Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born 114 years ago today in Washington, D.C. In this April 1950 photo, he is illustrating part of the reason the name “Duke” was bestowed upon him by childhood friends who admired him for his killer style. He even wore suits and ties in high school and once blew everyone away at a party when he showed up in a shimmy back herringbone suit that was shirred and pleated in the back—a style that no one else was wearing at the time. Photo y Lipnitzki/Roger Viollet/Getty Images.
Watching the magnificent Ella Fitzgerald duet with Frank Sinatra on AspireTV. This photo is not from that show, but it is in the same timeframe (1950s). Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
“I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.” ~ Ella Fitzgerald, born 96 years ago today in Newport News, Virginia. In this photo, she is performing at Mr. Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago in 1958. Photo by Yale Joel//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images.
Singer Georgia Carr with Stan Kenton after a Detroit, MI performance of “The Biggest Show of ‘52”. It was Ms. Carr in the picture with Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Monica Lewis and Mr. Kenton, not Thelma Carpenter. Thanks to Derrick Lucas for contacting Mr. Cole’s former manager, Dick LaPalm, but clearly Mr. LaPalm was mistaken. And thank you Toni Callender for your comment and giving me the opportunity to correct the original post - and the excuse to share the lovely Georgia Carr with VBG fans. Photo: University of North Texas Digital Library.
Happy Easter! I hope you are enjoying the day if you celebrate. This Ella Fitzgerald photo was taken by the legendary William Gottlieb in November 1946. Lars Gotrich added the bunny ears for a 2011 NPR story on Easter and Jazz. Photo: The Library of Congress
Thelma Carpenter, the singer and actress best known as “Miss One” from 1978’s “The Wiz” in the 1950s. We have solved the riddle of the mystery lady in the photo with Sarah Vaughan, Nat “King” Cole, Stan Kenton and Monica Lewis (who provided the photo to VBG). Thelma Carpenter (1922-1997). Best known to my generation as “Miss One” from “The Wiz” (!!!) like so many of our great performers, she was SO much more. Born in Brooklyn, Ms. Carpenter was already on the road to stardom at the age of 5, when she started singing on the “Kiddies Hour” radio show and by age 11, she had her own show on WNYC radio. After winning the venerable “Amateur Night” competition at the Apollo Theater, she would go on to sing with jazz greats like Teddy Wilson, Coleman Hawkins and Count Basie. In 1945, she replaced Dinah Shore on the very popular Eddie Cantor radio program, one of the first Blacks to replace a star on White radio show. She made her Broadway debut in 1944 in ”Memphis Bound” with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and was Pearl Bailey’s understudy in “Dolly” in 1968, performing the role over 100 times. In later years, along with ”The Wiz” in 1978, she had roles in the ABC version of “Barefoot in the Park,”in the early 1970s, ”The Cotton Club,” in 1984 along with “The Love Boat” and “The Cosby Show.” Ms. Carpenter died in New York City at the age of 77 in 1997. Photos: JET, October 2, 1952 (bottom right) and Amazon.com. ***Thanks to Derrick Lucas, who kindly contacted Mr. Cole’s manager, Dick LaPalm, who identified Ms. Carpenter for us. ***The lady in question was actually the singer Georgia Carr. Thanks to Toni Callendar for catching this and commenting on the VBG Facebook page.
Happy 80th Birthday Quincy Jones! His middle name is Delight. Isn’t that appropriate? Mr. Jones has produced and arranged for everyone from Dinah Washington to Count Basie to Sarah Vaughan to Michael Jackson, of course. In this 1961 photo, he is in the studio looking over some sheet music. Today, Mr. Jones continues to innovate. He recently invested in a new startup called Playground Sessions, a new musical app that helps you play the piano! Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty.
Quincy Jones at work at a Sarah Vaughan recording session in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1963. Photo: Lebrecht Music & Arts/Corbis.
Max Roach, the iconic jazz drummer & composer, on tour in Japan in the mid-1950s. Photo via Dwayne Rodgers of The Black Vernacular who obtained it from Mr. Roach’s family.
Merry Christmas, Baby! From the late, great blues legend, Charles Brown.
Blues pianist and singer, Charles Brown, circa 1948. Mr. Brown was born in Texas City, Texas in 1922 and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Prairie View College in 1942. After a brief career as a high school science teacher, Mr. Brown eventually moved to Los Angeles where he joined Johnny Moore and the Three Blazers. Best known for his composition, “Driftin Blues,” he also recorded a very popular version of “Merry Christmas, Baby.” Mr. Brown’s was a big influence on Ray Charles and in the late 1980s, he saw a career revival thanks to Bonnie Raitt, when he toured as her opening act. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Mr. Brown died at the age of 76 in 1999. Photo: Gilles Petard/Redferns.
Hazel Scott (far left) with her then husband, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., chat with Ella Fitzgerald at the opening night party for the club Bop City in New York City in April 1949. Photo: Martha Holmes//Time Life Pictures.
