People, Locations, Episodes

Edgar Sampson, Musician, and Lyricist born

*Edgar Sampson was born on this date in 1907.  He was a Black musician and arranger.  Edgar Melvin Sampson was born in New York City.   As a young man, he played alto saxophone and violin in several bands during the 20s and 30s, including Duke Ellington, Rex Stewart, and Fletcher Henderson.   His most notable period […]

Irene Britton Smith, Classical Composer born

*Irene Britton Smith was born on this date in 1907.  She was an African and Native classical composer and educator. Irene Britton was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of four siblings. She was of African, Crow, and Cherokee descent. Smith attended Ferron Grammar School, Doolittle Grammar School, and Wendell Phillips High School. Britton attended […]

Cab Calloway, Musician, and Singer born

This date marks the birth of “Cab” Calloway, who was born on Christmas day in 1907. He was an African American vocalist and band leader.

“Red” Allen, Jazz Musician born

*Red Allen was born on this date in 1908. He was an African American Trumpet player and singer.

Henry “Red” Allen Jr. was the only child of Henry and Juretta Allen. The Elder Allen was the leader of the Allen Brass Band of Algiers, Louisiana, found directly across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. As a teenager he played in his father’s band, with George Lewis, the Excelsior Band and with the Sam Morgan Band. In 1926 he left New Orleans to play with Sidney Desvigne’s Southern Syncopaters on the riverboat Island Queen which ran between St. Louis and Cincinnati.

‘Hot Lips’ Page, Jazz Musician Born

*’Hot Lips’ Page was born on this date in 1908. He was a Black jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. Oran Thaddeus Page was born to a schoolteacher and musician mother in Dallas, Texas. He moved with his mother to Corsicana, where he began attending Corsicana High School and later Texas College while working in the oilfields. His earliest musical […]

Ruby Elzy, Stage and Film Vocalist born.

*Ruby Elzy was born on this date in 1908. She was an African American opera singer who appeared on stage, radio and film.

A native of Pontotoc, Mississippi, at the age of five her family was abandoned. Her mother (Emma) Elzy supported the family as a teacher at the colored school in Pontotoc. Elzy is known to have created the role of Serena in George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” on Broadway in 1935. She was married twice, her second husband was actor Jack Carr, who appeared on stage with her in “Porgy and Bess” and who also appeared in a number of films.

Alfred Lion, Jazz Music Producer born

*Alfred Lion was born on this date in 1908. He was a white Jewish American jazz record executive. Lion was born in Schöneberg, a borough of Berlin, Germany. His fascination with jazz began at the age of 16. In 1926, Lion emigrated to the United States, but while working on the New York docks, he was attacked […]

Louis Jordan, Musician, and Showman born

Louis Jordan was born on this date in 1908. He was an African American musician.

From Brinkley, Arkansas, he learned clarinet and saxophone from his father, who led the band for the Rabbit Foots Minstrels (Jordan toured with them while still in high school). He made his professional debut with Jimmy Pryor (1929), working with Ruby Williams and other band leaders in Arkansas before moving to Philadelphia to join the tuba player Jim Winters in 1932.

Cootie Williams, Trumpeter born

On this date we mark the birth of Cootie Williams in 1908. He was an African American trumpeter whose mastery of mutes and expressive effects made him one of the most distinctive jazz musicians.

Zenobia Powell Perry, Composer and Professor born

*Zenobia Powell Perry was born on October 3, 1908.  She was a Black composer, professor, and civil rights activist. She was born Zenobia Powell in Boley, Oklahoma, to physician Calvin B. Powell and Birdie Thompson Powell (of some Creek Indian heritage). Her family was well-educated and middle-class. Her grandfather, who had been a slave, sang […]

Sammy Price, Jazz Pianist born

On this date in 1908, Sammy Price, an African American jazz pianist, was born.

Born in Honey Grove, TX, Samuel Blythe Price grew up in Waco, where he learned to play alto saxophone. Portia Pittman, the daughter of Booker T. Washington was his piano teacher in Dallas. His career began in 1925 when he joined the Alphone Trent Orchestra as a Charleston dancer. Soon after he was leading his own big band in Dallas. In the 1920s, he performed with Benny Long, Lem Johnson, Leonard Chadwick, and in 1927, he toured with the Let’s Go Show.

Ida Shepley, British Singer and Actress born

*Ida Shepley was born on this date in 1908. She was a Black British actress and singer. She was born Ida Mary Humphrey in Nantwich, U.K. Her father was Clement Humphrey, a Caribbean-born herbalist; her mother was Gladys May, born Worthington; she had a younger brother born in 1912. In 1919, her mother remarried John […]

Jabbo Smith, Trumpeter born

Jabbo Smith was born on Christmas Eve in 1908. He was an African American musician.

Jabbo Smith was born in Pembroke, Georgia. He was the son of a barber and a church organist. After his father died, Smith and his mother moved to Savannah when he was four. His mother found it increasingly difficult to care for him and at age six he was placed into the Jenkins Orphanage Home in Charleston, but she found employment in the Home in order to be near to him.

Jonah Jones, Trumpeter born

*On this date in 1908, Jonah Jones was born. He was an African American musician.

‘Chick’ Webb, Jazz Drummer born

*On this date in 1909 “Chick” Webb was born. He was an African American drummer and bandleader.

From Baltimore, William Henry “Chick” Webb first played in a local children’s orchestra, and in his teens played in bands working on local riverboats. Webb moved to New York in 1925 and performed with Edgar Dowell prior to forming his own group, which was the featured attraction at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem by 1927.