On this day in 1933

by Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today
March 14, 2023

MARCH 14, 1933

Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones was born in Chicago. His trumpet play won him a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music. Time magazine named him one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20^th century, and his gift for arranging songs made him sought after as an arranger, a musical director and a producer. He has received a record 79 Grammy nominations, which includes 28 wins. 

Jones also showed a talent for scoring films, starting with the 1964 film, The Pawnbroker, breaking through many color barriers. In 1968, he became the first African American to be nominated twice within the same year for an Academy Award for Best Original Score. 

In 1995, he received the Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his charity work. In 2013, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Two years later, his daughter, Rashida Jones, produced an award-winning documentary that detailed his life from battling poverty on Chicago’s South Side to producing some of the world’s most beloved music.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Black Army officer finally receives his Medal of Honor

President Biden awards the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army veteran Col. Paris Davis on March 3 for his actions during the Vietnam War. (The Washington Post)

In the early hours of June 18, 1965, Capt. Paris D. Davis led the 12 members of his Special Forces team and about 90 South Vietnamese trainees stealthily through the jungle of Bong Son in Vietnam’s Binh Dinh province. The company successfully raided an enemy camp, killing scores of North Vietnamese soldiers, some while they were still in their cots. And then the tables turned. The Washington Post | Read more >>

Capitol Hill Democrats party with first Gen Z in Congress

Meet 26-year-old Maxwell Alejandro Frost, the first Gen Z member in Congress, and now labeled “the coolest member” in the House.

SHORTLY AFTER 7 P.M. on January 3, down a cobblestone alley in the splashy Washington, DC, waterfront known as The Wharf, a steady pulse emanated from Union Stage. Inside was a raucous scene: strobing lights, high-top tables covered with empties, the stagnant smell of beer-soaked floors. A backlit white sign near the entrance read “Tonight: Swearing In Concert of Maxwell Alejandro Frost.” Inside, an eclectic crowd—half dressed like they’d just left meetings on Capitol Hill, the other half like ’90s teens—filled the dance floor. “I am too old for this shit,” one attendee near the bar quipped with a laugh as music thumped in the background. VANITYFAIR | Read more >>