81st birthday of Booker Little

(Born 2 April 1938, Memphis, US)

PRODIGIOUSLY creative trumpeter and composer who, whilst still in his teens/early 20s, records critically acclaimed albums with masters Roach, Coltrane, and Dolphy, with whom he co-leads a 3-volume classic recording of music their quintet (Little, trumpet; Dolphy, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute; Mal Waldron, piano; Richard Davis, bass; Ed Blackwell, drums) plays during a 2-week residency at New York’s (US) Five Spot Café in July 1961

(Booker Little Sextet, “Moods in free time” [personnel: Little, trumpet; Julian Priester, trombone; Dolphy, alto saxophone; Don Friedman, piano; Art Davis, bass; Roach, drums; recorded: Nola’s Penthouse Studios, New York, US, 17 March 1961])

(Booker Little Quartet, “Minor sweet” [personnel: Little, trumpet; Tommy Flanagan, piano; Scott LaFaro, bass; Roy Haynes, drums; recorded: Time Label, New York, US, 13 April 1960])

*****Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe is the author of The longest genocide – since 29 May 1966 (2019) and co-author, with Lakeson Okwuonicha, of Why #DonaldTrump is #great for #Africa (2018)

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe

80th birthday of Booker Little

(Born 2 April 1938, Memphis, US)

PRODIGIOUSLY creative trumpeter and composer who, whilst still in his teens/early 20s, records critically acclaimed albums with masters Roach, Coltrane, and Dolphy, with whom he co-leads a 3-volume classic recording of music their quintet (Little, trumpet; Dolphy, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute; Mal Waldron, piano; Richard Davis, bass; Ed Blackwell, drums) plays during a 2-week residency at New York’s (US) Five Spot Café in July 1961

(Booker Little Sextet, “We speak” [personnel: Little, trumpet; Julian Priester, trombone; Dolphy, alto saxophone; Don Friedman, piano; Art Davis, bass; Roach, drums; recorded: Nola’s Penthouse Studios, New York, US, 17 March 1961])

(Booker Little Sextet, “Moods in free time” [personnel and recording details as in above])

(Booker Little Quartet, “Minor sweet” [personnel: Little, trumpet; Tommy Flanagan, piano; Scott LaFaro, bass; Roy Haynes, drums; recorded: Time Label, New York, US, 13 April 1960])

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe

100th birthday of Eni Njoku

Professor Njoku in conversation with a colleague, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, US, c. 1967

(Born 6 November 1917, Ebem Ohaafia, Biafra)

RENOWNED botanist, foundational vice-chancellor (president/rector) of University of Lagos, 1962, followed by University of Biafra vice-chancellorship, 1966; member of team of distinguished Biafran intellectuals appointed by the Biafran resistance government  during phases I-III of the Igbo genocide, 29 May 1966-12 January 1970, to travel and inform the world of this raging first genocide of post-(European)conquest Africa being executed by Nigeria and its suzerain state Britain, under the premiership of Harold Wilson, in which the génocidaires murder 3.1 million Igbo people or 25 per cent of this nation’s population

(Booker Little Sextet, “Moods in free time” [personnel: Little, trumpet; Julian Priester, trombone; Dolphy, alto saxophone; Don Friedman, piano; Art Davis, bass; Roach, drums; recorded: Nola’s Penthouse Studios, New York, US, 17 March 1961])

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe

79th birthday of Booker Little

(Born 2 April 1938, Memphis, US)

Prodigiously creative trumpeter and composer who, whilst still in his teens/early 20s, records critically acclaimed albums with masters Roach, Coltrane, and Dolphy, with whom he co-leads a 3-volume classic recording of music their quintet (Little, trumpet; Dolphy, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute; Mal Waldron, piano; Richard Davis, bass; Ed Blackwell, drums) plays during a 2-week residency at New York’s (US) Five Spot Café in July 1961

(Booker Little Sextet, “We speak” [personnel: Little, trumpet; Julian Priester, trombone; Dolphy, alto saxophone; Don Friedman, piano; Art Davis, bass; Roach, drums; recorded: Nola’s Penthouse Studios, New York, US, 17 March 1961])

(Booker Little Sextet, “Moods in free time” [personnel and recording details as in above])

(Booker Little Quartet, “Minor sweet” [personnel: Little, trumpet; Tommy Flanagan, piano; Scott LaFaro, bass; Roy Haynes, drums; recorded: Time Label, New York, US, 13 April 1960])

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe