Jimmy Shirley born 31 May 1913

Jimmy Shirley (born James Arthur Shirley, May 31, 1913, Union, SC - December 03, 1989, New York, NY) was primarily a talented swing guitarist; Shirley also played traditional New Orleans jazz through early bop. He was one of the early electric guitar players and was one of the first to use the vibrola attached to his guitar for a unique sound.

Jimmy Shirley never achieved much fame (except among fellow musicians) despite his long career and obvious talents. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio where he was taught guitar by his father.

Shirley worked in Cincinnati with J. Frank Terry and Hal Draper (1934-36) and had his own group before moving to New York. Shirley was a part of the Clarence Profit Trio (1937-41), with whom he made his recording debut. In 1941 he recorded with Artie Shaw’s Orchestra.

After a period with Ella Fitzgerald (1942-43), Shirley played on and off with Herman Chittison (1944-54) and led his own bands in addition to working with Phil Moore and lesser-known names. In the mid 1940s Shirley played and recorded with Coleman Hawkins, Edmond Hall, Art Hodes, James P. Johnson, Billy Kyle and many others. He played in most of the idioms of his time from New Orleans jazz to early bebop.

Jimmy recorded three times as leader. At Blue Note in the 1940s he recorded six or seven tracks of which only Jimmy's Blues made it to release as Blue Note 530 on 78 RPM 

In the late 1940s into the 1950s Jimmy Shirley recorded more blues than jazz, recording with singers like Wynonie Harris, Jimmy Rushing, Screamin Jay Hawkins and Little Willie John. He also accompanied several female singers during this period, most notably Rose Murphy and Barbara Lea. He began doubling on electric bass with Buddy Tate (1967).

During 1975 whilst in Europe Jimmy recorded the album China Boy on Black & Blue 33081.  (Info mainly Classic Jazz Guitar & All Music Guide)

Bobby Sherwood born 30 May

Robert J. Sherwood, Jr. (May 30, 1914 in Indianapolis, Indiana – January 23, 1981 Auburn, Massachusetts), known professionally as Bobby Sherwood, was a trumpet player, bandleader, actor and composer, most active during the 1940s and '50s.

He was born in Indianapolis, IN, into a performing family; he made his own debut as a performer while still a child, as part of his parents' vaudeville act. He manifested a strong musical interest as a boy and gravitated to the guitar, and at age 22 was good enough to succeed Eddie Lang as the guitarist in Bing Crosby's act.

From 1933 until 1942, while working for Crosby, he resided in Hollywood and filled out the rest of his time as a studio musician in MGM's music department, as well as leading Eddie Cantor's band on the latter's radio show. He briefly played with Artie Shaw as well; additionally, he was part of the circle of musicians surrounding the young Judy Garland's early career, by virtue of his
being married at the time to Garland's sister, the former Dorothy Virginia Gumm (aka Jimmy), and ended up leading the band on some of Garland's Decca sessions.

Lightning struck for Sherwood early in 1942 when he formed his own band, which included in its ranks the likes of Dave Pell, Flip Phillips, and Fritz Becker, in Los Angeles, and which was among the first groups signed by the newly founded Capitol Records label. The group hit with their first release, "The Elk's Parade," which sold a million copies.

 

At the time, the group also had a singer, Kitty Kallen, who sang on their record of "Moonlight Becomes You," but Kallen was only with the group a short time before she left to embark on a solo career. Sherwood was able to tour the country on the strength of the hit, but the recording ban imposed by the American Federation of Musicians cut off his successful debut before he could follow it up, and it would be a year before he could issue another single.

Sherwood's performing work also extended to acting, but it was music that sustained him for most of the '40s, and as late as 1947 he was still leading a big band. His Capitol contract ended after the '40s, and in 1950 he cut some sides for Mercury that failed to chart. Sherwood's last recordings were credited to "Bobby Sherwood -- One Man Band" on the Coral label in 1954, but by that time acting was taking up an ever-increasing part of his work, including a starring role (as Ned Galvin) in Columbia Pictures' screen version of Pal Joey (1957).

Towards the end of the 50s he again tried his hand at band leading, forming a small group and later a big band to work in hotels and casinos in Las Vegas and other gambling resorts. He spent much of the remainder of his career working as a very popular radio DJ in the Los Angeles area.

Surprisingly Sherwood died in obscurity in Auburn, Massachusetts on January 23, 1981 after a long battle with cancer. (Info mainly from AllMusic)

Here's a clip from the 1948 movie "Campus Sleuth".
Saturday matinee B-movie mystery genre.

