Asie Payton born 12 April 1937

Asie Reed Payton (April 12, 1937 – May 19, 1997) was an American blues musician, who lived most of his life in Holly Ridge, in the Mississippi Delta. Born in Washington County, Mississippi, he sang and played the guitar, but made his living as a farmer. 

Living in a shotgun shack and working his fields took most of Payton's time, but he also wrote and performed blues originals. Whenever the fields were dry enough for tractor tires, he was working in them. When they were too wet, Asie was impossible to find. He lived in Holly Ridge almost all of his life and, like his father before him, spent Saturday nights playing in one of the two small grocery stores that qualify Holly Ridge for a name on the map– a place, instead of just a county-road intersection. 

Many people  had been trying to get Payton to record for 20 years, but despite living below the poverty level and desperately needing the easy money of a gig, he could not be lured away from Washington County for more than a couple of hours. Fat Possum Records honcho Matthew Johnson, undeterred by previous failures and utterly enamored of Payton’s quavering vocals and deep rhythmic groove, kept on trying and finally persuaded Payton to lay down some demo tracks in preparation for the recording of his first real studio album. 

                                   

Fat Possum succeeded in recording Asie twice: once at Junior Kimbrough’s club, and once at Jimmy’s Auto Care, Fat Possum’s old studio. Before the album sessions, but after those key demos had been recorded, Asie Payton died of a heart attack while on his tractor on May 19, 1997 in the same fields he'd worked most of his sixty years. Rather than let this vital musical discovery go to waste, Johnson and his compatriots assembled those demos, added some heavier rhythm (provided both by the legendary Sam Carr and by well-crafted looping), and released Worried, an acclaimed collection of the best of those demos two years after Payton’s death.

However Payton did appear and perform in the documentary film, You See Me Laughin': The Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen. There is also a track by Payton on the Big Bad Love soundtrack. Payton's song, "I Love You" from the album, Worried, was used in the closing credits of the 2002 film, The Badge. Several artists from Fat Possum were featured in the soundtrack, but it was not released. 

Luckily for us, Mr. Payton left more great music behind. It’s collected on Just Do Me Right, his second (and almost certainly final) album from 2002. Comprised of the same hard-driving, trance-inducing blues and boogie as his first record, Just Do Me Right is by no means a mishmash of cuts not good enough to be on the “real” record. Rather, these songs are just as interesting, just as powerful, just as good as those that were sent out the first time. 

Payton and his wife Mary are interred at Holly Ridge Cemetery, where Charlie Patton is also buried. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, The Badger Herald, Fat Possom Records & AllMusic). 

 

Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson born 11 April 1932

Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson (April 11, 1939 – December 25, 2022) was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is not to be confused with Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson, Luther "Houserocker" Johnson, or Lonnie "Guitar Junior" Brooks. 

Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, Luther Johnson Jr. grew up surrounded by music, both gospel and blues, but it was the latter that really fascinated him when he moved to Chicago in the mid-1950s. He soon made a name for himself on the local scene, and joined the orchestras of drummer Ray Scott and Tall Milton Shelton. When Milton retired from music in 1962 to become a preacher, Luther switched to lead guitar and took over the group. The people on Independence Boulevard named him Guitar Junior. 

He then crossed paths with Magic Sam, who became his main influence and with whom he played. Even if he did not record at the time, he was, alongside Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Magic Sam, one of those who popularized the West Side Sound in Chicago clubs that would make a strong impression, a few years later, on some British teenagers. He released his first personal single in 1972 for the Big Beat label. 

His career accelerated dramatically when he caught the attention of the big boss of the Chicago blues. He joined Muddy Waters' band in December 1973, a few months after Bob Margolin was recruited. The arrival of Jerry Portnoy shortly thereafter finalized the composition of Muddy's second major orchestra – after the one that included Little Walter, Otis Spann and Jimmy Rogers – which lasted in this configuration until June 1980.

Luther made his recording debut with the orchestra on Muddy Waters' album "Unk In Funk", recorded a few weeks after his arrival, but was absent from the following records, his place being taken by Johnny Winter on the first Blue Sky records. He had to wait until 1981 and the last album of Muddy's career, "King Bee", to appear again at his side in the studio. On stage, however, the situation is different, and Johnson occupies a major place in the band's sound, and he performs several songs as a soloist and singer during the concerts, often at the opening of the second set, where he is responsible for welcoming the return to the stage the star of the evening. 

