mick laBriola

King Floyd (February 13, 1945 – March 6, 2006) was a New Orleans soul singer and songwriter, best known for his Top 10 hit from 1970, “Groove Me“.

King Floyd III was born in New Orleans in 1945. His musical career started as a singer at the Sho-Bar on Bourbon Street. Following a stint in the army, Floyd went to California, where he joined up with record producer Harold Battiste. His debut album, A Man In Love, featuring songs co-written with Dr. John, failed to make an impact on the charts. Floyd returned to New Orleans in 1969 and worked for the Post Office. James Brown made a discovery out of King Floyd, because of the screams, tells, grunts, and other panting noises that were similar to Brown’s vocal style. In 1970, Wardell Quezergue, an arranger of R&B scores, persuaded Floyd to record “Groove Me” with Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi. Jean Knight recorded her hit, “Mr. Big Stuff,” in the same sessions.

Moreira Chonguiça is a Mozambican jazz saxophonist. In 2010 he started a jazz festival, Morejazz, in Maputo; artists invited to play at the festival also hold master-classes at the Eduardo Mondlane University of the city. In June 2010 his group The Moreira Project opened the Standard Bank Jazz Festival in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. He collaborated with Manu Dibangoon the album M & M, which was released in 2017.

Wardell Gray (February 13, 1921 – May 25, 1955) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who straddled the swing and bebop periods.

Gray was born in Oklahoma City, the youngest of four children. He spent his early childhood years in Oklahoma, before he and his family moved to Detroit in 1929.

In early 1935, Gray began attending Northeastern High School, then transferred to Cass Technical High School, noted for having Donald Byrd, Lucky Thompson and Al McKibbon as alumni. He left in 1936, before graduating. Advised by his brother-in-law Junior Warren, as a teenager he started on the clarinet, but after hearing Lester Young on record with Count Basie, he was inspired to switch to tenor saxophone.

Gray was still working regularly despite his drug problems, and when Benny Carter was engaged in May 1955 to provide the band at the opening of the Moulin Rouge Hotel, he called on Gray. Gray attended rehearsals but was absent when the club opened on May 25. The next day he was found on a stretch of desert on the outskirts of Las Vegas dead with a broken neck.

Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. (born Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American keyboardist and singer, best known as a member of the Doors from 1965 to 1973, which he co-founded with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison.

Manzarek was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 as a member of the Doors. He was a co-founding member of Nite City from 1977 to 1978, and of Manzarek–Krieger from 2001 until his death in 2013. USA Today defined him as “one of the best keyboardists ever”.

Raymond Daniel Manczarek Jr. was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. He was born to parents of Polish descent, Helena Kolenda (1918–2012) and Raymond Manczarek Sr. (1914–1987).

Omar Hakim (born February 12, 1959) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and pop music drummer, producer, arranger and composer. He has worked with Weather Report, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Sting, Madonna, Dire Straits, Journey, Kate Bush, George Benson, Miles Davis, Daft Punk, Mariah Carey, The Pussycat Dolls, David Lee Roth and Celine Dion.

Hakim was born in New York City on February 12, 1959. His father, Hasaan Hakim, was a trombonist. Omar started playing the drums at the age of five, and first performed in his father’s band four or five years later.

William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955 Salem, Ill) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, world music, jazz, dub, and ambient styles.

According to music critic Chris Brazier, “Laswell’s pet concept is ‘collision music’ which involves bringing together musicians from wildly divergent but complementary spheres and seeing what comes out.” The credo of one record label run by Laswell which typifies much of his work is “Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted”. Although his bands may be credited under the same name and often feature the same roster of musicians, the styles and themes explored on different albums can vary dramatically. Material began as a noisy dance music band, but later albums concentrated on hip hop, jazz, or spoken word readings by William S. Burroughs. Most versions of the band Praxis have included guitarist Buckethead, but they have explored different permutations on albums.

Didier Lockwood (11 February 1956 – 18 February 2018) was a French jazz violinist. He played in the progressive rock/jazz fusion band Magma in the 1970s and was known for his use of electric amplification and experimentation on different sounds on the electric violin.

In 1979, Lockwood released his first album as a leader, New World, and recorded more than 20 albums. In 1994, he moved to New York City for two years. During that time he recorded two albums, New York Rendez Vous and Storyboard. Lockwood’s influences include violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. He started playing electric violin after hearing Ponty on the album King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa. Another important influence was Frenchman Stéphane Grappelli. In 2000, Lockwood recorded a tribute album to Grappelli.

Little Johnny Taylor (born Johnny Lamont Merrett; February 11, 1943 – May 17, 2002) was an American blues and soul singer. He made recordings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and continued public performances through the 1980s and 1990s.

Born in Gregory, Arkansas, United States, he is frequently confused with his contemporary and near namesake Johnnie Taylor, especially since the latter made a cover version of the song that Little Johnny Taylor was most famous for, “Part Time Love” (1963), and the fact that both men began their careers as gospel singers.

Little Johnny Taylor moved to Los Angeles in 1950, and sang with the Mighty Clouds of Joy before moving into secular music. Influenced by Little Willie John, he first recorded as an R&B artist for the Swingin’ record label.

Otis Lee Clay (February 11, 1942 – January 8, 2016) was an American R&B and soul singer, who started in gospel music. In 2013, Clay was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame.

Clay was born in Waxhaw, Mississippi to a musical family, who moved in 1953 to Muncie, Indiana. After singing with local gospel group, the Voices of Hope, he returned to Mississippi to sing with the Christian Travelers, before settling in Chicago in 1957. There, he joined a series of gospel vocal groups including the Golden Jubilaires, the Famous Blue Jay Singers, the Holy Wonders, and the Pilgrim Harmonizers, before making his first solo secular recordings in 1962. They were unissued, and Clay joined the Gospel Songbirds, who recorded in Nashville in 1964 and who also included Maurice Dollison who sang R&B under the name Cash McCall, and then the Sensational Nightingales.

Sérgio Santos Mendes (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈsɛʁʒju ˈsɐ̃tuz ˈmẽdʒis]; born February 11, 1941) is a Brazilian musician. He has over 55 releases, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song in 2012 as co-writer of the song “Real in Rio” from the animated film Rio.

Mendes is a unique example of a Brazilian musician primarily known in the United States, where his albums were recorded and where most of his touring took place.

Mendes is married to Gracinha Leporace, who has performed with him since the early 1970s. Mendes has also collaborated with many artists through the years, including The Black Eyed Peas, with whom he re-recorded in 2006 a version of his breakthrough hit “Mas que Nada“.

“Taranto” is a flamenco style whose origin is in Almería. It derives from the “taranta”, but it follows a rhythm. That makes possible to dance it, in the same way as “zambra mora”. “Taranto” comes from the mining area of Almeria.

First singer this style was Pedro Morato but it’s important to quote “El Cabogatero” (1810-1880) and “El Ciego de la Playa” (born around 1840). We must also mention Juan Diaz Abad “Chilares”, born in 1868 in Zapillo, Almeria. “Taranto” is included in “cantes mineros” (fandango, taranto and taranta) and was developed in Almeria, in flamenco evenings, between the 19th and 20th centuries, in three cafes: “Frailito” (Plaza de Santo Domingo), “España” (C/Sebastián Perez, today General Rada), and “Lyon de Oro”.