Myrna Smith born 28 May 1941

Myrna Yvonne Smith (May 28, 1941 – December 24, 2010) was an American songwriter and singer, who co-wrote many of the songs for Carl Wilson's 1981 solo album Carl Wilson, as well as a few of the songs on his 1983 solo album Youngblood. She was also a member of the Sweet Inspirations, which previously served as Elvis Presley's backing group.

Smith became a high school English teacher in South Brunswick, New Jersey in the 1960s, while she also pursued her singing career. The lead singer of her group, The Sweet Inspirations, was Cissy Houston, the mother of Whitney Houston.

The Sweet Inspirations had evolved from the Gospelaires group, whose members had included Myrna’s cousins Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, Doris Troy and Judy Guions (later Judy Clay). The group were in demand for session work with many great artists, including Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett and the Drifters. Myrna replaced Dee Dee in 1965 after she left to pursue a solo career, and Estelle Brown also joined around the same time. Dionne and Doris were replaced by Cissy Houston and Sylvia Shemwell, respectively.

Clockwise from top. Sylvia Shemwell, Cissy Houston, Myrna Smith and Estelle Brown.

In 1967, the group was signed to Atlantic as the Sweet Inspirations. Their first release was a cover of “Why (Am I Treated So Bad)” and it was a top 40 hit on the R&B charts. The groups’ most successful song was “Sweet Inspiration”, which was cut during a two-day session at American Sound in Memphis in August 1967. The track hit number five on the R&B chart and was a top 20 pop hit.

 

The Sweet Inspirations continued to work as sessions singers during this period, appearing on classic cuts by artists as diverse as Aretha Franklin (“Chain of Fools”), Dusty Springfield (“Son of a Preacher Man”), Van Morrison (“Brown Eyed Girl”) and Jimi Hendrix (“Burning of the Midnight Lamp”).

In 1969, Myrna began her eight-year association with Elvis Presley when the Sweet Inspirations were chosen as his opening act and backing singers for his engagement at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. The Sweet Inspirations appeared with Elvis in more than 1,000 concerts and featured in the concert movies “That’s the Way It Is” and “Elvis On Tour”, as well as the television specials “Aloha from Hawaii” and “Elvis in Concert.” Myrna was married to Elvis Presley's high school friend, Jerry

Schilling from 1982 to 1987.

Myrna was still making records with the Sweet Inspirations during her period with Elvis, but with limited commercial success. However, following Elvis’ tragic death, they did back Frankie Valli on his number one single “Grease.” They also toured with the Bee Gees and released the disco album “Hot Butterfly” in this period, but with the record achieving limited success the group decided to break up.

After years apart, the Sweet Inspirations reformed in 1994 and continued to perform up until 2010. The Elvis association in particular assured them regular work, including touring with the “Elvis: The Concert” show, which features Elvis on screen and his original backing band playing live.

In 2005, the Sweet Inspirations released “In The Right Place”, which was their first solo recording in 25 years. The 15-track album featured a number of new songs and a great new recording of their biggest hit “Sweet Inspiration.” Myrna was joined on “In the Right Place” by Estelle Brown, Sylvia Shemwell and Portia Griffin.

While performing on the 'Elvis: The Concert' European tour in March 2010, Myrna developed pneumonia which eventually led to kidney failure and a stroke. She died on December 24, 2010, in Canoga Park, California, after an illness, at the age of 69.

Myrna was a great soul singer whose voice was featured on some of the finest records of the second half of the 20th century. She was also an important part of Elvis’ stage act and, by all accounts, a warm and friendly person.

ESTELLE BROWN - PORTIA GRIFFIN - MYRNA SMITH  2009

Estelle Brown, along with Portia Griffin made the difficult decision to replace Myrna with LA based singer Kelly Jones; as of March 2011, The Sweet Inspirations are continuing to perform backup vocals with Elvis: The Concert and continue to do many concerts worldwide with Elvis Presley Enterprises' first ever "Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist", Shawn Klush, sometimes as a duo and other times as a trio.  (Info edited from Wikipedia & Claasicpopicons) 

World's Greatest Elvis Show, St David's Hall, Cardiff, 1 Sep 2009

Junior Parker born 27 May 1932

Junior Parker, also known as Little Junior Parker or "Mr Blues" (May 27, 1932* –November 18, 1971) was a successful and influential Memphis blues singer and musician. He is best remembered for his unique voice which has been described as "honeyed," and "velvet-smooth". He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001.

