Tag Archives: arranger

March 29: Today’s Music History

Posted by MaryO on

. 1788 ~ Charles Wesley, writer of over 5,500 hymns and, with his brother John, the founder of Methodism, died.

. 1871 ~ The Royal Albert Hall in London opened

. 1878 ~ Albert Von Tilzer, Composer.  He was the composer of “Take Me out to the Ball Game” among other old favorites.
More information about Von Tilzer

. 1879 ~ “Eugene Onegin”, best-known opera by Russian composer Tchaikovsky, was first performed at the Maliy Theatre in Moscow

. 1888 ~ Charles-Valentin Alkan died.  He was a French composer and pianist.

. 1902 ~ Sir William Walton, British composer
More information about Walton

. 1906 ~ E. Power Biggs, English Organist

. 1918 ~ Pearl Mae Bailey, American jazz singer, lead in black cast of Hello Dolly

. 1936 ~ Richard Rodney Bennett, British composer

. 1943 ~ Vangelis, (Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou), composer/keyboardist (Chariots of Fire)

. 1947 ~ Bobby Kimball (Toteaux), Singer with Toto

. 1949 ~ Michael Brecker, Jazz musician, reeds with The Brecker Brothers

. 1951 ~ The King and I, the wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on Margaret Langdon’s novel, Anna and the King of Siam, opened this night in 1951 on Broadway. The King and I starred Yul Brynner in the role of the King of Siam. The king who, along with his subjects, valued tradition above all else. From this day forward, the role of the King of Siam belonged to Yul Brynner and no other. Brynner appeared in this part in more than 4,000 performances on both stage and screen (the Broadway show was adapted for Hollywood in 1956). Anna, the English governess hired to teach the King’s dozens of children, was portrayed by Gertrude Lawrence. Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Brynner acted, danced and sang their way into our hearts with such memorable tunes as Getting to Know You, Shall We Dance, Hello, Young Lovers, I Whistle a Happy Tune, We Kiss in a Shadow, I Have Dreamed, Something Wonderful, A Puzzlement and March of the Siamese Children. The King and I ran for a total of 1,246 outstanding performances at New York’s St. James Theatre.

. 1952 ~ Roy Henderson’s last singing performance was on this date in the role of Christus in Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” at Southwark Cathedral, the Anglican cathedral on the south bank of the Thames in London.

. 1958 ~ W.C. (William Christopher) Handy, Composer passed away
More information about Handy

. 1963 ~ M.C. Hammer (Stanley Kirk Burrell), Grammy Award-winning singer

. 1973 ~ Hommy, the Puerto Rican version of the rock opera Tommy, opened in New York City. The production was staged at Carnegie Hall.

. 1973 ~ After recording On the Cover of ‘Rolling Stone’, Dr. Hook finally got a group shot on the cover of Jann Wenner’s popular rock magazine. Inside, a Rolling Stone writer confirmed that members of the group (Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) bought five copies of the magazine for their moms – just like in the song’s lyrics!

. 1980 ~ Annunzio Paolo Mantovani, Anglo-Italian conductor and arranger, died. Created the “Mantovani sound” that made him a highly successful recording artist and concert attraction.

. 1982 ~ Carl Orff, German composer of “Carmina Burana,” died.

. 1982 ~ Ray Bloch passed away

. 1999 ~ Legendary U.S. jazz and blues singer Joe Williams died aged 80.

. 2001 ~ John Lewis, a pianist who masterminded one of the most famous ensembles in jazz, the Modern Jazz Quartet, died at the age of 80. The M.J.Q., as the quartet was known, remained mostly unchanged from the mid-1950’s to the 90’s. It began recording in 1952 with Lewis, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Kenny Clarke. When Clarke moved to Paris in 1955, Connie Kay replaced him and the quartet continued until Kay’s death in 1994. Lewis contributed the bulk of the group’s compositions and arrangements, including Django and Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West, and he insisted members wear tuxedos to dignify jazz as an art. He was born in LaGrange, Ill., in 1920, and grew up in Albuquerque, N.M. His entree to the jazz world came during World War II, when he met Kenny Clarke, an established drummer in the nascent bebop movement. At Clarke’s urging, Lewis moved to New York after his discharge and eventually replaced Thelonious Monk as Dizzy Gillespie’s pianist. He also performed or recorded with Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Ella Fitzgerald. In 1952 he formed the M.J.Q. with Clarke, Jackson and Heath. The quartet was a steady seller of records and concert tickets well into the 1970’s. Lewis also taught music at Harvard and the City College of New York, and in the late 1950’s helped found the Lenox School of Jazz in Massachusetts.

. 2009 ~ Maurice Jarre, French composer (Doctor Zhivago-Acadamy Award winner in 1966), died at the age of 84

March 24: Today’s Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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. 1784 ~ Mozart‘s Piano Concerto No. 15 in B flat, K. 450 in B flat, K. 450 was first performed.  Mozart was the soloist.