                         Here's Luther's Blues from above LP

                                    

While he appears on the official 1979 "Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live, there are many records of sometimes questionable legality documenting his playing at the time and his place within the overall sound of a band that Waters himself considered to be the best it had had since the 1950s. With his colleagues, Luther appeared in the 1980 film of the Blues Brothers, accompanying John Lee Hooker on an explosive Boom Boom. He also participated with them on the Nighthawks' album "Jack & Kings", whom he would meet regularly thereafter. 

His presence in Muddy Waters' orchestra brought him increased visibility, which allowed him to record under his own name from the mid-1970s for the French labels MCM and Black & Blue. Later he started his own band, the Magic Rockers. However, it was with J.B. Hutto's musicians, the New Hawks, that he appeared, alongside Hutto, Koko Taylor, Sugar Blue, Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Hammond at the Montreux Festival in 1982. In the meantime, he released his first album with the Magic Rockers on Rooster Blues Records under the title "Doin' The Sugar Too". Now based in Boston, he toured regularly – he was part of the 1982 tour, alongside J.B. Hutto and Robert Lockwood Jr. – but had to wait until 1990 to release a new album under his own name, "I Want To Groove With You", on Bullseye Blues, followed by "It's Good To Me" in 1992 and "Country Sugar Papa" in 1994 then by a reissue of "Doin' The Sugar Too". 

He then signed with Telarc, where he released three CDs until 2001 including "Got To Find A Way" which earned him another Grammy nomination. In the meantime, in the mid-1990s, he reunited with his former colleagues for a Muddy Waters Tribute Band that toured regularly and recorded an anecdotal album in 1996 for Telarc. He also toured regularly under his own name. He settled in Antrim, New Hampshire, in the 1990s, and recorded a live album which was released in 1999, "Live At The Rynborn". 

In the 2000s, he focused on stage performances, mainly around his base in Boston, although he moved to Florida in 2017. Absent from the studios for two decades, he created a surprise when "Won't Be Back No More" appeared in 2020, followed in 2021 by "Once In A Blue Moon", recorded at the Hideaway Cafe in St Petersburg, but the critical reception was mixed, to say the least. Now in his eighties, he was still performing regularly, sharing the stage with Curtis Salgado for a short tour in early 2022 before health problems forced him to interrupt his activities. He died on  22 December that year. 

(Edited from Soul Bag & Alligator Records)

 

George Freeman born 10 April 1927

George Freeman (April 10, 1927 – April 1, 2025) was an American jazz guitarist and recording artist. He is known for his sophisticated technique, collaborations with high-profile performers, and as having been a notable presence in the jazz scene of Chicago, Illinois. 

Freeman was born in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were amateur musicians—his father a trombonist and his mother a guitarist and singer. His father, George Sr., was a Chicago police officer who regularly befriended musicians at the South Side clubs on his beat, most notably the Grand Terrace Ballroom. As a result, Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Fats Waller, and other foundational jazz musicians frequently visited the Freeman home. 

Freeman's siblings went on to become professional musicians. Bruz played drums, and Von the tenor saxophone. Freeman himself would come to play the guitar, inspired by his visits as a teenager to the Rhumboogie Cafe in the early 1940s. There, he saw T-Bone Walker play, and the crowd's ecstatic response to Walker motivated him to learn the guitar. He further refined his skills while attending DuSable High School, whose students included Von, Gene Ammons, Johnny Griffin, Red Holloway, Clifford Jordan, John Gilmore, Wilbur Ware, Dinah Washington, Sonny Cohn, Richard Davis, and other musicians. 

