British singer/songwriter John Martyn was my favorite kind of folkie: a guy who took in a lot of different influences (jazz, folk, rock, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, blues) and tried new things with them. From his funky rock-inspired stuff to the dub-washed material from his time hanging at Lee Perry's Black Ark to the later trip-hop material, you could always count on Martyn for some of the most experimental ideas of the Brit-folkers. Born to opera singing parents, his birth name was Iain David McGeachy. He was part of the fertile Brit-folk scene of the mid-'60s, along with Nick Drake, Bert Jansch,...

In keeping with my tradition of profiling underrated reedsmen, we have to give the birthday nod to Prince Lasha! Pronounced "la-shay", our subject came from Fort Worth TX, where he played in the high school band with future icons Ornette Coleman, King Curtis, Dewey Redman, Charles Moffett and John Carter. One of the great (if underknown) flautists in progressive jazz, his music sometimes displayed Eastern-tinged qualities He may remind some of Eric Dolphy, another multi-reedsman with whom Lasha collaborated, and he played alto sax and clarinet in addition to flute. (He also was a capable singer, as they say he...

You know those people who's music everyone knows but they've never heard of it's creator? Meet Raymond Scott, one of the wackiest composers out there. He was a dada-inspired jazz bandleader, an instrument-builder, a pioneer in electronics and the composer of the Looney Tunes (arranged by Carl Stalling) and Ren & Stimpy music. Born Harry Warnow in Brooklyn to a family of Russian Jews, he started working for his brother in the CBS Radio house band as a pianist, changing his name to "Raymond Scott" (how to avoid claims of nepotism) before forming his spin-off Quintette in 1936. (It was...

With a documentary due out soon on this tragic Puerto Rican salsa sonero and songwriter, we should honor him on his date of birth. Chamaco Ramirez is most famous for singing with Tommy Olivencia, but his Alive & Kicking album is a (formerly) lost classic. From Santurce, Puerto Rico, he joined the Olivencia band as a teenager, sharing lead vocals with Paquito Guzmán. He wrote "Plante Bandera" (which later became a reggaeton hit), "Trucutu" (covered by Marc Anthony) and "Evelio Y La Rumba". He also sang with Kako and the Alegre All-Stars, among others, before his '79 classic...which turned out...

Happy birthday to the jump-blues icon Roy Brown, one of the foundational artists of rock & roll and the composer of the massive 1948 hit "Good Rocking Tonight", which was successful for both Brown and Wynonie Harris that same year. From New Orleans, he went to Los Angeles in the '40s to be a pro boxer and work in the sugarcane fields. He moved to Texas in '46, where he wrote and started performing "Good Rocking Tonight". "Hard Luck Blues" was another big one for him in 1950. After defeating King Records in court in 1952 for unpaid royalties, the...