Bobby Parker born 31 August 1937

Robert Lee Parker (August 31, 1937 – October 31, 2013) was an American blues-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter and was one of the most exciting performers in modern blues, and arguably should have inherited the top blues spots left open by the unfortunate early passing’s of players like Albert King, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and others. Parker could do it all: He wrote brilliant songs, he sang well, and he backed it all up with powerful, stinging guitar. The acclaim he received from fellow artists, critics, and fans was the result of years of hard work and struggle in the bars of Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Parker released two brilliant albums on the New Orleans' BlackTop label (distributed by Rounder), Shine Me Up (1995) and Bent Out of Shape (1993). 

He was born in Lafayette, Louisiana but raised in Southern California after his family moved to Los Angeles when he was six. Going to school in Hollywood, the young Parker was bitten by the scenery, and decided he wanted to be in show business. At the Million Dollar Theater, he saw big stage shows by Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, and Lionel Hampton. Although he had an early interest in jazz, the blues resonated with him when artists like T-Bone Walker, Lowell Fulson, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and Pee Wee Crayton came to town. 

Parker began playing in the late '50s as a guitarist with Otis Williams & the Charms after winning a talent contest sponsored by West Coast blues and R&B legend Johnny Otis. Later, he backed Bo Diddley, and appeared with his band on The Ed Sullivan Show before joining the touring big band of Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams. His first solo single, "Blues Get Off My Shoulder", was recorded in 1958, while he was still working primarily with Williams' band. The B-side, "You Got What It Takes", also written by Parker, was later recorded for Motown by Marv Johnson, but with the songwriting credited to Berry Gordy, Gwen Fuqua, and Roquel Davis. 

Parker told the Forgotten Hits newsletter in 2008: I wrote 'You've Got What It Takes,' that was MY song. Even had the Paul Hucklebuck Williams band playing on it behind me... And then Berry Gordy just stole it out from under me, just put his name on it. And what could I do? I was just trying to make a living, playing guitar and singing, how was I going to go on and fight Berry Gordy, big as he was, and Motown Records? There wasn't really nothing I could do about it - it was just too big and I didn't have any way to fight them.” Parker also performed frequently at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and in the late 1950s toured with Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Little Richard. He settled in Washington, D.C. in the '60s, dropping out of Williams' band and making a go of it on his own. 

                           

Parker was perhaps best known for his 1961 song "Watch Your Step," a single for the V-Tone label that became a hit on British and U.S. R&B charts. His song was later covered by several British blues bands, most prominent among them the Spencer Davis Group. The song's guitar riff inspired the introduction to the Beatles' 1964 hit single "I Feel Fine", and, according to John Lennon, also provided the basis for "Day Tripper". In relation to the Beatles' use of the riff, Parker said: "I was flattered, I thought it was a cool idea. But I still had, (in the) back of my mind, (the idea) that I should have gotten a little more recognition for that." Led Zeppelin also used the riff as the basis for their instrumental "Moby Dick". 

And though he didn't become a name as familiar to blues fans as say, Eric Clapton or B.B. King, he was been cited as a major musical influence by Davis, John Mayall, Robin Trower, Clapton, Jimmy Page, drummer Mick Fleetwood, John Lennon, and most importantly, Carlos Santana. Parker's style was described by his protégé Bobby Radcliff as Guitar Slim-meets-James Brown, and that's not too far off the mark. In the summer of 1994, Santana was so happy about Parker's comeback on the BlackTop/Rounder label that he took him on the road for some arena shows on the East and West Coasts. "Carlos likes to tell people that he saw me playing in Mexico City when he was a kid, and that inspired him to pick up the guitar," Parker explained. Santana paid homage to Parker on his Havana Moon album, on which he covered "Watch Your Step." Dr. Feelgood also covered the tune in the '70s. 

Parker remained an important player on the blues circuit for years, and was a regular performer in the Washington, D.C. area and at blues festivals in both the U.S. and Canada. He cut a swaggering figure on stage with his preacher-like exhortations to “say yeah, children,” his shiny suits and his lacquered, James Brown-style hairdo. His tenor voice both caressed and screamed the blues over his powerful, stinging  and sometimes over-amped lead guitar. And he loved to walk the bar or walk through the crowd as he worked the strings. Unlike so many other blues musicians, Parker's live shows were comprised almost entirely of his own songs; he played very few covers. 