During his teenage years, Freeman was invited to play with The Dukes of Swing, a band led by Eugene Wright. Shortly after, wanting more opportunities to solo, Freeman started his own band, performing mainly at the ballroom of the Pershing Hotel at 64th and Cottage Grove. By 1946 Freeman was fronting Chicago's first modern-jazz bebop band, a band that included alto saxophonist Henry Pryor, tenor saxophonist Alec Johnson, and trumpeter Robert Gay. Freeman-led bands also backed visiting musicians such as Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. During the engagement with Young, the saxophonist called for his recently-recorded song D.B. Blues. In response, Freeman surprised Young by playing his solo note-for-note, a custom Freeman had previously cultivated with his Chicago audience. 

Joe Morris

Freeman made his first recordings with the Joe Morris Orchestra in late 1947, first on the Manor label, and then on the fledgling Atlantic label. The band's sound was a blend of R&B and jazz, which contrasted with Freeman's more eccentric, bebop-inspired style of playing. His extended solo feature on Boogie Woogie Joe, recorded in late 1947, has been described by one rock music writer as "...the first scintillating guitar workout in rock history." 

                                    

Freeman soon quit the band and returned to Chicago, often performing with his brothers at the Pershing Hotel. Highlights of this period were collaborations with Charlie Parker – twice in Chicago and once in Detroit – between 1950 and 1953. During these performances, Parker developed a close musical and personal rapport with the Freemans. George remained in Chicago throughout the 1950s, but by 1959 he decided to tour again. He traveled the country with tenor saxophonist Sil Austin and vocalist Jackie Wilson, then with organist Wild Bill Davis, and finally with organist Richard "Groove" Holmes. Freeman spent most of the 1960s touring with Holmes. Freeman also was featured on Holmes' first record, Groove, alongside tenor saxophone player Ben Webster. 

In 1969, tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons performed with old colleagues and high school classmates, including Freeman. After their performances, Ammons asked Freeman to join him on the front line of a band he was forming. Freeman accepted and would remain a featured member of the Ammons band, with a few interruptions, until Ammons' death from bone cancer in 1974. The 1970s also yielded Freeman's first album as leader, Birth Sign, and several other recordings—including Franticdiagnosis from 1972, New Improved Funk from 1973, and Man & Woman from 1974.  

Freeman's output slowed in the '80s, though he did work with Johnny Griffin, appearing on 1983's Bush Dance, and 1985's Fly, Mister, Fly, which also featured the Joe Morris Orchestra. Following a period of obscurity, he was brought back into the spotlight after singer Joanie Pallatto and pianist Bradley Parker-Sparrow signed him to their Southport/Orchard label, issuing Rebellion in 1995 and George Burns in 1999. 

At Long Last George, was released by Savant Records in 2001, followed by 2015's All in the Family with nephew Chico Freeman, and 2017's 90 Going on Amazing. In 2019, he issued George the Bomb! with a special guest, veteran Chicago harmonica player Billy Branch. In 2023, at age 96, he released Good Life on HighNote. It was recorded the previous year with drummers Lewis Nash and Carl Allen, bassist Christian McBride, and organist/multi-instrumentalist Joey DeFrancesco in one of his final sessions. George Freeman died on April 1, 2025, just nine days short of his 98th birthday.

(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)

 

Woodrow Adams born 9 April 1917

Woodrow Wilson Adams (April 9, 1917 – August 9, 1988) was an American Delta blues guitarist and harmonica player. He made a late entry into the recording industry, producing three singles. His most accomplished song was "How Long", which offered an insight into his lifestyle. His works were later collected on a compilation album. 

Adams was born in Tchula, Mississippi, the son of plantation workers. From an early age, he was taught the rudiments of playing the harmonica and the guitar. Though he is mainly remembered for his music, he did not begin his recording career until the age of 35, when he was making a living as a tractor driver. On May 24, 1952, Adams, backed by the supporting group the 3 B's, recorded "Pretty Baby Blues" at Sun Studios, in Memphis. One member of the group was Fiddlin' Joe Martin, who would appear on all of Adams's recordings and performed live with him throughout his career. The resulting single, released by Checker Records, is now very rare; only one copy is known to still exist. 

                                    

In 1955, Adams returned to the studio, this time with the Boogie Blues Blasters, to record "Wine Head Woman" for his second single. It represented his transition from blues to a more commercial R&B style. Adams released one more single, "Something on My Mind", in 1961, as a solo effort before returning to his work on a plantation. None of his recordings had much commercial success. The musician David Evans recorded a session with Adams's former backing band in 1967. 

