mick's blog
Art Davis
Arthur David Davis (December 5, 1934 – July 29, 2007) was a double-bassist, known for his work with Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner and Max Roach.
Wee Willie Walker
Willie Earl Walker (December 23, 1941 – November 19, 2019), also known as Wee Willie Walker, was an American soul and blues singer.
He was born in Hernando, Mississippi, and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he started singing with local gospel groups. From his mid-teens, he toured with the Redemption Harmonizers, who included Roosevelt Jamison. In 1960, while touring, Walker and a bandmate decided to stay in Minneapolis with a member of another gospel group, the Royal Jubileers, rather than returning to Memphis. In Minneapolis, he joined a local R&B vocal group, the Val-Dons (later Valdons), who became successful in and around Minneapolis–Saint Paul.
Temple Israel Starry Starry Shabbat
The second in a series of first Friday Shabbat services called Starry Starry Shabbat focusing on children and families. Music with Alex Bonoff, Jayson Rodovsky and mick laBriola.
Celestial Antiquity KX Andromedae
Blasting outward from variable star KX Andromedae, these stunning bipolar jets are 19 light-years long. Recently discovered, they are revealed in unprecedented detail in this deep telescopic image centered on KX And and composed from over 692 hours of combined image data. In fact, KX And is spectroscopically found to be an interacting binary star system consisting of a bright, hot B-type star with a swollen cool giant star as its co-orbiting, close companion. The stellar material from the cool giant star is likely being transferred to the hot B-type star through an accretion disk, with spectacular symmetric jets driven outward perpendicular to the disk itself. The known distance to KX And of 2,500 light-years, angular size of the jets, and estimated inclination of the accretion disk lead to the size estimate for each jet of an astonishing 19 light-years.

Johnny Pate
John William Pate (born December 5, 1923) is an American former musician, a jazz bassist who became a producer, arranger, and leading figure in Chicago soul, pop, funk and rhythm and blues.
He learned piano and tuba as a child and later picked up the bass guitar. He learned arranging while serving in the United States Army.
J J Cale
John Weldon “JJ” Cale (December 5, 1938 – July 26, 2013) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Neil Young, Mark Knopfler, Waylon Jennings, and Eric Clapton, who described him as one of the most important artists in rock history. He is one of the originators of the Tulsa sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz.
In 2008, Cale and Clapton received a Grammy Award for their album The Road to Escondido.
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), better known by his stage name Little Richard, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Referred to as the “Architect of Rock and Roll“, Richard’s most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music, characterized by frenetic piano playing, pounding backbeat and powerful raspy vocals, laid the foundation for rock and roll. Richard’s innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. He influenced singers and musicians across musical genres and his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations.
“Tutti Frutti” (1955), one of Richard’s signature songs, became an instant hit, crossing over to the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom. His next hit single, “Long Tall Sally” (1956), hit No. 1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers chart, followed by a rapid succession of fifteen more in less than three years. In 1962, after a five-year period during which Richard abandoned rock and roll music for born-again Christianity, concert promoter Don Arden persuaded him to tour Europe. During this time, the Beatles opened for Richard on some tour dates.
Richard is cited as one of the first crossover black artists, reaching audiences of all races. His music and concerts broke the color line, drawing black and white people together despite attempts to sustain segregation. Many of his contemporaries, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent, Pat Boone, and Eddie Cochran, recorded covers of his works.[citation needed]
Richard was honored by many institutions. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Recording Academy and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. In 2015, Richard received a Rhapsody & Rhythm Award from the National Museum of African American Music. “Tutti Frutti” was included in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2009, which stated that his “unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music.
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp stylist who recorded successfully in the 1950s and 1960s. Miller used various names, including Rice Miller and Little Boy Blue, before calling himself Sonny Boy Williamson, which was also the name of a popular Chicago blues singer and harmonica player. To distinguish the two, Miller has been referred to as Sonny Boy Williamson II.
