Entertainment
Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr.; December 9, 1934 – January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song “Messin’ with the Kid” and his 1965 album Hoodoo Man Blues, described by the critic Bill Dahl as “one of the truly classic blues albums of the 1960s”. Wells himself categorized his music as rhythm and blues.
Wells performed and recorded with various notable blues musicians, including Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker, and Buddy Guy.[3] He remained a fixture on the blues scene throughout his career and also crossed over to rock audiences while touring with the Rolling Stones.[4] Not long before Wells died, the blues historian Gerard Herzhaft called him “one of the rare active survivors of the ‘golden age of the blues'”.
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Entertainment
The Chalk Line Walk as it was originally known became popular around 1850 in the Southern Plantations. It originated in Florida by the African-American slaves who got the basic idea from the Seminole Indians (couples walking solemnly). Many of the special movements of the cake-walk, the bending back of the body, and the dropping of the hands at the wrists, amongst others, were a distinct feature in certain tribes of the African Kaffir dances. The Breakdown and Walk Around a Minstrel parody later to be named the Cakewalk was one of the main sources of the Chalk Line Walk.These “Walkers” as they were called, would walk a straight line and balance buckets of water on their heads. Over time the dance evolved into a exaggerated parody of the white, upper class ballroom figures who would imitate the mannerisms of the “Big House” (masters house) with such dignified walking, bowing low, waving canes, doffing hats, and high kicking grand promenade.
By the 1890’s, the Cakewalk was the hottest thing around and Charles Johnson & Dora Dean are said to have introduced the Cakewalk in 1893. However in 1889 The Creole Show would feature the Cakewalk and in 1892 the first Cakewalk contest was held in a New York ballroom). Williams and Walker Inspired a Cakewalk in the play “Clorindy” origin of the Cakewalk. The Cakewalk sheet music would also list the March and Two-Step as dance options to the song so white audiences would be interested in buying it even if they did not know the Cakewalk. It was first introduced upon the Broadway stage by Dave Genaro.
The Idea of the Cakewalk was that of a couple promenading in a dignified manner, high stepping and kicking, mimicking high society. Some of the better plantation owners would bake a cake on Sundays and invite the neighbors over and have a contest of the slaves, different prizes were given but originally it was a cake and whoever won would get the cake…thus the term “That Takes The Cake!” and the name “Cakewalk” was now set. The Minstrel shows of the time would paint their faces black and at the end of the show would do a “Grand Finale,” which often times was the Cakewalk.
The competition dancers were called “Walkers” and these dance contests grew very big, such as the National Cakewalk Jubilee in New York City as well as others, where the champions would receive gold belts and diamond rings.
There were two categories of contests:
1) the “Grand Straight Cakewalk” ( regular type) and
2) the “Fancy Cakewalk”, (Dressed up type)
the doors would open at 7:00p.m., contest at 11:00p.m., and dancing would continue till 5:00am. These Cakewalk dance contests eventually would be held in big cities as Tin-Pan Alley would make a fortune off of the dance and the Rag- time music they would produce.
The Cakewalk was the first American dance to cross over from black to white society as well as from the stage (Minstrel shows) to ballroom. The Cakewalk would be the window for other African-American dances to enter white society in the future. The Cakewalk eventually died in the 1920’s, but there were still traces of the Cakewalk in the newer, more modern forms of dance, even the Lindy hop had the Apache and the Cakewalk thrown in as can be seen in the “Shorty George” video clip in “At The Jazz Band Ball” Video.
Entertainment
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally by his stage name Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole’s career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late 1930s and spanned almost three decades where he found success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts.
Cole started his career as a jazz pianist in the late 1930s, when he formed The King Cole Trio, which became the top-selling group (and the only black act) on Capitol Records in the 1940s. Cole’s trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Starting in 1950, he transitioned to become a solo singer billed as Nat King Cole. Despite achieving mainstream success, Cole faced intense racial discrimination during his career. While not a major vocal public figure in the civil rights movement, Cole was a member of his local NAACP branch and participated in the 1963 March on Washington. He regularly performed for civil rights organizations. From 1956 to 1957, Cole hosted the NBC variety series The Nat King Cole Show, which became the first nationally broadcast television show hosted by an African American.
Some of Cole’s most notable singles include “Unforgettable”, “Smile”, “L-O-V-E”, “Nature Boy”, “When I Fall in Love”, “Let There Be Love”, “Mona Lisa”, “Autumn Leaves”, “Stardust”, “Straighten Up and Fly Right”, “The Very Thought of You”, “For Sentimental Reasons”, “Embraceable You” and “Almost Like Being in Love”. His 1960 Christmas album The Magic of Christmas (also known as The Christmas Song), is the best-selling Christmas album released in the 1960s; and was ranked as one of the 40 essential Christmas albums (2019) by Rolling Stone. In 2022, Cole’s recording of “The Christmas Song”, broke the record for the longest journey to the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, when it peaked at number nine, 62 years after it debuted on the chart; and was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry. NPR named him one of the 50 Great Voices. Cole received numerous accolades including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1960) and a Special Achievement Golden Globe Award. Posthumously, Cole has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1990), along with the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award (1992) and has been inducted into the Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame (1997), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2000), and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame (2020).
Cole was the father of singer Natalie Cole (1950–2015), who covered her father’s songs in the 1991 album Unforgettable… with Love.
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Entertainment
1909?1978
b. Atlanta. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Among his compositions are three symphonies, Night Music for chamber orchestra, a Short Symphony, and songs, five of which are settings of poems by Langston Hughes.
Entertainment
1910 – 1986
b. Terre Haute, Indiana. A supporting player, he appeared in a wide range of movies from the 1950s to the 1980s, including The Aristocats (as the voice of Scat Cat; 1970), Lady Sings the Blues (1972), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), The Shining (1980), and The Journey of Natty Gann (1985). He also made numerous television guest appearances.