Fiddlin' Joe Martin & Woodrow Adams 1971

Adams's material has been circulated among a wider audience over the years and has received renewed interest. In 1974, two of his previously unissued tracks, "Pony Blues" and "How Long" (arguably his best-known song), were compiled on the album High Water Blues. The song was inspired by Adams's life on a plantation and emulates the instrumental and melodic style of Howlin' Wolf, who taught Adams how to play harmonica, and Wolf's 1954 song, "Baby How Long". 

Adams died in Tunica County, Mississippi, in 1988. After all of his past work was steadily released, the compilation album This Is the Blues, Volume 4, containing all of his recorded songs, was issued in 2015.   (Edited from Wikipedia)

Buddy Savitt born 8 April 1931

Buddy Savitt (8 April 1931 - 18 April 1983) was an American jazz and rock 'n' roll saxophonist. 

Savitt was born Berton Schwarz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During his years at school he studies all forms of music and began playing the sax professionally while still studying at Matbaum High School in Philadelphia. His professional career dates back to 1944 when he appeared on Philadelphia’s Childrens Hour. He put his studies to good use by spending his evenings performing in leading Jazz Clubs. 

Elliot Lawrence

Around 1948 he joined Elliott Lawrence's Orchestra, followed in 1949 by a stint in Woody Herman's "Second Herd", with whom he recorded for Capitol. His treatment of “Tenderly”, “Jamaica Rhumba”, and “Not Really the Blues” are still favoured by record enthusiasts. In the fall of 1950 Savitt re-joined the Elliot Lawernce Orchestra. All indications are that he stayed with Lawernce into the beginning of 1951, probably through the winter. 

Dave Appell & The Applejacks

He taught saxophone at Ellis Tolin's Music City and worked casual jobs in Philadelphia, including some at the Blue Note in the company of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Gerry Mullican, among others. Shortly after starting the Cameo label in January 1957, label owners Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe hired Dave Appell to work with acts, lead the house band and the label's small studio. Appell (born 1922) was already well-established in the music business. He knew all the best musicians in Philadelphia, so assembling a house band for Cameo was no sweat. This band also recorded prolifically on its own, under the name The Applejacks, and had a few instrumental hits on Cameo, the biggest being "Mexican Hat Rock" (# 16, 1958). 

                                    

The big, honking tenor sound was usually courtesy of either Buddy Savitt and / or George Young. Fred Nuzzolillo (aka Dan Dailey) played baritone sax. Sometimes Appell would use four saxes to get a fat sound, which was innovative at that time, at least on rock 'n' roll sessions. Appell himself and / or Joe Renzetti played guitar, Joe Macho and Bob McGraw were the bassists, keyboards were handled by Roy Straigis or Fred Bender (Bernie Lowe played piano on Charlie Gracie's Cameo recordings), and on drums was either Ellis Tollin or Bobby Gregg. Virtually all the hits that came out of Cameo and its sister label, Parkway, featured these same musicians. 

Appell also became Kal Mann's main songwriting partner and together they churned out a multitude of big hits, by Charlie Gracie, John Zacherle, Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, Dee Dee Sharp, The Dovells, The Orlons and others. Savitt plays the sax solos on hits like "The Twist" and "Let's Twist Again" (by Chubby Checker) and "Mashed Potato Time" (by Dee Dee Sharp). Unlike George Young, Buddy did not have many releases under his own name. Just one single was issued, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"/"Come Blow Your Horn" (Parkway 857, 1961) and one LP, "Most Heard Sax In the World" (Parkway SP-7012, 1962). 

Salsoul Orchestra

Apparently Savitt was contracted exclusively to Cameo-Parkway during this period, for he does not appear on any sessions for other Philadelphia labels, like Swan and Chancellor. After the British Invasion, Savitt left Cameo, went back to jazz and played in a variety of bands. By 1975 he was playing in the Salsoul Orchestra, which had a few disco hits in 1975-77, like "Tangerine" (# 18, 1976). In 1978 or 1979, when gambling became legal in Atlantic City, Buddy joined the house band at Caesar's Boardwalk Regency Hotel-Casino. 