"Unless the music of the day has some kind of substance to it, the blues always comes back," Parker said, adding, "I think Stevie Ray Vaughan had a lot to do with bringing the blues to white audiences, and Z.Z. Hill helped bring the Black audience back to the blues." Bobby Parker died of a heart attack on October 31, 2013; he was 76 years old. 

(Edited from AllMusic, Wikipedia & The Washington Post) 

 

Kenny Dorham born 30 August 1924

Kenny Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention or public recognition from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did. For this reason, writer Gary Giddins said that Dorham's name has become "virtually synonymous with underrated." Dorham composed the jazz standard "Blue Bossa", which first appeared on Joe Henderson's album Page One. 

McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham, born in Fairfield, Texas. He began playing trumpet in high school, and also studied tenor sax and piano. He attended Wiley College (Marshall, Texas), and was on a U.S. Army boxing team in 1942. After his discharge a year later, he spent a short stint in California, playing in Russell Jacquet's big band. Career finally off to a running start, he demonstrated first-rate attributes within the big bands of Lionel Hampton, Mercer Ellington, then Gillespie. He soon replaced cherub-faced dynamo Fats Navarro in Billy Eckstine's band. 

During 1946-47, Dorham freelanced with pianist Bud Powell, saxophonist Sonny Stitt, and charismatic drummer Art Blakey, with whom he'd have less fortunate associations. In 1948, he studied composition at the now-defunct Gotham School of Music, using his G.I. Bill benefits. He joined Parker's band in December 1948. Flaunting a unique capacity to speak and sing with his instrument, versus running scales vertically, Dorham added considerable subtlety and discipline to any session. 

He was a charter member of the original cooperative Jazz Messengers. Dorham played on the soundtrack of A Star Is Born in 1954. He also recorded as a sideman with Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins, and he replaced Clifford Brown in the Max Roach Quintet after Brown's death in 1956. Dorham was one of the most active of bebop trumpeters noted for the beauty of his tone and for his lyricism.  

                            

In addition to sideman work, Dorham led his own groups, including the Jazz Prophets (formed shortly after Art Blakey took over the Jazz Messengers name). The Jazz Prophets, featuring a young Bobby Timmons on piano, bassist Sam Jones, and tenorman J. R. Monterose, with guest Kenny Burrell on guitar, recorded a live album 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia in 1956 for Blue Note. He taught at the Lenox (Massachsettes) School of Jazz between 1958 and 1959 and also wrote the scores for  two films” Les Liaisons Dangereuses” and “Un Temoin Dans La Ville” in 1959. 

Dorham's later quartet consisted of some well-known jazz musicians: Tommy Flanagan (piano), Paul Chambers (double bass), and Art Taylor (drums). Their recording debut was Quiet Kenny for the Prestige Records' New Jazz label, an album which featured mostly ballads. An earlier quartet featuring Dorham as co-leader with alto saxophone player Ernie Henry had released an album together under the name "Kenny Dorham/Ernie Henry Quartet." They produced the album 2 Horns / 2 Rhythm for Riverside Records in 1957 with double bassist Eddie Mathias and drummer G.T. Hogan. 

In 1963, Dorham added the 26-year-old tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson to his group, which later recorded Una Mas (the group also featured a young Tony Williams). The friendship between the two musicians led to a number of other albums, such as Henderson's Page One, Our Thing and In 'n Out. Dorham recorded frequently throughout the 1960s for Blue Note and Prestige Records, as leader and as sideman for Henderson, Jackie McLean, Cedar Walton, Andrew Hill, Milt Jackson and others. He also led a group with hank Mobley and studied at the New York University graduate school of music. 

1963 – 1964 was an especially productive two-year period wherein he composed some of his most exceptional work, both for himself and alongside tenor maverick Joe Henderson. He performed and recorded less, year by year, following 1964, the year he separated from his wife and children. Declining health eventually curtailed his playing career but he still doubled as a jazz journalist for Down Beat magazine. Dorham returned to Austin in 1966 to perform at the first Longhorn Jazz Festival. By the late 1960s his existence depended on dialysis three days a week. Dorham made one last album for Cadet in 1970, Kenny Dorham Sextet, with Muhal Richard Abrams. 

