HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAROLD ARLEN

** BIRTHDAYS:



1905
HAROLD ARLEN, Composer
b. Feb. 15, 1905, Buffalo, NY, USA.
d. April 23, 1986, New York, NY, UDA.
né: Hyman Arluck.
~Biography by Ron Wynn
An American songwriting legend and son of a cantor, Harold Arlen was fascinated early in his life with the sound of ragtime. While singing in his father's synagogue he also played ragtime piano in local Buffalo bands and accompanied silent films. After arranging for the Buffalodians, Arlen moved to New York. His jobs included arranging for Fletcher Henderson, and serving as a rehearsal pianist for radio and theatre. A vamp he devised while practicing was later turned into the song "Get Happy," with lyrics from Ted Koehler. Arlen and Koehler wrote eight revues for the Cotton Club, one of which included the anthem "Stormy Weather," first performed by Ethel Waters.

Though he moved to Hollywood in the '30s, Arlen kept penning songs for Broadway, working with other lyricists like Dorothy Fields, Les Robin, Johnny Mercer, Yip Harburg and Ira Gershwin as well as Koehler. His list of hits and accomplishments is amazing; they include songs for the films Take a Chance, Star-Spangled Rhythm, The Sky's the Limit, and his most famous, The Wizard of Oz. Arlen also composed tunes for the plays Earl Carroll Vanities, Rhythm Mania, and St. Louis Woman. The incredible array of unforgettable compositions include "I've Got the World on a String," "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues," "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "It's Only a Paper Moon" and "Over The Rainbow." Numerous jazz artists have recorded his songs, as well as pop performers across the spectrum. Arlen made a few albums as a performer, among them sessions with Duke Ellington and Barbra Streisand. At present only one Arlen album, Harold Sings Arlen, with Streisand is available and it's not on CD.

***LINKS:
www.haroldarlen.com/
www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/arlen_h.html
www.haroldarlen2005.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Arlen
www.parabrisas.com/d_arlenh.php
www.imdb.com/name/nm0002182/
www.imdb.com/title/tt0218617/
www.schirmer.com/composers/arlen_wizard.html
www.songtrellis.com/composers/...changeslist



1901
James "Kokomo" Arnold, Blues vocals/(left handed) bottleneck guitarist
b. Lovejoys Station, GA, USA
d. Nov. 8 1968, Chicago, IL, USA. (Coronary) Age: 67.
His cousin, John Wiggs, taught him to play the guitar, but music was just his hobby. As a young man, Arnold earned his living working at various jobs including Farmhand (in Buffalo, NY) and Steelworker (in Pittsburgh, PA). In 1929, after the U. S. Congress had prohibited the sale and consumption of Alcoholic beverages, Arnold relocated to Chicago, IL, and became a "bootlegger", an activity he continued until 1933, when the 21st Amendment to the U. S. Constitution ended Prohibition.

After that, he was "forced" to make his living as a musician. On Sept. 10, 1934, Arnold made his first recording, and received his nickname from his Decca release of "Old Original Kokomo Blues", a "cover" of the 'Scrapper' Blackwell blues song about the "Kokomo" brand of coffee. (One of his contemporaries, Delta bluesman Robert Johnson, turned "Old Original Kokomo Blues" into "Sweet Home Chicago".) During his releatively short career, Arnold would make 88 sides (7 of which are lost).

A left-handed slide-guitarist, his intense playing and vocals combined to make him a major influence upon many of his contemporaries, including Peetie Wheatstraw and Amos Eaton. Later, even Elvis Pressley released one of Arnold's tunes "Milkcow Calf's Blues". In 1938 "Kokomo" Arnold found a steady "Day" job working in a Chicago factory, and left the music business. In 1962, he was "rediscovered" by researchers, but showed little interest in returning to the music business.

www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
www.aaregistry.com/african_..._bluesman


1893
Walter Donaldson, Composer
b. Brooklyn, NY
d.July 15, 1947, Santa Monica, CA, USA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Donaldson


