Happy Birthday, John Boutté!

Singer John Boutté was born in New Orleans on November 3, 1958. Boutté was influenced by the local culture of the 7th Ward, including jazz funerals and Mardi Gras parades, as well as by the R&B music he grew up listening to. He is the younger brother of the jazz and gospel singer Lillian Boutté, and he started his professional career by joining her on tour soon after Stevie Wonder recommended that he pursue a career in music. He is known for diverse music style that goes beyond jazz to R&B, gospel, Latin, and blues. Boutté achieved great notoriety for his "Tremé Song", which was the theme song of HBO's series, Tremé. Happy Birthday, John!

Photo by: Robbie Mendelson - originally posted to Flickr as John Boutte

Happy Birthday, Frank Ocean!

Singer songwriter, rapper, record producer and photographer Frank Ocean (Christopher Breaux) was born in New Orleans on October 28, 1987. He is known for his idiosyncratic musical style, introspective and elliptical songwriting, unconventional production techniques, and wide vocal range. Music critics have credited him with revitalizing R&B, with his distinctive sound and style influencing numerous artists of various music genres.

Ocean began his musical career as a ghostwriter, and joined hip hop collective Odd Future in 2010. He released his debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra, achieving critical success, with the single "Novacane" peaking on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 82, and later achieving platinum certification. In 2012, Def Jam Recordings signed Ocean to a recording contract., and in July of that year, he released his debut studio album Channel Orange. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and was soon certified platinum. The album received universal acclaim from critics and won Ocean his first Grammy Award, for Best Urban Contemporary Album. 

Ocean’s second album, Blonde, was released in 2016 as was his visual project Endless. Blonde debuted at number one in several countries and was also highly acclaimed by critics. In 2017, he was featured on the Calvin Harris single "Slide", opposite Migos, which became Ocean's highest charting song in the US, peaking at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Happy Birthday to a true NOLA original talent!

Photo by: Rory - https://www.flickr.com/photos/73714450@N08/9280513387

Happy Birthday, Wendell Brunious!

Singer songwriter and trumpeter Wendell Brunious was born in New Orleans on October 27, 1954. Brunious began playing trumpet at 11, and both his father (John “Picket” Brunious) and brother (John Brunious, Jr.) were accomplished trumpeters. He sang in Chief John and the Mahogany Hall Stompers in the 1960s, a group in which his father was also a member. He performed with Danny Barker and played dance music in clubs on Bourbon Street in the mid-1970s. Wendell followed his brother John as bandleader of Preservation Hall Jazz Band in 1987, and was followed as bandleader by his nephew Mark Braud. Brunious has also played with the Eureka Brass Band, Lionel Hampton, Michael White, and Don Vappie. Happy Birthday to a true New Orleans luminary!

Photo by Charles Mims, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/11248189@N02/31430410655/

Celebrating the Birthday of Mahalia Jackson 10/26 (Copy)

Mahalia Jackson, vocalist was born in New Orleans on October 26, 1911. She was referred to as “The Queen of Gospel” and possessed a powerful contralto voice. She experienced great success in 1947 with “Move On Up a Little Higher” which sold millions of copies. Her success led to radio and television, as well as a tour that included performing at Carnegie Hall in 1950 to a racially integrated audience. She became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. At the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, Jackson performed before King gave his ”I Have a Dream” speech. Mahalia Jackson passed away on January 27, 1972. Read more about her in the “Saints” page. We remember her immense talent on this day!

Celebrating the Birthday of Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson, vocalist was born in New Orleans on October 26, 1911. She was referred to as “The Queen of Gospel” and possessed a powerful contralto voice. She experienced great success in 1947 with “Move On Up a Little Higher” which sold millions of copies. Her success led to radio and television, as well as a tour that included performing at Carnegie Hall in 1950 to a racially integrated audience. She became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. At the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, Jackson performed before King gave his ”I Have a Dream” speech. Mahalia Jackson passed away on January 27, 1972. Read more about her in the “Saints” page. We remember her immense talent on this day!

Celebrating the Birthday of Jelly Roll Morton

Ragtime and early jazz pianist and composer Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was born in New Orleans on October 20, 1890 (though some say 1885). He was a pivotal figure in early jazz. He was the first arranger in this genre rooted in improvisation, proving that jazz could retain its essential characteristics and spirit even though notated. 

Morton learned to play piano at age 10, and within a few years he was playing in the red-light district bordellos, where he earned the nickname "Jelly Roll." Blending the styles of ragtime and minstrelsy with dance rhythms, he was at the forefront of a movement that would soon be known as "jazz." His composition "Jelly Roll Blues", published in 1915, was the first published jazz composition.

Jelly Roll Morton passed away on July 10, 1941, in Los Angeles, California. Whether or not Morton invented jazz, as he had claimed, he is regarded as one of its great innovators. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him in 1998, and he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.