This is a detailed summary documenting events of
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
in the year 1920.
Jazz musicians born that year included
Peggy Lee
Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...
,
Dave Bartholomew
David Louis Bartholomew (December 24, 1918 – June 23, 2019) was an American musician, bandleader, composer, arranger, and record producer. He was prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century. Originally ...
and
Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
.
Overview of Jazz in 1920
Throughout much of the 1920s, the Chicago jazz scene was developing rapidly, aided by the migration of over 40 prominent New Orleans jazz men, including the
New Orleans Rhythm Kings
The New Orleans Rhythm Kings (NORK) were one of the most influential jazz bands of the early to mid-1920s. The band included New Orleans and Chicago musicians who helped shape Chicago jazz and influenced many younger jazz musicians.
History
The ...
who began playing at
Friar's Inn Friar's Inn (also called New Friar's Inn) was a nightclub and speakeasy in Chicago, Illinois, a famed jazz music venue in the 1920s.
Though some sources refer to it casually as "Friar's Club", it was not related to the New York Friars Club.
Locate ...
. Additionally, following
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
in 1920, the cabaret business began in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and the growing number of
speakeasies
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies.
Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States d ...
developing in cellars provided many aspiring jazz musicians with new venues. This gradually saw many musicians who had moved to Chicago ending up on the
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...
. Meanwhile,
classic blues
Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional folk blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as vaudeville blues. Classic blues were performed by female singers accompanied by ...
and
symphonic jazz
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning co ...
were becoming more and more prominent as additional sub genres of jazz to consider.
Culture Surrounding Jazz in 1920
The birth of a more urban and industrialized America was in part marked by the new style of music: jazz (Drowne 3). Leading up to 1920, America was becoming much more industrialized which led to the decade starting off with many strikes across different fields. However, as the decade progressed, the number of those in labor unions steadily decreased. Meanwhile, just before 1920, a racial division began to emerge between black workers and the veterans they replaced during World War 1. During this time, many blacks trying to get out of rural poverty moved north to big, bustling cities such as Chicago and New York City. Unfortunately, racial segregation and invasions of black neighborhood by whites led to many race riots in 1919. As prohibition led to many entertainment businesses expanding to include live music performances, it opened the door for many black jazz musicians to gain a following (Ogren 5). Allowing jazz to rise up in American culture brought many unique things to music in 1920. New instrumental, orchestral, and rhythmic techniques were introduced, as well as twelve-bar blues, emotional expressiveness, a new scale, and unique forms (Murchison 98). In 1917, many jazz record companies began to conceal their identity because racial tension was on the rise and showed no signs of slowing down. This allowed them to overcome identity threats such as their association with illegitimate, but profitable products (Phillips and Kim 481).
The Jazz Debate in 1920
“One can plausibly argue that the debate over jazz was just one of many that characterized American social discourse in the 1920s” (Ogren 3). In 1919, jazz was being described to white people as “a music originating about the turn of the twentieth century in New Orleans that featured wind instruments exploiting new timbres and performance techniques and improvisation” (Murchison 97). On the other hand, famous jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton said jazz is centered around melody, rhythm, and harmony. While white people often saw jazz as nothing more than syncopation and technique, black jazz musicians argued that improvisation and harmony are just as important. In addition to this, although jazz has mostly black roots, most people associate it today with white musicians (Dupree 288).
Jazz in Chicago
By 1920, the African American population in Chicago was up to 109,594 out of 2,701,705 total residents (Absher 17). As African American culture in Chicago grew, so did racial segregation (Absher 19). This resulted in many black jazz musicians in 1920 having to defend their music against people who were trying to run them out of popular music and entertainment venues. After racially motivated violence broke out in Chicago in 1919, the local government created the Chicago Commission on Race Relations to hopefully help with the animosity between white people and black people in the city (Absher 30). In the midst of this rising racial tension, job opportunities for the majority of the black community became limited. Because many black people had previous experience playing musical instruments as a child, playing in nightclubs and other entertainment venues was proven to be one of the only options.
