New Orleans Radio

Welcome New Orleans Radio

 

Todays Date

Todays Date
02-04-2026

Birthday Wishes

Year	birthday
1904	Edna Pierce, A pianist and a native of Florida, she grew up in a musical household that included six piano-playing daughters of Hamilton Madison Goodson and Sarah Jenkins Goodson. According to her sister Billie Pierce, Edna mostly worked in “show business,” throughout the Gulf Coast: towns like Atmore, Alabama; Flomaton, Alabama; Molino, Florida; and Century, Florida; but that she sometimes worked in New Orleans between shows. Billie’s husband De De Pierce recalled that Edna worked four or five months with his band at the Cat a the Fiddle, on Dauphine in the French Quarter. She passed away in 1986. (122)
1909	Harold Dejan, Saxophonist from New orleans, Louisiana. He led small Rhythm and Blues groups and played in his brother, Leo's 'Moonlight Serenader's' as a teenager. Later he frequently performed with the 'Young Tuxedo Brass Band' and was the leader of the 'Olympia Brass Band'. (117)
1925	Robert "Catman" Caffrey, Saxophonist and native of New Orleans, Louisiana. During his career he worked with Roy Brown, Earl King, ‘Guitar Slim’, ‘Smiley’ Lewis, Joe Turner and Huey "Piano" Smith. He passed away in New Olreans in 2002 at the age of 76. (101)
1927	Tony Fruscella, A cool jazz trumpeter in the vein of Chet Baker, Tony Fruscella unfortunately lived a similarly addictive lifestyle that led to a tragically premature death. He died in 1969. (99)
1941	John Steel, Singer and musician with the Animals - "House of The Rising Sun". (85)
1944	Florence LaRue, Singer with the Fifth Dimension - "Up Up and Away". (82)
1945	John Stubblefield, A tenor saxophonist able to fit into a wide variety of advanced settings. During the 1970's, he worked with the Collective Black Artists' big band, Mary Lou Williams, Charles Mingus, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, Tito Puente, Anthony Braxton, Abdullah Ibrahim, Miles Davis (1973), McCoy Tyner, Gil Evans, and Lester Bowie, among others. (81)
1948	Alice Cooper, (Vincent David Furnier) Singer - "School's Out". (78)
1952	Rickie Monie, A pianist and native of the 9th ward in New Orleans, Louisiana. His parents played piano in church, and at home they would spin records by Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson, and other pianists. In 1982 he began sitting in for the aging Sweet Emma Barrett on piano. The time I spent sitting next to Sweet Emma was like going back to school, he remembers. Rickie has performed with Dave Bartholomew, Clarence Frogman Henry, Dr. Michael White, Gregg Stafford, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Topsy Chapman. When he's not on tour, performs weekly at Preservation Hall and regularly plays the organ in churches around New Orleans. (74)

Todays_Events

Year	Musical_Fact
1937	"A Study in Brown" was recorded by Glenn Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra for Decca Records on this day.
1950	New Orleans, Louisiana native and blues guitarist and singer, Lonnie Johnson, entered the R&B charts on this day with 'Confused'. The song was written by fellow Louisiana native, Paul Gayten.
1961	Alphonse Picou, traditional jazz clarinetist from New Orleans, Louisiana passed away on this day. He began his musical career in the late 1890's with Bouboul Valentin, and later organized the 'Acordiana Band'. He played with Oscar Duconge, Freddie Keppard's Olympia Orchestra, the Excelsior Brass Band and the Tuxedo Brass Band. In the late forties he played with the Celestin band and worked in the Paddock on Bourbon Street. Alphonse died during Mardi Gras, and had one of the biggest funerals in the history of New Orleans.
1972	The Philharmonic Hall in New York was the scene as Charles Mingus performed on this day.
1973	Merritt Brunies, traditional jazz trumpeter and trombonist from New Orleans, Louisiana died on this day. He was a member of the Brunies musical family that included brothers, Albert, Henry and George, and nephew Albert. His band recorded seven sides for Okeh and Autograph and they are among the rarest of collector's items. He recorded for American Music in the 1950's and died in Biloxi, Mississippi.
1978	Louisiana native, Frank Lucas, hit the R&B charts on this day with the hit 'Don't Put Out The Fire'.
1982	Scottish Rocker Alex Harvey passed away on this day. In the 50's he was known as the 'Tommy Steele of Scotland' and throughout the 60's and 70's different variations of bands that carried his name.
1987	Today was a sad day in the glitz world as Liberace died at his California estate at the age of sixty-seven.
1989	Sheriff's hit 'When I'm With You' arrived at #1 on the pop charts on this day.
2000	Johnny Vincent (John Vincent Imbragulio), a record producer for Art Rupe at Specialty Records and founded Ace Records in 1955 in Jackson, Mississippi passed away on this day at the age of 72. He was a native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. At Specialty he worked with John Lee Hooker, Earl King, and Huey "Piano" Smith. His greatest hit was with Guitar Slim and "The Things That I Used to Do" an R&B # 1 in 1954. Ace enjoyed several national hits in the late 1950s, such as Huey "Piano" Smith's "Rockin' Pneumonia & Boogie Woogie Flu," and Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise"; both of which Vincent produced.