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Ben E. King is one of the great baritone voices of the early soul music generation, with The Drifters and solo. Born in North Carolina, he grew up in Harlem and sang in church and in doo-wop groups. After working as a singing waiter he joined the Five Crowns in 1958, which became The Drifters (after the sacking of the Clyde McPhatter-led version). King sang on thirteen on their heavily-orchestrated gorgeous songs, including "There Goes My Baby" (which he co-wrote), "Save The Last Dance For Me" and "This Magic Moment". He rarely performed with them due to an ongoing contract...

One of my favorite multi-reed improvisors, Sam Rivers was born on this day in 1923. He came from Oklahoma, his father and grandfather were gospel singers and helped give little Sammy the music bug. After some time as a youth in Chicago & Little Rock, he started his professional career on the West Coast in the '40s, playing in Jimmy Witherspoon's band, as well as with Quincy Jones. In Boston he started working with teenage drummer Tony Williams, who in turn brought him into the Miles Davis Quintet in '64, if only for a brief spell (captured on the Miles In...

Happy birthday to Trinidadian composer André Tanker, the "Bob Dyan of T&T". Born in Port-of-Spain, he started playing the steelpan at 7 and as a teenager learned guitar and cuatro. He also played vibraphone and harmonica. He worked as an arranger for the Invaders Steel Orchestra, who were based in his neighborhood. His own Hilton Flamingos were a steady-working hotel band in the late '50s and early '60s. His late '60s & '70s work fused Caribbean folk music, Indian "chutney" music, jazz, Yoruba drumming, funk and black power themes, with Mongo Santamaría being a major influence. He scored the music...

Happy birthday to Hugo Blanco, one of the greats of Venezuelan music and the South American harp. The author of "Moliendo Café", written in 1958 and now a "world music" standard, Blanco was born in Caracas and learned to play the cuatro at 15. He fused Venezuelan folk music such as gaita and joropo with influences from Cuba and beyond. In the '60s he also introduced ska to Venezuela with his group Las Cuatro Monedas. Other notable songs of his include "La Vecina", which was featured in the Miami Vice TV show, and "La Rosa Blanca", which I first heard...

Happy birthday to the bop trumpeter Fats Navarro, good friend of Charles Mingus and a huge influence on Clifford Brown before Navarro's short life ended at just 26. Our Afro-Cuban-Chinese hero was from Key West and played in Florida and Cincinnati to begin his pro career. To Kansas City in '44, he started playing in the swing band of Andy Kirk before settling in NYC in '46. He joined Billy Eckstine's great band as well as participating in the bebop revolution with Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Tadd Dameron, Kenny Clarke and others. As a bi-lingual Latino, he also spent time jamming...