mick laBriola

Georg Philipp Telemann (24 March [O.S.14 March] 1681 – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving oeuvre. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time, and he was compared favourably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally.

Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family’s wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of that city’s five main churches. While Telemann’s career prospered, his personal life was always troubled: his first wife died less than two years after their marriage, and his second wife had extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling debt before leaving him. As part of his duties, he wrote a considerable amount of music for educating organists under his direction. This includes 48 chorale preludes and 20 small fugues (modal fugues) to accompany his chorale harmonisations for 500 hymns. His music incorporates French, Italian, and German national styles, and he was at times even influenced by Polish popular music. He remained at the forefront of all new musical tendencies, and his music stands as an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles. The Telemann Museum in Hamburg is dedicated to him.

Robert Pete Williams (March 14, 1914 – December 31, 1980 Zachary, LA) was an American Louisiana blues musician. His music characteristically employed unconventional structures and guitar tunings, and his songs are often about the time he served in prison. His song “I’ve Grown So Ugly” has been covered by Captain Beefheart, on his album Safe as Milk (1967), and by The Black Keys, on Rubber Factory (2004).

3-14-1951 EUGENE GREY is an internationally traveled and acclaimed Jamaican guitarist, arranger, composer, and music educator. According to Rootz Reggae & Kulcha magazine, “Eugene Grey is yet another of the many genius guitarists of world class status that Jamaica has produced” playing professionally from the age of 14. Eugene has toured worldwide as lead guitarist with such artists as Grammy Award winners Burning Spear and Toots and the Maytals, Sly and Robbie as well as Culture, Fab 5, and the internationally acclaimed Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Other artists Eugene has performed with include Max Romeo whom he toured with for the first time in Europe, Horace Andy, Big Youth, The Harlem Renaissance Orchestra, America’s Singing Poet Steve DePass, West Africa’s Abdou M’Boup and Vieux Diop, Tony Cafresi and His Latin Orchestra, The Wailers, and The Skatalites.

Another aspect of Eugene’s career included performing as musician in theatre musicals. He was a member of the orchestra in the Off-Broadway play “In A Pigs Valise” in 1989; “Pecong” in 1991 at Newark Symphony Hall and the Off Broadway Classical musical “Sally and Tom” at Castillo Theatre in 1995/96. He was Musical Director for the Off-Broadway musical “Rasta” in 1995 as well as in 2004 for Irving Burgie’s musical revue “Day-O” at the Stratford East in London. Eugene had years earlier arranged 42 of the original songs of his longtime employer, Irving Burgie for this Broadway Musical review that were made famous by Harry Belafonte.

Erev Shabbat Service with speaker Omri Barkin and Purim Celebration music with Inbal Sharret-Singer, Jayson Rodovsky, Pete Whitman and mick laBriola

Ulvi Cemal Erkin (Turkish pronunciation: [ulˈvi dʒeˈmal æɾˈcin]) (March 14, 1906 – September 15, 1972) was a member of the pioneer group of symphonic composers in Turkey, born in the period 1904–1910, who later came to be called The Turkish Five. These composers set out the direction of music in the newly established Turkish Republic. These composers distinguished themselves with their use of Turkish folk music and modal elements in an entirely Western symphonic style.

Joe Mooney (March 14, 1911 – May 12, 1975) was an American jazz and popaccordionist, organist, and vocalist.

Mooney was born in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. He went blind when he was around 10 years of age.

Mooney’s first job, at age 12, was playing the piano for requests called in to a local radio station. He and his brother, Dan, played together on radio broadcasts in the late 1920s, and recorded between 1929 and 1931 as the Sunshine Boys and the Melotone Boys; both sang while Joe accompanied on piano. They continued performing together on WLW in Cincinnati until 1936, after which time Dan Mooney left the music industry.

In 1937, Mooney began working as a pianist and arranger for Frank Dailey, a role he reprised with Buddy Rogers in 1938. Through the early 1940s he arranged for Paul Whiteman, Vincent Lopez, Larry Clinton, Les Brown, and The Modernaires.

Shirley Scott (March 14, 1934 – March 10, 2002 Philadelphia) was an American jazz organist. Her music was noted for its mixture of bebop, blues, and gospel elements. She was known by the nickname “Queen of the Organ”.

Local residents of the Spanish province called Almeria, nicknamed ‘tarantos,’ have given their name to a Flamenco cante and toque, an exceptionally rhythmic style with close ties to Tarantas. Tarantos have a rigorous, assertive compas in 2/4 or 4/4 time. Tarantas, on the other hand, are a toque libre. Tarantas is a form of Fandango Grande which began in Almeria and its nearby neighbors in the Spanish Levante.

Tarantas grew out of the folk music of these southeastern Spanish provinces. They tell assorted stories, mostly about the mining industry, a business which was (and still is today) fraught with danger. The songs, therefore, have a plethora of tragic material to draw from, giving voice to the sorrows and deprivations of the miners’ lives. According to one theory, Andalusian laborers who traveled to work in the mines of La Union brought them to Almeria.  Yet another theory argues that the coplas were originally local ones that musicians transformed into the Flamenco style of Cante. Whatever their origin, they speak to the range of human emotion.

Unique-sounding harmony and ornamentation give both Tarantas and Tarantos an Eastern flavor. Played in the Phrygian mode based on F sharp, the music has a distinguishing dissonant sound, produced by the basic chord pattern having F and C on the three bass strings against three open treble strings, forming the chord consisting of the notes F, C, F, G, B, and E.

Julian Bahula OIG (13 March 1938 – 1 October 2023) was a South African drummer, composer and bandleader, based from 1973 in Britain, where he formed the music ensemble Jabula.

Otis Verries Hicks (March 13, 1913 – July 27, 1974 Good Pine, LA), known as Lightnin’ Slim, was an American blues musician who played Louisiana blues and swamp blues for Excello Records.

Richard Allen “Blue“ Mitchell (March 13, 1930 – May 21, 1979 Miami) was an American trumpeter and composer who worked in jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock and funk. He recorded albums as leader and sideman for Riverside, Mainstream Records, and Blue Note. 

Mitchell performed with the Harold Land quintet until he died from cancer on May 21, 1979, in Los Angeles, California, aged 49.

Roy Owen Haynes (March 13, 1925 – November 12, 2024 Boston) was an American jazz drummer. In the 1950s he was given the nickname “Snap Crackle” for his distinctive snare drum sound and musical vocabulary. He was among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career spanning over eight decades, he played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, and avant-garde jazz. He is considered to have been a pioneer of jazz drumming.

Haynes led bands, including the Hip Ensemble. His albums Fountain of Youth and Whereas were nominated for a Grammy Award. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1999.