It is a concertante work for piano, or pianoforte, and orchestra.  Mozart composed the concerto for performance at a series of concerts at the Vienna venues of the Trattnerhof and the Burgtheater. In a letter to his father, Mozart compared this concerto with the 16th concerto in D:

“I consider them both to be concertos which make one sweat, but the B flat one beats the one in D for difficulty.” Indeed, many pianists consider this to be the most difficult of all of Mozart’s piano concertos. The concerto is primarily difficult from its many quick scale patterns which must be played perfectly and also from its many fast chord patterns moving up and down.

Beginning with this concerto, Mozart began to use the term “grand” to describe his concerti such as K.450 which feature a prominent and required wind section for the ensemble. The work is orchestrated for solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings.

The concerto is in three movements:
1. Allegro
2. Andante in E-flat major
3. Allegro

. 1808 ~ María Felicità Malibran, Spanish contralto

. 1895 ~ Arthur Murray, dancer

. 1900 ~ June (Algeria Junius) Clark, Musician, trumpeter

. 1916 ~ Enrique Granados, Spanish composer, died in the English Channel. Best known for his piano suite “Goyescas” after paintings by Goya.

. 1920 ~ Gene Nelson (Eugene Leander Berg), Actor, dancer in Lullaby of Broadway, Oklahoma, Tea for Two, The West Point Story

. 1922 ~ Dave Appell, Arranger for big bands: Benny Carter, Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines; TV music director, record producer, singer, songwriter, musician with Dave Appell and the Applejacks

. 1928 ~ Byron Janis (Yanks), American pianist, NBC Symphony Orchestra; well-known piano performance on Hugo Winterhalter’s Rhapsody in Blue recording, composed by George Gershwin.

. 1935 ~ After a year as a local show from New York City, “Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour” was heard on the entire NBC radio network. The show stayed on the air for 17 years. Later, Ted Mack took over for Bowes and made the move from radio to television.

. 1937 ~ Benjamin Luxon, British baritone

. 1941 ~ Glenn Miller began work on his first motion picture for 20th Century Fox. The film was Sun Valley Serenade.

. 1958 ~ Elvis Presley reported to local draft board 86 in Memphis, TN. He became US 53310761. Oddly, since Elvis was now ‘government property’ serving his time in the Army, Uncle Sam stood to lose an estimated $500,000 in lost taxes each year that Private Presley was in the Army.

. 1980 ~ Capitol Records released some rare Beatles tracks. Included in the album were stereo versions of Penny Lane and She Loves You, sung by the group in German, under the title, Sie Liebt Dich. Also included was a German version of I Want to Hold Your Hand or, in the Teutonic tongue, Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand.

. 2000 ~ French Quarter pianist and chanteuse Lily Simha Hood, whose fans included Tennessee Williams, died of kidney failure. She was cagey about revealing her age, and her husband asked that the secret remain with her death. Her musical career began on a whim. After dinner one night in 1976, the Hoods and a friend stopped at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, a Bourbon Street bar across from their house. Mrs. Hood played a few tunes on the piano for her friend and was hired on the spot, even though she wasn’t looking for a job. Soon, “Miss Lily” had a crowd of regulars including Tennessee Williams, who would bring in a songbook for her to sing from. Mrs. Hood never formally studied the piano and never learned to read music. She was self-taught and learned by listening. She performed at Lafitte’s for 16 years, but health problems ended her career about 1993.

March 11: Today’s Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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. 1851 ~ The first performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Rigoletto” was given in Venice.

“Rigoletto lacks melody.  This opera has hardly any chance of being kept in the repertoire.” ~ Gazette Musicale de Paris, reviewing Rigoletto shortly after its premiere.

. 1876 ~ Carl Ruggles, American composer

. 1897 ~ Henry Dixon Cowell, American composer
More information about Cowell

. 1903 ~ Lawrence Welk, American accordionist and conductor of “champagne” music
More information about Welk

. 1914 ~ William Lloyd Webber, English composer

. 1919 ~ Mercer Ellington, Trumpeter, bandleader, songwriter, only son of Duke Ellington. He led the Duke’s band after he died.

. 1921 ~ Astor Piazzola, Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player and arranger

and

. 1942 ~ Vaughn Monroe and his orchestra recorded the classic, Sleepy Lagoon. It was the last song Monroe would record for Bluebird Records. Vaughn sang on the track while Ray Conniff played trombone. Both later moved to different record companies. Monroe went with RCA and Conniff to Columbia. The big-voiced baritone of Monroe was regularly heard on radio and he was featured in several movies in the 1950s. He died in May 1973. Racing With the Moon and Ghost Riders in the Sky were two of his greatest contributions to popular music.

. 1950 ~ Bobby McFerrin, Singer, pianist, jazz musician, songwriter, improvisational solo, McFerrin can sing all vocal parts and imitate instruments.

. 1968 ~ Otis Redding posthumously received a gold record for the single, (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay. Redding was killed in a plane crash in Lake Monona in Madison, WI on December 10, 1967. The song was recorded just three days before his untimely death. He recorded 11 charted hit songs between 1965 and 1969. Otis Redding was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

. 1975 ~ Philip Bezanson, composer, died at the age of 59. He helped guide the Department of Music at UMass Amherst through its period of rapid expansion in the late 1960s and early 1970s (when Mrs. O was a student there!). After graduate study (PhD 1954) and appointment to the faculty at the University of Iowa, Bezanson was brought to UMass in 1964 to become Head of the Music Department and helped to expand and reorient the program, recruiting an increasingly accomplished faculty, including his former student Frederick Tillis.