He first recorded with Elmore James on “Dust My Broom“. Some of his popular songs include “Don’t Start Me Talkin’“, “Help Me“, “Checkin’ Up on My Baby“, and “Bring It On Home“. He toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival and recorded with English rock musicians, including the Yardbirds and Animals. “Help Me” became a blues standard, and many blues and rock artists have recorded his songs.
Egberto Gismonti
Egberto Amin Gismonti (born 5 December 1947) is a Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist.
Gismonti is a self-taught guitarist. After returning to Brazil, he designed guitars with more than six strings, expanding the possibilities of the instrument. Approaching the fretboard as if it were a keyboard, Gismonti gives the impression that there is more than a single guitar player. Gismonti’s sojourn in the Xingu region of the Amazon basin made a lasting impression. This is documented musically in tunes such as “Yualapeti” and “Sapain” (Yualapeti shaman, Sapain) and in the recordings Dança das Cabeças (“Dance of the Heads”, 1977), Sol do Meio-Dia (“Noon Sun”, 1978), which he dedicated to the Xingu, and Duas Vozes(“Two Voices”, 1984).
The musical career of Gismonti spans five decades. The major phases are distinguished by record company, the ensemble format, and the musical collaborators. The most important ensembles are his Brazilian group Academia de Danças, including Mauro Senise (saxophone and flutes), Zeca Assumpção (bass) and Nenê (Realcino Lima Filho, drums and percussion), the duo with Naná Vasconcelos(percussion), and the trio with Charlie Haden (bass) and Jan Garbarek (saxophone). Dança das Cabecas, the first ECM record, was nominated “Album of the Year” by Stereo Review and received the 1977 Großer Deutscher Schallplattenpreis.
Flamenco Fridays Feliz Cumpleaños Camarón
José Monje Cruz (5 December 1950 – 2 July 1992), better known by his stage name Camarón de la Isla, was a Spanish flamenco singer. Considered one of the all-time greatest flamenco singers, he was noted for his collaborations with Paco de Lucía and Tomatito, and the three of them were of major importance to the revival of flamenco in the second half of the 20th century.
During his time at Tablao Torres Bermejas, he met Paco de Lucía, with whom he recorded nine albums between 1969 and 1977. The two toured extensively together during this period. As Paco de Lucía became more occupied with solo concert commitments, Camarón worked with the flamenco guitarist Tomatito.
In 1976, at the age of 25, Camarón married Dolores Montoya, a Romani girl from La Línea de la Concepción whom he nicknamed “La Chispa” (The Spark). At the time La Chispa was 16. The couple had four children.
Many consider Camarón to be the single most popular and influential flamenco cantaor (singer) of the modern period.[6] In his recordings and collaborations, he sought to incorporate contemporary elements and expand the appeal of flamenco, for example by recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, whilst staying true to the genre’s roots.[7][8] Although his work was criticized by some traditionalists, he was one of the first to feature an electric bass in his songs. This was a turning point in the history of Flamenco music that helped distinguish Nuevo Flamenco.
When Camarón was already a recognised artist, internationally acclaimed for his authenticity and depth, he received an offer from the Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger personally wanted them to play together. According to his biographer Alfonso Rodríguez, Camarón said: “If they don’t know anything about flamenco, what am I going to sing for them?” Mick Jagger called him several times and offered him a lot of money, but Camaron preferred to stay in Andalusia and not complicate his life.
He also turned down an offer from the Gipsy Kings to be part of their tour of Latin America. According to his wife, Dolores Montoya, La Chispa, they offered him “a Mercedes convertible, 50 million pesetas and insurance for what could happen” and he turned it down. For him, his family was the main priority. In later years, his health deteriorated due to heavy smoking and some level of drug abuse.
In 1992, Camarón de la Isla died of lung cancer in Badalona, Spain. He was buried in a Catholic ceremony at the cemetery of San Fernando as he wanted. It was estimated that 100,000 people attended his funeral.
