plaid-suited ambassador to the white world, maintaining a tenuous connection with the black show-business circles through his continuing patronage of the Hoofers Club, an entertainer's haven in Harlem.

After 1930, black revues waned in popularity, but Robinson remained in vogue with white audiences for more than a decade in some fourteen motion pictures produced by such companies as RKO, 20th Century Fox, and Paramount Pictures. Most of them had musical settings, in which he played old-fashioned roles in nostalgic romances. His most frequent role was that of an antebellum butler opposite Shirley Temple in such films as The Little Colonel (1935), The Littlest Rebel (1935), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) and Just Around the Corner (1938), or Will Rogers in In Old Kentucky.

from Wiki

James Brown & Pavarotti

James Joseph Brown, Jr. (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing.

As a prolific singer, songwriter, dancer and bandleader, Brown was a pivotal force in the music industry. He left his mark on numerous artists. Brown's music also left its mark on the rhythms of African popular music, such as afrobeat, jùjú and mbalax,[4] and provided a template for go-go music.

Brown began his professional music career in 1953 and rose to fame during the late 1950s and early 1960s on the strength of his thrilling live performances and string of smash hits. In spite of various personal problems and setbacks he continued to score hits in every decade through the 1980s. In addition to his acclaim in music, Brown was also a presence in American political affairs during the 1960s and 1970s.

Brown was recognized by numerous titles, including Soul Brother Number One, Sex Machine, Mr. Dynamite, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, The King of Funk, Minister of The New New Super Heavy Funk, Mr. Please Please Please Please Her, The Boss and foremost the Godfather of Soul.

Luciano Pavarotti Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (12 October 1935 – 6 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music. He was the most commercially successful tenor of all. He was one of "The Three Tenors" and became well known for his televised concerts and media appearances. Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work benefiting refugees, the Red Cross and other causes.

Pavarotti began his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy. He sang in opera houses in The Netherlands, Vienna, London, Ankara, Budapest and Barcelona. The young tenor earned valuable experience and recognition while touring Australia at the invitation of soprano Joan Sutherland in 1965. He made his US debut in Miami soon afterwards, also on Sutherland's recommendation. His position as a leading tenor was consolidated in the years between 1966 and 1972, during which time he first appeared at Milan's La Scala and other major European houses. In 1968, he debuted at New York City's Metropolitan Opera with La fille du régiment, earning considerable acclaim with his "high C" and leading to worldwide fame for the brilliance and beauty of his tone, especially into the upper register.

Whitney Houston, CeCe Winans and Shirley Caesar Gospel Medley

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, record producer, film producer, and former fashion model. Houston rose to international fame in the mid-1980s and her crossover success opened doors for many other African American women to find success in pop music and movies. She has been referred to as "The Voice", and is known for her "powerful, penetrating pop-gospel voice".

Priscilla Winans Love (born on October 8, 1964) and known professionally as CeCe Winans, is an American Gospel singer and winner of numerous Grammy Awards and Stellar Awards. CeCe began her solo career with the Gold certified album Alone in His Presence. It was released in 1995 and earned her a Grammy Award and 2 Dove Awards including the Female Vocalist of the Year, an award she earned again in 1997. Winans' next release, Everlasting Love was released in 1998. The song "On That Day" from the album was written and produced by R&B singer Lauryn Hill. Later that year, Winans released His Gift a holiday album.

Shirley Caesar (born October 13, 1938 in Durham, North Carolina) is an American Gospel music singer. She is a multi-award winner with eleven Grammy awards and seven Dove awards to her credit. She is a graduate of Shaw University with a degree in Business Administration. She also received an honorary doctorate from Shaw University and another one from Southeastern University. Pastor Shirley has recorded over forty albums since the 60s exploring her gift and spreading messages of faith. She has participated in over 16 compilations and three gospel musicals, Mama I Want to Sing, Sing: Mama 2, and Born to Sing: Mama 3.

from Wiki

The Temptations, One of Motown's Best!

The Temptations (sometimes abbreviated as The Temps or The Tempts) are an American vocal group that achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.

Formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1960 as The Elgins, the Temptations have always featured at least five African American male vocalists/dancers. The group, known for its recognizable choreography, distinct harmonies, and onstage suits, has been said to be as influential to soul as The Beatles are to pop and rock. Having sold an estimated 22 million albums by 1982, The Temptations are one of the most successful groups in music history and were the definitive male vocal group of the 1960s. In addition, they have the second-longest tenure on Motown (behind Stevie Wonder), as they were with the label for a total of 40 years: 16 years from 1961 to 1977, and 24 more from 1980 to 2004 (from 1977 to 1980, they were signed to Atlantic Records). As of 2008, the Temptations continue to perform and record for Universal Records with the one living original member, founder Otis Williams, still in its lineup.

from Wiki

Shizumi and Kodomo Dance Troupe - Sunday, Feb 8, 4pm at Round House Theatre

Lumina Studio Theatre & Carpe Diem Arts present

SHIZUMI SHIGETO MANALE
From Kyogen and Noh to Samurai and Kimono
Two Millennia of Japanese Dance, Theater, Music & Literature

Also featuring THE SHIZUMI KODOMO DANCE TROUPE

Sunday, February 8, 2009 ~ 4 pm - Round House Theatre

A one-hour performance with Shizumi, also featuring the Shizumi Kodomo Dance Troupe ~ followed by a five-minute trailer of the film "Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard: Seeds of Hope"

Proceeds will benefit Shizumi's documentary film project directed by local filmmaker Bryan Reichhardt.

NOTE: Following the performance, audience members can opt to stay for a slide showing of photos by Elliot Berlin, Ann Riley and Lauren Poor ~ from SHOGUN CAESAR (Julius Caesar set in feudal Japan), produced in December by Lumina Studio Theatre in partnership with Shizumi and Pyramid Atlantic

Admission $15 /$25 benefit tickets

Tickets available at www.brownpapertickets.com and at the door ~ space permitting

For more information please contact Busy Graham at 301-466-0183 or busygraham@gmail.com

Visit shizumidance.com ~ kodomodance.org ~ boru.net ~ ClassActsArts.org

Ruby Dee performs her poem, "Daughter", as Odetta plays "When I Was A Young Girl

Ruby Dee performs her poem, "Daughter", as Odetta plays "When I Was A Young Girl." Aired in 1981.

Ruby Dee (born 27 October 1924) is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist. Dee made several appearances on Broadway before receiving national recognition for her role in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story. Her career in acting has crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades, including the films A Raisin in the Sun, in which she recreated her stage role as a suffering housewife in the projects, and Edge of the City. She played both roles opposite Sidney Poitier. During the 1960s, Dee appeared in such politically charged films as Gone Are the Days and The Incident, which is recognized as helping pave the way for young African-American actors and filmmakers. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2007 for her portrayal of Mama Lucas in American Gangster. She won the SAG award for the same performance. At 83 years old, Dee is currently the second oldest nominee for Best Supporting Actress, behind Gloria Stuart who was 87 for her role in Titanic.

Odetta Holmes, (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. An important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, she was influential musically and ideologically to many of the key figures of the folk-revival of that time, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples, and Janis Joplin.

from Wiki

Bill Cosby, American Comedian, Actor, Author and More

William Henry Cosby Jr., Ed.D. (born July 12, 1937) is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy. He later starred in his own series, The Bill Cosby Show, in 1969. He was one of the major characters on the children's television show The Electric Company for its first two seasons, and created the humorous educational cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, about a group of young friends growing up in the city. Cosby also acted in numerous films.

During the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in what is considered one of the decade's defining sitcoms, The Cosby Show, which lasted eight seasons from 1984 to 1992, and is still seen in syndication. The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an upper middle-class African-American family. He also produced the hit sitcom A Different World, which became second to The Cosby Show in ratings.

In the 1990s, Cosby starred in Cosby, which aired from 1996 to 2000, and during the show's last two seasons, hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things, and appeared in a number of movies. He has also appeared on the stand-up circuit.

His good-natured, fatherly image has made him a popular personality and garnered him the nickname of "America's Dad". He has also been a sought-after spokesman and over the years has plugged numerous products including Jell-O Pudding, Kodak Film, Ford, Texas Instruments and Coca-Cola (as well as New Coke).

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Bill Cosby on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

from Wiki

Barack Obama Inauguration - Aretha Franklin - Sings 'America' My Country Tis Of Thee

Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as "The Queen of Soul"[1]. Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, R&B and gospel. She is widely acclaimed for her passionate vocal style and powerful range. In 2008, the American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Franklin #1 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time.