Race Relating to Jazz in 1920
Despite the racial indifference that stemmed from jazz in the United States, white people were quickly catching onto the fact that this new music style wasn’t going anywhere and would eventually just have to be accepted and embraced (Anderson 135). Many white critics in 1920 would often refer to black jazz musicians as “savages” instead of musical artists and put down the genre altogether by saying that jazz was “strict rhythm without melody” (Anderson 136). Because jazz had caused so much segregation and tension between people living in big, urbanized cities, Chicago soon became a city of intense disconnect (Phillips 428).
Births
![George Handy, ca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/George_Handy%2C_ca._Jan._1947_William_P._Gottlieb_%2803881%29.jpg)
; January
* 17 –
George Handy
George Handy (born George Joseph Hendleman) (January 17, 1920 – January 8, 1997) was an American jazz arranger, composer and pianist whose musical beginnings were fostered under the tutelage of composer Aaron Copland. While he had an impressiv ...
, American pianist (died
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
).
* 22 –
Bob Hames
Robert Earl Hames (January 22, 1920 – September 6, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist from Texas who played with the dance orchestras of Jan Garber, Orrin Tucker, and Stan Keller. In the early 1950s he was a staff guitarist for live producti ...
, American jazz guitarist (died
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
).
* 23 –
Ray Abrams, American tenor saxophonist (died
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
).
* 24 –
Jimmy Forrest James, Jim or Jimmy Forrest may refer to:
Sports
* James Forrest (rugby union) (born 1907), Scotland international rugby union player
* James Forrest (baseball) (1897–1977), American baseball player
* James Forrest (basketball) (born 1972), Ame ...
, American saxophonist (died
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
).
* 27 –
Helmut Zacharias
Helmut Zacharias (27 January 192028 February 2002) was a German violinist and composer who created over 400 works and sold 14 million records. He also appeared in a number of films, usually playing musicians.
Early life
Helmut Zacharias was bo ...
, German violinist (died
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
).
; February
* 2 –
Joe Mondragon
Joe Mondragon (February 2, 1920 – July 1987) was an American jazz bassist.
Early life
Mondragon was born in Antonito, Colorado, and raised in the Española Valley region of New Mexico. Mondragon was of Apache and Hispanic origin.
Career ...
, American bassist (died
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
).
* 3 –
Alfred "Chico" Alvarez
Alfred "Chico" Alvarez (February 3, 1920 – August 1, 1992) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter with the Stan Kenton Orchestra and other bands.
Life
Alvarez was born in Montreal, grew up in Southern California. Upon graduation of high school, he at ...
, American trumpeter (died
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
).
* 14 –
Jack Lesberg
Jack Lesberg (February 14, 1920 – September 17, 2005) was an American jazz double-bassist.
Lesberg performed with many famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Jack Teagarden, Sarah Vaughan and Benny Goodman, with whom he ...
, American upright bassist (died
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
).
* 21 –
Sam Ranelli
Sam C. Ranelli (February 21, 1920 – December 30, 1999) was a professional big band jazz drummer from Birmingham, Alabama. Ranelli played with several famous big bands and eventually formed and lead his own big band. In 1982, he was inducted int ...
, American big band drummer (died
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
).
* 23
**
Gene Leis
Gene Leis (April 19, 1920 – March 15, 1993) was an American jazz guitarist, teacher, bandleader, composer, producer, and entrepreneur.
Early life
Leis was born into a musical family in Sedgwick, Kansas, Sedgwick, Kansas, near Wichita. His paren ...
, American guitarist (died
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
).
**
Hall Overton
Hall Franklin Overton (February 23, 1920 – November 24, 1972) was an American composer, jazz pianist and music teacher. He was born in Bangor, Michigan, the first of the three sons of Stanford and Ruth (Barnes) Overton. He grew up in Grand Rapi ...
