Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today October 26
1965
The Queen decorates the Beatles and the establishment surrenders to rock
Elizabeth II presents the Beatles with the Order of the British Empire at Buckingham Palace. Several honorees returned their medals, outraged at sharing the distinction with pop musicians; Lennon would give his back in 1969 in political protest. The gesture sealed something unthinkable years earlier: rock had officially entered the British establishment.
The Beatles
1911
Mahalia Jackson is born, who shouted at Martin Luther King to tell them about the dream
On October 26, 1911, Mahalia Jackson was born in New Orleans, raised in a one-room house with thirteen people. She refused all her life to sing anything but religious music, though she was offered fortunes. On August 28, 1963, while Martin Luther King was reading his speech in Washington, she called out from behind him to tell them about the dream; King put down his papers and improvised what followed.
Mahalia Jackson
Martin Luther King
1942
Milton Nascimento is born: the voice that took Brazilian music away from the coast
On October 26, 1942, Milton Nascimento was born in Rio de Janeiro, son of a domestic worker who died when he was a baby; her employers adopted him and he grew up in Minas Gerais. Out of that came the Clube da Esquina, a group of friends who mixed the music of the mountains with rock, jazz and the Beatles. His soaring falsetto caught Wayne Shorter's attention, who took him to record in the United States.
Milton Nascimento
Wayne Shorter
1951
Bootsy Collins is born, funk's space bass
Bootsy Collins is born in Cincinnati; as a teenager he held down James Brown's groove on “Sex Machine”, then put on star glasses to co-found, with George Clinton, the Parliament-Funkadelic universe. His enveloped bass and cosmic persona turned funk into danceable science fiction. The “one” was never the same again.
Bootsy Collins
1913
Charlie Barnet is born: the millionaire heir who hired Black musicians when nobody did
On October 26, 1913, Charlie Barnet was born in New York, grandson of a banker and heir to a fortune that let him do exactly as he pleased. He put together a swing orchestra and was among the first white bandleaders to hire Black musicians regularly, when that cost bookings and caused incidents at hotels. Lena Horne began her career singing with him in 1940.
Charlie Barnet
Lena Horne
1927
Warne Marsh is born, who died playing a solo on stage
On October 26, 1927, Warne Marsh was born in Los Angeles, a tenor saxophonist and disciple of the blind pianist Lennie Tristano, who taught improvising very long lines without leaning on effect. Marsh took that school to the extreme: he never tried to please. In December 1987, playing at a Hollywood club, he collapsed in the middle of a solo and died there, aged sixty.
Warne Marsh
Lennie Tristano
1963
Natalie Merchant is born, who sang about child abuse on eighties radio
On October 26, 1963, Natalie Merchant was born in New York State; she joined 10,000 Maniacs at seventeen. In an era of easy choruses she wrote about illiteracy, alcoholism and child abuse, and the group sold millions anyway. She left the band in 1993 at its commercial peak to make records on her own and never looked back.
Natalie Merchant
10,000 Maniacs
1967
Keith Urban is born: the New Zealander who had to conquer Nashville twice
On October 26, 1967, Keith Urban was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia by a father who ran a corner shop and was obsessed with American country. He moved to Nashville in 1992 and failed; he tried again and by 1999 it started to work. His formula was to put rock electric guitar into a genre that eyed it with suspicion, and with it he sold more than fifteen million records.
Keith Urban
1973
Seth MacFarlane is born: the cartoon comedian who records big band albums
On October 26, 1973, Seth MacFarlane was born in Connecticut, known for creating adult animated series and voicing half a dozen of their characters. His other life is entirely different and entirely serious: he studied singing for years and records albums of standards with orchestras, in the same studios and with the same arrangers who worked for Sinatra. He has several Grammy nominations for them.
Seth MacFarlane
Frank Sinatra
1986
ScHoolboy Q is born, of the Californian label that changed West Coast rap
On October 26, 1986, Quincy Hanley was born on a German military base, son of an American soldier, and raised in Los Angeles. He joined the independent Carson label alongside Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul and Jay Rock, a crew that within a few years brought hip-hop's attention back to California. His 2014 album "Oxymoron" entered straight at number one, telling his story as a pill dealer.
Schoolboy Q
Kendrick Lamar
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