Dorham miraculously arrived at his own benefit at Old West Church in Boston on Sunday, December 3, 1942, an event created with the help of trumpeter Claudio Roditi and associate minister/player Mark Harvey. "It was quite remarkable because he was not in good health," says Harvey. "We started talking trumpet, and he said, 'Well, I have my horn, could I play?'" As the show's closer, a 10-man trumpet choir began Dizzy Gillespie's 1942 standard "A Night in Tunisia," with Dorham taking the first solo. It was the last tune he played in public. He died from kidney disease two days later on  December 5, 1972, aged 48. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, Britannica AllMusic & The Austin Chronicle)

Maria Dolores Pradera born 29 August 1926

María Dolores Fernández Pradera OAXS, MMT (29 August 1924* – 28 May 2018) was a Spanish melodic singer and actress, and one of the most famous voices in Spain and Latin America. She was known as "La Gran Señora de la Canción" or "La Pradera". She started her career as an actress and during the 1950s she started singing professionally, eventually abandoning her career as an actress in the 1960s. She recorded more than 35 albums. 

Singer and actress Maria Dolores Pradera was born in Madrid. She spent much of her childhood in Chile, her family brought there by her father's business. She began working as an actress on both stage and screen as early as her late teens. Her first major works were the films Yo No Ne Caso in 1944 and Los Habitantes de la Casa Deshabitada in 1946. Pradera would perform in various theaters in Spain, France, and Mexico, collaborating with the most important directors of the day. It was while working on Los Habitantes that Pradera met Fernando Fernan Gómez, whom she would marry in 1945. They separated in 1957 and obtained a divorce in the 1980s. They had two children Fernando and Helena. 

As a singer, Pradera was known for her smooth voice, perfect diction, and intuitive nature in a variety of styles. A master of bolero, ranchera, coplas, ballads, fados, and more, Pradera became well loved all over Latin America. Her voice made famous the works of songwriters like José Alfredo Jiménez (Mexico), Chabuca Granda (Peru), and Miguel Matamoros (Cuba). She performed in various theaters in Spain , France , Argentina , Germany , the United Kingdom , the United States and Mexico (country where she developed her career and settled for years). 

                          

She typically sang accompanied by guitars, requintos, and drums. She sang for close to 30 years with the same group, Los Gemelos, formed by twin brothers, Santiago and Julián López Hernández, until the death of Santiago in the early 1990s. 

In 2006 she released a new album together with Los Sabandeños , titled Al Cabo Del Tiempo , which was awarded a  Gold Record. Her vocal and theatrical career was celebrated throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Toward the end of her productive years she helped to bolster and guide Spain's next generation of artists, including Joaquín Sabina, Rosana, and Los Sabandenos. 

Throughout her career she won numerous Spanish and international awards, both for her theatrical facet and for her career as a singer, such as the National Theater Award , the Medal of Fine Arts , the Lara Award or the Latin Grammy for musical excellence. She was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit in Labour (Kingdom of Spain, 27 April 2001) and the Dame Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise (Kingdom of Spain, 7 October 2016). 

In February 2012, a respiratory condition forced her to suspend some recitals and in May of that year she canceled her musical tour indefinitely. She did however return to the stage on June 21, 2013 at a concert by Miguel Poveda held in the Las Ventas bullring to perform together one of his emblematic songs "Fina Estampa". 

Pradera died of natural causes in Madrid on May 28, 2018 at the age of 93. She was cremated at the Almudena Cemetery in Madrid . 

(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic) (*The year of birth according to her family was 1924, although she said that it was in 1926 and that is how it is recorded in some sources)

Texas Bill Strength born 28 August 1928

“Texas” Bill Strength (August 28, 1928 - October 1, 1973) was an American country/rockabilly musician and radio host / record store owner. Although much better known for his career as a radio personality, Texas Bill Strength also cut a series of country and rockabilly efforts, including a session for the legendary Sun Records backed by former Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore. 

