Music – Jazz

Ruth Dorothea Kennedy Ellington (1915-2004)
Ruth Dorothea Kennedy Ellington, the only sister of jazz composer and band leader Edward “Duke” Kennedy Ellington, is significant in...
February 10th, 2025

Samara Joy (1999-)
Lyric Contralto Jazz artist Samara Joy (McLendon) was born on November 11, 1999, and raised in the Castle Hill neighborhood...
February 9th, 2025

Betty Carter (1929-1998)
Jazz singer Betty Carter was born Lillie Mae Jones on May 16, 1929, in Flint, Michigan, to James Jones, a...
January 12th, 2025

Harmony In Transition: The Symbiotic Evolution of Gospel Music
The article below, written for BlackPast.org by Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., describes the role of gospel music in...
February 17th, 2024

Bobby McFerrin Jr. (1950- )
Bobby McFerrin is a popular folk-jazz vocalist known for his vocal percussion and a cappella singing, as well as his...
November 1st, 2021

Booker T & the MGs (1962-2017)
Booker T. & The MGs (the Memphis Group), a biracial jazz ensemble, was formed in 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee. The...
October 4th, 2021

Curtis DuBois Fuller (1932-2021)
Curtis DuBois Fuller was a renowned Jazz trombonist whose career spanned over 68 years as a musician, composer, and educator....
June 2nd, 2021

Daniel Bernard Roumain (1971- )
Opera composer, librettist, composer, violinist, pedagogic, and activist Daniel Bernard Roumain was born on May 3, 1971 in Skokie, Illinois....
June 2nd, 2021

Jimmy Smith (1928 – 2005)
Jazz keyboardist James Oscar (Jimmy) Smith was born on December 8, 1928, in Norristown, Pennsylvania to Willie and Agnes Smith...
June 2nd, 2021