Rock Source Music Facts Day by Day


May 26 1883	Mamie Smith, the first black blues singer to record solo, is born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. (1883)
May 26 1886	Asa Yoelson is born in Srednike, Lithuania. He will find fame in the USA as Al Jolson ? the first white vocalist to carve an internationally successful career out of pretending to be a black man. Countless others will follow. (1886)
May 26 1916	Louis Thomas Hardin is born in Marysville, Kansas, USA. He will grow up to become Moondog, an enigmatic New York City street performer with a flowing beard, and dressed in elaborate Viking garb. He will garner great acclaim as a jazz-influenced composer and conductor. (1916)
May 26 1920	Norma Deloris Egstrom is born in Jamestown, North Dakota, USA. She will find fame as Miss Peggy Lee. (1920)
May 26 1929	Ted Lewis And His Band record I'm The Medicine Man For The Blues, Maybe, Who Knows?, Wouldn't It Be Wonderful and I'm Walking Around In A Dream, in New York City, USA, for Columbia Records. (1929)
May 26 1931	Ambrose And His Orchestra record Were You Sincere?, Why Shouldn't I?, I'm Gonna Get You, Laughing At The Rain and Shake And Let Us Be Friends, at The Small Queens Hall, London, UK, for HMV Records. (1931)
May 26 1932	Bing Crosby records Some Of These Days for Columbia Records in New York City, USA. (1932)
May 26 1933	Art Kassel And His Kassels In The Air play in The Cooper Club, Henderson, Texas, USA. (1933)
May 26 1934	Art Hicks And His Biltmore Aristocrats play in The Cooper Club, Henderson, Texas, USA. (1934)
May 26 1936	Bea Wain with The Bachelors and The Modernaires records the Irving Berlin composition I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket. (1936)
May 26 1937	Jazz trumpeter Coleman Hawkins records Devotion, during a visit to Hilversum, Holland, Europe. (1937)
May 26 1937	Jazz composer, saxophonist, pianist and recording artist Neil Ardley is born in Wallington, Surrey, UK. (1937)
May 26 1938	Trixie Smith records Jack I'm Mellow for Decca Records in New York City, USA. <Sidney Bechet plays clarinet on this track. At the same session, she records Freight Train Blues, He May Be Your Man (But He Comes To See Me Sometimes), My Unusual Man, Trixie's Blues and My Daddy Rocks Me. (1938)
May 26 1940	Judy Garland performs Over The Rainbow on the Red Cross War Fund Program, on the NBC and CBS radio networks in the USA. (1940)
May 26 1940	Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra, with vocalist Frank Sinatra, play at the Astor Hotel, New York City, during a fourteen?week engagement. (1940)
May 26 1945	Duke Ellington And His Orchestra play at Regal Theater, Chicago, Illinois, USA. (1945)
May 26 1950	Louis Jordan And His Orchestra begin a week at The Regal, Chicago, Illinois, USA. (1950)
May 26 1950	Bill Bardo opens at The Miami Hotel, Dayton, Ohio, USA. (1950)
May 26 1950	Johnny Parker, with The Pete Rugolo Orchestra and The King Sisters, records Can't Seem To Laugh Anymore, Never Again, Our Little Ranch House and Two Weeks With Pay at MGM Studios, New York City, USA. The orchestra includes such jazz luminaries as Maynard Ferguson, Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Shelly Manne and Kai Winding. (1950)
May 26 1950	Vic Lewis And His Modern Concert Orchestra record Over The Rainbow, Serenade In Blue, A Hundred Years From Today and Love For Sale for Parlophone Records in London, UK. (1950)
May 26 1950	Harry Gold And His Pieces Of Eight play at The Savoy Ballroom, Portsmouth, UK. (1950)
May 26 1950	Tex Beneke And His Orchestra play the twelfth night of four weeks at The Cafe Rouge in The Hotel Statler, New York City, USA. (1950)
May 26 1950	Jimmy Palmer And His Orchestra play the sixth night of four weeks at The Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, USA. (1950)
May 26 1950	Griff Williams And His Orchestra play the sixth of 28 nights at The Trianon Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, USA. (1950)
May 26 1953	David Torn is born in Amityville, New York State, USA. He will find success as a composer, guitarist, bandleader and recording artist. (1953)
May 26 1955	Kenny Baker And His Dozen record Bugler's Lament, There'll Never Be Another You, If You Were The Only Girl, Whistle And I'll Come To You, Gal From Joe's, Coquette, We'll Always Be Sweethearts and Too Cool For The Blues, for Pye/Nixa Records in London, UK. (1955)
May 26 1955	Kenny Baker And His Dozen record Bugler's Lament, There'll Never Be Another You, If You Were The Only Girl, Whistle And I'll Come To You, Gal From Joe's, Coquette, We'll Always Be Sweethearts and Too Cool For The Blues, for Pye/Nixa Records in London, UK. (1955)
May 26 1956	Lillian Roth plays the second of two nights at The Lagoon, Salt Lake City, USA. (1956)
May 26 1961	Count Basie And His Orchestra play the first night of a week at The Tivoli Theater, Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Their current vocalist, Ocie Smith, will later find greater success as solo performer O.C.Smith. (1961)
May 26 1962	Jazz clarinettist Acker Bilk reaches No1 in the Billboard Top 40 Singles Chart in the USA with Stranger On the Shore. (1962)
May 26 1964	The Johnny Dankworth Orchestra appears on the BBC 2 tv jazz series Jazz 625, in the UK. (1964)
May 26 1985	Sting plays at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland. (1985)
May 26 1994	Free jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, aged 53, in his hometown of Ossining, New York State, just as he is about to sign the first major label recording deal of his career. Although a prolific and highly respected recording artist, he is perhaps best-known for his theme song to the animated program Space Ghost Coast to Coast. (1994)
May 26 2011	Multi-award-winning jazz vocalist Clare Teal plays at The Radlett Centre, Radlett, Hertfordshire, UK. (2011)