, American composer and pianist (died
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
).
* 27 –
José Melis
José Melis Guiu (February 27, 1920 – April 7, 2005) was a Cuban-American bandleader and television personality.
Biography
Melis was born in Havana, Cuba. He studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music and a Cuban government scholarship enabled ...
, Cuban pianist (died
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
).
; March
* 3 –
Hubert Giraud
Hubert Yves Adrian Giraud (3 March 1920 – 16 January 2016) was a French composer and lyricist.
Career
Giraud began his career playing the harmonica with Django Reinhardt's jazz group, the Quintette du Hot Club de France. In 1941, he was recru ...
, French composer and lyricist (died
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
).
* 10 –
Boris Vian
Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sulliva ...
, French polymath: writer, poet, musician, and singer (died
1959
Events January
* January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
* January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
).
* 23 –
Bea Booze
Bea Booze (March 23, 1912 – November 11, 1986), often credited as Wee Bea Booze, was an American R&B and jazz singer most popular in the 1940s. She was one of the few female blues guitarists of that time.
Biography
She was born Beatrice Booze ...
, American R&B and jazz singer (died
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
).
* 27 –
Carl-Henrik Norin
Carl-Henrik Norin (27 March 1920, Västerås – 23 May 1967, Stockholm) was a Swedish jazz saxophonist.
Norin first began playing professionally in the early 1940s, including with Gösta Tönne and Thore Ehrling. As a member of Ehrling's ensembl ...
, Swedish saxophonist (died
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
).
; April
* 3 –
Stan Freeman
Stanley Freeman (April 3, 1920 – January 13, 2001) was an American composer, pianist, lyricist, musical arranger, conductor, and studio musician.
Biography
Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Freeman studied classical piano in college and earne ...
, American composer, lyricist, and musician (died
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
).
* 8 –
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpre ...
, American singer, composer, pianist, and actress (died
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
).
* 9 –
Art Van Damme
Art Van Damme (April 9, 1920February 15, 2010) was an American jazz accordionist.
Van Damme toured Europe and was popular with jazz enthusiasts in Japan.
Van Damme was married, and had three children. After he retired to Roseville, California, ...
, American accordionist (died
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
).
* 13
**
John LaPorta
John Daniel LaPorta (April 13, 1920 – May 12, 2004) was a jazz clarinetist and composer.
Early life and education
A native of Philadelphia, LaPorta started playing clarinet at the age of nine and studied at the Mastbaum School in Philadelphia, ...
, American clarinetist and saxophonist (died
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
).
**
Ken Nordine
Ken Nordine (April 13, 1920 – February 16, 2019) was an American voice-over and recording artist, best known for his series of word jazz albums. His deep, resonant voice has also been featured in many commercial advertisements and movie traile ...
, American Spoken Word Jazz Artist (died
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
).
* 14 –
Gil Fuller
Walter Gilbert "Gil" Fuller (April 14, 1920, Los Angeles, California – May 26, 1994, San Diego, California) was an American jazz arranger. He is no relation to the jazz trumpeter and vocalist Walter Fuller (musician), Walter "Rosetta" Fuller.
I ...
, American arranger (died
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
).
* 22
**
Alfred Burt
Alfred Shaddick Burt (April 22, 1920 – February 7, 1954) was an American jazz musician who is best known for composing the music for fifteen Christmas carols between 1942 and 1954. Only one of the carols was performed in public outside his i ...
, American composer and trumpeter (died
1954
Events
January
* January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany.
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
).
**
Buzzy Drootin
Benjamin "Buzzy" Drootin (April 22, 1920 – May 21, 2000) was an American jazz drummer.
Career
Drootin was born near Kyiv, Ukraine, and moved to Boston, Massachusetts, United States, with his family when he was five. His father played the cl ...
, American drummer (died
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
).
; May
* 2 –
Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, British pianist (died
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
).
