1957 - Miles Davis releases 'Round Midnight. Ralph J. Gleason (then with Down Beat, later Rolling Stone) called the album "modern jazz conceived and executed in the very best style." And what a band, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, pianist Red Garland, and an all but unknown tenor player named John Coltrane. There's harmonic beauty, a bit of the blues, and at times muted and sweet, it's one of the most essential of Davis' Columbia recordings.
Musically, this sound is as unusual and as beautiful as it was when issued in 1956. Davis had already led the charge through two changes in jazz -- both cool jazz and hard bop -- and was beginning to move in another direction here that wouldn't be defined for another two years.
1966 - John Lennon made his infamous remarks that led to an uproar — and even led to the banning and burning of Beatles records for a brief period in some communities. In an interview with The Evening Standard, Lennon commented, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. The remark goes mostly unnoticed, but causes a big stink when it is reprinted in a US publication four months later. Lennon later apologized.
1967The Rolling Stones chart their fourth #1 hit in America with the ballad "Ruby Tuesday." Keith Richards said of "Ruby Tuesday": "That's one of those things - some chick you've broken up with. And all you've got left is the piano and the guitar and a pair of panties."
1968 - Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention release We're Only In It For The Money. From the beginning, Frank Zappa cultivated a role as voice of the freaks -- imaginative outsiders who didn't fit comfortably into any group. We're Only in It for the Money is the ultimate expression of that sensibility, a satirical masterpiece that simultaneously skewered the hippies and the straights as prisoners of the same narrow-minded, superficial phoniness. Zappa's barbs were vicious and perceptive. Regardless of how dark the subject matter, there's a pervasively surreal, whimsical flavor to the music, sort of like Sgt. Pepper as a creepy nightmare.
1977 - CBS Records released The Clash's self-titled debut album in the U.K. CBS in the U.S. refused to release it until 1979. Until that time, Americans bought more than 100,000 imported copies of the record, making it one of the biggest-selling import records of all time. Several songs from the album including "Janie Jones", "White Riot", and "London's Burning" became classics of the punk genre. (Photo credit should read STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Bobby Womack was born on this day in 1944. A veteran who paid his dues for over a decade before getting his shot at solo stardom, Bobby Womack persevered through tragedy and addiction to emerge as one of soul music's great survivors. Able to shine in the spotlight as a singer or behind the scenes as an instrumentalist and songwriter, Womack never got his due from pop audiences, but during the late '60s and much of the '70s, he was a consistent hitmaker on the R&B charts, with a high standard of quality control.
An underrated guitarist, Womack helped pioneer a lean, minimalist approach similar to that of Curtis Mayfield, and was an early influence on the young Jimi Hendrix.
The Rolling Stones covered "It's All Over Now".
Yes bassist Chris Squire was born today in 1948.
Chris Rea is 73.
Evan Griffith Dando of the Lemonheads is 57.
On this Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Music This Day, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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