Born in Bessemer, Alabama, Strength was all of 16 when he won an amateur contest at Houston's Joy Theater. The local station KTHT was in the market for a cowboy act, and soon he was working part-time on the air. In 1945 Strength began deejaying full-time for St. Joseph, Missouri station KFEQ, followed by a stint singing for Sioux Falls, South Dakota radio KSOO -- after a tenure with Denver's KMYR, he returned to Houston, in quick succession appearing on KLEE, KATL and KNUZ. But by the end of 1946, his career had taken him to Memphis, Tennessee - based on a letter to the editors of National Hillbilly News that listed his PO Box as being in Memphis. In fact, the January 1947 issue reports in Arlie Kinkade's column, "This, That 'n the Other" that he was working at WHHD. 

During this time, Strength also cut a series of little-heard singles for the 4-Star label, among them "Who's the Lucky One" and "I'm Doing a Peach of a Job." In early 1950 he was hired by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) to promote the organization via radio and convention appearances for 4-Star, he even cut the labour anthem "We Will Overcome." The 1951 Cowboy Songs article notes that Bill was such a hit with his CIO bit that he logged over 57,000 miles of traveling on tours, personal appearances as well as visiting those in hospitals and institutions as well as hi attendance at union meetings and conventions for the CIO. 

Impressively, it was said that he entertained upwards of a quarter million people at each of those conventions. Like many artists, Bill shared the stage with many of the mainstays of country music in that era. But Bill also got to entertain some well-known political figures of the era due to his work with the CIO, including Vice President Alben Barkley, Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota; Congressman Christopher of Missouri and Maurice Tobin, Secretary of Labour. 

                          

Bill also continued his radio career for Atlanta's WGST and Decatur's WEAS, and in late 1950 signed to Coral Records, debuting with "Black Coffee Blues." Strength's "Coral" stint would prove the most successful and long-lived of his peripatetic recording career. He enjoyed his biggest hit there with "You Can't Have My Love," a duo with the underrated Tabby West, and also scored with singles including "Nobody Knows This More Than Me" and "I Was Only Teasing You." 

In 1954 Strength was named "Mr. DJ USA" by influential Nashville station WSM, and by year's end he relocated to Memphis station KWAM, where he witnessed the birth of rock & roll via the emergence of Sun acts Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. After accepting a position with St. Paul, Minnesota's KEYD, home to fellow DJs/singers Roy Drusky and Dave Dudley, Strength signed to Capitol Records for efforts including "Cry, Cry, Cry," "Turn Around" and "Do You Think I'm Happy" in the Twin Cities. 

Strength also hosted a children's television show, Adventures With Texas Bill. But as his long battle with alcoholism grew more severe, Strength returned to Memphis in mid-'60, accepting Sun promotional manager Cecil Scaife's offer to record for the label  with Moore on guitar and D.J. Fontana on drums, he cut seven songs, with only "Guess I Better Go" and "Senorita" ever receiving commercial release. 

After a short stay with Bakersfield, California station KUZZ, Strength returned to the Twin Cities, first for KTCR and later for WMIN. He remained there for the rest of his life, recording the occasional single for labels like Starday ("Nervous as a Cat"), Golden Wing ("Let the Chips Fall") and Bangar ("Paper Boy Boogie").  During the early 1970s, he also penned for the monthly Upper Midwest & Western News Scene a column entitled "Down Memory Lane," documenting stories about his life and experiences in the music business. On August 5, 1973, Strength was paralyzed from the waist down following an auto accident -- he then slipped into a coma, dying on October 1 at the age of 45. 

He was inducted into the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame in 1990. 

(Edited from Rocky 52, Twin Cities Music Highlights & Hillbilly Music)

Cesária Évora born 27 August 1941

Cesária Évora GCIH (27 August 1941 – 17 December 2011), more commonly known as Cize, was a Cape Verdean singer-songwriter. She received a Grammy Award in 2004 for her album Voz d'Amor. Nicknamed the "Barefoot Diva" for performing without shoes, she was known as the "Queen of Morna".

