LAPL Blog
jazz
On December 6, 1920, Dave Brubeck was born. For more than sixty years, Brubeck was one of our most popular and acclaimed jazz pianists, particularly noted for his experiments with unusual rhythms.
On July 17, 1925, Jimmy Scott was born. Scott was a jazz singer with two distinct career phases. His music in the 1940s and 1950s sat on the boundary of jazz and R&B; when he reappeared in the 1990s and 2000s, it was as a singer of traditional jazz ballads.
Billy Strayhorn was born on November 29, 1915. Strayhorn was a jazz composer and arranger who spent most of his career as Duke Ellington’s creative partner.
Sonny Rollins was born on September 7, 1930. Rollins is a tenor saxophone player, and a highly influential jazz musician. Several of his compositions have become jazz standards.
Charlie Haden was born on August 6, 1937. Haden was a jazz bass player, composer, and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years.
Whether you want it hot or cool, swingin’ or slow, Dixieland or experimental, there’s jazz to fit your mood, mellow you out, pick you up. Jazz was born in New Orleans—the only place in the U.S. in the 1800s where slaves were allowed to own drums.
On April 16, 1930, Herbie Mann was born. Mann was a jazz flutist whose blending of jazz with other styles was often looked down on by jazz purists, but made him one of the best-selling jazz musicians of his era.