He died in hospital at Somers Point, New Jersey on 18 April 1983 (aged 52), after being diagnosed with cancer. Buddy Savitt was generally liked and admired by his contemporaries and former students. "A sweet man"  (Dee Dee Sharp). 

(Edited from Dik de Heer bio @ This Is My story & LP liner notes)

(Sorry folks but all I could find was one grainy photo cutting of Buddy)

Pete La Roca born 7 April 1938

Pete "La Roca" Sims (born Peter Sims; April 7, 1938 – November 20, 2012, known as Pete La Roca from 1957 until 1968) was an American jazz drummer and attorney. He was one of the most popular drummers of his era; the Lord Discography lists sixty record dates from 1957 to 1967. 

Born and raised in Harlem by a pianist mother and a stepfather who played trumpet, he was introduced to jazz by his uncle Kenneth Bright, a major shareholder in Circle Records and the manager of rehearsal spaces above the Lafayette Theater. Sims studied percussion at the High School of Music and Art and at the City College of New York, where he played tympani in the CCNY Orchestra. He adopted the name La Roca early in his musical career, when he played timbales for six years in Latin bands. In the 1970s, during a hiatus from jazz performance, he resumed using his original surname. When he returned to jazz in the late 1970s, he usually inserted "La Roca" (a pun on the Spanish ''piedra,'' or rock) into his name in quotation marks to help audiences familiar with his early work identify him. 

Sonny Rollins & La Roca

He told The New York Times in 1982 that he did so only out of necessity: I can't deny that I once played under the name La Roca, but I have to insist that my name is Peter Sims with La Roca in brackets or in quotes. For 16 or 17 years, when I have not been playing the music, people have known me as Sims....When I was 14 or 15, I thought "La Roca" was clever; right now, it's an embarrassment. I thought that it would be something that people would probably remember - boy, was I ever right on that one! I can't make my conversion. 

               Here’s “Tears Come From Heaven” from above LP

                                     

In 1957, Max Roach became aware of him while jamming at Birdland and recommended him to Sonny Rollins. As drummer of Rollins' trio on the afternoon set at the Village Vanguard on November 3 he became part of the important record A Night at the Village Vanguard. (Only one of five recorded tracks with La Roca was included on the original single LP release of the album). In 1959 he recorded with Jackie McLean (New Soil) and in a quartet with Tony Scott, Bill Evans and Jimmy Garrison. Besides Garrison he often joined with bassists who played in the Bill Evans Trio, especially Scott LaFaro and Steve Swallow, and also accompanied pianists like Steve Kuhn, Don Friedman and Paul Bley. 

Between the end of the 1950s and 1968, he also played with Slide Hampton, the John Coltrane Quartet, Marian McPartland, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Mose Allison, and Charles Lloyd, among others. During this period, he led his own group and worked as the house drummer at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts. He recorded two albums as a leader during the mid-1960s, Basra (Blue Note, 1965) and Turkish Women at the Bath (Douglas, 1967). 

In 1968, with the market for acoustic jazz in decline, Sims decided to enroll in law school. By this time he was already earning most of his income by driving a taxi cab in New York City, a job he held for five years during the 1960s. Sims became a lawyer in the early 1970s, and was still practicing at the time of a 1997 radio interview with WNYC's Steve Sullivan. When his album Turkish Women at the Bath was re-released on Muse Records as "Bliss" in 1973 under Chick Corea's name (without Sims' consent), Sims filed a lawsuit and served as his own legal counsel. Sims won his suit, and the erroneously-labeled records were recalled. 

He returned to jazz part-time in 1979, and re-emerged in 1997, with a group called SwingTime and an album, again for Blue Note, that adhered to his unswerving philosophy. "Music is the result of bow on string, breath through metal, fingers on ivory, sticks and mallets on brass and strings – all applied by real people who've taken the time to learn the skill and magic of it," he once said. 

Sims died November 20, 2012 in New York of lung cancer, at the age of 74. 