Cesária Évora was born in Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde. When she was seven years old her father, Justino da Cruz Évora, who was a part-time musician, died, and at the age of ten she was placed in an orphanage, as her mother Dona Joana could not raise all six children. At the age of 16, she was persuaded by a friend to sing in a sailors' tavern. 

She grew up at the house in Mindelo which other singers used from the 1940s to the 1970s, at 35 Rua de Moeda.Other Cape Verdean singers came to the house, including Djô d'Eloy, Bana, Eddy Moreno, Luis Morais and Manuel de Novas (also known as Manuel d'Novas), and it was there she received her musical education. In the 1960s, she started singing on Portuguese cruise ships stopping at Mindelo and on the local radio. In 1985, at the invitation of Cape Verdean singer Bana, she went to perform in Portugal. In Lisbon she was discovered by the producer José da Silva and invited to record in Paris. 

She recorded the track "Ausência", composed by Yugoslav musician Goran Bregovic, which was released as the second track of the soundtrack of the film Underground (1995) by Emir Kusturica. Évora's international success came only in 1988 with the release of her first commercial album La Diva Aux Pieds Nus, recorded in France. Before that album had been released, she recorded her first LP titled "Cesária" in 1987. This album was later released on CD in 1995 as Audiophile Legends. Her 1992 album Miss Perfumado sold over 300,000 copies worldwide. It included one of her most celebrated songs, "Sodade". 

                           

In 1994, Bau joined her touring band and two years later, he became her musical director up to September 1999. Her 1995 album Cesária brought her international success and the first Grammy Award nomination. In 1997, she won the KORA All African Music Awards in three categories, including "Best Artist of West Africa", "Best Album" and "Merit of the Jury". In 1999 she was awardrs the Grand-Cross of the Order of Prince Henry, Portugal. In 2003, her album Voz d'Amor was awarded a Grammy in the World Music category. 

In 2006, Évora met with Alberto Zeppieri, an Italian songwriter, journalist and record producer  and agreed to duet with Gianni Morandi, Gigi D'Alessio and Ron. The project, now in its fifth volume, gives visibility and raises funds for the UN World Food Programme, for which Évora was the ambassador from 2003. Later in 2006, she released her next album Rogamar. It was a success and charted in six European countries including France, Poland and the Netherlands. On her tour in Australia in 2008, she suffered a stroke. In 2009, she released her final album Nha Sentimento which was recorded in Mindelo and Paris by José da Silva. The album reached number 6 in Poland and number 21 in France. 

American singer and songwriter Madonna is a huge fan of Cesaria Evora and visited the Barefoot Diva backstage at several concerts, including in London in 2007. In 2017 the Queen of Pop moved to Lisbon where she learned more about Portuguese and Cabo Verdean music, among others. This inspired several songs and collaborations for her 14th studio album "Madame X" (2019). 

In 2009, Évora was made a knightess of the French Legion of Honour by the French Minister of Culture and Communications, Christine Albanel, the first Cape Verdean to become one. She received her last award at the 2010 Kora All African Music Awards, the "Merit of the Jury" award for the second time. 

In 2010, Évora performed a series of concerts, the last of which was in Lisbon on 8 May. Two days later, after a heart attack, she underwent surgery at a local hospital in Paris. On the morning of 11 May 2010 she was taken off artificial pulmonary ventilation, and on 16 May she was discharged from the intensive-care unit and transported to a clinic for further treatment. In late September 2011, Évora's agent announced that she was ending her career due to poor health.

 On 17 December 2011, aged 70, Évora died in São Vicente, Cape Verde, from respiratory failure and hypertension. A Spanish newspaper reported that 36 hours before her death she was still receiving people – and smoking – in her home in Mindelo, popular for always having its doors open.

 (Edited from Wikipedia)

 

Fred Gerlach born 26 August 1925

Fred Gerlach (August 26, 1925 – December 31, 2009) was an American folk musician and luthier. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page credited his recording of the traditional song "Gallows Pole" with inspiring his own band's version. 