. 1985 ~ DJs around the U.S. began questioning listeners to see which ones could name the 46 pop music stars who appeared on the hit, We Are the World. The song, airing first on this day as a single, contains a “Who’s Who” of contemporary pop music.

.1997 – Paul McCartney from the Beatles was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

. 2000 ~ Roy Henderson, a baritone famed for his performances of Frederick Delius’ works and a teacher of Kathleen Ferrier, died. He was 100.

. 2003 ~ Sidney Lippman, a songwriter who helped compose hits for Nat King Cole and other artists, died. He was 89. Lippman, who studied musical composition at the Juilliard School in New York, wrote or co-wrote several well-known songs, including Too Young, a song Cole took to the top of the charts in 1951. That hit, co-written by longtime collaborator Sylvia Dee, came two years after he teamed up with Buddy Kaye and Fred Wise on ‘A’ You’re Adorable (The Alphabet Song), a No. 1 hit performed by Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters.

. 2007 ~ Betty Hutton [Elizabeth June Thornburg], American actress, dancer, singer and comedian (Greatest Show on Earth), died of colon cancer at the age of 86

and

. 2015 ~ Jimmy Greenspoon died.  He was an American keyboard player and composer, best known as a member of the band, Three Dog Night.

. 2018 ~ Ken Dodd, British singer and comedian described as “the last great music hall entertainer,” died of complications from a chest infection at the age of 90.

February 16: On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on

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. 1709 ~ Charles Avison, English composer during the Baroque and Classical periods. He was a church organist at St John The Baptist Church in Newcastle and at St. Nicholas’s Church.

. 1878 ~ Selim Palmgren, Finnish composer, pianist, and conductor

. 1866 ~ David Mannes, American violinist and conductor; founder of the Mannes College of music

. 1896 ~ Alexander Brailowsky, Pianist

. 1901 ~ Wayne King, ‘The Waltz King’, saxophonist and bandleader

. 1907 ~ Alec Wilder, American composer, arranger and songwriter

. 1910 ~ Albert Heinrich Zabel died.  He was a German composer and virtuoso harpist.

. 1915 ~ Emil Waldteufel, [Charles Levy], French composer (Estudiantina), died

 

. 1916 ~ Bill Doggett, Musician

. 1918 ~ Patti Andrews (Patricia Marie Andrews), Lead singer with The Andrews Sisters

. 1935 ~ Sonny (Salvatore) Bono, Singer in the group Sonny and Cher. He later became mayor of Palm Springs, CA and a US Congressman

. 1938 ~ John Corigliano, American composer
More information about Corigliano

. 1939 ~ Herbie & Harold Kalin, Singers, The Kalin Twins

. 1942 ~ Shep Fields and his orchestra recorded Jersey Bounce on Bluebird Records.

. 1951 ~ Sonny Bono is best remembered as one half of Sonny and Cher the American pop music, acting and married couple duo who were popular from 1964 to 1977 when they split. Cher went on to become one of the most popular and biggest-selling artists in the history of contemporary music. Sonny Bono went on to become an actor and later in 1995 became a U.S. House of Representatives for California’s 44th district. He was killed in a skiing accident in 1998.

. 1956 ~ James Ingram, Singer

. 1963 ~ The Beatles moved to the top of the British rock charts with Please, Please Me exactly one month after the record was released. It was the start of the Beatles domination of the British music charts, as well as the beginning of the British Invasion in America and elsewhere around the world.

. 1968 ~ Elvis Presley received a gold record for his sacred album of hymns, How< Great Thou Art. Despite his popularity in the pop music world, Elvis won only 3 Grammy Awards — one for this album, the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1970; then for He Touched Me in 1972. He did, however, receive over a dozen Grammy nominations.

. 1972 ~ Led Zeppelin made their Australian live debut when they kicked off a six-date tour at the Subiaco Oval, Perth. Police battled with over 500 fans who rammed locked gates trying to get into the concert. Over 4,000 fans stood outside the venue without tickets and local residents jammed police phone lines to complain about the noise.

. 2015 ~ Leslie Gore died.  She was an American singer. At the age of 16, in 1963, she recorded the pop hit “It’s My Party”, and followed it up with other hits including “Judy’s Turn to Cry” and “You Don’t Own Me”.

August 8: On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on

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Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

 

 

• 1886 ~ Pietro Yon, Italian composer
More information about Yon

• 1899 ~ Russell Markert, Choreographer, founded and directed the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes

• 1905 ~ André Jovilet, French composer and conductor

• 1907 ~ Benny Carter, American jazz solo saxophonist, trumpeter, composer and arranger

• 1921 ~ Roger Nixon, American composer

• 1921 ~ Webb Pierce, Singer

• 1923 ~ Jimmy Witherspoon, Singer

• 1923 ~ Benny Goodman was 14 years old as he began his professional career as a clarinet player. He took a job in a band on a Chicago-based excursion boat on Lake Michigan.

