mick laBriola

Alexander Minto Hughes (2 May 1945 – 13 March 1998), better known as Judge Dread, was an English reggae and ska musician. He was the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica, and the BBC has banned more of his songs than those of any other recording artist, because of his frequent use of sexual innuendo and double entendres. Following his death, Rolling Stone reported, “He sold several million albums throughout his 25-plus year career and was second only to Bob Marley in U.K. reggae sales during the 1970s”.

1933-2004

Legendary and highly-respected Philadelphia pianist / keyboardist Eddie Green was a sideman on dozens of projects, and finally released two CDs as a leader, the long out-of-print debut “This One’s For You” and his posthumously-released coda Shades of Green.

After informal tutoring with Bud and Richie Powell and studying harmony, theory, composition and arranging at Combs College of Music, Eddie Green performed with the likes of Dexter Gordon, Slide Hampton, Donald Byrd, Hank Crawford, Max Roach, Betty Carter, Gary Bartz, George Coleman, Junior Cook and many others. He was on records that went “gold:” Billy Paul’s “Me and Mrs. Jones” and Lou Rawls’ “When You’ve Heard Lou, You’ve Heard It All.” His distinctive touch graced albums by guitar virtuoso Pat Martino, Sonny Criss and Jean Carn; in addition to his musicianship, his talents as as a composer were spotlighted on recordings by his own groundbreaking ’70s fusion group Catalyst, the Odean Pope Saxophone Choir, Rochelle Ferrelle and Suzanne Cloud.

Green appeared internationally at the Mt. Fuji (Japan), North Sea (Holland), Montreaux (Switzerland) and Nice (France) Jazz Festivals. Locally in Philadelphia, he was awarded honors by the Trane Stop Resource Institute, the City of Philadelphia and the Mill Creek Jazz and Cultural Society for both the 1993 and 1994 “Reader’s Choice” Best Jazz Piano

Richard Arnold “Groove” Holmes (May 2, 1931 – June 29, 1991) was an American jazz organist who performed in the hard bop and soul jazzgenre. He is best known for his 1965 recording of “Misty“.

Holmes’s first album, on Pacific Jazz with guest Ben Webster, was recorded in March 1961. He recorded many albums for Pacific Jazz, Prestige, Groove Merchant, and Muse, many of them with Houston Person.

He died of a heart attack after battling prostate cancer, having performed his last concerts in a wheelchair. One of his last gigs was at the 1991 Chicago Blues Festival with his longtime friend, singer Jimmy Witherspoon.

Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on Billboard magazine’s pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and then-husband Kris Kristofferson. Her recordings include “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher,” “We’re All Alone“, “I’d Rather Leave While I’m in Love” and the theme song for the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy: “All Time High“.

Coolidge was born in Lafayette, Tennessee. She is the daughter of Dick and Charlotte Coolidge, a minister and schoolteacher, with sisters Linda and Priscilla, and brother Raymond. She is of Cherokee and Scottish ancestry. She attended Nashville’s Maplewood High School and graduated from Andrew Jackson Senior High in Jacksonville, Florida. Coolidge is a graduate of Florida State University. She is a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.

Shirley Valerie Horn (May 1, 1934 – October 20, 2005) was an American jazz singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz musicians including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and others. She was most noted for her ability to accompany herself with nearly incomparable independence and ability on the piano while singing, something described by arranger Johnny Mandelas “like having two heads”, and for her rich, lush voice, a smoky contralto, which was described by noted producer and arranger Quincy Jones as “like clothing, as she seduces you with her voice”.

Shirley Horn was born and raised in Washington, D.C. Encouraged by her grandmother, an amateur organist, Horn began piano lessons at the age of four. Aged 12, she studied piano and composition at Howard University, later graduating from there in classical music. Horn was offered a place at the Juilliard School, but her family could not afford to send her there. Horn formed her first jazz piano trio when she was 20. Horn’s early piano influences were Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson and Ahmad Jamal, and moving away from her classical background, Horn later said that “Oscar Peterson became my Rachmaninov, and Ahmad Jamal became my Debussy.” She then became enamored with the U Street jazz area of Washington (largely destroyed in the 1968 riots), sneaking into jazz clubs before she was of legal age.

Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him comparisons to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners’ expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, the first and, to date, only artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.

Jacobs’ date of birth is usually given as May 1, 1930, in Marksville, Louisiana. He was born without a birth certificate and when he applied for a Social Security card in 1940, his birthdate was listed as May 1, 1923. Over the years he often gave different years, but May 1 was constant. In some other documents he filled out before reaching the age of majority he indicated birth years of 1925 and 1928, probably to appear to be of legal age to sign contracts for recordings and club work. After reaching the age of majority based on a birth year of 1930, he consistently gave his birth year as 1930. In the 1940 U.S. Census, his mother Beatrice reported his age at 14, making his birth year 1925. A few months after returning from his second European tour, Little Walter was involved in a fight while taking a break from a performance at a nightclub on the South Side of Chicago. He apparently sustained only minor injuries in this altercation, but they aggravated the damage he had suffered in previous violent encounters, and he died in his sleep at the apartment of a girlfriend, at 209 East 54th Street in Chicago early the following morning. The official cause of death stated on his death certificate was coronary thrombosis (a blood clot in the heart); evidence of external injuries was so insignificant that the police reported that his death was due to “unknown or natural causes”, and no external injuries were noted on the death certificate.

Richard Henryk Twardzik (April 30, 1931 – October 21, 1955) was an American jazz pianist who worked in Boston for most of his career.

Twardzik trained in classical piano as a child and made his professional debut at the age of fourteen. He was taught by Margaret Chaloff, the mother of baritone saxophone player Serge Chaloff. Twardzik recorded with Serge Chaloff and with Charlie Mariano. He worked with Charlie Parker on several occasions toward the end of Parker’s life. Twardzik also played professionally with Chet Baker and Lionel Hampton. He recorded with Baker and Chaloff in 1954 and 1955.

In his teenage years, Twardzik became addicted to heroin. He died from a heroin overdose, while on tour with Chet Baker in Europe.

Percy Heath (April 30, 1923 – April 28, 2005) was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout their long history and also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, and Thelonious Monk.

Heath was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, and spent his childhood in Philadelphia. His father played the clarinet and his mother sang in the church choir. He started playing violin at the age of eight and also sang locally. He was drafted into the Army in 1944, but saw no combat.

Deciding after the war to go into music, he bought a stand-up bass and enrolled in the Granoff School of Music in Philadelphia. Soon he was playing in the city’s jazz clubs with leading artists. In Chicago in 1948, he recorded with his brother on a Milt Jackson album, as members of the Howard McGhee Sextet. After moving to New York in the late 1940s, Percy and Jimmy Heath found work with Dizzy Gillespie‘s groups. Around this time, he was also a member of Joe Morris‘s band, together with Johnny Griffin.