mick laBriola

William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013. AllMusic biographer Steve Huey said, “Generally acclaimed as fusion’s greatest drummer, Billy Cobham’s explosive technique powered some of the genre’s most important early recordings – including groundbreaking efforts by Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra – before he became an accomplished bandleader in his own right. At his best, Cobham harnessed his amazing dexterity into thundering, high-octane hybrids of jazz complexity and rock & roll aggression.”

Cobham’s influence stretched far beyond jazz, including on progressive rock contemporaries like Bill Bruford of King Crimson and Danny Carey of Tool. Prince and Jeff Beck both played a version of Cobham’s Stratus in concert. Phil Collins, who named Mahavishnu Orchestra‘s The Inner Mounting Flame as a key influence on his early style said, “Billy Cobham played some of the finest drumming I’ve ever heard on that record.”

Born in Colón, Panama, Cobham moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York, when he was three. His father, Manuel, worked as a hospital statistician during the week and played piano on weekends. Cobham started playing drums at age four and joined his father four years later. When he was fourteen, he got his first drum kit as a gift after being accepted to The High School of Music & Art in New York City.

Isaac “Redd” Holt (or “Red” Holt) (born May 16, 1932, Rosedale, Mississippi) is an American jazz and soul music drummer.

Holt began playing drums as a teenager while living in Chicago, where he played in an ensemble with future collaborators Ramsey Lewis and Eldee Young. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1955 and was stationed in Germany, where he played with a military band, and upon his return worked with Lewis, alongside Young, from 1956-1966, in addition to recording with Earl Bostic and James Moody near the end of the 1950s. In 1966 Young and Holt split with Lewis and formed their own group, Young-Holt Unlimited, which went on to achieve commercial success as an instrumental soul band. After the group’s dissolution in 1974 Holt continued on as Redd Holt Unlimited, playing under this name into the 1990s, and worked in jazz education in Illinois. He founded the Gumption Artist Workshop, which was active from 1980 to 1985, and played internationally, including at the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival and in Singapore in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In January and March 2018 at the age of 85 years, Redd did studio recording sessions at Treehouse Records in Chicago, ILLinois with Redd Holt on drums, Ken Haebich on bass and Jim Ryan on piano. This trio has been playing a gig every Friday night at the East Bank Club in Chicago for the last 15 years. The studio sessions produced a vinyl LP named, It’s A Take! on the Treehouse Record label with 8 full length jazz standards on it. Redd Holt at 87 years of age is still belting out the tunes when his sticks hit the skins!

Betty Carter (born Lillie Mae Jones; May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer known for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative interpretation of lyrics and melodies. Vocalist Carmen McRae once remarked: “There’s really only one jazz singer—only one: Betty Carter.”

Carter was born in Flint, Michigan, and grew up in Detroit, where her father, James Jones, was the musical director of a Detroit church and her mother, Bessie, was a housewife. As a child, Carter was raised to be extremely independent and to not expect nurturing from her family.

Ellis Larkins (May 15, 1923 – September 30, 2002) was an American jazz pianist born in Baltimore, Maryland, known for his two recordings with Ella Fitzgerald: the albums Ella Sings Gershwin (1950) and Songs in a Mellow Mood (1954). He was also the pianist on the first solo sides by singer Chris Connor on her album Chris (1954).

Larkins was the first African American to attend the Peabody Conservatory of Music, an institute in Baltimore. He began his professional playing career in New York City after moving there to attend the Juilliard School. While still at Juilliard, Larkins performed jazz piano with guitarist Billy Moore at Café Society Uptown and over the next ten years in his own groups, or in support of, clarinetist Edmond Hall and singers Helen Humes and Mildred Bailey. He recorded with Coleman Hawkins, and Dicky Wells in the 1940s. In the 1950s, he recorded with Ella Fitzgerald, Ruby Braff, and Beverly Kenney. His 1960s work included recordings or performances with Eartha Kitt, Joe Williams, Georgia Gibbs and Harry Belafonte.

Though he was best known as an accompanist, Larkins recorded several solo albums in the 1950s. In the 1970s, he performed regularly at several New York venues, including Gregory’s, a small bar on the Upper East Side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvdIitJdswo

John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the co-lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a solo career and also played with several bands.

In the early 1960s Bruce joined the Graham Bond Organisation (GBO), where he met his future bandmate Ginger Baker. After leaving the band, he joined with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, where he met Eric Clapton, who also became his future bandmate. His time with the band was brief. In 1966, he formed Cream with lead guitarist Clapton and drummer Baker; he co-wrote many of their songs (including “Sunshine of Your Love“, “White Room” and “I Feel Free“) with poet/lyricist Pete Brown. After the group disbanded in the late 1960s he began recording solo albums. His first solo album, Songs for a Tailor, released in 1969, was a worldwide hit. Bruce formed his own band to perform the material live, and subsequently formed a blues-rock band West, Bruce and Laing in 1972, with guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing. His solo career spanned several decades. From the 1970s to the 1990s he played with several groups as a touring member. He reunited with Cream in 2005 for concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Bruce is considered to be one of the most important and influential ‍bassists ‍of all time. ‍Rolling Stone magazine readers ranked him number eight on their list of “10 ‍Greatest ‍Bassists ‍Of All Time”. He was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, both as a member of Cream.

May 14th 1957

CALVIN EDWARDS International artist, accomplished musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer has created his own sound that in itself is a task to overcome. He was born in Kings Mountain, North Carolina and, at the age of six, began to play the guitar. His father, a well-known songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist was on the gospel scene and his mother helped to shape his career.

At 17, Calvin joined the famous Gospel group The Five Blind Boys of Alabama for many years, and then moved to L.A. to play in his brothers band, The Jett Edwards Band; recording two albums together, Mr. George Benson recorded one song. Currently, Mr. Edwards travels and performs with his band, The Calvin Edwards Trio.

Sidney Bechet(May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temperament hampered his career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim. Bechet spent much of his later life in France.

Bechet was born in New Orleans in 1897 to a middle-class Creole of color family. Bechet’s father Omar was both a shoemaker and a flute player, and all four of his brothers were musicians as well.

His older brother, Leonard Victor Bechet, was a full-time dentist and a part-time trombonist and bandleader. Bechet learned and mastered several musical instruments that were kept around the house (he began on the cornet), mostly by teaching himself; he decided to specialize in the clarinet (which he played almost exclusively until about 1919).

At the age of six, he started to perform with his brother’s band at a family birthday party, debuting his talents to acclaim. Later in his youth, Bechet studied with Joseph “King” Oliver, Bunk Johnson, Freddie Keppard, Lorenzo Tio, “Big Eye” Louis Nelson Delisle, and George Baquet.