@New York Times : The history of Verdi’s “Forza del Destino” is almost as convoluted as its sprawling plot. Verdi completed the vocal parts for the premiere in St. Petersburg in 1861, but when the soprano scheduled to sing Leonora became ill, he returned to Italy, orchestrated the opera and made structural changes.

@Helen Merrill on allmusic : Merrill, who was married for a period to clarinetist Aaron Sachs, had opportunities to sit in with some of the top modernists of the time, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Bud Powell. She was with Earl Hines in 1952 and started recording regularly for EmArcy in 1954.

@JazzTimes : In New York City, because of her legal entanglements, she was unable to secure the necessary cabaret card that would enable her to sing at clubs. Yet later recordings show that, although her voice was devastated, her technique remained supreme.

@The Songwriters Hall of Fame : In 1925, Akst, along with lyricists Sam Lewis and Joe Young, wrote the one of the most recorded songs from the 1920’s: “Dinah”. “Dinah” had its first hit recording in 1926, when Ethel Waters’ version reached # 2 on the charts.

@Eclectic ShadyLand : As it happened, John “Big Moose” Walker and Otis Spann were good friends who often hung out together and Moose’s laid-back singing is sometimes reminiscent of Spann’s smoky manner. One night during a Muddy Waters tour, the two men found themselves in a hotel lobby with a couple of grand pianos and played duets for several hours.

@BoogieWoogie Press : While in Kansas City, Jay McShann assembled one of the strongest bands ever to come out of Kansas City. The members of his band included Charlie Parker. In fact, Jay was Parker’s first employer. During this period, Jay also developed his boogie woogie style, which is the topic of the interview below.

@sfmuseum.org : Sophie Tucker wrote: “Some of These Days” is one thing more I owe in a way to Mollie [Elkins, Miss Tucker's maid]. I was riding high in Chicago, palling around with a fast crowd, too full of myself to pay attention to a lot of what was happening around me”.

@Irma Thomas on MySpace : The unrivaled Soul Queen of New Orleans a title officially bestowed by local officials, no less Irma Thomas ranks among Crescent City R&B’s greatest and most enduring musical ambassadors, never enjoying the coast-to-coast commercial success of contemporaries….

@Jack Teagarden : “I was having a couple of drinks With Bud Freeman and Pee Wee Russell one evening Pee Wee began talking about a trombone player, the greatest thing he had heard in this life… Two drinks later, Pee Wee was back with the guy, who was wearing a horrible looking cap and overcoat and carrying a trombone case under his arm.”

@JazzStandards.com : “I Can’t Get Started” was introduced by Bob Hope, who sang it to Eve Arden in Ziegfeld Follies of 1936. Opening on January 30, 1936, at the Winter Garden Theatre, the Broadway revue ran for 115 performances.

@Alligator : Katie Webster toured the country with Redding, and can be heard on his Live At The Whiskey A-Go-Go album. Unable to join Redding on tour in 1967 because she was pregnant, Webster was not on the plane that took Redding’s life.