mick laBriola

Edward Rudolph “Butch” Warren Jr. (August 9, 1939 – October 5, 2013) was an American jazz bassist who was active during the 1950s and ’60s.

Warren’s mother was a typist. His father, Edward Sr., was an electronics technician who played piano and organ part-time in clubs in Washington, D.C. The Warren home was often visited by jazz musicians Billy Hart, Jimmy Smith, and Stuff Smith. The first time Butch Warren played bass was at home on an instrument left by Billy Taylor, who had played bass for Duke Ellington. Warren has cited Jimmy Blanton, another Ellington bassist, as his biggest inspiration.

Warren began playing professionally at age 14 in a Washington, D.C. band led by his father. He later worked with other local groups, including that of Stuff Smith, as well as with altoist and bandleader Rick Henderson at the Howard Theatre.

When he was 19, he sat in with Kenny Dorham to substitute for an absent trumpeter. A few days later, Dorham invited him to New York City, where he spent the next six months as a sideman at a club in Brooklyn. He appeared on his first recording in January 1960 with Dorham, saxophonist Charles Davis, pianist Tommy Flanagan, and drummer Buddy Enlow. Through his friendship with Sonny Clark he recorded for Blue Note Records in 1961 on Clark’s album Leapin’ and Lopin’ . Alfred Lion, president of Blue Note, hired Warren to fill the vacancy of staff bassist. During this job he played on “Watermelon Man” with Herbie Hancock. As sideman, he also recorded with Miles Davis, Hank Mobley, Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, and Stanley Turrentine.

Mental illness and heroin addiction created problems for Warren. In 1963, his friend Sonny Clark died of an overdose. Months later, Thelonious Monk hired the 23-year-old Warren. Monk’s band was surrounded by drugs and Warren quit after a yearlong tour. Moving back to D.C., he admitted himself to St. Elizabeths Hospital. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Following the onset of his illness he played professionally only occasionally, including a regular gig at the jazz club Columbia Station in Washington D.C.

His only solo effort was captured on “Butch’s Blues” but he was better known as a sideman on many albums, including Dexter Gordon’s Go.

This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showcases the fluffy (or flocculent), feathery features of the spiral galaxy NGC 2275. The galaxy is located 67 million light-years away in the constellation of Cancer.

John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band’s existence (1967–1973).

While most commonly labelled a folk musician, Renbourn’s musical tastes and interests took in early music, classical music, jazz, blues and world music. His most influential album, Sir John Alot (1968), featured his take on tunes from the Medieval era. John Renbourn studied classical guitar at school and it was during this period that he was introduced to Early Music. In the 1950s, along with many others, he was greatly influenced by the musical craze of “Skiffle” and this eventually led him to explore the work of artists such as Lead Belly, Josh White and Big Bill Broonzy.

In the 1960s, the new craze in popular music was Rhythm and Blues, also the impact of Davey Graham was being felt. In 1961, Renbourn toured the South West with Mac MacLeod and repeated the tour in 1963. On returning from the South West Renbourn and MacLeod recorded a demo tape together. Renbourn briefly played in an R&B band while studying at the Kingston College of Art in London. Although the British “Folk Revival” was underway, most folk clubs were biased towards traditional, unaccompanied folk songs, and guitar players were not always welcome. However, the Roundhouse in London had a more tolerant attitude and here, John Renbourn joined blues and gospel singer Dorris Henderson, playing backing guitar and recording two albums with her.

Urban Clifford “Urbie” Green (August 8, 1926 – December 31, 2018) was an American jazz trombonist who toured with Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Jan Savitt, and Frankie Carle.

He played on over 250 recordings and released more than two dozen albums as a soloist, and was highly respected by his fellow trombonists. Green’s trombone sound was especially noted for its warm, mellow tone, even in the higher registers where he was more fluent than most trombonists. His technique was considered flawless by many in the music industry and he played in major jazz festivals, motion picture soundtracks, concert halls, nightclubs, radio, television and the White House. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995.

Born in Mobile, Alabama, Green was taught the piano as a child by his mother, jazz and popular tunes from the beginning. He picked up the trombone, which both older brothers played, when he was about 12. Although he listened to such trombone greats as Tommy Dorsey, J. C. Higginbotham, Jack Jenney, Jack Teagarden and Trummy Young he has said that he was more influenced by the styles of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. Urbie’s trombone style was also influenced by vocalists such as Perry Como, and the vocal style of Louis Armstrong.

James Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues singer.

Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing in Calcutta, India, with Teddy Weatherford‘s band, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U.S. Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II. Witherspoon made his first records with Jay McShann‘s band in 1945. He first recorded under his own name in 1947, and two years later with the McShann band, he had his first hit, “Ain’t Nobody’s Business,”a song that came to be regarded as his signature tune. In 1950 he had hits with two more songs closely identified with him—”No Rollin’ Blues” and “Big Fine Girl”—and also with “Failing by Degrees” and “New Orleans Woman”, recorded with the Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra (which included Herman Washington and Don Hill) for Modern Records. These were recorded at a live performance on May 10, 1949, at a “Just Jazz” concert in Pasadena, California, sponsored by Gene Norman. Another classic Witherspoon composition is “Times Gettin’ Tougher Than Tough”.