* 3 –
John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
, American pianist and composer (died
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
).
* 11 –
Beryl Bryden
Beryl Audley Bryden (11 May 1920 – 14 July 1998) was an English jazz singer, who played with Chris Barber and Lonnie Donegan. Ella Fitzgerald once said of Bryden that she was "Britain's queen of the blues".
Life and career
Bryden was bor ...
, English jazz singer (died
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
).
* 21 –
Bill Barder, American tuba player (died
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
).
* 26
**
Peggy Lee
Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...
, American singer and songwriter (died
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
).
**
Roland Shaw
Roland Shaw (born Roland Edgar Shaw-Tomkins; 26 May 1920 – 11 May 2012) was an English composer, musical arranger, and orchestra leader.
Shaw was born in Leicester and attended the Trinity College of Music. He served in the Royal Air Force in ...
, English composer and band leader (died
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
).
; June
* 4
**
Britt Woodman
Britt Woodman (June 4, 1920 – October 13, 2000) was an American jazz trombonist.
Career
Woodman was a childhood friend of Charles Mingus, but first worked with Phil Moore and Les Hite. After service in World War II he played with Boyd Rae ...
, American jazz trombonist (died
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
).
**
Ginger Smock
Emma Smock (4 June 1920– 13 June 1995), better known as Ginger Smock,[1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...]
).
* 5 –
Kurt Edelhagen
Kurt Edelhagen (born 5 June 1920 – 8 February 1982) was a German big band leader.
He was born in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Edelhagen studied conducting and piano in Essen. In 1945, he started a trio, then a big band a year later ...
, German big band leader (died
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
).
* 11
**
Hazel Scott
Hazel Dorothy Scott (June 11, 1920 – October 2, 1981) was a Trinidad-born American jazz and classical pianist and singer. She was an outspoken critic of racial discrimination and segregation. She used her influence to improve the representat ...
, Trinidad and Tobago pianist and singer (died
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
).
**
Shelly Manne
Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, s ...
, American drummer (died
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
).
; July
* 2 –
Herbie Harper
Herbert Harper (2 July 1920 — 21 January 2012) was an American jazz trombonist of the West Coast jazz school.
Born in Salina, Kansas, he played swing music with Benny Goodman and Charlie Spivak in the 1940s and 1950s. Working on the West Coas ...
, American trombonist (died
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
).
* 12 –
Paul Gonsalves
Paul Gonsalves ( – ) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his association with Duke Ellington. At the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, Gonsalves played a 27-chorus solo in the middle of Ellington's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue ...
, American tenor saxophonist (died
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
).
* 16 –
Elizete Cardoso
Elizeth Moreira Cardoso (sometimes listed as Elisete Cardoso) (July 16, 1920 – May 7, 1990), was a singer and actress of great renown in Brazil.
Biography
Cardoso was born in Rio de Janeiro; her father was a serenader who played guitar, a ...
, Brazilian singer and actress (died
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
).
; August
* 3 –
Charlie Shavers
Charles James Shavers (August 3, 1920 – July 8, 1971) was an American jazz trumpeter who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams, Tommy Dorsey, and Billie Holiday. He ...
, American trumpeter (died
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
).
* 7 –
Harry Arnold Harry Arnold may refer to:
* Harry Arnold (musician)
Harry Arnold Persson (August 7, 1920 in Helsingborg, Sweden – February 11, 1971 in Stockholm) was a Swedish jazz saxophonist and bandleader.
Arnold led his first big band in 1942, playing t ...
, Swedish jazz saxophonist (died
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
).
* 8 –
Jimmy Witherspoon
James Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues singer.
Early life, family and education
Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, and his mot ...
, American blues singer (died
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
).
* 12 –
Sam Ulano
Solomon Paul "Sam" Ulano (August 12, 1920 – January 1, 2014) was an American jazz drummer and teacher. He is often called by the nickname "Mr. Rhythm."
