People, Locations, Episodes

Ruth Brown, Singer born

Ruth Brown was born on this date in 1928. She was an African American singer.

Born in Portsmouth, VA, Brown sang in the church choir and then joined Lucky Millinder’s big band after winning a talent contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. While working at a Washington, D.C., nightclub, Brown was noticed by a local deejay who contacted the top executives at Atlantic records. They were impressed and offered her a contract. While driving to New York to sign, Brown got in a serious car accident, landing in a Philadelphia hospital for a year.

Dorothy Coates, Gospel Vocalist born

*Dorothy Coates was born on this date in 1928.  She was a Black gospel vocalist.  Born Dorothy McGriff in Birmingham, Alabama, she was one of seven children of a minister.  She sang in local churches and started a family group, the Royal Gospel Singers, as a teenager.  Coates joined the Gospel Harmonettes, a well-known Birmingham […]

Chicago’s Regal Theater Opens

*On this date, in 1928, the Regal Theater opened.  This was a 20th-century nightclub and music venue popular among Blacks.   The Regal was a major complex that featured films, dance, music, and comedy and was a prominent entertainment venue for over four decades in Chicago, Illinois. This theater was designed by Levy and Klein, influenced by […]

Fats Domino, Pianist, and Singer born

*Fats Domino was born on this date in 1928.  He was a Black pianist and singer-songwriter.   Antoine “Fats” Domino Jr. was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, the youngest of eight children born to Antoine Caliste Domino and Marie-Donatille Gros. The Domino family was of French Creole background, and Louisiana Creole was his first language.  He was born at home with the assistance of his […]

Dolly Rathebe, South African Entertainer, and Columnist born

*Dolly Rathebe was born on this date in 1928. She was a Black South African musician, columnist, and actress. Dolly Rathebe was born in Randfontein, South Africa but grew up in Sophiatown, which she describes as having been “a wonderful place.” She was discovered around 1948 after singing at a picnic in Johannesburg. A talent […]

Johnny Griffin, Saxophonist born

*Johnny Griffin was born on this date in 1928.  He was a Black jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader.   John Arnold Griffin III was born in Chicago, Illinois, living on the South Side of the Second City with his mother, a singer, and father, who played cornet. As an adolescent, he liked hearing Gene Ammons play and studied music at DuSable […]

Eric Dolphy, Jazz Musician born

On this date in 1928, Eric Dolphy was born. He was an African American jazz musician, one of great artistic influences in the twentieth century.

T. J. Anderson, Musician, and Composer born

*T.J. Anderson was born on this date in 1928.  He is a Black musician and composer.  From Coatesville, Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson Anderson has received degrees from West Virginia State College, Penn State University, and a Ph.D. in Composition from the University of Iowa. He also holds several honorary degrees. During this time, Anderson married his […]

Art Farmer, Jazz Trumpeter born

This date marks the birth of Art Farmer in 1928. He was an African American jazz musician.

Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Farmer was reared in Phoenix and moved to Los Angeles in 1945 with his twin brother, Addison. During the late 1940s, Farmer worked with the bands of Jay McShann, Johnny Otis, Gerald Wilson, Roy Porter, and Benny Carter on the West Coast. In the early ’50s, he worked with Wardell Gray, and then toured with Lionel Hampton, recording in Europe with Clifford Brown. Moving to New York City shortly thereafter, he worked with Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan, and Quincy Jones.

Horace Silver, ‘Bop’ Composer born

*Horace Silver was born on this date in 1928. He was an African American jazz arranger and musician.

Lena McLin, Composer and Educator born

*Lena McLin was born on this date in 1928. She was a Black educator, composer, author, and pastor. Lena Mae Johnson was born in Atlanta, Georgia. At age five, she lived with her uncle, Thomas A. Dorsey. As a child, she attended the Pilgrim Baptist Church, where she was exposed to gospel music and served […]

Cannonball Adderley, Jazz Musician and Composer born

*On this date in 1928, Julian Edwin “Cannonball” Adderly was born. He was an African American jazz musician, band leader, and composer.

Koko Taylor, Blues Singer born

*Koko Taylor was born on this date in 1928.  She was a Black blues singer.   Born Cora Anna Walton on a farm near Memphis, Tennessee, she was the daughter of a sharecropper. She left Tennessee for Chicago in 1952 with her husband, Robert “Pops” Taylor, a truck driver.   In the late 1950s, she […]

The Dixie Hummingbirds, Gospel Group is Formed

The founding of the Dixie Hummingbirds in 1928 is celebrated on this date. They are an African American Gospel singing group.

Hampton Hawes, Jazz Pianist born

Hampton Hawes, an African American musician, was born on this date in 1928 in Los Angeles, California.

Hawed came from a musical family (his mother played piano for the church where his father was tge Presbyterian minister). Hawes taught himself to play piano by listening to records of 1930s jazz piano giants. He began to play professionally while still attending Polytechnic High School. Hawes worked in New York but soon returned to Los Angeles, where he became an important piece of the burgeoning “West Coast” school of jazz. He worked with Howard McGhee’s band and Charlie Parker.