People, Locations, Episodes

Hall Johnson, Vocalist, and Composer born

*Hall Johnson was born on this date in1888. He was an African American concert vocalist and composer.

From Athens, GA his father was a minister in the African Methodist Church and a college president. His earliest interest in music came from his grandmother. She was a former slave who exposed him to spirituals. Johnson graduated from Allen University and also studied at the University of Pennsylvania, the Julliard School and the University of Southern California.

Camille Nickerson, Composer born

The birth of Camille Nickerson in 1888 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American musician, composer, and administrator.

Nickerson was born into a talented musical family in the French Quarter of New Orleans. At the age of nine she was the pianist for the Nickerson Ladies’ Orchestra directed by her father. She attended Oberlin Conservatory earning a bachelor of music in 1916 and a masters in music degree in 1932. She also was a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and the national honor society in music. While at Oberlin, she began to compose and publish Creole music.

Noble Sissle, Lyricist born

Noble Sissle, an African American musician and lyricist, was born on this date in 1889.

The Harlem Opera House Opens

*On this date, in 1889, the Harlem Opera House opened.  It was an American opera house in the Harlem community of Manhattan in New York City. It was built in 1875 and designed by architect John B. McElfatrick by Oscar Hammerstein; it was his first theater in New York City. An early work at the […]

Black History and American Blues (Music), a story

On this date we focus on Blues music in America. Technically, as a musical style the Blues are characterized by expressive pitch inflections (blue notes), a three-line textual stanza, and a 12-measure form.

Johnny St. Cyr, Musician born

*Johnny St. Cyr was born on this date in 1890. He was a Black jazz banjoist and guitarist. Johnny St. Cyr was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He played for several leading New Orleans bands before moving to Chicago in 1923. Sr. Cyr played with Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven bands. He also played with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot […]

L. Viola Kinney, Pianist, and Educator born

*The birth of L. Viola Kinney is celebrated on this date, c.1890.  She was a Black composer, pianist, and teacher active during the first half of the twentieth century.   Born Lady Viola Kinney in Sedalia, Missouri, she was one of the five children of Patrick and Lillian Kinney. Her father was a cook, and […]

Lillian E. Evanti, Vocalist born

*Lillian Evans Evanti was born on this date in 1890. A lyric soprano, she was the first African American to sing opera with an organized company in Europe.

Jelly Roll Morton, Composer born

Jelly Roll Morton was born on this date in 1890. He was an African American jazz composer and pianist who pioneered the use of prearranged, semi-orchestrated effects in jazz-band performances.

Fatte Marble, Jazz Pianist born

*Fatte Marble was born on this date in 1890.  He was a Black jazz pianist and composer.  Born in Paducah, Kentucky, in 1890, Fate Marable learned piano from his mother, Elizabeth Lillian (Wharton) Marable, a piano teacher. Fatte had five siblings, two brothers, Harold and James, and three sisters, Mabel, Juanita, and Neona.  At age […]

Charley Patton, Blues Musician born

*The birth of Charley Patton is celebrated on this date in 1891.  He was a Black Delta blues musician.   Patton was born in Hinds County, Mississippi, near the town of Edwards, and lived most of his life in Sunflower County, in the Mississippi Delta.  Though his parents were Bill and Annie Patton, locally, he was regarded as having been fathered by former Black slave Henderson Chatmon, several of […]

Lester Melrose, Blues Music Producer born

*Lester Melrose was born on this date in 1891. He was a white-American talent scout and producer of Chicago blues music. Lester Franklin Melrose was born in Sumner, Illinois, the second of six children of Frank and Mollie Melrose, who owned a small farm. He relocated to Chicago around 1914 and tried unsuccessfully as a catcher […]

The World’s Fair Colored Opera Company Debuts

*On this date in 1892 the first African American performers appeared at Carnegie Hall.

The World’s Fair Colored Opera Company, with featured singer, soprano Matilda Sissieretta Jones, performed less than one year after the hall’s opening.

Mississippi John Hurt, Blues Singer born

*Mississippi John Hurt was born on this date in 1892. He was an African American blues singer.

Johnny Dodds, Clarinetist born

*Johnny Dodds was born on this date in 1892.  He was an American jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist based in New Orleans.  Johnny Dodds was born in Waveland, Mississippi. His childhood environment was a musical one.  His father and uncle were violinists, his sister played the melodeon, and in adolescence, Johnny sang high tenor in […]