Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Let the music play . . .

Happy Birthday salute to musical artists Percy Faith, Billie Holiday, Ravi Shankar, Mongo Santamaria, Babatunde Olatunji, Spencer Dryden, and Freddie Hubbard.

Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976), band-leader, orchestrator and composer. He was known for his arrangements of standard tunes with lush string sections and wordless female chorus. He made many recordings for Voice of America and his most famous compositions are "Delicado" (1952) and "Moulin Rouge." (1953) and Theme from 'A Summer Place' (1960).

"Percy Faith was one of the most popular easy listening recording artists of the '50s and '60s. Not only did he have a number of hit albums and singles under his own name, but Faith was responsible for arranging hits by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, and Burl Ives, among others, as the musical director for Columbia Records in the '50s." direct quote source (1)

Trivia bit: He won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1961 for Theme from 'A Summer Place' and received a second Grammy award in 1969 for his album Love Theme from 'Romeo and Juliet'.

*****

Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan Goughy; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), jazz singer and songwriter, also known as Lady Day. She is considered one of the greatest jazz voices of all time.

"I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own." - Billie Holiday

"I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been." - Billie Holiday

“If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.” - Billie Holiday

Trivia bit: Billie Holiday is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 6, 2000.

*****

Pandit Ravi Shankar (born Robindro Shankar April 7, 1920), sitar player and composer. He is well known for his pioneering work in bringing Indian music to the West. Ravi Shankar is the 20th century's most famous player of the complex stringed instrument known as the sitar.

“My secret ambition was always to provide music for animation films: something with an Indian theme, either a fairy tale or mythological tale or on the Krishna theme. I still have a very deep desire, but these sorts of chances don't always come.” - Ravi Shankar

“In our culture we have such respect for musical instruments, they are like part of God.” - Ravi Shankar

Trivia bit: He has received three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award nomination and in 1999, was awarded the Bharat Ratna award, India's highest civilian honor.

*****

Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría (April 7, 1917 in Havana, Cuba – February 1, 2003) was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist, known for his conga rhythms.

In the early 1950s, "Mongo" Santamaría toured with the Mambo Kings and performed with Tito Puente and Cal Tjader. In 1959, he wrote Afro Blue, which quickly became a jazz standard played for jazz luminaries such as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie. Most jazz aficonados remember "Mongo" Santamaría for his 1963 recording of Herbie Hancock's song Watermelon Man, which became his first Top 10 hit.

Trivia bit: "Mongo" Santamaría began his musical training on the violin, but switched to drums and percussion while still in his teens.

*****

Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003), drummer, educator, social activist and recording artist.

"In 1959, Columbia Records released Olatunji's first album, Drums of Passion, which became an unprecedented, worldwide smash hit. It was the first album to bring genuine African music to Western ears, and it went on to sell over five million copies. Olatunji has traveled the world for forty years spreading his music and African culture. " direct quote source (1)

"I am that I am, I am beauty, I am peace, I am joy, I am one with Mother Earth. I am one with everyone within the reach of my voice. In this togetherness, we ask the divine intelligence to eradicate all negatives from our hearts, from our minds and from our actions. And so be it....ashe." - Babatunde Olatunji

"Rhythm is the soul of life. The whole universe revolves in rhythm. Everything and every human action revolves in rhythm." - Babatunde Olatunji

"The spirit of the drum is something that you feel
but cannot put your hands on,
It does something to you from the inside out . . .
It hits people in so many different ways.
But the feeling is one that is satisfying and joyful.
It is a feeling that makes you say to yourself,
I'm glad to be alive today! I'm glad to be part of this world!"
-Babatunde Olatunji

*****

Spencer Dryden (April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2005), drummer for Jefferson Airplane, New Riders of the Purple Sage and The Dinosaurs.

"He also came out of a background completely different from the rest of the band -- where the other members of the Airplane were all relatively new to the world of full-time professional music, Dryden had been making a decent living and working full-time as a drummer for years before he crossed paths with Marty Balin and company. And unlike the others, San Francisco wasn't where he made his home or planned on making a career, and he was never part of the folk scene like the other members. His way into music -- and his living for a good 10 years before joining the band -- came from jazz." direct quote source (1)

Trivia bit: Spencer Dryden was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, along with the rest of Jefferson Airplane.

*****

Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008), jazz trumpeter, better known as Freddie Hubbard.

"Freddie Hubbard's jazz career began in earnest after moving to New York City in 1958. While there, he worked with Sonny Rollins, Slide Hampton, J. J. Johnson, Philly Joe Jones, Oliver Nelson, and Quincy Jones, among others. He gained attention while playing with the seminal hard bop ensemble Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, appearing on such albums as Mosaic, Buhaina's Delight, and Free For All. He left the Messengers in 1964 to lead his own groups . . ." direct quote source (1)

Trivia bit: In 2006, Freddie Hubbard received the NEA Jazz Masters Award, one of the highest honors in jazz.

*****

Faith image source (1); Holiday image source (1); Ravi-Shankar image source (1); Mongo image source (1); Olatunji image source (1); Dryden image source (1); Hubbard image source (1)

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