Birthday News

Jazz En Dominicana - 20 Years Of Opening Windows Into The Jazz Scene In The Dominican Republic

Source: Fernando Rodriguez De Mondesert
March 19, 2026

Jazz en Dominicana was born on October 23rd of 2006. It was originally a blog whose intention was to inform about the Jazz that was presented in the Dominican Republic (by local and international musicians), as well as about what dominican jazz musicians were doing in other beaches. Before completing its first year (September 2007), the first weekly live jazz venue was born—Jazz Dominicana at Casa de Teatro. This October they will celebrate 20 years of having begun the mission ...

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Jazz Musician of the Day: John Coltrane

Source: Michael Ricci
September 23, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating John Coltrane's birthday today!

John William Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina. At the age of three his family moved to High Point, NC, where young Coltrane spent his early years. His father, John Robert Coltrane, died in 1939, leaving twelve year-old John and his mother on their own. His mother, Alice Blair Coltrane, moved to New Jersey to work as a domestic while John completed high school. John played ...

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Jazz Musician of the Day: Harry Connick, Jr.

Source: Michael Ricci
September 11, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Harry Connick, Jr.'s birthday today!

Harry Connick, Jr.'s career has been studded with awards and recognition, including several multi-platinum and gold albums, Grammy and Emmy awards, a starring role in a Tony-winning Broadway musical and much more. A true American icon, there are few artists of Harry's stature, and fewer still with such a comprehensive span of the entire realm of entertainment. Harry grew up in New Orleans, and it is here you will find ...

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Jazz Musician of the Day: Elvin Jones

Source: Michael Ricci
September 9, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Elvin Jones' birthday today!

Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer. He was born in Pontiac, Michigan, the youngest child in a family of ten. His father worked for General Motors. Two of Jones' brothers were also jazz musicians: Hank (piano), and Thad (trumpet/flugelhorn). Elvin began playing professionally in the 1940s, working with the Army Special Services program, Operation Happiness, and in 1949 had a short-lived gig in Detroit's Grand River Street club. Eventually he ...

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Jazz Musician of the Day: Sonny Rollins

Source: Michael Ricci
September 7, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Sonny Rollins' birthday today!

It’s no state secret that Sonny Rollins has never been fond of the recording studio. Never mind that he’s recorded his full share of gems there—not only early, celebrated albums such as Saxophone Colossus and Way Out West, but also digital-era efforts such as Old Flames and This Is What I Do. The man often embraced as the greatest living improviser requires too much creative freedom to start playing, as he ...

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Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Silver

Source: Michael Ricci
September 2, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Silver's birthday today!

When Horace Silver once wrote out his rules for musical composition (in the liner notes to the 1968 record, Serenade to a Soul Sister), he expounded on the importance of “meaningful simplicity." The pianist could have just as easily been describing his own life. For more than fifty years, Silver has simply written some of the most enduring tunes in jazz while performing them in a distinctively personal style. It's all ...

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Jazz Musician of the Day: Art Pepper

Source: Michael Ricci
September 1, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Art Pepper's birthday today!

Alto Saxophonist Art Pepper, a native of Gardena California, played in the overtly emotional manner that came to define the West Coast style. His solo approach was always passionate, from early recordings made with Stan Kenton's orchestra during his years with the band (1943 and 1946-52) and in jam sessions on LA’s Central Avenue. Records and club work with Shorty Rogers and his Giants beginning in 1951 provided more room for ...

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Jazz Musician of the Day: Kenny Dorham

Source: Michael Ricci
August 30, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Kenny Dorham's birthday today!

Overshadowed for most of his career by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, and Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham's abilities as a composer and unique voice as an advanced bop trumpet player are underrated to this day. McKinley Howard Dorham was born on August 30, 1924 on a ranch called Post Oak, near Fairfield, Texas. He attended Anderson High School in Austin, where he began teaching himself ...

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