Fred was born of immigrant Yugoslav parents in Detroit in 1925. He fought in Germany and the Philippines as a GI and was point man for a tank battalion. Most of those guys died doing their job, advance scouts searching for anti-tank bombs. He was profoundly shaped by that experience. After the war he settled in New York City's civilian life as a top-flight draftsman . . and a boogie-woogie and blues pianist, with a powerful left hand rolling out the bass runs.. Caught up in the vast post-war revival of interest in American folk music, Fred heard somewhere the sound of a 12-stringer and, like Leadbelly almost four decades before him, gave up everything else to master the instrument. He knew Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly and they would stay with him from time to time. He hung out with Cisco Houston, Guy Carawan and Tiny Ledbetter (Leadbelly's niece) also. 

A 12-string guitar is hard to come by, wrote Fred Gerlach: "I went into one of the largest musical instrument stores in the country, and the manager assured me that no such instrument existed. On another occasion a maker of fine 12-string lutes (nylon strings) pictured for me a nightmare of explosive force required to hold twelve steel strings in proper tension. He envisioned bits of guitar and guitarist flying asunder. I have combed New York City pawnshops and music stores and have received a variety of comments ranging' from 'Sorry, we're out of them now. Won't a six-string guitar do? to 'Have you got rocks in your head, buddy?' In fact, it took me about a year after I had first decided to play a twelve-string before I found one. It wasn't a concentrated search, but it nevertheless indicates the general unavailability of the instrument." 

In the early 1950s he sang in the Jewish Young Folksingers chorus conducted by Bob Decormier, Peter Paul and Mary's musical arranger and director. Mary Travers sang in the chorus too, and so did all the members of the folk group The Harvesters. Gerlach drifted out to California in the late 50's, played San Diego coffee houses in those early days and eventually settled there. 

                   Here’s “Gallows Pole” from above LP.          

                          

With a respect bordering on reverence, he carried on the rich, full traditon of Leadbelly, whilst adding new technical dimensions to the instrument. A friend of fellow folk musicians Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, Fred’s first album was even called Twelve-String Guitar, released in 1962 on Folkways records.  There are some notes to say it was recorded in 1958. Gerlach says on the back of this album (Songs My Mother never Sang) from 1968,  "Seventeen years ago I recorded an album called Gallows Pole. This is my first album since that time". That would make his first album 1951. 

Its flagship song, "Gallows Pole", was heard and covered by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, saying: “I first heard it ('Gallows Pole') on an old Folkways LP by Fred Gerlach, a 12-string player who was, I believe, the first white to play the instrument. I used his version as a basis and completely changed the arrangement.” In the late 50's & early 60's Fred wandered out to San Diego and played in a few of those old San Diego coffee houses like The Upper Cellar or Circe's Cup. He'll be at The Adams Ave Street Fair on the Felton (Acoustic) Stage on Saturday at 2 p.m."  

Because of the difficulty in finding 12 string guitars, Gerlach began to make his own, for himself and his peers. Pete Seeger, Leo Kottke, Dick Rosmini, and other name-brand folk musicians came to use his instruments. Once when he was in San Diego He walked into a Music Store and saw a guitar he had made on the wall with a $10,000 price. When he asked why it was so expensive, the owner said “This is an original Gerlach! He’s dead.” Fred said “Oh!” and left. Subsequently Gerlach entertained himself by building an airplane in his attic and sailing on an old German sailboat.. He would fly down to Central America to search for and buy the wood he used for his guitars. He was also known as "the" source for Brazilian rosewood for many years. 

He came over to Europe, in the late 1950s early 1960s, and appeared at the Ballads and Blues Club in London (with Pete Seeger) a couple or more times. He lived in Santa Monica near the airport with his wife Barbara and would play Laundromats and once at the old Los Angeles airport. He played at the Showboat Lounge, Washington DC and taught guitar classes in 1963. He was a regular at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, California where musicians stopped to practice including Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder. 

He appeared on Bob Baxter’s television show, “Guitar Workshop” in 1975. He was also in high demand as an (legal) ivory gun grip maker. He was a semi regular at the Adams Avenue Roots and Folk Festival in San Diego in the 80s.

Fred died at the Chase Health Care Center in San Diego, California after a long illness on December 31, 2009. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, Stefan Wirz & Franklycollectable)  

Wayne Shorter born 25 August 1933

Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary composer. In 1964 he joined Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report in 1970. He recorded more than 20 albums as a bandleader. 

