mick laBriola

James Joseph Croce (January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973 Philadelphia ) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to pay bills while he continued to write, record and perform concerts. After Croce formed a partnership with the songwriter and guitarist Maury Muehleisen in the early 1970s, his fortunes turned. Croce’s breakthrough came in 1972, when his third album, You Don’t Mess Around with Jim, produced three charting singles, including “Time in a Bottle“, which reached No. 1 after Croce died. The follow-up album Life and Times included the song “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown“, Croce’s only No. 1 hit during his lifetime.

On September 20, 1973, at the height of his popularity and the day before the lead single to his fifth album, I Got a Name, was released, Croce, Muehleisen, and four others died in a plane crash. His music continued to chart throughout the 1970s following his death. Croce’s widow and early songwriting partner, Ingrid, continued to write and record after his death. Their son, A. J. Croce, became a singer-songwriter in the 1990s.

Mike Stern (born January 10, 1953 Boston) is an American jazz guitarist. After playing with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he worked with drummer Billy Cobham, then with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. He then began a solo career, releasing more than twenty albums.

Stern was named Best Jazz Guitarist of 1993 by Guitar Player magazine. At the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal in June 2007, he was given the Miles Davis Award, which was created to recognize internationally acclaimed jazz artists whose work has contributed significantly to the renewal of the genre. In 2009 Stern was listed on Down Beat‘s list of 75 best jazz guitarists of all time. He received Guitar Player magazine’s Certified Legend Award on January 21, 2012.

Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924– August 16, 2007 Newland Township, NC) was an American jazzdrummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He worked with many famous jazz musicians, including Clifford Brown, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Abbey Lincoln, Dinah Washington, Charles Mingus, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, and Booker Little. He also played with his daughter Maxine Roach, a Grammy nominated violist. He was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1992.

In the mid-1950s, Roach co-led a pioneering quintet along with trumpeter Clifford Brown. In 1970, he founded the percussion ensemble M’Boom.

The flamenco Taranto is different from the toque libre Tarantas palo, with a strong rhythmic feel structured in a compás of 4s (2/4 or 4/4 time), making it more danceable. The key signature and basic chord structure is the same as Tarantas (two sharps), so their harmonic relationship is clear and distinct. The flamenco Tarantas is a quintessential Toque libre, with very lofty, repetitive ligadophrases (hammer ons/pull offs). Tarrantas have a characteristic technique called arrastre, in which the right hand ring finger (a) drags from the high to the low strings in a quick successive manner (similar to an upstroke but a bit slower and disconnected). Tarantas are commonly notated with no measure bar lines to indicate the free manner in which in should be played. The flameno Tarantas originated in the province of Almería, in the eastern region of Andalusia. Tarantas are sung and played, but not danced. Along with the toque libre and arrastre Tarantas characteristics, Tarantas are also played in the specific mode of F# Phyrgian, with a typical chord structure of B minor, A7, G major, F# major. Open treble strings over these chords is another unique Tarantas quality.

John Paul “Bucky” Pizzarelli (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020 Paterson, NJ) was an American jazz guitarist.

He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) and ABC with Bobby Rosengarden in (1952). Musicians he collaborated with include Benny Goodman, George Barnes, Les Paul, Oscar Peterson, Stéphane Grappelli, Benny Green, and Antônio Carlos Jobim. Pizzarelli cited as influences Django Reinhardt, Freddie Green, and George Van Eps.

Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914 – January 26, 1985), known professionally as Kenny Clarke and nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-hat, along with the use of the bass drum for irregular accents (“dropping bombs”).

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was orphaned at the age of about five and began playing the drums when he was eight or nine on the urging of a teacher at his orphanage. Turning professional in 1931 at the age of seventeen, he moved to New York City in 1935 when he began to establish his drumming style and reputation. As the house drummer at Minton’s Playhouse in the early 1940s, he participated in the after-hours jams that led to the birth of bebop. After military service in the US and Europe between 1943 and 1946, he returned to New York, but from 1948 to 1951 he was mostly based in Paris. He stayed in New York between 1951 and 1956, performing with the Modern Jazz Quartet and playing on early Miles Davis recordings. He then moved permanently to Paris, where he performed and recorded with European and visiting American musicians and co-led the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band between 1961 and 1972. He continued to perform and record until the month before he died of a heart attack in January 1985.

Bill Graham (born Wulf Wolodia Grajonca; January 8, 1931 – October 25, 1991) was a German-born American impresario and rock concert promoter.

In the early 1960s, Graham moved to San Francisco, and in 1965, began to manage the San Francisco Mime Troupe. He had teamed up with local Haight Ashbury promoter Chet Helms to organize a benefit concert, then promoted several free concerts. This eventually turned into a profitable full-time career and he assembled a talented staff. Graham had a profound influence around the world, sponsoring the musical renaissance of the 1960s from its epicenter in San Francisco. Chet Helms and then Graham made famous the Fillmore and Winterland Ballroom; these turned out to be a proving grounds for rock bands and acts of the San Francisco Bay area including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, who were first managed, and in some cases developed, by Helms.

Singer Jerome “Little Anthony” Gourdine was born on January 8, 1941, to Victoria Stafford and Thomas Elliot Gourdine. He grew up in the Fort Greene Housing Project in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Boys High School. While in high school, Gourdine and his friends created a doo-wop group called, “The Duponts.”

In 1957, Gourdine joined a new group called the, The Chesters, as the lead vocalist. The group recorded, “Tears on My Pillow,” which became an instant success. The Chesters, changed their name to Little Anthony & The Imperials, in 1959, and released their second hit single, “Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop,” which sold one million records.

Little Anthony & the Imperials reformed under DCP records in 1964. From 1964 through 1967, Little Anthony & The Imperials achieved success with songs like, “I’m Outside Looking In,” “Goin’ Out of My Head,” and “Hurt So Bad.” They appeared on the “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the “Kraft Music Hall Television Show,” and Dick Clark’s television specials. In 1969, Little Anthony & The Imperials signed with United Artists and recorded several chart singles. Gourdine left the group in 1975 to begin a sixteen year long acting and solo singing career.

Little Anthony & The Imperials performed their first reunion show in 1992, in New York City, New York. Over the years, they have had seventeen pop and twelve R&B chart hits.

Gourdine now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife, Linda.

Jerome “Little Anthony” Gourdine was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 6, 2007.

Dave Weckl (born January 8, 1960, in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American jazz fusiondrummer and the leader of the Dave Weckl Band. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2000.

Weckl started playing his first set of drums at age 8 in his spare room along with records. He later played in the living room, sometimes with his father on piano.Weckl studied at the University of Bridgeport. Starting out on the New York fusion scene in the early 1980s, Weckl soon began working with artists such as Paul Simon, George Benson, Michel Camilo, Robert Plant, and Anthony Jackson.

He was with the Chick Corea Elektric Band from 1985 to 1991. During this time he performed on many albums and also appeared with Corea’s Akoustic Band. He said he “augmented his work with Corea by continuing his session work and appearing often with the GRP All-Star Big Band“. Weckl has released a series of instructional videotapes. His first recording as leader was in 1990 – Master Plan, for GRP. This was followed by Heads Up in 1992, and Hard-Wired in 1994. Later on, Weckl recorded and toured with guitarist Mike Stern.