1917
John Wallace "Wally" Fowler, (gospel) vocals.
b. Adairsville, GA, USA.
He was the founder of the group that became "The Oak Ridge Boys", originally known, and recorded, as "Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers". Then Wally Fowler decided to focus on gospel music, and in 1945 he formed "The Oak Ridge Quartet" with himself, Lon "Deacon" Freeman, Curly Kinsey, and Johnny New. Eventually, Fowler disbanded and, in 1957, sold the rights to the name "Oak Ridge Quartet' to Larry Gatlin. In 1961, Gatlin changed the name of his group to "The Oak Ridge Boys". In 1966, Gatlin left the group to become a minister.


1910
Walter 'Rosetta' Fuller, Trumpet/vocals
b. Dyersburg, TN, USA.
d. April 27, 2003
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=13008



1915
Taft Jordan, Trumpet/vocals
b. Florence, SC, USA.
d. 1981, New York, NY, USA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft_Jordan
http://www.harlem.org/people/jordan.html



1918
"Hank" Locklin, C&W vocals, McClellan, FL, USA.
né: Lawrence Hankins Locklin. One of his big hit recordings was "Help Me, I'm Falling, Falling For You"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Locklin
http://www.hanklocklin.com/


** Notable Events occuring this date include:


1941.
Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded "Take the "A" Train" (RCA VIctor) : )

1946.
Putney Dandridge, piano
died in NJ, USA.
Age: 44 : (

1965.
Nat "King Cole, vocals/piano
died in Santa Monica, CA, USA.
Age: 48 : (

1968.
"Little Walter", harmonica/songwriter
died in Chicago, IL, USA.
Age: 37 : (

1969.
Pee Wee Russell, clarinet
died in Alexandria, VA, USA.
Age: 62 : (

1975.
Joel Hopkins, guitar
died in Galveston, TX, USA.
Age: 71 : (


** Songs Recorded/Released this date include:


1941
"Take the A Train", Duke Ellington ; )

1950
"Dear Hearts and Gentle People", - Bing Crosby

posted by: ~confetta

DON'T CARE BLUES by PERRY BRADFORD

BIRTHDAYS


1893
Perry "Mule" Bradford, Piano/Composer/vocals
b. Montgomery, AL, USA
d. April 20, 1970, New York, NY, USA.
When he was just age 6, his family moved to Atlanta, GA, and that's where Perry grew up. In 1906 he started touring with minstrel shows. As early as 1909, he played in Chicago, IL as a solo pianist and was playing in New York city the following year.
For the next 10 years, Bradford worked in theatre circuits as a pianist, singer and composer. He then settled in New York, and became Mamie Smith's musical director. It was Bradford who was responsible for her being the first blues singer on record (in 1920 she sang his composition "Crazy Blues").

Bradford toured and recorded with Smith, and her 'Jazz Hounds", nominally led by Jimmy. Bradford also worked with Alberta Hunter. During 1923-'27, Bradford recorded seven times leading his own group, with sidemen Johnny Dunn, Bubber Miley, Garvin Bushell, Louis Armstrong (on two numbers in 1925), Buster Bailey and James P. Johnson. Bradford finally slipped into obscurity during the great worldwide 1929 economic depression. In 1965 Perry Bradford's autobiography Alone With the Blues was published. His best-known songs were "Crazy Blues," "That Thing Called Love" and "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down." A very talented performer, pianist and composer, he deserves to be better remembered.


1915
Irving Gordon, songwriter
b. New York (Brooklyn), NY, USA
d. Dec. 1, 1996, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Gordon


1908
Lonnie Glosson, C&W singer-songwriter/guitar/harmonica
b. Judsonia, AR, USA. d. March 2, 2001, Searcy (White County), AR, USA.
Age: 93 .
http://arnet.pair.com/LonnieGlosson/index.htm


1896
Werner Richard Heymann, composer
b. Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia)
d. May 30, 1961, Munich, Germany.