"He was by far one of the most brilliant minds I ever knew, one of the greatest musicians I ever encountered who for starters would sing the bass line in key and was a drummer like no one else," wrote the saxophonist Dave Liebman, who played in La Roca's band in 1969, on Facebook. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & The Guardian)

André Previn born 6 April 1929

André George Previn (April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical. Over his multi-decade film career, Previn was involved in the music of over 50 movies as composer, conductor, and/or performer. 

Previn was born Andreas Ludwig Priwinin Berlin to a Jewish family, the second son and last of three children of Charlotte (née Epstein) and Jack Previn, who was a lawyer, judge, and music teacher born in Graudenz, then in Germany but now in Poland. The eldest son, Steve Previn, became a film director. The year of Previn's birth is disputed. Whereas most published reports give 1929, Previn himself stated that 1930 was his birth year. All three children received piano lessons and Previn was the one who enjoyed them from the start and displayed the most talent. 

At six, he enrolled at the Berlin Conservatory. In 1938, Previn's father was told that his son was no longer welcome at the conservatory, despite André receiving a full scholarship in recognition of his abilities, on the grounds that he was Jewish. Previn's family was forced to leave Hitler's Germany in 1939. Hollywood naturally beckoned, since André's grand uncle (Charles Previn) was already well established as musical director at Universal (1936-42). Child prodigy André recorded his first piano jazz album at the age of sixteen while continuing studies at Beverly Hills High School. 

                         

                        Here's "Love Walked In" from above LP

He joined MGM at age 17 in 1946 (initially as an uncredited music supervisor/arranger), later as orchestra conductor and still later as a composer of film scores. He remained under contract at the studio until 1960. During his tenure in Hollywood, he was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, winning four (all for Best Adapted Score: Gigi (1958), Porgy and Bess (1959), Irma la Douce (1963), and My Fair Lady (1964)). In the 1950s, he recorded several acclaimed jazz albums with drummer Shelly Manne and pianist Russ Freeman, featuring excellent tracks like "Who's on First" and "Strike Out the Band". He began conducting with the St. Louis Symphony in 1961 while still working primarily as a jazz and studio musician. Much of his recorded work consisted of show tunes adapted for jazz. Gradually, his interest in classical music won out. 

By the late 1960s, Previn had settled in England and in 1968 was made principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, a position he occupied for eleven years. During this period, Previn won a 1964 Academy Award for My Fair Lady. In 1967, Previn succeeded Sir John Barbirolli as music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. In 1968, he began his tenure as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO),serving in that post until 1979. 

His popularity led to cameo TV appearances (including a famous sketch for the 1971 Christmas special of the The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968), in which he appeared as "Mr. Andrew Preview") and television advertising (Vauxhall, Ferguson TX portable television etc.). His film work continued until 1975's Rollerball. During his LSO tenure, he and the LSO appeared on the BBC Television programme André Previn's Music Night. From 1975 to 1985, he was music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) and, in turn, had another television series with the PSO entitled Previn and the Pittsburgh. He was then principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1985 to 1991. 

In 1993, he was appointed conductor laureate of the London Symphony and three years later was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to music. He won 10 Grammy Awards (including two for jazz and two for film music) and was nominated for six Emmys. Previn latterly returned to recording jazz albums with, among others, Ella Fitzgerald (1983), Joe Pass & Ray Brown (1989), and Kiri Te Kanawa (1992). Two excellent tribute albums released, respectively in 1998 and 2000 for Deutsche Grammophon, were 'We Got Rhythm: A Gershwin Songbook' and 'We Got it Good: An Ellington Songbook'. 

In 2005 he was awarded the international Glenn Gould Prize and in 2008 won Gramophone magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in classical, film, and jazz music. In 2010, the Recording Academy honored Previn with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy. 

Married (and divorced) five times, his ex-wives included Dory Previn and Mia Farrow. Previn died at his home in Manhattan on February 28, 2019, aged 89. Previn's discography contains hundreds of recordings in film, jazz, classical music, theatre, and contemporary classical music. 

(Edited from Wikipedia)

 

Lord Buckley born 5 April 1906

Lord Richard Buckley (born Richard Myrle Buckley; April 5, 1906 – November 12, 1960) was an American stand-up comedian and recording artist, who in the 1940s and 1950s created a character that was, according to The New York Times, "an unlikely persona ... part English royalty, part Dizzy Gillespie." 

