Jazz Birthday

Jelly Roll Morton

Jelly Roll Morton was born Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (or Lemott) around September 20, 1890 (he gave his birth year as 1884 on his WWI draft

Read More »

Chu Berry

Leon Brown “Chu” Berry was born September 13, 1908, in Wheeling, West Virginia. After high school, he attended West Virginia State College for three years.

Read More »

Count Basie

William James Basie was born on August 21, 1904, in Red Bank, New Jersey. Basie’s mother gave him his first piano lessons. After moving to

Read More »

Dick McDonough

Dick McDonough was born July 30, 1904, in New York City. He began playing banjo and mandolin as a teenager in high school. His first

Read More »
Ben Pollack drawing by Sara Lièvre

Ben Pollack

Ben Pollack was born June 22, 1903, in Chicago, Illinois. He took up the drums as a teenager, inspired by jazz emanating from Chicago nightclubs.

Read More »
Mary Lou Williams Illustration by Sara Lièvre

Mary Lou Williams

Mary Lou Williams was born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs on May 8, 1910, in Atlanta, Georgia. By the age of two, she could pick out simple

Read More »

Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton was born April 20, 1908, in Louisville, Kentucky. He and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1916. During the 1920s, while still

Read More »
Jimmy McPartland

Jimmy McPartland

Jimmy McPartland was born on March 15, 1907, in Chicago. Jimmy played violin as a child, and at 15 switched permanently to the cornet. In

Read More »
James Reese Europe by Joe Busam

James Reese Europe

James Reese Europe was born in Mobile, Alabama, on February 22, 1881. James learned piano from his mother, and banjo and fiddle under his father’s

Read More »

Stéphane Grappelli

Stéphane Grappelli was born on January 26, 1908, in Paris. Grappelli’s mother died when he was five, leaving his father to raise him. Grappelli began

Read More »
Bob Effros

Bob Effros

Robert “Bob” Effros was born December 6, 1900, in London, England. His Russian Jewish parents emigrated shortly afterward from London to Memphis, Tennessee. Bob ran

Read More »
Hoagy Carmichael by Joe Busam

Hoagy Carmichael

Hoagy Carmichael was born Howard Hoagland Carmichael on November 22, 1899, in Bloomington, Indiana. Carmichael had piano and singing lessons from his mother, but was

Read More »

Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters was born on October 31, 1896, in Chester, Pennsylvania. She sang in church choirs as a child, won local talent contests, and performed

Read More »

Ted Weems

Ted Weems was born Wilfred Theodore Wemyes on September 26, 1901, in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania. Weems’ start in music came when he won a violin in

Read More »

Benny Carter

Benny Carter was born Bennett Lester Carter on August 8, 1907, in New York City. Benny’s mother taught him the basics of music on the

Read More »
Buster Bailey by Joe Busam

Buster Bailey

William C. “Buster” Bailey was born July 19, 1902, in Memphis, Tennessee. Bailey learned the rudiments of clarinet while a student in the city’s public

Read More »
Guy Lombardo

Guy Lombardo

Guy Lombardo was born Gaetano Alberto Lombardo on June 19, 1902, in London, Ontario. Encouraged by their father, Lombardo (who played violin) and his brothers

Read More »
Bing Crosby by Joe Busam

Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby on May 3, 1903, in Tacoma, Washington, growing up in Spokane. His lifelong nickname of Bing came from

Read More »
Johnny Dodds by Gary Price

Johnny Dodds

Johnny Dodds was born April 12, 1892, in Waveland, Mississippi. Johnny spent his childhood steeped in music, with his father, uncle, and sister playing various

Read More »
Miff Mole by Joe Busam

Miff Mole

Miff Mole was born Irving Milfred Mole in what is now Roosevelt, Long Island, on March 11, 1898. Miff studied violin and piano before switching

Read More »
Wilbur Sweatman

Wilbur Sweatman

Wilbur Sweatman was born February 7, 1882 in Brunswick, Missouri. His older sister Eva sparked Wilbur’s interest in music, teaching him to play piano. Later,

Read More »
Al Bowlly

Al Bowlly

Al Bowlly was born January 7, 1898, in Lourenço Marques (today Maputo) in Mozambique. His father was Greek and his mother was Lebanese. They met

Read More »
Sonny Greer by Joe Busam

Sonny Greer

William Alexander “Sonny” Greer was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, on December 13, 1895 (according to most sources). Sonny Greer met and befriended Edward

Read More »
Willie "The Lion" Smith by Joe Busam

Willie “The Lion” Smith

William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith was born on November 25, 1897, in Goshen, New York. Young Willie began playing piano when he was six

Read More »
Or look at our Subscription Options.