Junior Parker was born in West Memphis, Arkansas as Herman Parker, Jr. He sang in gospel groups as a child, and played on the various blues circuits beginning in his teenage years. His biggest influence as a harmonica player was Sonny Boy Williamson, with whom he worked before moving on to work for Howlin' Wolf in 1949. Around 1950 he was a member of Memphis's ad hoc group, the Beale Streeters, with Bobby 'Blue' Bland and B.B. King.

Little Jr. Parker, standing (far left), Bobby 'Blue' Bland, kneeling (far left),  Pat Hare, standing (far right). South Carolina, 1952.

In 1951 he formed his own band, the Blue Flames, with guitarist Auburn 'Pat' Hare. Parker was discovered in 1952 by Ike Turner, who signed him to Modern Records. He put out one single on this record label, "You're My Angel." This brought him to the attention of Sam Phillips, and he and his band signed onto Sun Records in 1953. There they produced three successful songs: "Feelin' Good" (which reached # 5 on the Billboard R&B charts), "Love My Baby," and "Mystery Train" ,with Floyd Murphy (Matt "Guitar" Murphy's brother) on guitar, later covered by Elvis Presley.For Presley's version of "Mystery Train", Scotty Moore borrowed the guitar riff from Parker's "Love My Baby".

 

                              

Later in 1953, Parker toured with Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace, and also joined Duke Records. Parker and Bland headed the highly successful Blues Consolidated Revue, which became a staple part of the southern blues circuit. He continued to have a string of hits on the R&B chart, including the smooth "Next Time You See Me"; re-makes of Roosevelt Sykes' songs, "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Driving Wheel"; Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do"; Don Robey's "Mother-in-Law Blues"; and his own "Stand by Me."

 

Little Junior Parker, Elvis Presley, Bobby Blue Bland at the WDIA Goodwill Revue December 7, 1957. 

His success was limited after he left the Duke label in 1966. He recorded for various labels, including Mercury, Blue Rock, Minit, and Capitol.

Parker died on November 18, 1971, aged 39, in Blue Island, IL during surgery for a brain tumor. (info Wikipedia)

*(There is some disagreement over the details of Parker's birth, but most reliable sources now indicate that he was born in March, 1932 at Eastover Plantation near Bobo, Coahoma County, Mississippi. He moved with his mother to West Memphis, Arkansas, during the 1940s. Other birth dates in 1927 or 1932 have been suggested) 

Before he passed he sailed into the 1970's in promising fashion cutting a pair of terrific albums; You Don't Have To Be Black To Love The Blues circa 1970/1971 for Groove Merchant and I Tell Stories Sad And True for United Artists which was released in 1972. 

Tom T. Hall born 25 May 1936

Thomas "Tom T." Hall (born May 25, 1936 in Olive Hill, Kentucky) is a retired American country music songwriter, singer, novelist, and short-story writer. He has written 11 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the No. 1 international pop crossover smash "Harper Valley PTA" and the hit "I Love", which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. He became known to fans as "The Storyteller," thanks to his storytelling skills in his song writing.

As a teenager, Hall organized a band called the Kentucky Travelers that performed before movies for a travelling theatre. During a stint in the Army, Hall performed over the Armed Forces Radio Network and wrote comic songs about Army experiences. His early career included being a radio announcer at WRON, a local radio station in Ronceverte, West Virginia. Hall was also an announcer at WSPZ, which later became WVRC Radio in Spencer, West Virginia in the 1960s.

Hall's big song writing break came in 1963, when country singer Jimmy C. Newman recorded his song, "DJ for a Day." Soon, Hall moved to Nashville, arriving in 1964 with $46 and a guitar; within months he had songs climbing the charts. Hall has been nicknamed "The Storyteller," and he has written songs for dozens of country stars, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, and Bobby Bare.

One of his earliest successful song writing ventures, "Harper Valley PTA," was recorded in 1968 by Jeannie C. Riley, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Country Music Chart a week apart, sold over six million copies, and won both a Grammy Award and CMA award. The song would go on to inspire a motion picture and television program of the same name. Hall himself has recorded this song, on his album The Definitive Collection.