Franklin is one of the most honored artists by the Grammy Awards, with 18 wins to date, as well as the Living Legend Grammy and the Lifetime Achievement Grammy. She also sang at the presidential inauguration of 44th President of the United States Barack Obama. She has scored a total of 20 #1 singles on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, two of which also became #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Respect" (1967) and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (1987), a duet with George Michael. Since 1961, Franklin has scored a total of 45 "Top 40" hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Me and Bobby McGee by Charlie Pride

Charley Frank Pride (born March 18, 1938) is a country music artist. During his career, he has had thirty-six number-one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. He is one of the few African-American country musicians to have had considerable success in the largely Caucasian country music industry and the only one to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.

Pride was born in Sledge, Mississippi, one of eleven children of poor sharecroppers. His father named him "Charl Frank Pride", but because of an error on his birth certificate, his legal name is Charley Frank Pride. In his early teens, Pride began playing guitar.

Though he also loved music, one of Pride's life-long dreams was to become a professional baseball player. In 1952, he pitched for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League. He pitched well, and, in 1953, he signed a contract with the Boise Yankees, the Class C farm team of the New York Yankees. During that season, an injury caused him to lose the "mustard" on his fastball, and he was sent to the Yankees' Class D team in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Later that season, while in the Negro Leagues with the Louisville Clippers, he and another player (Jesse Mitchell), were traded to the Birmingham Black Barons for a team bus. "Jesse and I may have the distinction of being the only players in history to be traded for a used motor vehicle," Pride mused in his 1994 autobiography.

Jessye Norman And Kathleen Battle

Jessye Norman (born September 15, 1945) is a four-time Grammy Award-winning African American opera singer. Norman is one of the most admired contemporary opera singers and recitalists, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music. A true dramatic soprano with a majestic stage presence, Norman is associated in particular with the roles of Aïda, Cassandre, Alceste, and Leonora in Fidelio. Norman is known for the direct and emotionally expressive qualities of her singing and for her formidable intellectual understanding of the music and its style, as well as first-rate musicianship. As a performer, she is known for her magnetic and dramatic personality, and, with her imposing physical presence, cuts an impressive, "just enormous" figure before audiences. According to Curt Sanburn in Life, Norman on stage creates the perception of one who "veritably looms behind her lyrics." Norman's public manner combines an apparent hauteur with flashes of disarming humor, putting her squarely in the venerable operatic tradition of the Diva, to the extent that many credit her as the inspiration for the title character in the 1981 French film Diva.

Kathleen Battle (born August 13, 1948, Portsmouth, Ohio, USA) is an African-American soprano known for her agile and light voice and her silvery, pure tone. One of the most prominent recitalists and opera singers of her generation, she is admired for her wide ranging recital repertoire and performances of the operas of Handel and Mozart. Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid 1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975 and by the early 1980s had become a favorite at many of the world's best opera houses within the soubrette repertoire. Battle expanded her repertoire into light lyric soprano and lyric coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1985, Michael Walsh of Time magazine called her the best lyric coloratura in the world. Although she no longer appears in operas, Battle remains active in concert and recital performances.

Hank Crawford, Musician-Arranger Collaborated With Ray Charles - 1934 - 2009

By Terence McArdle, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, February 3, 2009; B06

Hank Crawford, 74, an influential alto saxophonist and arranger who toured with rhythm and blues innovator Ray Charles and jazz organist Jimmy McGriff, died Jan. 29 at his home in Memphis. He had been in declining health after suffering a stroke in 2000.

Mr. Crawford was best known for the plaintive, bluesy quality he brought to the alto saxophone. Critics regarded Mr. Crawford as one of the best exponents of soul-jazz, a style that explored the connections of jazz to its roots in gospel music and the blues.

"You can honk or squeal on a tenor sax and get away with it," he once told jazz writer Cam Miller, "but an alto sax was meant to sing. . . . When I pick up my horn, I'm never far away from voices in the church choir I grew up with."

Mr. Crawford wrote several instrumentals for the Charles band, including "Sherry," recorded for the live album "Ray Charles at Newport" (1959). Backed by the Charles group, he recorded his first album, "The Art of Hank Crawford" (1960), the first of several he made for Atlantic Records.