Witherspoon performed in four of the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concerts held in Los Angeles at Wrigley Field which were produced by Leon Hefflin Sr.His first performance was at the fourth Cavalcade of Jazz on September 12, 1948 and Dizzy Gillespie was the featured artist along with Frankie Lane, Little Miss Cornshucks, The Sweetheart of Rhythms, Joe Liggins’ Honeydrippers, Joe Turner, The Blenders and The Sensations.

Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career in the 1920s he was a popular arranger, having written charts for Fletcher Henderson‘s big band that shaped the swing style. He had an unusually long career that lasted into the 1990s. During the 1980s and ’90s, he was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, which included receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Born in New York City in 1907, he was given piano lessons by his mother and others in the neighborhood. He played trumpet and experimented briefly with C-melody saxophone before settling on alto saxophone. In the 1920s, he performed with June Clark, Billy Paige, and Earl Hines, then toured as a member of the Wilberforce Collegians led by Horace Henderson. He appeared on record for the first time in 1927 as a member of the Paradise Ten led by Charlie Johnson. He returned to the Collegians and became their bandleader through 1929, including a performance at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City.

East of Antares, dark markings sprawl through crowded star fields toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Cataloged in the early 20th century by astronomer E. E. Barnard, the obscuring interstellar dust clouds include B59, B72, B77 and B78, seen in against the starry background. Here, their combined shape suggests a pipe stem and bowl, and so the dark nebula’s popular name is the Pipe Nebula. The deep and expansive view covers a full 10 by 10 degree field in the pronounceable constellation Ophiuchus. The Pipe Nebula is part of the Ophiuchus dark cloud complex located at a distance of about 450 light-years. Dense cores of gas and dust within the Pipe Nebula are collapsing to form stars.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk (August 7, 1935 – December 5, 1977) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute, and many other instruments. He was renowned for his onstage vitality, during which virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting, and the ability to play several instruments simultaneously.

Kirk was born Ronald Theodore Kirk in Columbus, Ohio, where he lived in a neighborhood known as Flytown. He became blind at two years old, which he said was a result of improper medical treatment. As a teenager, Kirk studied at the Ohio State School for the Blind. By age fifteen he was on the road playing rhythm and blues on weekends with Boyd Moore’s band. According to saxophonist Hank Crawford, “He would be like this 14 year-old blind kid playing two horns at once. They would bring him out and he would tear the joint up.” Hank heard him during this period and said he was unbelievable. He remarked, “Now they had him doing all kinds of goofy stuff but he was playing the two horns and he was playing the shit out of them. He was an original from the beginning.” Kirk felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make ‘”Roland”. In 1970, Kirk added “Rahsaan” to his name after hearing it in a dream.

Idrees Sulieman (August 7, 1923 – July 23, 2002, both in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States) was an American bop and hard bop trumpeter.

He was born Leonard Graham on 7 August 1923, later changing his name to Idrees Sulieman after converting to Islam. He studied at the Boston Conservatory, and gained early experience playing with the Carolina Cotton Pickers and the wartime Earl Hines Orchestra (1943–1944).

On October 15, 1947, on what was Suliman’s second recording date (source: liner notes by Michael Cuscuna to The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Thelonious Monk) he played on Thelonious Monk’s first recording for Blue Note Records. Sulieman was closely associated with Mary Lou Williamsand for a time and had stints with Cab Calloway, John Coltrane, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton. Sulieman recorded with Coleman Hawkins (1957) and gigged with Randy Weston (1958–1959), in addition to appearing in many other situations.

Ricardo Baliardo (7 August 1921 – 5 November 2014), better known as Manitas de Plata, was a flamenco guitarist born in Southern France.Despite achieving worldwide fame, he was criticized for not following certain rhythmic rules (compás) that are traditional in flamenco.

Ricardo Baliardo was born in a gypsy caravan in Sète in southern France. He became famous by playing each year at the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mergypsy pilgrimage in Camargue, where he was recorded live by Deben Bhattacharya.

Manitas de Plata (“Little Hands of Silver” in Spanish) only agreed to play in public ten years after the death of Django Reinhardt, unanimously considered the king of gypsy guitarists. One of his recordings earned him a letter from Jean Cocteau acclaiming him as a creator.

Upon hearing him play at Arles in 1964, Pablo Picasso is said to have exclaimed “that man is of greater worth than I am!” and proceeded to draw on the guitar.

George Van Eps (August 7, 1913 – November 29, 1998) was an American swing and mainstream jazz guitarist.

George Van Eps was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, into a family of musicians. His three brothers were musicians. His mother was a classical pianist and his father, Fred Van Eps, was a ragtime banjoist and sound engineer. George Van Eps began playing banjo when he was eleven years old. After hearing Eddie Lang on the radio, he put down the banjo and devoted himself to guitar. By the age of thirteen, in 1926, he was performing on the radio. Through the middle of the 1930s, he played with Harry Reser, Smith Ballew, Freddy Martin, Benny Goodman, and Ray Noble.

Van Eps moved to California and spent most of his remaining career as a studio musician, playing on many commercials and movie soundtracks.