• 1926 ~ Urbie (Urban) Green, Musician, trombonist who played with Cab Calloway

• 1932 ~ Mel Tillis, Singer, songwriter

• 1933 ~ Joe Tex (Arrington, Jr.), Singer

• 1934 ~ Bing Crosby became the first singer to record for the newly created Decca Records. His songs, Just A-Wearyin’ For You and I Love You Truly, were recorded as Decca number D-100.

• 1938 ~ Connie Stevens (Concetta Ingolia), Singer

• 1939 ~ Philip Balsley, Singer with The Statler Brothers

• 1941 ~ Les Brown and His Band of Renown paid tribute to baseball’s “Yankee Clipper”, Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees, with the recording of Joltin’ JoeDiMaggio on Okeh Records. From that time on, DiMaggio adopted the nickname, Joltin’ Joe.

• 1949 ~ Keith Carradine, Actor and composer, whose recording of I’m Easy reached No. 17 on the U.S. charts in 1976.

• 1950 ~ Andy Fairweather-Low, Musician, guitar, singer with Amen Corner

• 1958 ~ Harry (Harry Lillis III) Crosby, Singer and actor, son of Bing Crosby and Kathryn Grant

• 1958 ~ Chris Foreman, Musician, guitar with Madness

• 1960 ~ Tell Laura I Love Her, by Ray Peterson, wasn’t a big hit in Great Britain. Decca Records in England said the song was “too tasteless and vulgar for the English sensibility.” They destroyed 25,000 of the platters this day.

• 1961 ~ The Edge (David Evans), Musician, guitar with U2

• 1974 ~ Roberta Flack received a gold record for the single, Feel Like Makin’ Love. Flack, born in Asheville, NC and raised in Arlington, VA, was awarded a music scholarship to Howard University in Washington, DC at the age of 15. One of her classmates became a singing partner on several hit songs. Donny Hathaway joined Flack on You’ve Got a Friend, Where is the Love and The Closer I Get to You. She had 10 hits on the pop charts in the 1970s and 1980s.

• 1975 ~ Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderly passed away

• 1997 ~ Duncan Swift, jazz pianist, died at the age of 74

• 2017 ~ Glen Campbell died at the age of 81. He was an American singer, songwriter, musician, television host, and actor.

August 2: On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1891 ~ Sir Arthur Bliss, British composer
Read quotes by and about Bliss

• 1900 ~ Helen Morgan (Riggins), Pop Singer

• 1905 ~ Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer

• 1924 ~ Joe Harnell, Conductor and arranger

• 1925 ~ John Dexter, Opera director, Mid-America Chorale

• 1921 ~ Enrico Caruso, Italian operatic tenor, died in Naples.

• 1926 ~ The first demonstration of the Vitaphone system, that combined picture and sound for movies, was held at the Warner Theatre in New York City. John Barrymore and Mary Astor starred in the demonstration film for the new moving picture projector.

• 1935 ~ Hank Cochran, Pop Singer and songwriter

• 1937 ~ Garth Hudson, Musician, keyboard with The Band

• 1937 ~ Benny Goodman and his quartet recorded Smiles for Victor Records. Playing with Goodman’s clarinet on the famous song were Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa.

• 1939 ~ Edwin Patten, Singer with Gladys Knight & The Pips

• 1941 ~ Doris Kenner-Jackson (Coley), Singer with The Shirelles

• 1943 ~ Kathy Lennon, Singer with The Lennon Sisters

• 1951 ~ Andrew Gold, Singer, son of composer Ernest Gold

• 1991 ~ Jeri Southern passed away

• 1997 – Nigeria’s musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who popularized the Afro-music beat globally, died of AIDS aged 58.

• 2000 ~ Helen Quinn, who for more than 30 years presided over the Metropolitan Opera patrons who lined up to buy standing-room tickets, died at the age of 76. Often called the Queen of Standees by those who allowed her to take charge of the ticket queue, Quinn was herself a veteran of standing-room lines at the Met, and attended five or six performances a week, almost always as a standee. In 1966, on her own initiative, she imposed a system on the standee process that the throng of regulars was apparently happy to abide by, and to which the Met gave tacit approval.

• 2001 ~ Ron Townson, the portly centerpiece singer for the Grammy-winning pop group  The 5th Dimension, died of renal failure after a four-year battle with kidney disease. He was 68.  Other members of the reconstituted group – known for such 1960s hits as Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In, Wedding Bell Blues and Stoned Soul Picnic – performed at the Capitol Fourth music and fireworks show on July 4 in Washington, D.C.   Declining health had forced Townson to retire from The 5th Dimension in 1997, bringing to an end a career that saw him tour with such music legends as Nat King’ Cole and Dorothy Dandridge, appear in operas and direct choirs. He helped front The 5th Dimension when the group’s smooth mixture of pop, jazz, gospel, and rhythm and blues won it four Grammys in 1968 for the Jimmy Webb song Up Up and Away. Other hits included One Less Bell to Answer and Sweet Blindness. As various members left The 5th Dimension in the 1970s to pursue solo projects, Townson formed the group Ron Townson and Wild Honey. Later, he reunited with McLemore and LaRue in a new version of The 5th Dimension that included Phyllis Battle and Greg Walker. He also appeared on television and in films, including the 1992 movie The Mambo Kings.

