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Exotica vocalist Yma Sumac is appearing during a four-week engagement at The Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, USA.The stage musical My Darlin' Aida, a modern re-make of the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, plays at Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 89 performances.
Country fiddler Spade Cooley records Nashville Special, Baltimore Bounce and other tracks for Decca Records in Hollywood, California, USA.
UK pop newspaper NME reports that Sarah Vaughan is keen to record with British bandleader Johnny Dankworth.
Johnny Shines records Evening Shuffle, No Name Blues and Brutal Hearted Woman at Bill Putnam's Universal Recording, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Duke Ellington And His Orchestra broadcast a live radio performance at WMGM Studio, New York City, USA. The band includes vocalists Jimmy Grissom and Betty Roche, plus Charles Mingus on bass.
R'n'b pianist and singer-songwriter Willie Mabon records I'm Mad, Got To Have It, Beggar Or Bandit and Night Latch for Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Al Rubin is born in New York City, USA. He will work as a session musician, playing trumpet, flügelhorn and piccolo trumpet, with artists including Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Blood, Sweat And Tears.
Duke Ellington and Patti Page with the Carl Hoff Orchestra perform In A Sentimental Mood, Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady and other songs in an NBC telecast from New York City, USA.
Ralph Marterie And His Orchestra are playing at The Hotel Statler, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Eunice Davis records My Beat Is 125th Street, Got To Work Pretty Daddy, Take Me Back and Little Girl Do You Want A Ride, for Atlantic Records in New York City, USA.
Joni James enters the UK Popular Singles Chart Singles Chart with Why Don't You Believe Me?, which will peak at No11.
Graham Stewart's Jazzmen play at The Apex Club, Morris Hall, Mason's Hill, Bromley, UK.
Ronald Horvath is born in Queens, New York City, USA. He will find success as blues guitarist and music instructor Ronnie Earl.
Jane Froman performs the songs Sunny Side Up, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling(?), Pretend You're Happy When You're Blue, Hours Of Gladness and Across the Sea To Ireland (Galway Bay?) on the CBS tv show USA Canteen, in the USA.
The original cast album of the hit Broadway musical Wonderful Town is released by Decca Records in the USA.Red Foley records Treasure Untold and I'm Sorry We Met in Castle Studio, The Tulane Hotel, 206 8th Avenue North, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Jerry Byrd And The Country All-Stars (Chet Atkins, Homer And Jethro, Chas. Green - bass) record In A Little Spanish Town, Sweet Georgia Brown, The Lady In Red and When It's Darkness On The Delta in RCA Victor Studio, 155 East 24th Street, Manhattan, New York City, USA.
Jerry Byrd And The Country All-Stars (Chet Atkins, Homer And Jethro, Chas. Green - bass) record Indiana March in RCA Victor Studio, 155 East 24th Street, Manhattan, New York City, USA.
Jazz saxophonist Charlie Mariano suggests to his fellow jazzers Varty Haroutunian, Herb Pomeroy and Ray Santisi that they start a "jazz workshop", a school where jazz musicians could learn by doing. By June they will have rented space on Stuart Street near Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and started the first Jazz Workshop.
Joni James is featured on the cover of jazz magazine Downbeat in the USA. The same edition also includes stories on Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Jimmy Dorsey, Maynard Ferguson and others.
Musical comedy movie By The Light Of The Silvery Moon, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, opens at cinemas in the USA.In his last-ever recording session, jazz guitar virtuoso Django Reinhardt records Le Soir and Chez Moi.
Loretta Lynn is given a $17 Sears And Roebuck Harmony guitar for her birthday by her husband Mooney. The gift will launch her into a career as one of the era’s outstanding country stars.
Dick Noel with The Lew Douglas Orchestra records There You'll Find My Love, Til I See You Again, This Is My Prayer and Rainy Weather for Decca Records in New York City, USA.
Songwriter Peter DeRose dies, aged 53, in New York City, USA. Among his best-remembered songs are Deep Purple, Somebody Loves You, Have You Ever Been Lonely? and Muddy Water.
Geraldo and His Orchestra plus Cab Kaye and his All-Coloured Band play at the Festival Hall, London, UK.Eric Silk And His Southern Jazz Band play at a Flood Fund dance in The Savoy Ballroom, Southsea, Portsmouth, UK.
Alan Ross And His Orchestra play at The Festival Hall, East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, England, UK, Europe.Crazy Man, Crazy by Bill Haley And His Comets peaks at No11 on the Cash Box chart in the USA. It is regarded as the first recognized rock and roll recording to appear on the national American musical charts. It is also believed to be the first rock and roll recording to be played on national television in the USA.
The movie Skirts Ahoy! is released in Denmark, Europe. Essentially a vehicle for swimming star Esther Williams [aka The Million-Dollar Mermaid], it features appearances by jazz vocalist Billy Eckstine and vocal harmony quintet The DeMarco Sisters.
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis begin a week of shows at The Empire, Glasgow, Scotland.
The Clock, Johnny Ace's third single for Duke Records, starts a five-week run at the top of the R'n'B charts in the USA.
The Walt Disney ainimated musical feature Peter Pan is released to cinemas in the UK. The film includes such Sammy Cahn-composed songs as The Second Star To The Right, You Can Fly and A Pirate's Life.Baby It's You, the first single by doo-wop hitmakers The Spaniels, peaks at No10 on Billboard magazine's Rhythm and Blues chart in the USA.
Frank Sinatra and his wife Ava Gardner attend the premiere of the film Mogambo [in which Gardner stars] in New York City, USA, after which they fly back to Hollywood, California.
The Drifters, George Shearing and The Lucky Millinder Orchestra play the fourth night of a week at The Apollo Theater, Harlem, New York City, USA.
After regular cast member Julius LaRosa finishes singing
Manhattan on US tv show Arthur Godfrey
Time, he is publicly sacked on air when Arthur
Godfrey announces, "That, folks, was Julie's swan song." It is
said that LaRosa was unaware of the meaning of the phrase 'swan
song' and did not even realise he had been sacked. LaRosa's musical
partner, Archie
Bleyer is also sacked. The incident will become a cause
celebre, and will inspire Ruth Wallis, to
compose her satirical song Dear Mr. Godfrey, which will become a
minor hit in the USA. Stand-up comic Stan Freberg will also record
a Godfrey parody routine which includes a passing reference to
Godfrey accidentally firing himself live on air.
Phil Kennemore, is born in Oakland, California, USA. He will
find success as bassist of hard rock band Y&T.
The Gil Melle Quintet records the album Gil Melle Quintet Vol.2 for Blue Note Records at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA.
Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists record Dance Of The Zombies, Mango Walk, Haitian Ritual and Wha' Hupp'in Sah? in London, UK, for Karlo Krahmer's Esquire Records.
John Charles Barrett is born in Gainesville, Florida, USA. He will find success as musician, songwriter and producer Desmond Child, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Jan Kuehnemund, who will become the founding member and lead guitarist for the all-female glam metal band Vixen, is born in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Frank Sinatra stars as the footloose and frequently unemployed private eye Rocky Fortune in another episode of his radio series of that name in the USA. This episode is entitled Sister Ellie's Dead.
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