                              

Hall's recording career took off after Riley's rendition of the song, releasing a number of hits from the late 1960s through the early 80s. Some of Hall's biggest hits include "A Week in a Country Jail," "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine," "I Love," "Country Is," "The Year Clayton Delaney Died," "I Like Beer," "Faster Horses (the Cowboy and the Poet)", and many others. He is also noted for his children-oriented songs, including "Sneaky Snake" and "I Care," the latter of which hit No. 1 on the country charts in 1975.

Hall won the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1973 for the notes he wrote for his album Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits. He was nominated for, but did not win, the same award in 1976 for his album Greatest Hits Volume 2. He has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1971. He also hosted the syndicated country music TV show Pop! Goes the Country from 1980-1982.

After 1986, Hall retired from recording, although artists continued to record his songs. In 1996, he delivered Songs From Sopchoppy, his first album in ten years.

Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2011.(Info mainly edited from Wikipedia) 

UPDATE : Hall died at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, on August 20, 2021 at the age of 85.

Prince Buster born 24 May 1938

Prince Buster (born Cecil Bustamente Campbell OD 24 May 1938, Kingston, Jamaica), is a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary music and created a legacy of work that later reggae and ska artists would draw upon.

Cecil Bustamente Campbell was born on 28 May 1938 in Kingston Jamaica. His father worked on the railroads and had named him after a statesman he had admired , a Jamaican Labour Party Leader called Alexandra Bustamente. As a youth he soon became interested in boxing and spent many hours sparring in local gyms. He had much promise as a boxer and won a good number of his fights. He also became interested in music which lead to him playing in a band. He worked as an apprentice moulder in Kingston by day.

In 1961 he became a security man for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd who owned the Downbeat sound system, working with him on the open-air concerts.  The “Trojan" Duke Reid and Sir Coxsone were battling it out in the sound system competitions. Buster did some DJ work with Coxone and took part in many fights that competition between sound systems and their devoted fans "rude boys" would bring.  This fighting on numerous occasions earned him the title' Prince', to which few would dispute.

By 1962 after recording himself on the Starlite label, Prince Buster released a production of the Folkes Brothers "Oh Carolina" which was backed by Count Ossie's drummers. Shortly followed a hit by Eric Morris with "Humpty Dumpty". These records were released on Emil Shalit's Melodisc record company which he formed in the 1940's.

Due to the growth of Jamaican music and the new R & B sound, Shalit saw the need for a new label to concentrate on the new sound, the Blue Beat record label was born in 1960. For the first few years it enjoyed a monopoly in the U.K until the launch of Island records in 1962. The new sound that developed into Ska was sometimes referred to as Blue Beat because it mostly appeared on that label. Prince Buster either produced or recorded hundreds of records over the coming years.

Buster was an instant success and his records sold well, he eventually even had his own record shop on the corner of Charles Street and Luke Lane which he would call Buster's Record Shack.  His house band took the name of Buster’s All Stars and was undoubtedly the same session musicians that were used by the other producers at that time. His early material was distinct from other music of that period, having an up tempo style with highly charged horny ska riffs dominated by cymbals. The Mods in Britain became very much interested in Buster's tracks and as they were on general release on the Blue Beat label, songs such as One Step Beyond, Madness, and Al Capone became big hits. Al Capone was the first Jamaican recorded song to enter the U.K top 20.

 

To change with the times Blue Beat was phased out and the more modern sounding FAB & Rainbow/Dice labels came out. Around 1970 the Prince Buster label was formed to try to revive the Melodisc group. Unfortunately, Prince Buster began to ease off with his recordings to concentrate on his juke-box business, and in 1977 Shalit wound up the organization.

 Prince Buster toured Europe & Britain regularly between 1962 and 1967 and appeared on the popular TV show Ready Steady Go in 1964, having just broken all records with a sell-out concert at Brixton Town Hall. He also toured the USA in 1967 with great success.

In the early seventies he played a cameo role in Perry Henzell's definitive account of the Jamaican music industry "The Harder They Come". In the late seventies and early eighties he became an inspiration to the Two Tone bands.

 

 

Prince Buster is today living in Miami, Florida, USA, concentrating on his extensive business interests. (Info mainly edited from Ska2Soul)

Marcie Blane born 21 May 1944

Marcie Blane (born Marcia Blank, May 21, 1944, Brooklyn, New York) is an American singer who recorded pop music. The Seville record label issued a demo performed by the high school student as a favor for a friend. The song was "Bobby's Girl", which was followed by "What Does a Girl Do" and several other singles.

