Today in Music History

From Wikipedia.

Arthur "Art" Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990),^[1] known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader.

Along with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach, he was one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming. He is known as a powerful musician and a vital groover; his brand of bluesy, funky hard bop was and continues to be profoundly influential on mainstream jazz. For more than 30 years his band, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, included many young musicians who went on to become prominent names in jazz. The band's legacy is thus not only known for the music it produced, but as a proving ground for several generations of jazz musicians;^[2] Blakey's groups are matched only by those of Miles Davis in this regard.^[3]

Blakey was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame (in 1982), the Grammy Hall of Fame (in 2001), and was awarded the Grammy Lifetime.

Today in Music History

Presents: Today in Music History: Thelonious Monk born today in 1917, one of the giants of American jazz pianists and composers. Known for his use of dissonant harmonies, angular melodic twists and odd timing, his s unorthodox style became his trademark..admired by many--rivaled by none. He died in 1982 but his music lives on.

Monk is the second-most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk wrote about 70.

Monk's manner was idiosyncratic. Visually, he was renowned for his distinctive style in suits, hats and sunglasses. He was also noted for the fact that at times, while the other musicians in the band continued playing, he would stop, stand up from the keyboard and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano. He is one of five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of Time (the other four being Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, and Dave Brubeck) as of 2010.

Above: Seen here in 1966 in Poland with Charlie Rouse - tenor sax, Larry Gales - bass  and Ben Riley – drums.

Today in Music History

Born on this day in 1944, John Entwistle, bass player for The Who. Entwistle died in Las Vegas on June 27th, 2002 (RIP) John and The Who with a 1982 performance of Eminence Front in Toronto!

Today in Music History

Born on this day in 1940, John Lennon.  Feel the Jaco Pastorius tribute to the Beatles (and John):. A rare cover by Jaco's Punk Jazz Trio, only months before the great bassist's tragic death, featuring: Kenwood Dennard on drums, The late, great Hiram Bullock on guitar and of course--Jaco on bass.

Today in Music History

Today in music history. Oct. 4, 1966, Having moved to and living in London, England, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding played together for the first time - The Jimi Hendrix Experience were formed.