| 1879 | Charles Elgar, Classically-trained violinist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He played occasionally with jazz groups and worked at the 'Tuxedo Dance Hall' before World War I. He moved to Chicago in 1913 and booked bands there and became involved in union activities.
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| 1889 | Richard M. Jones (Richard Marigny Jones), Traditional jazz pianist from Donaldsonville, Louisiana. At 13, he played alto horn in a local brass band. He then began working the higher class brothels in the Storyville district as a solo pianist. He also led his own bands in the district at Abadie's, the Poodle Dog and Fewclothes. He worked regularly in King Oliver's band and joined the Clarence Williams Publishing Company in the early twenties. He became a 'race' recording director in Chicago for Okeh in the mid-twenties, and worked for Decca in the thirties. In the 40's and later he was mainly a composer and arranger. His credits include 'Trouble In Mind' and 'Riverside Blues'. Richard died in Chicago on December 8, 1945.
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| 1905 | Adolphus Anthony (Doc) Cheatham, A trumpeter, singer and bandleader and a native of Nashville, Tennesee. As a young musician, he moved to Chicago, where he was influenced by two of the greatest early jazz New Orleans natives in Joe King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. During his long career he played with Albert Wynn, Ma Rainey, Bobby Lee, Wilber de Paris, Chick Webb, Sam Wooding, McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Cab Calloway, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, Fletcher Henderson, and Claude Hopkins all before 1950. He also toured with Benny Goodman in the 1960's. During one of his many trips to New Orleans, He befriended and recorded with Nicholas Payton, Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton, which won them a Grammy Award. He was without question the greatest 90-year old trumpeter of all time; in fact, no brass player over the age of 80 had ever played with his power, range, confidence, and melodic creativity. Most trumpeters fade while in their 60s due to the physical difficulty of their instrument, but Cheatham did not truly find himself as a soloist until he was nearly 70. Doc passed away at the age of 92, in 1997. (120) |
| 1917 | Sy Zentner, Bandleader and trombonist for the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra. He died in 2000.
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| 1928 | Lafayette Thomas, A blues singer and guitarist and a native of Shreveport, Louisiana. Most of his recordings were with Jimmy McCracklin and his combo in the 1950's and 1960's. He worked with Memphis Slim and Little Brother Montgomery, before recording his own sides in Oakland. He died at the age of 48 in 1977 from a heart attack. (97) |
| 1937 | Frank Strozier, A talented alto saxophonist who never became very famous, Frank Strozier has long been a top-notch hard bop stylist whose intense sound recalls Jackie McLean.
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| 1940 | Bobby Freeman, Singer - "Do You Wanna Dance".
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| 1948 | Dennis Locorriere, Guitarist and singer with 'Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show' - "Sylvia's Mother".
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