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Category: Birthdays

New Morning Exercises & Hank Crawford’s Bday!

Ed K (Renaissance Granddad) – Day 23823 (Dec 21, 2016)   Woo! Hoo! Today is the Winter Solstice!! That of course means, today is either the shortest day of the year or the longest night! I prefer to look at it as the shortest day and from here until the Summer Solstice the days keep getting longer!! I used to hate it when it was dark when I went to work in the morning and again when I came home in the evening. For years i ran at 5:30 after work. I always hated it when daylight savings time ended and…

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Shahab Tolouie Master of the Fusetar born Jan 15, 1975!

So last year the FreeWheelin/ Music Safari discovered that on this date in 1975, a very talented world fusion guitarist, Shahab Tolouie  was born! That’s him at the start of this post, he is pictured with a guitar of his creation  an instrumentally speaking a very cool guitar. Well technically speaking,  it is not a guitar it is a Fusetar (eng.“fusion”, “tar” – farsi. “strings” – fusion of strings).  This three-necked instrument represents the culmination of his sound experiments in search of a mode of expression of his new musical concepts. The fusion of Setar, flamenco guitar, and fretless guitar Now…

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Exploring the Jazz Saxophone of Houston Person, following his birthday!!

  Houston Person – Saxophone  (born November 10, 1934) Houston Person is a jazz artist whose name I have seen on the JazzWeek Chart, as recently as this week. His latest release as a leader The Melody Lingers On is now at # 9. I had yet to listen to any of his music until last week. To be more specific,   I listened to two albums on his birthday, November 1oth. The albums nI listened to were Something in Common  from 1989 and Now’s the Time. Now’s the Time, released in 1990, was recorded with legendary bassist Ron Carter. Both albums were released on…

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John Lee Hooker’s birthday!! (August 22, 1917)

Let’s Have One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer to Honor John Lee Hooker On this day – August 22 –  in 1917 in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi John Lee Hooker was born. He was one of the most influential blues musicians across several generations. From Wikipedia John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was a highly influential American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally a unique brand of country blues. He developed…

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Today in Music – August 6, 1957 – Harmonica and Vibes Virtuoso Hendrick Meurkens was born!!

On this day, August  6, 1957  vibraphonist and chromatic harmonica virtuoso Hedrick Meurkens was born to Dutch parents in Hamburg, Germany. Meurkens was listed on today’s birthday list at All About Jazz as a harmonica player . When I went to Spotify to listen to his music, I started with his new release Junity, which opens with a nice rendition of The Beatles “Blackbird”. I listened to a few more tracks and then went to the next album his 2011 release Live at Bird’s Eye. As I listened to the album, I thought. boy, he sure is nice to give that…

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This Day in Music – May 20, 1975 – Tunisian Jazz Pianist Wajdi Cherif was born. Happy Belated Birthday, Wajdi!

So May 20th was a holiday in several nations including, Cambodia, East Timor and Cameroon. It was also the birthday of a Tunisian jazz piano player, Wajdi Cherif!! Knowing nothing about his music, other than that he played piano, I went to Spotify and listened to his 2009 release Fuzzy Colours and I didn’t have to listen long to become intrigued by and enjoy his music. Returning to All About Jazz, I discovered that at five years of age Wajdi was learning to play tunes he heard on the radio in his homeland of Tunisia on his little piano. Wajdi…

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Today in Music – Dec 23, 1940 – Happy 73rd Birthday – Jorma Kaukonen

So today is the birthday of one of my favorite guitar players Jorma Kaukonen! Jorma was born on this day in 1940 in Washington, D.C., the son of Beatrice Love (née Levine) and Jorma Ludwig Kaukonen, Jorma Kaukonen had Finnish paternal grandparents and Russian Jewish ancestry on his mother’s side. I am a fan of both sides of Jorma’s music. The rock side which he of course displayed as a member of the Jefferson Airplane, and his acoustic side, which he has displayed in his solo releases. Then there is Hot Tuna, where sometimes he’s acoustic and sometimes electric. My…

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2013 Blues from Down Under – Kara Grainger – “Fire on the Bayou”

So this afternoon’s soundtrack will be the new album from Kara Grainger Shiver & Sigh. Here’s some background from Amazon.com Australia native, now Los Angeles based, Kara Grainger first picked up the guitar at age 12. She started performing in the late ’90s as lead vocalist and guitarist with the successful Sydney-based blues outfit, Papa Lips. With her brother, acclaimed harmonica player Mitch Grainger, Kara and Papa Lips enjoyed a quintessentially Australian experience. Fuelled by national ABC Radio play for their two albums, “Harmony” and “High Time Now,” the band toured up and down the sun drenched beach towns of…

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December 5th, 1899??? – A Blues Legend – Sonny Boy Williamson II is born!!

So one of those early bluesman who mightily influenced blues and rock performers in the 60s  and 70s was born on December 5th! Now the year he was born that may be in question in his review at the AllMusic Guide, Cub Koda writes: A moody, bitter, and suspicious man, no one wove such a confusing web of misinformation as Sonny Boy Williamson II. Even his birth date (stated as December 5, 1899 in most reference books, but some sources claim his birth may have been in either 1897 or 1909) and real name (Aleck or Alex or Willie “Rice” — which may…

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