Mr. Crawford left the Charles band to form his own septet in 1963 and continued to record as a leader for the next three decades. He was also in demand for recording sessions by such artists as Etta James and Lou Rawls as both an accompanist and arranger.

Bennie Ross Crawford Jr. was born Dec. 21, 1934, in Memphis. He started taking piano lessons at 9 and within a year was playing for a church choir.

Mr. Crawford took up alto saxophone while in his high school jazz band, where classmates included jazz notables such as pianist Harold Mabern and tenor saxophonist George Coleman. By graduation, Mr. Crawford was working professionally with local Memphis performers Ike Turner, B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland.

While majoring in music theory and composition at Tennessee State University in Nashville, he also led a quartet he called Little Hank and the Rhythm Kings. The group recorded a jump blues single for a small local label in 1956, with Mr. Crawford on vocals.

Mr. Crawford joined the Charles band in 1958 as a substitute for baritone saxophonist Leroy Cooper. Two years later, Charles expanded his ensemble to a big band and made Mr. Crawford its band director. On alto sax, Mr. Crawford shared the solo spotlight with tenor saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, who died Jan. 20.

"Ray was tough, a real general, but the only thing he really demanded is that you get it right," Mr. Crawford said of Charles. "And sometimes that meant playing it so slowly, it had no tempo at all . . . no beat at all, yet it was always in time. . . . I already knew how to write [arrangements] when I was hired by Ray, but I had no idea such a natural feeling would exist between us."

His nine-year association with Atlantic Records yielded a bluesy hit that crossed over to rhythm and blues radio, "The Peeper" (1962). In an entirely different vein, he recorded an easy-listening album of standards and recent pop hits, "The Soul of the Ballad" (1963).

In the 1970s he recorded extensively for producer Creed Taylor's Kudu label and allowed others to arrange his material. Taylor, who brought guitarist George Benson and saxophonist Grover Washington to a wider audience, combined Mr. Crawford's earthy sax with layers of horns, keyboard synthesizers, strings and background voices. Jazz critics dismissed the records as commercial, and the sales proved them right.

Mr. Crawford returned to soul-jazz in later years, co-leading groups with Newman and organist Jimmy McGriff.

His wife, the former Gladys Brooks, died in the late 1990s. Survivors include two children; six siblings; and a granddaughter. Mr. Crawford said he took pride in his commercial success and his way with an audience.

"I found out as a young musician in Memphis that if you weren't reaching people, and having them pat their foot, then there was nothing happening," he told the Los Angeles Times. "So I've always played for the average listener, rather than the jazz die-hard."

http://tinyurl.com/cj2l95

More Than Dance : Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The 50th anniversary of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater marks a great celebration for the dance company, who has now performed for over 21 million people worldwide since its conception.

Moreover the dance company's desire to promote African American culture and modern dance has won it recognition by a congressional resolution as a American Cultural Ambassador to the World.

At the root of the dance company is faith in God. Founder Alvin Ailey found inspiration through spirtuals and gospels during his upbringing. March 29, 2008

WBGO Studio Session: Robert Glasper Trio - "Enoch's (Inaugural) Meditation"

Check out Robert Glasper's Enoch's Meditation on YouTube

Jazz pianist Robert Glasper plays an original composition "Enoch's Meditation," with narrative from Martin Luther King's 1966 "We Shall Overcome" speech, Barack Obama's presidential election night victory speech from Grant Park in Chicago, audio from Dr. Cornel West, and a spontaneous piano reharmonization of the presidential anthem, "Hail to the Chief." This performance was recorded January 14th at WBGO Studios in Newark, New Jersey. Produced by Josh Jackson. Mix by Josh Webb, with assistance from David Tallacksen. Happy Inauguration 2009, from the jazz community!

Silver Spring Town Center, Inc. Celebrates Black History Month

Throughout Black History Month, the Silver Spring Town Center, Inc. will periodically highlight the artistic and cultural contributions of African Americans through its blog.

Black History Month is a annual remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora.

The remembrance was originated in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson as "Negro History Week". Woodson chose the second week of February because it marked the birthdays of two Americans who greatly influenced the lives and social condition of African Americans: former President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Woodson also founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. [www.asalh.org]

More on Black History Month at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_History_Month