Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is May 16. Clarinetist and bandleader Woody Herman was born this day in 1913 in Milwaukee. He became a bandleader in 1936, and for 50 years led a succession of "Herds" across the country and around the world. Herman also had a fine ear for talent, and loaded his bands with a succession of great players. Woody Herman died in October 1987, deeply in debt to the taxman. Advertisement Singer Betty Carter, one of the most adventuresome and risk taking vocalists on the jazz scene, was born this day in 1930 in Flint, Mich. Lionel Hampton nicknamed her "Betty Bebop" because of her melodic improvisations. She died in 1998. Drummer Billy Cobham was born this day in 1944 in Panama. Early in his career he toured with Horace Silver and recorded with Miles Davis on the trend-setting "Bitches Brew" album that ushered in the fusion era in jazz. He was also a founding member of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. Advertisement On this day in 1953, jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt died in Fontainbleau, France, at age 43. Reinhardt developed a spellbinding technique as a guitar player after a serious gypsy caravan fire ruined the use of two fingers when he was 18. This was also the day, in 1949, when pianist Lenny Tristano recorded his classic free jazz album "Intuition" for Capitol. He had his sextet improvise simultaneously without any preset limits on key preferences or duration of solos. Looking at today's hip happenings... On the New York jazz scene... the Babatunde Lea quintet with Ernie Watts and Kuumba Frank Lacy is at the Jazz Standard tonight. Poncho Sanchez and his Latin jazz ensemble are at the Blue Note through Sunday. Ted Nash and Odeon are at the Village Vanguard through Sunday. The Jackie McLean quintet is at Iridium through Sunday. Cuba's Orquesta Aragon is at Birdland through Saturday. The Renee Rosnes quartet is at Sweet Rhythm through Saturday. Steve Smith and Vital Information with special guest Bill Evans on sax are at The Bottom Line tonight. Ravi Coltrane's Project 2.0 is at The Jazz Gallery tonight. The Cedar Walton trio is at Smoke through Saturday. There's a Betty Carter birthday celebration at the Lenox Lounge in Harlem tonight and Saturday with the Danny Mixon trio, Lisle Atkinson, Michael Carvin and Rochelle Thompson. Advertisement The TriBeCa Performing Arts Center opens its fifth "Lost Jazz Shrines" series honoring the West Village's Café Society. New Jersey shoe salesman Barney Josephson's historic club and its Upper East Side branch launched the careers of Billie Holiday, Lester Young and Lena Horne and integrated the city's club scene on musician and audience fronts. Tonight's concert features Chicago tenor saxophonist Von Freeman with the Barry Harris trio. The series continues on May 30 and June 20. Prior to each concert, TriBeCa will screen historic film clips from the David Chertok collection of some of Café Society's most prominent artists. The New York edition of this year's Verizon Music Festival opens tonight with George Benson and Dee Dee Bridgewater at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall plus India and Toño Rosario at the Copacabana. Sonny Rollins is at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark tonight. Bassist Harvie S. and Eye Contact are at Trumpets in Montclair, N.J., tonight and Saturday. In and around Boston... Flora Purim and Airto Moreira are at Scullers jazz club in Boston tonight. The Rebecca Parris quintet is at The Regattabar in Cambridge tonight. Thaddeus Hogarth is at Ryles in Cambridge. The New Black Eagle Jazz Band is at The Center for the Arts in Natick tonight. Advertisement In Philadelphia... Gary Burton and Makoto Ozone are at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Great Stair Hall tonight. Madeleine Peyroux is at Tin Angel. Steve Tyrell is at Zanzibar Blue. In the nation's capital... John Patitucci is at the Kennedy Center's KC Jazz Club tonight with his band. The Bruce Katz band and boogie-woogie madman Reverend Billy Wirtz are at The Coffee Pot in Roanoke, Va. The Lynne Arriale trio is at the Jazz Factory in Louisville, Ky., tonight. In Chicago ... trumpeter Tom Harrell's quintet is at The Jazz Showcase this week. The Sutherland Community Arts Initiative's Spring Arts Happening Festival at the Spoken Word Café features the Roscoe Mitchell quartet and Malachi Thompson and Africa Brass with Dee Alexander tonight. Elsewhere in and around the Windy City... the Chris Lega-Pat Mallinger quintet is at Andy's tonight. Detour is at the Backroom tonight. The Maurice Brown-Ernest Dawkins quintet is at the Green Mill tonight. Skinny Williams is at Joe's BeBop Café and Jazz Emporium. Bobby Broom's organ trio Deep Blue is at Pete Miller's Steakhouse in Evanston tonight and Saturday. King Fleming is at Philander's in Oak Park. The Russell Alan Rowe-Andrew Distel quartet is at Pops for Champagne. Advertisement In New Orleans... Earl Brown is at Cafe Sbisa. The Treme Brass Band is at Donna's. Maurice Brown and Soul'd U Out are at the Dragon's Den. Devin Philips is at the Funky Butt tonight. Mark Braud and Topsy Chapman are at Harrah's. Etta James and the Roots Band are at the House of Blues. The Rob Wagner trio is at Loft 523. The Ernie Elly Slickshots with Thais Clark are at the Palm Court. Leroy Jones leads tonight's band at Preservation Hall. Ellis Marsalis is at Snug Harbor tonight. The Jazz Vipers are at the Spotted Cat. The Hot Club of New Orleans is at d.b.a. On the California jazz scene... the Hank Jones trio is at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles through Sunday. The Tony Guererro-Elizabeth Lamers Hi-Fi quintet is at Steamers Jazz Café in Fullerton. The John Altman quartet is at Spazio in Sherman Oaks tonight. Saxophonist Ricky Woodard is featured with the John Heard trio tonight and Saturday at Charlie O's in Valley Glen. Susie Hansen's Latin jazz band is at Ray's Downtown Deli in San Bernardino tonight. Keiko Matsui is at Yoshi's in Oakland through Sunday. La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley continues its Bay Area Latin Jazz Legacy Series tonight with an Afro-Latin Panorama concert. Multi-instrumentalist John Calloway performs with his band Diaspora in a double bill with O-Maya. Advertisement Tower of Power is at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in Seattle through Sunday. Fred Ho is at the Pendulum Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, tonight.