• 2002 ~ Freidann Parker, co-founder of the Colorado Ballet, died at the age of 77.  Colorado Ballet co-founder Lillian Covillo met Parker in the late 1940s in a dance class taught by Martha Wilcox. The two began the Covillo-Parker School of Dance, and then a fledgling ballet company. After an ambitious double bill in 1961, they created Colorado Concert Ballet, which presented Denver’s first Nutcracker the following season. Every performance sold out. By 1978, the board of directors more than doubled its budget to $100,000, and Colorado Ballet was born. Today its budget has grown to $7 million with a roster of 40 dancers. Parker’s first dance lessons were with Iris Potter. She later trained with modern-dance pioneer Hanya Holm.

 

• 2020 ~ Leon Fleisher, American pianist and conductor, died at the age of 92. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho has called him “one of the most refined and transcendent musicians the United States has ever produced”.

In 1964, Fleisher lost the use of his right hand, due to a condition that was eventually diagnosed as focal dystonia. Fleisher commenced performing and recording the left-handed repertoire while searching for a cure for his condition. In addition, he undertook conducting during this time, serving at one time as Music Director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra in Maryland. In the 1990s, Fleisher was able to ameliorate his focal dystonia symptoms after experimental botox injections to the point where he could play with both hands again.

 

July 18: On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on

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Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

 

 

• 0064 ~ Rome burned on this day – while Nero fiddled, literally.

• 1670 ~ Giovanni Battista Bononcini, Italian composer

• 1909 ~ Harriet Nelson (Hilliard) (Peggy Lou Snyder). Singer in Ozzie Nelson’s orchestra; actress in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Follow the Fleet and Rick & Dave’s mother

• 1910 ~ Lou Busch (Joe ‘Fingers’ Carr), Musician: piano, arranger, composer

• 1913 ~ Red (Richard) Skelton, Emmy Award-winning comedian: The Red Skelton Show ATAS Governor’s Award, recording artist

• 1927 ~ Kurt Masur, German conductor

• 1929 ~ Screamin’ Jay (Jalacy) Hawkins Rhythm and Blues singer, pianist. I Put a Spell on You was voted one of 50 greatest songs of the 1950s by Rolling Stone magazine

• 1931 ~ ‘Papa Dee’ (Thomas) Allen, Musician, keyboards

• 1939 ~ Dion DiMucci born, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer with Dion and the Belmonts

• 1939 ~ Brian Auger born, Musician, keyboards with the Mahavishnu Players

• 1941 ~ Lonnie Mack (McIntosh) born, Musician: guitar: Memphis

• 1941 ~ Martha Reeves, American Rhythm and Blues singer with Martha and the Vandellas

• 1964 ~ The 4 Seasons reached the top spot on the record charts with Rag Doll, the group’s fourth hit to climb to the #1 position. The song stayed on top for two weeks. Other #1 hits by Frankie Valli and company include, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like a Man, and December 1963 (Oh, What a Night).

• 1968 ~ Hugh Masekela struck gold with the breezy, latin-soul instrumental Grazing in the Grass, while Gary Puckett and The Union Gap received a similar honor for the hit, Lady Willpower. Masekela, a trumpeter since age 14, saw Grazing in the Grass go to number one for two weeks (July 20/27). Grazing was his only entry on the pop music charts. The Union Gap scored three more million-sellers in the late 1960s: Woman, Woman, Young Girl and Over You. The Union Gap was formed in 1967 and named after the town of Union Gap, Washington.

• 1983 ~ Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel took to the road to begin a 19-city tour beginning in Akron, OH. It was the first tour by the popular singing duo since their success in the 1960s.

 

• 2001 ~ Mimi Farina, sister of folk singer Joan Baez and founder of an organization that brought free live music performances to the sick and imprisoned, died of complications related to cancer. She was 56. She founded Bread & Roses in 1974. The organization produced 500 shows annually for audiences in senior centers, psychiatric, rehabilitation and correctional facilities as well as centers for abused and neglected children. Long part of the San Francisco Bay area’s folk music elite as a singer herself, Farina drew many fellow musical luminaries to take part in performances. Her sister, Jackson Browne, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt and Peter, Paul and Mary all volunteered their services to make Bread & Roses and long-running success. Farina was the youngest of three daughters and was raised a Quaker alongside siblings Joan Baez and Pauline Bryan. She learned the guitar with her sister Joan during the folk music revival of the late 1950s and frequently played the folk scene around Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass.

