mick laBriola

Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965 Greenwood, MS), 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.

Francesco Scarlatti (5 December 1666 – c.1741) was an Italian Baroque composer and musician and the younger brother of the better known Alessandro Scarlatti.

Francesco was ever to live under the shadow of his better known relatives, Alessandro Scarlatti (his elder brother) and his nephew, Domenico. However, Francesco himself was an accomplished musician and held a number of appointments.

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).

Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of the Byrds. With frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, defining the genre through his work with the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas and the country-rock group the Desert Rose Band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the Byrds.

Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their drummer and the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. Dennis was the only true surfer in the Beach Boys, and his personal life exemplified the “California Myth” that the band’s early songs often celebrated. He was also known for his association with the Manson Familyand for co-starring in the 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop.

Wilson served mainly on drums and baritone backing vocals for the Beach Boys. His playing can be heard on many of the group’s hits, belying the popular misconception that he was always replaced on record by studio musicians. He originally had few lead vocals on the band’s songs due to his limited baritone range, but his prominence as a singer-songwriter increased following their 1968 album Friends. His music is characterized for reflecting his “edginess” and “little of his happy charm.” His original songs for the group included “Little Bird” (1968), “Forever” (1970) and “Cuddle Up” (1972). Friends and biographers have asserted that he was an uncredited writer on “You Are So Beautiful“, a 1974 hit for Joe Cocker frequently performed by Wilson in concert.

During his final years, Wilson struggled with alcoholism and the use of other drugs (including cocaine and heroin), exacerbating longstanding tensions with some of his bandmates. His solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue (1977), was released to warm reviews and moderate sales comparable to those of contemporaneous Beach Boys albums.Sessions for a follow-up, Bambu, disintegrated before his death from drowning in 1983 at age 39. In 1988, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fameas a member of the Beach Boys.

Terence Woods (born 4 December 1947) is an Irish folk musician, songwriter/singer and multi-instrumentalist.

He is known for his membership in such folk and folk-rock groups as the Pogues, Steeleye Span, Sweeney’s Men, the Bucks, Dr. Strangely Strange and the short-lived Orphanage, with Phil Lynott. Woods also played with his wife Gay, billed initially as the Woods Band and later as Gay and Terry Woods.

Woods is most associated with the mandolin and cittern, but also plays acoustic and electric guitars, mandola, five-string banjo and concertina.

Lynford “Hux” Brown (4 December 1944 – 18 June 2020) was a Jamaican guitarist who featured on many successful rocksteady and reggae records in the 1960s and 1970s, and was later a member of Toots and the Maytals.

Brown was born in Port Antonio. When at school he was nicknamed “Fordie”, then “Fordux”, which became “Hux”. He formed a band, the Vikings, before moving to Kingston where he joined the Soul Brothers at Clement Dodd‘s Studio One label. In 1967, he moved to the rival Treasure Isle studio for producer Duke Reid, and the following year, Brown joined the All Stars, another studio band organised by Gladdy Anderson. He also recorded extensively with Lee “Scratch” Perry.

He played rhythm guitar on many hit rocksteady and reggae records including the influential “Girl I’ve Got A Date” by Alton Ellis, “Ba Ba Boom” by the Jamaicans, and “Bangarang” by Lester Sterling, which some regard as the first reggae record. He also played on “Rivers of Babylon” by the Melodians and “The Harder They Come” by Jimmy Cliff; and in 1971 was recruited by Paul Simon to play lead guitar on “Mother and Child Reunion“.

Brown later joined the touring version of Toots and the Maytals, where he remained for some 35 years.

He died in Oakland, California, aged 75.

1965: 12-3-65 release date: The Beatles, Rubber Soul (UK)

Frank Grillo (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo; December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) known professionally as Machito (previously as Macho), was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music. He was raised in Havana with his sister, singer Graciela.

In New York City, Machito formed the Afro-Cubans in 1940, and with Mario Bauzá as musical director, brought together Cuban rhythms and big band arrangements in one group. He made numerous recordings from the 1940s to the 1980s, many with Graciela as singer. Machito changed to a smaller ensemble format in 1975, touring Europe extensively. He brought his son and daughter into the band, and received a Grammy Award in 1983, one year before he died.

Machito’s music had an effect on the careers of many musicians who played in the Afro-Cubans over the years, and on those who were attracted to Latin jazz after hearing him. George Shearing, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Cab Calloway and Stan Kenton credited Machito as an influence. An intersection in East Harlem is named “Machito Square” in his honor.