 

Released on Seville records in the fall of 1962, "Bobby's Girl" made #2 on the Cash Box chart and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was later recorded for the German market in their language. It sold over one million copies by 1963, and was awarded a gold disc. In the United Kingdom the song was covered by Susan Maughan who had the hit. "What Does A Girl Do?", the follow-up single, rose to #82 on the Hot 100 list in early 1963, and was Blane's only other appearance on any Billboard chart.

Seville kept Marcie's releases flowing thick and fast through 1963, but "Little Miss Fool", "You Gave My Number To Billy" and "Why Can't I Get A Guy" all failed to catch on, and her position as the nation's top-selling female singer was soon taken by Little Peggy March and Lesley Gore. But by now she had higher things than the fickleness of fans on her mind, having recently enrolled as a fulltime music major at Queens College, the alma mater of Paul Simon, Carole King and Marvin Hamlisch, to name just a few. Marcie did find time, though, to visit the UK, where she performed on TV's Thank Your Lucky Stars.

Marcie's only release of 1964 was "Bobby Did", a song co-written by the then unknown Neil Diamond. 1965's "She'll Break The String" marked the end of her recording career. It transpires the whole experience had not been one Marcie had enjoyed. She loved music, and always had, but cared not for the record business. She had continued making records because she was contractually obliged to do so, but had elected against promoting them, focusing instead on her education and family life.

After graduating from Queens College, Marcie got married, had two children, and went on to enjoy a whole new career working in education.  Around 1965 Marcie retired from the music business and, as of the early 1990's, was a music and arts educator in New York.

 "The music business was impossible for me to deal with," Marcie revealed in a rare interview in 1988. "Everything changed. I felt very isolated and very lonely. I decided not to continue. I couldn't. It was too difficult. I didn't feel comfortable in front of a lot of people, with everyone making a fuss. I didn't have the sense of myself that I needed. It's taken all these years to be able to enjoy what there was."   (Info edited mainly from  Spectropop & Wikipedia)

Bob Florence born 20 May 1932

Bob Florence (May 20, 1932 – May 15, 2008) was an American jazz arranger and pianist. As a long-time staff arranger for Liberty Records, Bob Florence wrote some of the most innovative and challenging charts in post-war jazz -- in many respects a man out of time, he possessed a particular brilliance for large-ensemble arrangements in the tradition of Duke Ellington, although the commercial vogue for big-band jazz had long since passed.

Born May 30, 1932, in Los Angeles, Florence was a child prodigy who took his first piano lesson at the age of three. His mother played the piano for silent movies during the 1920s. His teacher discovered that the youngster had perfect pitch, the immediate ability to discern the pitch of any given note. At 7 he gave his first recital and was on a course for a career in classical music.

He abandoned classical studies in favour of jazz and pop while attending Los Angeles City College, assembling a band with classmates and future studio aces Tommy Tedesco, Herb Geller, and Dennis Budimir. At a friend's suggestion, Florence shifted the group's practices to the Hollywood Musician's Union local rehearsal hall, launching a weekly session that quickly drew myriad players from across the Southern California jazz scene, all vying for a spot in the line-up.

Upon graduating, Florence signed on with guitarist Alvino Rey,

followed by stints arranging for bandleaders Harry James and Les Brown. In 1958 he led his first session for Era, Meet the Bob Florence Trio, followed a year later by his first big-band date, The Name Band. From 1959 to 1964 Florence collaborated with Si Zentner, arranging the trombonist's 1960 smash "Up a Lazy River" -- the single was the last commercial gasp of the big-band era, a shift further underscored the following year when Florence and Zentner backed space age pop maestro Martin Denny on the classic Exotica Suite.

The commercial and creative success of the Zentner and Denny sessions convinced Liberty A&R director Dave Pell to hire Florence for a full-time staff gig, and in the years to follow he arranged numerous recordings for the label, spanning from vocalist Vic Dana to West Coast jazz great Bud Shank to bossa nova giant Sergio Mendes.

Even the most pop-oriented dates benefited greatly from Florence's uncommonly luminous and intricate arrangements, and in 1964 he was given the chance to record his own LP, the acclaimed Here and Now!, which won praise from Thelonious Monk during a "blindfold test" interview published in Down Beat. Pet Project, a collection of songs popularized by singer Petula Clark, followed in 1967. Florence supplemented his studio work with arrangements for Dean Martin and Red Skelton's television variety shows, and Hollywood dominated even more of his focus in the decade to follow.