1920
Jack Lesberg, Bass/violin
b. Boston, MA, USA
d. Sept. 17, 2005, Englewood, NJ, USA. (complications of Alzheimer’s disease). In the late 1930s, he switched to playing bass after having spent his early career as a violinist. In 1942, he survived a fire at the famed Cocoanut Grove club in Los Angeles (492 patrons perished). In 1943, he relocated to New York city and found work as bassist with the New York Symphony Orchestra (then led by conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein). In the mid to late 1940s, played in the New York Symphony Orchestra under conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein. In 1944, Jack first recorded with guitarist Eddie Condon's group, and his last recording came in March 2003 at “Mat Domber’s March of Jazz� in Clearwater, Florida. In the early 1970s, he he traveled to Australia, where he appeared with the Sydney Symphony.


1856
William J. Scanlan, composer
b. Springfield, MA, USA.
d. Feb. 19, 1898, New York, NY, USA.


1909
"Skeets" Tolbert, leader/reeds
b. Calhoun Falls, SC, USA
d. Nov. 30, 2000, Houston, TX, USA.
né: Campbell Arelus Tolbert.
One of five children. this noted Black musician had a long career in music, - both playing and teaching.. In the early 1940's he led his own band " The Gentlemen of Swing " where he picked up the nickname "Skeets". In 1963, he opened his business 'Pied Piper Music Company'. He later became an instructor at Texas Southern University, where he was a music professor specializing in woodwind instruction. He taught arranging , music theory, and also conducted the stage band.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeets_Tolbert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHowKVvg8nc


1896
Anson Weeks
b. Oakland, CA, USA
d. Feb. 7, 1969, Sacramento, CA, USA.
Anson Weeks was leader of a popular West Coast dance band in the late 1920s through the 1960s, primarily in San Francisco (he made his first recording in Oakland on February 7, 1925, but it was rejected).
He pioneered the "hotel" band sound and spent years at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco, using the slogan "Dancin' With Anson".
He formed his first band in 1924 and had key hotel jobs in Oakland and Sacramento. By the late 1920s he was a popular regional orchestra and started recording for Columbia in 1928. In 1932, he signed with Brunswick and recorded for them through 1935. He later did a session for Decca in 1937.

He gained nationwise attention in late 1931 on the 'Lucky Strike Magic Carpet" radio program. Among his key vocalists were Art Wilson, Harriet Lee, Donald Novis, Bob Crosby, Carl Ravazza, Kay St. Germaine, and Bob Gage. His Brunswick records were quite popular.
Weeks was involved in an auto accident in 1941 and was out of the band business for several years, starting up again in the late 1940s.
He signed to the local Fantasy label in the early 1950s and did a series of dance albums, which were quite regionally popular.

Weeks also composed songs including "I'm Writing You This Little Melody" (theme song), "I'm Sorry Dear", "Senorita", "That Same Old Dream", and "We'll Get A Bang Out Of Life".

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/weeks.html
http://nfo.net/usa/w2.html
http://www.parabrisas.com/d_weeksa.php


Notable Events occuring this date include:


1957.
"King David", a four-part symphony jazz suite, and Lionel Hamptons only major musical work, debuted at New York's Town Hall. the conducter was Dimitri Mitropoulos.

1959.
Baby Dodds, drums, died in Chicago, IL, USA.
Age: 60 : (

1984.
Barbara Gordon, vocals, died.

1988.
Frederick Loewe, songwriter, died in Palm Springs, CA, USA.
Age: 83

1999.
Buddy Knox, (rockabilly) singer-songwriter, died of cancer.
Age: 65. In the 1950s, his "Party Doll", a tune he composed, topped the charts.



Songs Recorded/Released this date include:


1941 "High On a Windy Hill", Dorsey, Jimmy

1941 "It All Comes Back To Me Now", Krupa, Gene

1941 "Song Of The Volga Boatman", Miller, Glenn

1946 "You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break", Brown, Les

1946 "Oh! What It Seemed To Be", Sinatra, Frank