Pianist and composer George Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York. Gershwin left school at 15 to work at a Tin Pan Alley publishing firm, where he performed songs to advertise their sheet music. He soon began songwriting, producing hundreds of music rolls for player pianos and composing for Broadway musicals. […]

Singer Julie London (originally Gayle Peck) was born September 26, 1926 in Santa Rosa, California. The daughter of a song and dance vaudeville team, her beauty was recognized early on and she began appearing in movies as a teenager in 1944. London was a pin-up girl during World War II, married to actor-jazz fan Jack […]

Leslie Coleman McCann was born September 23, 1935 in Lexington, Kentucky. While serving in the Navy, he won a talent contest as a singer which resulted in an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. After his discharge, McCann formed a trio in Los Angeles, turning down a chance to join the Cannonball Adderley […]

Singer, pianist and leader Ray Charles Robinson was born September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia. He started to play piano when he was three but began to lose his sight when he was four or five from glaucoma and was completely blind by the time he was seven. Charles attended the Florida School for the […]

Guitarist Emily Remler was born on September 18, 1957 in New York City, New York. She was primarily interested in rock guitar before attending Berklee College of Music and developing an interest in jazz. Remler released her first album, Firefly, on the Concord Label in 1981. She briefly worked with guitarist Larry Coryell and pianist […]

Guitarist Earl Klugh was born on September 16, 1953 in Detroit, Michigan. Klugh started on the piano when he was three, switching to guitar at the age of ten. His main influence and inspiration is Chet Atkins who he first saw on television when he was 13. Like Atkins, Klugh plays very melodically and is […]

Singer-pianist Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. was born September 11, 1967 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Connick’s father was a district attorney, an occasional singer and, along with his mother (a lawyer and a judge), for a time owned a record store. Connick, who was always known as Harry, started playing piano at three, performed publicly […]

Afro Blue Drummer Elvin Jones was born on September 9, 1927 in Pontiac, Michigan. He is the brother of fellow jazz musicians Thad and Hank. Upon returning home from the army in 1949, Eleven borrowed $35 from his sister to buy his first drum set. His unique sense of swing and penchant for polyrhythm influenced […]

A tribute to the Brazilian acoustic guitarist Laurindo Jose de Araujo Almeida Nobrega Neto was born in Prainha, Brazil on September 2, 1917. Although he was given piano lessons by his mother, Almeida taught himself the guitar when he was nine. At 12 he moved with his brother to Sao Paulo and at 15 fought […]

Senor Blues Pianist and composer Horace Silver was born on September 2, 1928 in Norwalk, Connecticut. As a young child, Silver’s father taught him the folk songs of his native Cape Verde. In 1950, Silver gained attention as Stan Getz’s pianist and occasional composer. In 1954 he co-founded the Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey. […]