News & Updates — Video

A huge talent lost much too early, Angá was an ace Cuban percussionist who employed an army of congas, as well as timbales and other percussion instruments. A lifelong follower of Santería, he was born in Pinar del Rió, Cuba, to a musical family. He played professionally with jazz group Opus 13 while studying college before joining the greatest Cuban group of all time, Irakere, in 1987. He's worked with Buena Vista Social Club (and member projects), hiphop group Orishas, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Afro-Cuban legend Tata Güines, progressive jazz pianist Omar Sosa, Malian jeli musician Baba Sissoko, avant-jazz/M-Base saxophonist Steve...

While he was much more than a two-trick pony, Junior Walker nevertheless can be immediately recognizable as a distinct saxophonist for the tunes "Shotgun" by his Jr Walker & the All-Stars and his guest appearance with his iconic solo on Foreigner's "Urgent". He got his professional start playing jazz & R&B in his hometown of South Bend, IN before moving onto to Battle Creek, MI. His group signed with Harvey Fuqua as a producer in '61, with the group now being called Junior Walker & the All-Stars, before being bought out by Motown in '64. With members of the Funk...

Congolese rumba/soukous superstar Papa Wemba (Shungu Wembadio before 1975) was "the King of Rumba Rock". A singer, musician, bandleader (indeed his entourage of hundreds ultimately got him into trouble--look it up for yourself) and fashion icon, he had a long and successful international career. He had several ensembles in his early career that blended Congolese folk sounds with Caribbean and pop music. He blew up worldwide in the early '80s with his afro-pop group Viva La Musica (a named inspired by seeing the Fania All-Stars in Kinshasa), which had young Koffi Olomide as a composer. In '77 he started the Molokai...

An OG proto-punk, Chester Burnett aka "Howlin' Wolf" was born on this day in 1910. In my opinion, one of the meanest sounds to ever grace records was his distinctively nasty growling voice and his raging tunes. "Smokestack Lightnin", "Moanin' At Midnight", "Evil", "Spoonful", "Killin Floor"...dosn't get any sicker! He came from Mississippi and learned guitar from Charley Patton, learned harmonica from Sonny Boy Williamson II and his vocal style was influenced by Jimmie Rodgers. In '51 he recorded for Sam Phillips in Memphis and moved to Chicago the next year to record for Chess. In the '50s he learned...

Otha Turner upheld the fife & drum tradition in North Mississippi, the last surviving master, in one of the last regions for the style. A sharecropping Mississippi native who started playing around 1923, Turner made his fife out of rivercane (American bamboo) and taught himself several instruments, including guitar and percussion. He led some bands, including one with Jesse Mae Hemphill, and became a sought-out figure in documentation of the tradition. Indeed, several field recordings were made and a few articles were written about Turner and his regional traditional style. His group even appeared on an episode of Mr Rogers...