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Much of America's blues and jazz influences are deeply rooted in the rhythms and melodies of the rural South. One artist who has greatly contributed to these genres' continued popularity is South...
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When the opportunity came for a young Dizzy Gillespie to leave Cheraw, he took it. Dizzy moved to Laurinburg, North Carolina, where he went to school at the Laurinburg Institute. While in Laurinburg...
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Dizzy Gillespie was awarded the coveted Handel Medal, which is New York City’s most prestigious arts award. Gillespie is also part of the Newport Jazz Festival Program, and introduced friends and...
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Jazz legend John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. Dizzy Gillespie, Cheraw's claim to fame, filled many musical roles, such as trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and singer...
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"B" is for Brown, James (1933-2006). Musician. Born in Barnwell County, Brown began his career in Augusta in the 1950s when he formed the Flames—the first of a series of backing bands that would...
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John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917- ), a native of Cheraw, began playing the trombone and the trumpet in 1929. He studied harmony and music theory at Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina before...
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Born and raised on a sharecroppers’ farm in Pelzer, South Carolina and one of thirteen children, Arnold grew up in a world where blues music did not exist, at least to his devoutly religious parents...
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Few vernacular art forms have made as impressive a mark on American culture as the Blues. From the expressive experiences of African-American life, skilled musicians fashioned a distinctive idiom that...
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A native of the upstate, Julian was born and raised near Vineland School in Pickens County. A farmer for over forty years, the Julian family is deeply rooted in old-time country music. Julian's...
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Homer Lee "Pappy" Sherrill played his first radio show in 1928. In the 1930s, long before multi-million dollar contracts and lucrative endorsement deals, Sherrill traveled the “Kerosene Circuit.”...