This is the grave of Booker Ervin. Born in 1930 in Denison, Texas (birthplace of Eisenhower), Ervin grew up in the Black part of that segregated Jim Crow southern town. His father was a musician who had played with Buddy Tate and others in the...
jazz
This is the grave of Larry Conley. So this is a weird grave post in the sense that Conley was a fairly well known musician back in his day who.
This is the grave of Wynton Kelly. Born in 1931 in Brooklyn, Kelly grew up in a Jamaican immigrant family. His family had a piano and he started playing with.
This is the grave of Johnny Dodds. Born in 1892 in Waveland, Mississippi, Dodds grew up in a musical family. I don't know a lot about his family's background, but given their access to instruments outside of cheap guitars, it seems they were a bit...
This is the grave of Coleman Hawkins. Born in 1904 in St. Joseph, Missouri, Hawkins was introduced to music as a child. His parents had him start playing the piano.
This is the grave of Bill Evans. Born in 1929 in Plainfield, New Jersey, Evans grew up in a tough household, with an awful abusive drunkard father. But he found.
This is the grave of Kidd Jordan. Born in 1935 in Crowley, Louisiana, Jordan grew up in the rice farms of southwestern Louisiana. This was zydeco country musically. Clifton Chenier country. So that's what Jordan grew up listening to, not necessarily jazz. But Illinois Jacquet...
This is the grave of Ella Fitzgerald. Born in 1917 in Newport News, Virginia, Fitzgerald mostly grew up in New York. Her parents, both light-skinned African Americans, broke up, but.
This is the grave of Jelly Roll Morton. Perhaps born in 1890 in New Orleans, Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe grew up in the mixed race community of that city, which was.
This is the grave of Woody Herman. Born in 1913 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Herman was brought up in a family that welcomed show business. His father was a big fan and was more than happy when his son started working vaudeville as a child. He...
This is the grave of Buddy Rich. Born in Brooklyn in 1917, Bernard Rich began drumming at a young age. He was one of the second wave of Jewish musicians.
This is the grave of J.J. Johnson. Born in 1924 in Indianapolis, James Louis Johnson, or J.J. as he would be known throughout his life, started playing music as a.