Ulano began playing drums at age 13 and opened his first drum studio four years later. He ...
, American drummer and teacher (died
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
).
* 15 –
Tommy Pederson
Pullman Gerald "Tommy" Pederson (August 15, 1920 – January 16, 1998) was an American trombonist and composer known for his work in jazz, big band, and classical genres.
Career
Pederson performed and recorded with big bands and artists that ...
, American trombonist and composer (died
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
).
* 16 –
Lennie Felix, British pianist (died
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
).
* 17 –
George Duvivier
George Duvivier (August 17, 1920 – July 11, 1985) was an American jazz double-bassist.
Biography
Duvivier was born in New York City, the son of Leon V. Duvivier and Ismay Blakely Duvivier. He attended the Conservatory of Music and Art, where ...
, American upright bassist (died
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
).
* 18 –
Don Lamond
Donald Douglas Lamond Jr. (August 18, 1920 – December 23, 2003) was an American jazz drummer.
Biography
Born in Oklahoma City, Lamond attended the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore in the early 1940s, and played with Sonny Dunham and Boyd Ra ...
, American drummer (died
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
).
* 25 –
Leonard Gaskin
Leonard Gaskin (August 25, 1920 – January 24, 2009) was an American jazz bassist born in New York City.
Gaskin played on the early bebop scene at Minton's and Monroe's in New York in the early 1940s. In 1944 he took over Oscar Pettiford's ...
, American bassist (died
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
).
* 28 –
Rowland Greenberg
Rowland Charles Wentworth Greenberg (28 August 1920 in Oslo – 2 April 1994) was a Norwegian jazz musician (trumpet), seen by many as one of the foremost names in Norwegian jazz in the 1940s and 1950s.
Career
With a style inspired by the Engl ...
, Norwegian trumpeter (died
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
).
* 29 –
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
, American alto saxophonist (died
1955
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
).
; September
* 7 –
Al Caiola
Alexander Emil Caiola (September 7, 1920 – November 9, 2016) was an American guitarist, composer and arranger, who spanned a variety of music genres including jazz, country, rock, and pop. He recorded over fifty albums and worked with some of ...
, American guitarist (died
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
).
* 10 –
Ken Rattenbury, English trumpeter, pianist and composer (died
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
).
* 11 –
Bob Enevoldsen
Robert Martin Enevoldsen (September 11, 1920 – November 19, 2005) was a West Coast jazz tenor saxophonist and valve trombonist born in Billings, Montana, known for his work with Marty Paich.
Career
Enevoldsen recorded did sessions with Art ...
, American tenor saxophonist and valve trombonist (died
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
).
* 28 –
Alan Davie
James Alan Davie (28 September 1920 – 5 April 2014) was a Scottish painter and musician.
Biography
Davie was born in Grangemouth, Scotland in 1920, the son of Elizabeth (née Turnbull) and James William Davie, an art teacher and painter who ...
, Scottish tenor saxophonist (died
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
).
; October
* 4 –
Charlie Norman
Charles Norman, also known as Charlie Norman ( Karl-Erik Albert Norman; 4October 192012August 2005), was a Swedish musician and entertainer. Norman is regarded as Sweden's leading boogie-woogie piano player in the 1940s, but an accomplished all- ...
, Swedish pianist and entertainer (died
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
).
* 9 –
Yusef Lateef
Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America.
Although Lateef's main instruments ...
, American saxophonist (died
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
).
* 20 –
Ray Linn
:''Not related to actor-singeRay Linn Jr.(1914–1994)''.
Ray Linn (October 20, 1920 in Chicago, Illinois – 4 November 1996 in Columbus, Ohio) was an American jazz trumpeter.
Linn's first major engagements came in the late 1930s, playing ...
, American trumpeter (died
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
).
* 24 –
Wendell Marshall
Wendell Marshall (October 24, 1920 – February 6, 2002) was an American jazz double-bassist.