• 2002 ~ Seymour Solomon, co-founder of Vanguard Records, a label that dominated American folk music with stars such as Joan Baez, died. He was 80. Solomon founded Vanguard in 1950 with his brother, Maynard. The label recorded famed artists like Odetta, Baez and Buffy Sainte-Marie. It also signed such jazz and blues legends as Mississippi John Hurt and Buddy Guy and maintained a strong classical list. From its earliest days, the Solomons took risks, signing performers like the Weavers and Paul Robeson who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Starting in 1959, Vanguard recorded the Newport Folk Festival, and later recorded the Newport Jazz festival as well. Solomon and his brother sold Vanguard in 1985 to the Welk Record Group, and three years later opened Omega Classics. He later bought back Vanguard’s old classical catalog and reissued it on compact disc. Solomon had studied violin at the Juilliard School and played in the Air Corps Orchestra during World War II. After the war, he studied musicology and worked as a critic and commentator for music magazines and radio stations.

June 4: On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on

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Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

 

• 1585 ~ Marc-Antoine de Muret, Composer, died at the age of 58

• 1770 ~ James Hewitt, Composer

• 1846 ~ Josef Sittard, Music writer

• 1872 ~ Stanislaw Moniuszko, Composer, died at the age of 53

• 1585 ~ Erno Rapee (1891) Hungarian conductor

• 1899 ~ Leo Spies, Composer

• 1905 ~ Carl Albert Loeschhorn, Composer, pianist and Royal Professor died at the age of 85

• 1907 ~ Marjan Kozina, Composer

• 1907 ~ Agathe Grondahl, Composer, died at the age of 59

• 1909 ~ Paul Nordoff, American composer of the Frog Prince

• 1913 ~ Bruno Bettinelli, Composer

• 1915 ~ William Charles Denis Browne, Composer, died at the age of t 26

• 1919 ~ Robert Merrill (Moishe Miller), Metropolitan Opera singing star, baritone

• 1922 ~ Irwin Bazelon, American composer

• 1916 ~ Mildred J Hill, Composer/musician (Happy Birthday To You), died at the age of 56

• 1927 ~ Gerry Mulligan, American jazz baritone saxophonist and arranger

• 1930 ~ Morgana King, Jazz singer

• 1930 ~ Pentti Raitio, Composer

• 1931 ~ Cesar Bolanos, Composer

• 1934 ~ The Dorsey Brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, recorded Annie’s Aunt Fanny on the Brunswick label. The track featured trombonist Glenn Miller, who also vocalized on the tune.

• 1937 ~ Freddie Fender, Guitarist

• 1940 ~ Dorothy Rudd Moore, Composer

• 1942 ~ Glenn Wallichs did what was called ‘promotion’ for Capitol Records in Hollywood. He came up with the idea that he could send copies of Capitol’s new records to influential radio announcers all around the U.S. and, maybe, add to the chances that stations would play the records. The practice would soon become common among most record labels.

• 1944 ~ Roger Ball, Musician, saxophonist and keyboards with Average White Band

• 1945 ~ Anthony Braxton, Jazz musician
Read more about Braxton

• 1945 ~ Michelle Phillips (Holly Michelle Gilliam), Singer with The Mamas and the Papas

• 1945 ~ Gordon Waller, Singer with Peter and Gordon

• 1951 ~ Conductor Serge Koussevitsky died. Born in Russia, he conducted the State Symphony Orchestra in Petrograd before moving to the U.S. to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Read more about Serge Koussevitsky

• 1956 ~ Max Kowalski, Composer, died at the age of 73

• 1961 ~ “Wildcat” closed at Alvin Theater NYC after 172 performances

• 1963 ~ First transmission of Pop Go The Beatles on BBC radio

• 1964 ~ The Beatles “World Tour” begins in Copenhagen Denmark

• 1972 ~ Godfried Devreese, Composer, died at the age of 79

• 1978 ~ 32nd Tony Awards: Da and Ain’t Misbehavin’ won

• 1988 ~ “Cabaret” closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 262 performances

• 1988 ~ 42nd Tony Awards: M Butterfly and Phantom of the Opera won

• 1989 ~ Vaclav Kaslik, Czech opera Composer/conductor, died at the age of 71

• 1994 ~ Derek Lek Leckenby, rock guitarist (Herman’s Hermits), died at the age of 48

• 1994 ~ Earle Warren, Alto sax player, died at the age of 79

• 1995 ~ 49th Tony Awards: Love! Valour! Compassion! and Sunset Boulevard won

• 1997 ~ Ronnie Lane, bassist (Faces), died at the age of 50 of multiple sclerosis