Buckley's father, William Buckley, was from Manchester, England. He stowed away on a ship that eventually arrived in San Francisco. In California, William met Annie Bone. They married, and their son, Richard, was born in Tuolumne, a small town near Sonora, in a mountainous region where lumbering was a major industry. As children, Buckley and his sister, Nell, would often perform on the streets of Tuolumne, singing for coins from passersby. 

When he was a bit older, Buckley got a job in the local lumber camps as a "tree topper," which was considered an especially dangerous position. It involved climbing up to the very top of a tall tree, cutting off the tip and then securing ropes that would guide the rest of the tree as it was felled. After quitting his job in Tuolumne, he travelled to Mexico to work in the oilfields. He moved to Galveston, Texas where he got a job at the Million Dollar Aztec Theatre. 

By the mid-1930s, he was performing as emcee in Chicago at Leo Seltzer's dance marathons at the Chicago Coliseum, In the late 1930s he worked for Al Capone, who described Buckley as "the only person who can make me laugh". Capone set up Buckley with his own club Chez Buckley, on Western Avenue where he performed through the early 1940s. During World War II, Buckley performed extensively for armed services on USO tours, where he formed a lasting friendship with Ed Sullivan. 

In the 1950s, Buckley hit his stride with a combination of exaggeratedly aristocratic bearing and carefully enunciated rhythmic hipster slang. He was known for wearing a waxed mustache along with white tie and tails. He sometimes wore a pith helmet. Occasionally performing to music, he punctuated his monologues with scat singing and sound effects. His most significant tracks are retellings of historical or legendary events, like "My Own Railroad" and "The Nazz". The latter, first recorded in 1952, describes Jesus' working profession as "carpenter kitty." 

                                   

Other historical figures include Gandhi ("The Hip Gahn") and the Marquis de Sade ("The Bad-Rapping of the Marquis de Sade, the King of Bad Cats"). He retold several classic documents such as the Gettysburg Address and a version of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." In "Mark Antony's Funeral Oration", he recast Shakespeare's "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" as "Hipsters, flipsters, and finger-poppin' daddies: knock me your lobes." Reportedly, some of his comic material was written for him by Hollywood "beatnik" actor Mel Welles. 

Lord Buckley appeared on Groucho Marx's popular TV program You Bet Your Life in 1956. In 1959, he voiced the beatnik character Go Man Van Gogh in "Wildman of Wildsville", an episode of the Bob Clampett animated series Beany and Cecil.  Buckley adopted his "hipsemantic" delivery from his peers Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Redd Foxx, Pearl Mae Bailey, Count Basie, and Frank Sinatra, as well as Hipsters and the British aristocracy. 

Buckley enjoyed smoking marijuana. He wrote reports of his first experiences with LSD, under the supervision of Dr. Oscar Janiger, and of his trip in a United States Air Force jet. Lord Buckley claimed to have been married six times. He had a son, Fred Buckley. His final marriage was to dancer Elizabeth Hanson (whom he referred to in public as "Lady Buckley"), with whom he had a daughter Laurie (b. 1951) and a son Richard (b. 1952). 

In the autumn of 1960, Buckley's manager Harold L. Humes organized a series of club dates in New York City, and arranged for him to make another appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. However, on October 19, 1960, while Buckley was making a public appearance at the Jazz Gallery in St. Mark's Place in Manhattan, the New York Police Department (NYPD) stopped him over allegations he had "falsified information" on his application to get a New York City cabaret card; specifically he had omitted to record a 1941 arrest for marijuana possession. 

At a hearing two days later to have his card reinstated, Buckley was supported by more than three dozen major figures in the entertainment and arts world. Three weeks later, on November 12, 1960, Buckley died from a stroke at New York City's Columbus Hospital.His funeral was at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel at 81st Street and Madison Avenue in New York City on November 16, 1960. Buckley was cremated at the Ferndale Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. The scandal of Buckley's death, partially attributed to the seizure of his cabaret card, helped lead to the transfer of authority over cabaret cards from the police to the Licensing Department.

(Edited from Wikipedia)