*Oliver Nelson was born on this date in 1932. He was a Black jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. Oliver Edward Nelson was born into a musical family in St. Louis, Missouri. His brother was a saxophonist who played with Cootie Williams in the 1940s, and his sister sang and played piano. Nelson began […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*Lawrence Brown was born on this date in 1893. He was a Black Gay vocalist (tenor), composer and pianist. Lawrence Benjamin Brown was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised by his father, Clark Benjamin Brown, and his stepmother, Cenia Brown. Lawrence’s birth mother died when he was three years old. Clark and his father were […]
learn more*Kermit Moore was born on this date in 1929. He was a Black conductor, cellist, and composer. Moore was born in Akron, Ohio. While still in high school, he studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In Manhattan, he studied the cello with Felix Salmond at the Juilliard School while simultaneously pursuing a master’s degree […]
learn more*The Symphony of the New World’s first concert was on this date in 1965. It was the first racially integrated orchestra in the United States. They were a symphony orchestra based in New York City. They gave their debut concert at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Benjamin Steinberg, who told the orchestra: “We have a lot […]
learn more*This date in 1871 celebrates the birth of Estelle Ricketts, a Black composer who lived in Darby, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. She lived with her mother, her younger brother, and her father, who operated a boarding stable. She was the only one in her family who could read and write. Career Estelle Ricketts’s […]
learn more*Dorothy Rudd Moore was born on this date in 1940. She was a Black composer and music educator. Dorothy Rudd was born in New Castle, Delaware. She was born to a musical family; her mother encouraged her to pursue music studies and explore all her interests, including piano lessons. Moore knew she wanted to become […]
learn more*Mable Bailey’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1939. She is a Black musician, teacher, and composer. She was born in Canton, Mississippi, and moved to Oakland, California, with her family as a child. She graduated from San Francisco State University in 1963 with a double major in education and music. She began composing […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*Nadia Boulanger was born on September 16, 1887. She was a white French music teacher, conductor, and composer. From a musical family, from the age of seven, Juliette Nadia Boulanger studied in preparation for her Conservatoire entrance exams, sitting in on their classes and having private lessons with its teachers. She achieved early honors as […]
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