• 2001 ~ John Hartford, a versatile and wry performer who wrote the standard Gentle on My Mind and turned his back on Hollywood to return to bluegrass music, died Monday at the age of 63. He was a singer-songwriter, comedian, tap-clog dancer, television performer and riverboat enthusiast. Gentle on My Mind has been broadcast on radio or television more than 6 million times, according to Broadcast Music Incorporated, which collects song royalties. It has been recorded more than 300 times, most prominently by Glen Campbell in 1967. Hartford’s career rambled from Hollywood to Nashville, with stops writing and performing on network television, thousands of shows at bluegrass clubs and festivals, and stints as a licensed steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. At the height of his fame in the early 1970s, Hartford reconsidered his decision to take an offer to star in a detective series on CBS. Instead, he returned to Nashville and resumed his career as an innovative, relatively low-profile bluegrass singer-songwriter. “I knew that if I did it, I would never live it down,” Hartford said of the television series in a 2000 interview. “Because then when I went back to music, people would start saying, `Oh, he didn’t make it in acting so he’s gone country.”‘ Born in New York City and raised in St. Louis, Hartford was enthralled as a youngster by riverboats and bluegrass music, in particular that of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. He moved to Nashville in 1965, and his first album “John Hartford Looks at Life” was released the following year. Hartford’s version of Gentle on My Mind from second album “Earthwords & Music” was a minor hit in 1967. The song is about a hobo whose mind is eased by the thought of a former lover. Hartford moved to California in 1968, landing a job writing and performing on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” His went on to the cast of “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.” Returning to Nashville in 1971, Hartford released the landmark acoustic album “Aereo-Plain” and continued to record until his death. He was one of the performers on the hit soundtrack to the film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

June 1: On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on

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Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

 

• 1893 ~ Allesandre Spontone, Composer

• 1653 ~ Georg Muffat, Composer

• 1755 ~ Frederico Fiorillo, Italian Violist and composer

• 1757 ~ Ignaz Playel, Austrian Composer and piano builder

• 1763 ~ Johann Caspar Vogler, Composer, died at the age of 67

• 1765 ~ Friedrich Ludwig Seidel, Composer

• 1769 ~ Joseph Antoni Frantiszek Elsner, Composer

• 1771 ~ Ferdinando Paer, Composer

• 1776 ~ John George Schetky, Composer

• 1804 ~ Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer; “The Father of Russian Music”
More information about Glinka

• 1810 ~ Johann Paul Wessely, Composer, died at the age of 47

• 1826 ~ Carl Bechstein, German piano inventor

• 1826 ~ Hermann Zopff, Composer

• 1848 ~ Otto Valdemar Malling, Composer

• 1886 ~ Ernst Kurth, Austrian/Swiss musicologist

• 1892 ~ Samuel L M Barlow, Composer

• 1893 ~ Opera “Falstaff” was produced in Berlin

• 1898 ~ Edgar “Cookie” Fairchild, Bandleader for the Jerry Colonna Show

• 1898 ~ Lieb Glantz, Composer

• 1903 ~ Percy William Whitlock, Composer

• 1905 ~ Dinora de Carvalho, Composer

• 1909 ~ Szymon Goldberg, Polish/American violinist and conductor

• 1909 ~ Giuseppe Martucci, Composer, died at the age of 53

• 1918 ~ Friedrich Richard Faltin, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1918 ~ Jaroslav Novotny, Composer, died at the age of 32

• 1919 ~ Boris Lazarevich Klyuzner, Composer

• 1921 ~ Nelson Riddle, Grammy Award-winning orchestra leader and arranger of popular music for Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole

• 1926 ~ Vasily Mikhaylovich Metallov, Composer, died at the age of 64

• 1929 ~ Yehudi Wyner, Composer

• 1934 ~ Pat (Charles Eugene) Boone, Singer, married to Red Foley’s daughter, Shirley

• 1935 ~ Alberto Cametti, Composer, died at the age of 64

• 1941 ~ Edo de Waart, Dutch conductor

• 1942 ~ Ernest Pingoud, Composer, died at the age of 53

• 1943 ~ Ely van Tongeren, Dutch guitarist and singer

• 1943 ~ Richard Goode, concert pianist. In 1980 he won the Avery Fisher Award

• 1945 ~ Frederica Von Stade, American mezzo-soprano

• 1945 ~ Linda Scott, Singer

• 1946 ~ Carol Neblett, American soprano with the NYC Opera

• 1947 ~ Ron Wood, Guitar with Rolling Stones after 1975

• 1949 ~ Mike Levine, Rock keyboardist/bassist

• 1950 ~ Graham Russell, Singer with Air Supply

• 1955 ~ F Melius Christiansen, Composer, died at the age of 84

• 1959 ~ Celebrating a solid year at the top of the album charts was “Johnny’s Greatest Hits” on Columbia Records. The LP stayed for several more years at or near the top of the album charts. It became the all-time album leader at 490 weeks.

• 1960 ~ “Finian’s Rainbow” closed at 46th St Theater NYC after 12 performances

• 1961 ~ There was a new sound in the air this day. FM multiplex stereo broadcasting was enjoyed for the first time by listeners to FM radio in Schenectady, NY, Los Angeles and Chicago. The FCC adopted the standard a year later.

• 1964 ~ Rutkowski Bronislaw, Composer, died at the age of 66

• 1966 ~ George Harrison was impressed by Ravi Shankar’s concert in London

• 1967 ~ The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released. One of the first critically-acclaimed rock albums, “Sgt. Pepper’s” became the number one album in the world and was at the top of the U.S. album list for 15 weeks.

