Occupation – Education – Professor – Music
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (1971- )
Musician, songwriter, disc jockey, music journalist, film director, and drummer Ahmir Thompson, known as “Questlove,” was born January 20, 1971,...
Olly Woodrow Wilson, Jr. (1937-2018)
Olly W. Wilson, Jr. was an African American composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, double bassist, musicologist, and educator....
Billy Taylor (William Edward Taylor, Jr.) (1921-2010)
Billy Taylor was an African American jazz pianist, composer, recording artist, educator, and broadcaster. Born in Greenville, North Carolina on...
Ellis Marsalis (1934-2020)
Ellis Louis Marsalis Jr., jazz pianist and music educator, was considered the patriarch of the first family of New Orleans...
José Manuel Jiménez Berroa (1855–1917)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Concert pianist, composer, and music conservatory director José Manuel Jiménez Berroa was born on December 7,...
Yusef Abdel Lateef (1920-2013)
For over six decades Dr. Yusef A. Lateef was a major developer in the international improvisational musical field. A saxophone...
R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)
From precocious five-year-old piano player in the 1890s to internationally known choral director, composer, concert pianist, and poet, R. Nathaniel...
Lois Jean White (1938 – )
Lois Jean Barron White, the first African American president of the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), was born in Nashville,...
John Wesley Work III (1901-1967)
John Wesley Work III, internationally acclaimed composer, educator, choral director, and ethnomusicologist, was born in 1901 in Tullahoma, Tennessee to...
