mick laBriola

Willie Lee “Big Eyes” Smith(January 19, 1936 – September 16, 2011 Helena, AK) was an American electric blues vocalist, harmonica player, and drummer. He was best known for several stints with the Muddy Watersband beginning in the early 1960s.

Horace Parlan (January 19, 1931 – February 23, 2017 Pittsburg)was an American pianist and composer known for working in the hard bopand post-bop styles of jazz. In addition to his work as a bandleader Parlan was known for his contributions to the Charles Mingusrecordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots.

Johnny Bragg was born on January 18th 1925. He was a Black singer.

He was born in Nashville, Tenn. As a teenager in 1943, Bragg was sentenced to six life terms in the Tennessee State Prison. The charge was rape, but he always denied the charges, and Governor Frank Clement commuted his sentence in 1959.  He soon returned to prison on a parole violation and spent time in and out of incarceration until 1977.  While serving time, his only expressive outlet for his spirit was singing. In 1953, a young governor Clement, heard Bragg’s vocal quintet, the Prisonaires.

He was deeply impressed with their talent and recognized that these men might be saved. For years he showcased Bragg and the Prisonaires at state events at the governor’s mansion. There they met President Truman, Senator Lyndon Johnson, and many celebrity entertainers. Eventually, the Prisonaires were signed by a young, white producer, Sam Phillips of Sun Records. However, Bragg’s claim to glory lies in his authorship of the hit “Just Walkin’ in the Rain,” recorded by ’50s pop legend Johnnie Ray. “Just Walkin” was one of the best-selling singles of the decade.

At the center of this group was Bragg, whose faith and persistence testified eloquently to the power of the human spirit. Bragg was alive and well in his mid-’70s. He had the sweet tenor voice that made him an extraordinary artist 50 years ago.

His original Prisonaires partners had not been so fortunate. William Stewart died of a drug overdose in a rundown Florida motel in 1959. Marcel Sanders died in the late ’60s. Ed Thurman was killed in an accident in 1973. And John Drue Jr. died of cancer in December 1977 in Lebanon, Tennessee. Bragg’s recording discography consists of other releases, including many un-issued songs, which were included on a CD from Bear Family, West Germany, in 1990. With the Marigolds, Bragg had five releases in 1955 and 1956 for the Excello label, including “Rollin’ Stone.”

On June 8, 2000, Bragg, accompanied by his daughter, Misti, and longtime friend and lawyer Don Hildebrand, appeared in Memphis by invitation at a pre-screening of the A&E television special Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n Roll. With Hildebrand’s help, the Tennessee State Penitentiary was opened for the first time since The Green Mile was filmed there for Bragg to do an interview and walking tour, including a visit to cell five on Walk Ten.

Standing on the ramp outside his former cell, Bragg sang a spontaneous Cappella rendition of “Just Walkin’ in the Rain” and did the entire third verse in falsetto. When he finished with his falsetto flourish, there was a standing ovation led by Ike Turner, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Sam Phillips. The history of rock ‘n roll and rhythm and blues is filled with inspiring characters; Bragg is one of them.  Johnny Bragg died in August 2004; he was 79.

David Ruffin (born Davis Eli Ruffin; January 18, 1941 – June 1, 1991 Whynot, MS) was an American soulsinger most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations (1964–1968) during the group’s “Classic Five” period as it was later known. Ruffin was the lead voice on such famous songs as “My Girl” and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” He later scored two top-ten singles as a solo artist, “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)” and “Walk Away from Love.”

Known for his unique raspy and anguished tenor vocals, Ruffin was ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stonemagazine in 2008 and again in 2023. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 for his work with the Temptations. Fellow Motown recording artist Marvin Gaye once said admiringly of Ruffin that, “I heard [in his voice] a strength my own voice lacked. After completing a successful month-long tour of England with Kendricks and Edwards, Ruffin died on June 1, 1991, from an accidental overdose of crack cocaine.

Steven Mark Grossman (January 18, 1951 – August 13, 2020 NY,NY) was an American jazz fusion and hard bop saxophonist.

Grossman was Wayne Shorter‘s replacement in Miles Davis‘s jazz-fusion band. He played with Chick Corea on the album “The Sun” in 1970, then, from 1971 to 1973, he was in Elvin Jones‘s band.

In the late 1970s, he was part of the Stone Alliance trio with percussionist Don Alias and bassist Gene Perla. The group released four albums during this period, including one featuring Brazilian trumpeter Márcio Montarroyos. The albums also feature an array of other musicians. They went on to release three live reunion albums during the 2000s.

Aloysius Tyrone Foster (born January 18, 1943 Richmond, Va) is an American jazz drummer. Foster’s professional career began in the mid-1960s, when he played and recorded with hard bop and swingmusicians including Blue Mitchell and Illinois Jacquet. Foster played jazz fusion with Miles Davisduring the 70s and was one of the few people to have contact with Davis during his retirement from 1975 to 1980. During Davis’s retirement, Foster continued to play and record acoustic jazz with Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Horace Silver, and other band leaders. Foster played on Miles Davis’s 1981 comeback album The Man with the Horn, and was the only musician to play in Davis’s band both before, and after, his retirement. After leaving Davis’s band in the mid-1980s, Foster toured and recorded with Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, and many other band leaders, primarily working in acoustic jazz settings. Foster has also released several solo albums under his own name, starting with Mixed Roots in 1978.

Shabbat for the Soul Service featuring Tzedek (Justice) Shabbat: Developing Spiritual Resilience and Active Hope. Friday January 17th 2025 630pm Music with Jennifer Truss-Klein, Tami Morse and mick laBriola plus.

Performing One Day by Matisyahu

Michael Kevin Taylor (born 17 January 1949) is an English guitarist, best known as a former member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (1967–1969) and the Rolling Stones(1969–1974). As a member of the Stones, he appeared on Let It Bleed (1969), Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! (1970), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972), Goats Head Soup(1973) It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (1974), and Tattoo You (1981).