Shorter started playing the clarinet at 16 but switched to tenor sax before entering New York University in 1952. After graduating with a BME in 1956, he played with Horace Silver for a short time until he was drafted into the Army for two years. Once out of the service, he joined Maynard Ferguson's band, meeting Ferguson's pianist Joe Zawinul in the process. The following year (1959), Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, where he remained until 1963, eventually becoming the band's music director. During the Blakey period, Shorter also made his debut on record as a leader, cutting several albums for Chicago's Vee-Jay label. After a few prior attempts to hire him away from Blakey, Miles Davis finally convinced Shorter to join his quintet in September 1964. 

Staying with Davis until 1970, Shorter became one of the band's most prolific composer, contributing tunes like "E.S.P.," "Pinocchio," "Nefertiti," "Sanctuary," "Footprints," "Fall," and the signature description of Davis, "Prince of Darkness." While playing through Davis' transition from loose, post-bop acoustic jazz into electronic jazz-rock, Shorter also took up the soprano in late 1968, an instrument that turned out to be more suited to riding above the new electronic timbres than the tenor. As a prolific solo artist for Blue Note during this period, Shorter expanded his palette from hard bop almost into the atonal avant-garde, with fascinating excursions into jazz-rock territory toward the turn of the decade. 

                             

In November 1970, Shorter teamed up with old cohort Joe Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous to form Weather Report where, after a fierce start, Shorter's playing grew mellower and more consciously melodic in order to fit into Zawinul's concepts. By now he was playing mostly on soprano, though the tenor would re-emerge toward the end of the group's run. 

Weather Report

Shorter's solo career was mostly put on hold during the Weather Report days, though 1975's Native Dancer was an attractive side trip into Brazilian-American tropicalismo made in tandem with Milton Nascimento. Shorter also revisited the past in the late '70s by touring with Freddie Hubbard and ex-Davis sidemen Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams as V.S.O.P. 

Shorter finally left Weather Report in 1985. Still committed to electronics and fusion, his recorded compositions from the period feature welcoming rhythms and harmonically complex arrangements. After three Columbia albums between 1986 and 1988 -- Atlantis, Phantom Navigator, and Joy Ryder -- and a tour with Santana, he lapsed into silence, emerging again in 1992 with Wallace Roney and the V.S.O.P. rhythm section in the "A Tribute to Miles" band. In 1994, now on Verve, Shorter released High Life, an engaging electric collaboration with keyboardist Rachel Z. 

He continued playing concerts with a wide range of groups and appeared on a number of recordings as a guest including the Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon in 1997 and Herbie Hancock's Gershwin's World in 1998. In 2001, he was back with Hancock for Future 2 Future and on Marcus Miller's M². Footprints Live! was released in 2002 under his own name with a new band that included pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade, followed by Alegria in 2003 and Beyond the Sound Barrier in 2005. 

Shorter continued to tour regularly with the same quartet after 2005. They re-emerged to record again in February of 2013 with Without a Net. This was his first recording for Blue Note in 43 years and was issued in February of 2013 as a precursor to his 80th birthday. Just after that release, the Wayne Shorter Quartet performed four of the leader's compositions with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Shorter immediately brought the quartet and orchestra into the studio to record those same four pieces: "Pegasus," "Prometheus Unbound," "Lotus," and "The Three Marias," as a unified suite. The title of this four-composition orchestral suite is also Shorter’s title character for the graphic novel Emanon. It was issued in September of 2018, just after Shorter's 85th birthday. 

In 2018, Shorter retired from his near 70-year performing career due to health issues. He continued working as a composer, creating a "new operatic work" titled Iphigenia, which premiered on November 12, 2021, at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. Shorter passed away in Los Angeles on March 2, 2023 at the age of 89. 

Considered as one of the greatest jazz composers, he was a recipient of 13 total Grammy Awards (12 plus one with Weather Report), a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, six honorary doctorate degrees, the Kennedy Center Honour and many other awards and honours for his contributions to music. 

(Edited from AllMusic & IMDb)