American jazz guitarist, composer, and bandleader Grant Green, who recorded more than 30 albums, was an only child born to John Green and Martha Green in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 6, 1935. Grant’s early music lessons on the guitar were from his father, who … Read MoreGrant Green (1935-1979)
Composer, conductor, flutist, saxophonist, and pedagogic Davey Yarborough was born in 1953 in Washington, DC. He attended Paul and Rabaut Junior High Schools, and in 1971, Yarborough graduated from Coolidge Senior High School in the city. Afterward, he enrolled in the University of the District … Read MoreDavey Yarborough (1953- )
Orchestral pianist, violinist, conductor, composer, and arranger of the Swing to Bebop eras, Teddy Wilson was born Theodore Shaw Wilson on November 24, 1912, in Austin, Texas. He and his brother Gus Wilson, however, were reared on the campus of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), … Read MoreTeddy Wilson (1912-1986)
The grandson of formerly enslaved people, Walter Franklin Anderson, classical pianist, organist, composer, jazz musician, community activist, and academician, was born on May 12, 1915, in segregated Zanesville, Ohio. Walter was the sixth of nine children of humble beginnings. Information regarding his parents is not … Read MoreWalter Franklin Anderson (1915-2003)
Polish freedom fighter, jazz musician, and British citizen August Agboola Browne was born in British-controlled Lagos, Nigeria, on July 22, 1895. He was the son of Jozefina and Wallace Browne, a longshoreman. Browne traveled to London as a young man and found work in a … Read MoreAugust Agboola Browne (1895-1976)
The Golden Gate Quartet was formed in 1934 in Norfolk, Virginia, as the Golden Gate Jubilee Singers by four teenage students at Booker T. Washington High School. The founders were bass Orlandus Wilson who was born on August 27, 1917, in South Norfolk, arranger/ baritone … Read MoreThe Golden Gate Quartet (1934- )
A cappella doo-wop, gospel sextet Take 6 was formed on the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Seventh Day Adventist campus of Oakwood University in 1980 in Huntsville, Alabama. The ensemble’s repertoire includes jazz, doo-wop, Contemporary R&B, Negro Spirituals, and Classical European genres of … Read MoreTake 6 (1980- )
Composer, conductor, trumpeter Terence Oliver Blanchard, Sr. was born on March 13, 1962, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Joseph O. Blanchard, an insurance company manager, and an opera singer, and Wilhelmina Blanchard. At the age of five, Terence began piano studies, and by eight, he … Read MoreTerence Blanchard (1962- )
Grover Washington was a popular American jazz saxophonist, with a style reflecting soul-jazz and jazz funk, as well as a songwriter, throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Born in Buffalo, New York, on December 12, 1943, to Grover Washington Sr., a tenor saxophonist, and Lillian Washington, … Read MoreGrover Washington (1943-1999)
Quiet Fire, a reggae, Latin jazz, and R&B ensemble which emerged as one of the premier groups in the U.S. Virgin Islands, was founded by teenagers attending Croix Central High and St. Joseph’s Catholic high schools on St. Croix Island. They began as the Soul … Read MoreQuiet Fire (1967-2021)
