News & Updates — blues

Blues-boogie piano star Camille Howard was one of the better known female talents of the early R&B and jump-blues years. One of the finest blues piano players of the era, she rocked the Los Angeles scene with her own groups, as well as with her husband Roy Milton's band as pianist and occasional singer (and he drummed on many of her records). Out of Galveston TX, she was performing in the local Texas nightclubs by the mid-'30s. She moved to California in the early '40s and joined Milton's band, making her recorded debut with them in '45 for Lionel Hampton's...

The great tenor saxophonist Ben Webster was one of the best and most influential of the old-school swing saxophonists, whether jumping or sweet. Coming out of Kansas City, he got some early pro experience with Budd Johnson (Lester Young was in the band), Benny Moten, Fletcher Henderson, Andy Kirk, Benny Carter and Cab Calloway before earning a chair in the Duke Ellington band starting around '35. Webster credits one of his bandmates with the Duke, Johnny Hodges, as being a major influence on him. After a fight with Duke, he was given his walking papers in '43, and formed his...

The crown prince of dance, the comically inspirational and legendarily entertaining R&B showman Rufus Thomas was born on this day in 1917. A singer, dancer, radio DJ, comedian and father figure in a musical family, Thomas charmed everyone with his songs, dances and personality. A Memphis native, he worked with a minstrel show in the '30s and started performing on the city's nightclub scene in the '40s. He cut his first record in '41. He became a popular radio DJ on the black owned radio station WDIA and hosted talent shows on Beale St. His first big hit ("Bear Cat",...

A fine vibraphonist (and pianist) and a visionary producer, conductor and arranger, Charles Stepney was the psychedelic soul man over at Chess Records and their subsidiary Cadet Concept. Producer of classics by Ramsey Lewis, Minnie Ripperton, The Howlin' Wolf Album, Muddy Waters (Electric Mud), Terry Callier, Marlena Shaw, The Dells, The Emotions, Phil Upchurch and more, he was co-founder of Rotary Connection and Earth, Wind & Fire (although due to his contract with Chess could not always be listed in the credits). As a sideman he performed on many Chess songs, as well as played on albums by Eddie Harris,...

Singer & songwriter Don Covay came out of DC singing gospel with The Rainbows (a group that has included Marvin Gaye and another March 24 birthday Billy Stewart), making a debut recording in 1956. The next year he went to work for and tour with Little Richard. He recorded some tunes for Atlantic, Columbia and other smaller labels, did some writing at the Brill Building, and started to come into his own when he re-signed with Atlantic, and saw a big 1964 hit with "Mercy, Mercy" (with a young Jimi Hendrix on guitar). Atlantic sent him down to Stax to...