• 1968 ~ Simon and Garfunkel’s Mrs Robinson hit #1

• 1970 ~ Everything was Beautiful by Ray Stevens hit #1

• 1971 ~ “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” opened at Golden NYC for 31 performances

• 1972 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch’s 15th Symphony premiered in West Berlin

• 1973 ~ George Harrison’s Living in the Material World went gold

• 1973 ~ Paul McCartney and Wings released Live and Let Die

• 1974 ~ Alanis Nadine Morisette, Singer

• 1974 ~ “My Girl Bill” by Jim Stafford hit #12

• 1975 ~ “Chicago” opened at 46th St Theater NYC for 947 performances

• 1980 ~ Barbra Streisand appeared at an ACLU Benefit in California

• 1988 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at Shubert Theatre, LA

• 1996 ~ Don Grolnick, Jazz musician, died at the age of 48

May 23: On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1644 ~ Thomas Eisenhut, Composer

• 1696 ~ Johann Caspar Vogler, Composer

• 1737 ~ Louis François Chambray, Composer

• 1741 ~ Andrea Lucchesi, Composer

• 1750 ~ Carlo Goldoni’s “Il Bugiardo,” premiered in Mantua

• 1753 ~ Giovanni Battista Viotti, Violonist and composer

• 1756 ~ Nicolas-Joseph Hullmandel, Composer

• 1759 ~ Antoinio da Silva Leite, Composer

• 1794 ~ Isaak-Ignaz Moscheles, Czech pianist and composer. One of the outstanding piano virtuosi of his era.
More information about Moscheles

• 1834 ~ Charles Wesley, Composer, died at the age of 76

• 1875 ~ Johann Wilhelm Mangold, Composer, died at the age of 78

• 1887 ~ Ludwig Mathias Lindeman, Composer, died at the age of 74

• 1906 ~ Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright notably of “Peer Gynt”, died. Grieg set Peer Gynt to music.

• 1910 ~ Artie Shaw (Arthur Arschawsky), American jazz clarinetist, bandleader, composer and arranger
More information about Shaw

• 1912 ~ Jean Françaix, French composer and pianist whose music in a light neoclassical style displays the wit and clarity of the traditional Gallic spirit.

• 1918 ~ Abie “Boogaloo” Ames, Blues and jazz pianist, was born on Big Egypt Plantation in Cruger, Miss. He began playing piano at the age of 5 and his style earned him the nickname “Boogaloo” in the 1940’s.

• 1920 ~ Helen O’Connell, Singer, married to bandleader

• 1921 ~ Humphrey Lyttelton, English jazz musician, trumpeter and broadcaster

• 1921 ~ “Shuffle Along” first black musical comedy, opened in New York City.

• 1922 ~ Abie’s Irish Rose, opened at the Fulton Theatre in New York City. The play continued for 2,327 performances and numerous revivals as well. It is estimated that some 50,000,000 people have seen the play performed somewhere in the world.

• 1923 ~ Alicia de Larrocha, Spanish pianist

• 1926 ~ Hans Koessler, Composer, died at the age of 73

• 1928 ~ Rosemary Clooney, Singer, married to Jose Ferrer

• 1929 ~ Julian Euell, Jazz/studio musician, bass

• 1934 ~ Robert A. Moog, American electrical engineer; inventor of the Moog synthesizer
More information about Moog

• 1935 ~ Jackson Hill, Composer

• 1938 ~ Singer Ray Eberle signed on as vocalist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra for $35 a week. Eberle’s first session with Miller included Don’t Wake Up My Heart, for Brunswick Records.

• 1939 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch was appointed professor at conservatory of Leningrad

• 1940 ~ Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, the Pied Pipers and featured soloist Frank Sinatra recorded I’ll Never Smile Again in New York for RCA. The tune remains one of Sinatra’s best-remembered performances.

• 1952 ~ Georg Alfred Schumann, Composer, died at the age of 85

• 1959 ~ “Party with Comden & Green” closed at John Golden New York City after 44 performances

• 1960 ~ Don and Phil, the Everly Brothers, enjoyed the day as their recording of Cathy’s Clown made it to number one on the hit music charts. The song stayed at number one for 5 weeks — a big hit for the duo.

• 1960, “Finian’s Rainbow” opened at 46th St Theater New York City for 12 performances

• 1960, Got A Girl by The Four Preps hit #24

• 1966 ~ Janet Jackson, Singer

• 1966 ~ The Beatles released “Paperback Writer”

• 1968 ~ Merle Kendrick, Orchestra leader, died at the age of 72

• 1968 ~ The Beatles opened the second Apple Boutique at 161 New Kings Road, London

• 1969 ~ Jimmy Francis McHugh, Composer, died at the age of 74

• 1975 ~ Singer B.J. Thomas received a gold record for the single with the extremely long title, (Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.

• 1987 ~ Karel Albert, Flemish Composer, died at the age of 86

• 1991 ~ William Sinnot, Scottish pop musician, died at the age of 30

• 1992 ~ Atahualpa Yupanqui, Argentinian singer, composer, poet and guitarist, died

• 1994 ~ Joe Pass, American jazz guitarist, died at the age of 65

• 1991 ~ Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (Unter dem Zimbelstern), died at the age of 95