Singer Anita O’Day (originally Anita Belle Colton) was born on October 18, 1919 in Kansas, Missouri. O’Day worked as a teenager during the Depression as a marathon dancer to raise money. She developed her hip singing style while performing with Max Miller’s group in Chicago during 1939-40. As a member of the Gene Krupa Orchestra […]

Farrell Sanders was born October 13, 1940 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sanders first played music on clarinet at church. He switched to tenor-saxophone while in high school and as a teenager he played with many of the traveling acts who were passing through Little Rock including r&b bands such as that led by Junior Parker. […]

Pianist and composer Chucho Valdés was born on October 9, 1941 in Havana, Cuba. Chucho’s father, the legendary Afro-Cuban jazz pioneer Bebo Valdés, was the first to give him piano lessons. Chucho’s unique blend of classical, jazz, and Cuban music helped him gain global exposure in the 1970s, despite the fact that he never settled […]

Tenor-saxophonist, flutist and oboeist William Emanuel. Huddleston (who later changed his name to Yusef Lateef) was born October 9, 1920 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. After a brief period in Ohio, he moved with his family to Detroit where his father changed their last names to Evans; yes, Yusef Lateef for a time was known as Bill […]

Bassist Jimmy Blanton was born October 5, 1918 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Originally a violinist, Blanton switched to bass while at Tennessee State University. He performed with the Tennessee State Collegians (1936-37) and played on riverboats during his vacations with Fate Marable. In 1938 he dropped out of college to work with the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra in […]

Ed Kelly was born Oct. 4, 1935 in Wharton, Texas, growing up in Oakland. He started playing piano as a young teenager (performing in his father’s church) and studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific, and Berklee College of Music. Kelly began a 27-year period as a professor of music […]

Saxophonist John Gilmore was born on September 28, 1931 in Summit, Mississippi. Gilmore took up the tenor sax while serving in the Air Force from 1948 to 1952. Gilmore’s forceful and inventive playing helped shape the band’s sound and influenced other sax players like John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. In 1953 he met Sun Ra […]

Keyboardist and composer Kenny Kirkland was born on September 28, 1955 in Newport, New York. Upon graduation from the Manhattan School of Music, Kirkland began working with violinist Michal Urbaniak. He is best known for his work with Wynton Marsalis’ band in the ‘80s. Kirkland’s Herbie Hancock-inspired playing lent the group a sound reminiscent of […]

Gary Bartz was born on September 26, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father had a jazz club in Baltimore which gave the young alto-saxophonist an opportunity to sit in with some greats including Art Blakey. Bartz moved to New York in 1958 to attend Julliard, making his recording debut in 1965 when he was a […]