Jazz

Edgar Junius Hayes is born in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. He will find success as big band leader, pianist and recording artist Edgar Hayes.

Josephine Alexandra Mitchell is born in Dublin, Eire, Europe. Under the stage name Zandra she will become Ireland's first female professional saxophonist, working with Coleman Hawkins, Django Reinhardt and others. A play, Zandra, Queen of Jazz, based on the life of Zandra will be written by and starr Roseanne Lynch.

The Ted Wallace Campus Boys, a Columbia Records house band featuring vocalist Ed Kirkeby, record I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling, written by Fats Waller, Harry Link and Billy Rose for Columbia Records in the USA.

The Chicago Defender carries an advertisement for Mississippi Blues by blues pianist Charlie Spand, newly released on Columbia Records.

Cyril Davies is born in Denham, Buckinghamshire, UK. He will find fame as a harmonica player and bandleader, widely regarded as one of the godfathers of the 1960's British blues and r'n'b scene.

Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra play during a week of shows at The Palladium, London, England, UK, Europe.

Bing Crosby with Jimmy Dorsey And His Orchestra records It's De-lovely, She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain, Midnight Blue, Charmaine, So Do I and Darling, Not Without You, for the radio show Kraft Music Hall, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Stuff Smith And His Famous Door Five, The Benny Goodman Quartet and Orchestra, Harriett Wilson And Her Singing Strings and others, play in The Second Swing Concert at the Palomar Ballroom, Hollywood, California, USA.

The musical film You're A Sweetheart, starring Alice Faye and George Murphy, opens at cinemas in the USA. The film includes such songs as My Fine Feathered Friend, You're A Sweetheart, Scrapin The Toast, So It's Love and Oh Oh Oklahoma.

Chick Webb And His Orchestra, with Ella Fitzgerald on vocals, play the twentieth night of a lengthy engagement at the Flamingo Room in Levaggi's Restaurant, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Playing in the restaurant's basement are The Ink Spots.

A group of sailors on Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles, California, USA, get into a fight with young local Mexicans dressed in zoot suits. The LAPD responds in a heavy-handed way, calling themselves the Vengeance Squad and cracking down firmly on what they regarded as "the loathsome influence of pachuco gangs." The incident sparks what will become known as The Zoot Suit Riots when, the next day, a gang of 200 sailors invade East Los Angeles and begin attacking young men dressed in zoot suits, many of them 12 or 13 year old boys. They also strip the boys of their zoot suits and burn the tattered clothes in a pile. The violence escalates - with no attempt by LAPD to control the sadistic beatings being handed out - until June 7, when sailors and Marines are confined to barracks and Los Angeles is declared off-limits to all military personnel. The 1997 song Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin' Daddies gives a lively musical account of the conflict.

Nat King Cole releases a new single, Mona Lisa, on Capitol Records in the USA.

Tommy Duncan And The Ranger Trio record Nancy Jane for Intro Records at Radio Records Studio, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Songwriters Charles Tobias and Peter DeRose are in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, to promote the movie About Face, for which they composed the score.

Ragtime composer Harry Kelly dies aged 75 of complications from kidney disease, in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. His best-remembered composition is perhaps the slow drag Peaceful Henry.

B.B.King plays the fifth night of a week at the Flame Show Bar, Detroit, Michigan.

The Four Preps appear on American Bandstand, singing their upcoming single Got A Girl.

The Maynard Ferguson Orchestra records Ultimate Rejection and Go East Young Man, at Capitol Studios, New York City, USA.

Philly Joe Jones and Elvin Jones record the album Together! In New York City, USA, for Atlantic Records.

John Coltrane plays at The Sutherland Lounge, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Barbra Streisand plays the fourth of ten nights at The Caucus Club in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

Jazz pianist Red Garland And His Trio record On Green Dolphin Street, I Ain't Got Nobody and other tracks at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, USA, for Jazzland Records.

Having recently been hospitalised with the flu in Carson City, Nevada, USA, Judy Garland is allowed to cancel her remaining engegaments at the South Shore Room, Harrah's Resort, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA.

Dizzy Gillespie plays at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Monterey, California, USA.

The Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo is playing a lunchtime session at The Students Union, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, UK, Europe. The group will find greater success when it evolves to become The Animals.

Bobby Darin is the musical guest on CBS-tv's Judy Garland Show in the USA. Darin performs Michael Row The Boat Ashore and Canaan. He also duets with Garland on a selection of railroad songs.

The Stan Getz Quartet begins six nights of shows at The Cafe Au Go Go, Greenwich Village, New York City, USA.

The Dream Syndicate, a drone-based musical group, records Day Of Niagara, in New York City, USA. The group consists of John Cale, Tony Conrad, Angus MacLise, LaMonte Young and Marian Zazeela.

Lalo Schifrin records Blues A Go Go, Insinuations, Roulette Rumba, The Cat, Once A Thief (vocal version), Return To Trieste and The Right To Love for Verve Records in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Joe Williams records I Should Have Kissed Her More in Webster Hall, New York City, USA, for RCA Records.

Judy Garland and her husband Mark Herron attend a New Year’s Eve party given by the English actress, author and screenwriter, Pamela Mason.

Musical theatre and film actress Juanita Hall dies aged 66 in Bay Shore, New York State, USA. She is best-remembered for her roles in the stage and film musicals South Pacific and The Flower Drum Song.

Ike And Tina Turner, Mongo Santamaria and Fats Domino play the second of two nights at The Fillmore East, New York City, USA.

A live session by Amalgam, including composer, arranger, and saxophonist Trevor Watts, recorded in London, England, UK, Europe, is broadcast by the BBC radio show Jazz Workshop.

The Prince's Tust Gala Benefit at The Dominion Theatre, London, England, UK, Europe, features a supergroup including Pete Townshend of The Who, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Kate Bush, Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, Phil Collins and others.

The Pete King Quintet plays at The Old Vic, Nottingham, UK.

Jazz and blues trumpeter Jordan Sandke, plays the first of two nights at The West End Cafe, 2911 Broadway, New York City, USA, with Jaki Byard on piano and Kenny Washington on drums.

The Yellowjackets play at Montreux Casino, Montreux, Switzerland, Europe, during the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Dylan plays concert No923 in his Never-ending Tour at The Roxy, Atlanta, Georgia.

Metallica play at The Allstate Arena, Rosemont, near Chicago, Illinois, USA, supported by Godsmack.

The National play at The Riviera Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, USA, supported by Owen Pallett.

Irish jazz singer Mary Coughlan plays the first of two nights at Ronnie Scott's Club, London, England, UK.

The Robert Glasper Experiment play at Somerset House, London, England, UK, Europe, with Gabriel Garzon-Montano.

Actor, singer and writer Barry Dennen dies aged 79 in Burbank, California, USA. He had suffered a fall in his home in suffered a fall in his Hollywood Heights which required hospital care, but he never fully recovered.

The BBC Music Biggest Weekend Festival, a four-day event, continues at War Memorial Park, Coventry, England, UK, Europe, with acts including Nigel Kennedy, Lauren Zhang, Angélique Kidjo, Milos, Eliza Carthy And The Wayward Band, Dinosaur and Dorcha.