Marshall was Jimmy Blanton's cousin. He studied at Lincoln University, then served in the Army during World War II. Following his discharge, he perfor ...
, American upright bassist (died
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
).
; December
* 2 –
Géo Voumard
Géo Voumard (2 December 1920 – 3 September 2008) was a Swiss jazz pianist and composer. He was a co-founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival and composer of the song "'' Refrain''" which won the first Eurovision Song Contest.
Life and caree ...
, Swiss jazz pianist (died
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
).
* 5 –
Kay Davis
Kathryn Elizabeth Wimp known professionally as Kay Davis (December 5, 1920 – January 27, 2012 in Apopka, Florida) was an American jazz singer who performed with the Duke Ellington orchestra.
Davis was born in Evanston, Illinois, and attended Ev ...
, American singer (died
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
).
* 6 –
Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
, American pianist (died
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
).
* 11 –
Eddie Johnson, American tenor saxophonist (died
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
).
* 14 –
Clark Terry
Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator.
He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...
, American swing and bop trumpeter (died
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
).
* 21 –
Marshall Brown, American trombonist (died
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
).
* 25 –
Jerome Richardson
Jerome Richardson (November 15, 1920 – June 23, 2000) was an American jazz musician, tenor saxophonist, and flute player, who also played soprano sax, alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto flute and piccolo. He played with Ch ...
, American saxophonist and flautist (died
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
).
* 29 –
Irving Ashby
Irving Conrad Ashby (December 29, 1920 – April 22, 1987) was an African-American jazz guitarist.
Ashby was born in Somerville, Massachusetts and started playing guitar when he was nine. His career started in 1940 when he became a member of L ...
, American jazz guitarist (died
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
).
References
# ''"History of Jazz Time Lince: 1920". All About Jazz. Archived from the original on 2010-11-17. Retrieved December 2, 2010.''
# ''O'Donnell, Maureen (2019-02-17). "Ken Nordine dies at 98; radio announcer & influential "Word Jazz" artist".
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
. Retrieved 2019-02-20.''
3. Absher, Amy. “Musicians and the Segregated City: Chicago in the Early 1900s-1930s.” ''The Black Musician and the White City: Race and Music in Chicago'', 1900-1967, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2014, pp. 16–47. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.
4. Anderson, Maureen. ''“The White Reception of Jazz in America.”'' African American Review, vol. 38, no. 1, 2004, pp. 135–145. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.
5. Drowne, Kathleen Morgan, and Patrick Huber. ''The 1920s''. Greenwood Press, 2004. Accessed 19 Feb 2020.
6. Dupree, Mary Herron. ''“Jazz," the Critics, and American Art Music in the 1920s.'' American Music, vol. 4, no. 3, 1986, pp. 287–301. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.
7. Murchison, Gayle. “Back in the United States: Popular Music, Jazz, and the New American Music.” ''The American Stravinsky: The Style and Aesthetics of Copland's New American Music, the Early Works, 1921-1938'', University of Michigan Press, ANN ARBOR, 2012, pp. 95–123. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.
8. Ogren, Kathy J. ''The Jazz Revolution : Twenties America and the Meaning of Jazz''. Oxford University Press, 1992. Accessed 19 Feb 2020.
9. Phillips, Damon J. “Jazz and the Disconnected: City Structural Disconnectedness and the Emergence of a Jazz Canon, 1897–1933.” American Journal of Sociology, vol. 117, no. 2, 2011, pp. 420–483. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.
10. Phillips, Damon J., and Young-Kyu Kim. “Why Pseudonyms? Deception as Identity Preservation among Jazz Record Companies, 1920-1929.” Organization Science, vol. 20, no. 3, 2009, pp. 481–499. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.
Bibliography
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External links
History Of Jazz Timeline: 1920at
All About Jazz
''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...
{{Jazz
Jazz, 1920 In
Jazz by year