Throughout his career, Florence worked as an arranger for Louie Bellson, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Count Basie and Doc Severinsen.

He spent the first half of the '70s serving as the musical director for singer Vikki Carr, a position he later held for Julie Andrews as well. But Florence never turned his back completely on jazz, and in 1978 he signed to the Trend label to release the album Live at Concerts by the Sea, the first in a series of critically heralded contemporary big-band efforts.

 

              Here's "Geezerhood" from above  2009 album. 

 

Over the years the group (dubbed the Limited Edition in 1982) served as a launching pad for a number of first-call L.A. session players, and in 2000 the LP Serendipity 18 won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance by a Large Ensemble. Florence died May 15, 2008; two weeks shy of his 76th birthday at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles after a lengthy bout of pneumonia.

 (Info mainly from All Music)
 

           Invitation & On Green Dolphin Street

Johnny Alf born 19 May 1929

 

Alfredo Jos da Silva (May 19, 1929 – March 4, 2010), popularly known as Johnny Alf, was a Brazilian pianist, singer and composer. Though he was not widely known outside Brazil and enjoyed mass popularity only intermittently in his homeland, Mr. Alf, born Alfredo José da Silva, is highly regarded among Brazilian musicians and musicologists. The writer Ruy Castro, the author of several authoritative books on Brazilian popular music, has called him “the true father of the bossa nova.”

Mr. Alf was a contemporary of Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto and others who would make the bossa nova a worldwide phenomenon, but he began his career earlier and spent the mid-1950s playing on what was known as Bottle Alley, a street in Copacabana full of bars and nightclubs. His younger admirers would sneak into those clubs to listen to him play and study his technique and improvisational style.

Alfredo José da Silva was born in the Vila Isabel neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, a hotbed of samba, on May 19, 1929. His father was a corporal in the Brazilian Army, his mother a housekeeper. He began studying the piano at age 9, focusing on the classical repertory. But his love of American movies pushed him toward jazz and away from the classics, a shift on which he later reflected in an amusing composition called “Seu Chopin, Desculpe” (“Pardon Me, Chopin”).

Mr. Alf started playing professionally at 14, when he was given his Americanized stage name. He helped found a Frank Sinatra fan club in Rio and also admired George Gershwin and Cole Porter. But his biggest influence, as both pianist and singer, was probably Nat King Cole, whose smooth vocal delivery, gentle touch and sophisticated chords meshed with Mr. Alf’s quiet, even timid, personality.

“I always played in my own style,” Mr. Alf said in an interview with the Brazilian daily Folha de São Paulo. “I had the idea of joining Brazilian music with jazz. I try to bring everything together to achieve an agreeable result.” Alf's reputation for pioneering a new sound earned him two other nicknames: Genialf and Senhor Modernidade – Mr Modernity.

At its best, Mr. Alf’s music had a light and airy feeling that expressed the optimism and joie de vivre that Brazilians think of as among their defining national traits. It was reflected not just in the title of his best-known song, “Eu e a Brisa” (“Me and the Breeze”) but also in hits like “Ilusão à Toa” (“Carefree Illusion”) and “Céu e Mar” (“Sky and Sea”), as well as “O Tempo e o Vento” (“Time and the Wind”) and “Rapaz de Bem” (“Well-Intentioned Guy”), a two-sided success released as a 78 r.p.m. single in 1955 and now widely regarded as the first glimmering of bossa nova on record. 
 

   Here's   "Bossa Só" from above 1964 album.      

 

But Mr. Alf eventually tired of the glitz of Rio and moved to São Paulo in the mid-1960s to take a job teaching in a conservatory. After that, while continuing to perform regularly, he recorded only sporadically. In 1990 he recorded “Olhos Negros” (“Black Eyes”), a widely praised CD dominated by duets with a second generation of admirers, including Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque and Gal Costa.  

Over his career, he recorded nine albums and appeared on nearly fifty others. He died in 2010, aged 80, from prostate cancer.

After his death, the lyrics to one of his best-known songs – Eu e a Brisa (Me and the Breeze) – were read out in the Brazilian senate. 

“From him I learned all of the modern harmonies that Brazilian music began to use in the bossa nova, samba-jazz and instrumental songs,” (Quote from pianist and arranger João Donato).

“He opened the doors for us with his way of playing piano, with its jazz influence. When my generation arrived, he had already planted the seeds.”(Quote from guitarist and composer Carlos Lyra)            (Info edited from various sources mainly New York Times obit.)