Happy birthday to the beloved Cuban singer/bandleader/composer Beny Moré! In 1942 he joined Trío Matamoros and went to Mexico with them in '45. Moré stayed in Mexico, joining the band of Perez Prado and cutting a couple dozen records with them, as well as with other orchestras. After touring Latin America, he returned to Cuba in '52 where he was still, at that time, an unknown. He started working in Havana with Bebo Valdés and cut a record with Orquesta Aragón before forming his sixteen-piece orchestra La Banda Gigante, becoming one of the most popular bands on the island and...

One of the fathers of rock & roll and a top blues shouter and dancer in his day, here is the guy Elvis Presley stole his stage moves from. From Omaha, Wynonie Harris got big locally in the '30s and took his show on the road: Kansas City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Harlem, Nashville and Texas were some key touch-down points. In '44 he joined Lucky Millinder's band and "Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well" was a #1 hit in '45. After that success he signed as an artist with Philo and hired Johnny Otis to put his band together, which...

Happy birthday to the Gray Panther Party's inspired folkie, Malvina Reynolds. She was a Socialist/activist singer-songwriter who, along with her husband, was involved in left-wing causes and labor organizing for decades. She was also a writer, guitarist, social worker, feminist, civil & gay rights activist and mother. Born into a Jewish family in San Francisco, Malvina Milder was denied a high school diploma by her school due to her parents opposition to WW1. In the '20s she played violin in a dance band before marrying labor activist Bud Reynolds in '34 and giving birth to future musician Nancy Schimmel. Being...

Happy earth arrival day to one of my favorite bassists, Malachi Favors Maghostut. Most famous for playing in my all time favorite group, the highly theatrical and musical Art Ensemble of Chicago, he's also played and recorded with all of the Art Ensemble members, as well as Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio, Archie Shepp, Cheikh Tidiane Fall, Andrew Hill, Wadada Leo Smith, Sunny Murray, Dennis Gonzalez, Fred Anderson, Muhal Richard Abrams, Dewey Redman and many, many more. Born in Mississippi, he started playing bass as a teenager and in '53 made his recording debut with Paul Bascomb after which he found...

One of my favorite musicians was John Lee Hooker and his deeply entrancing boogie, a droning one-chord style that is one of the more direct links from American electric blues to an ancient African sound pool. From the Mississippi Delta, his exact birth year is disputed. His earliest musical experience was with spirituals before learning to play the blues from his step-father. He left home at 14 and by the '30s was playing on Memphis' Beale Street. In 1943, after a few years in Cincinnati, he started working at the Ford Motors plant in Detroit while playing local clubs. Around this...