March 1933 in Music History

Events in Music

King Kong Premieres

Mar 2 "King Kong" film directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Fay Wray premieres at Radio City Music Hall and RKO Roxy in NYC

Poster for the 1933 film "King Kong", the first in a series of movies about the giant gorilla

Mar 9 "42nd Street" a musical film revolving around rehearsals for a Broadway show, directed by Lloyd Bacon, with choreography by Busby Berkeley, and songs by Harry Warren and by Al Dubin, premieres at the Strand, NYC; later adapted as a stage musical
Mar 23 Kroll Opera in Berlin opens

Birthdays in Music

Mar 1 Istvan Lang, Hungarian composer, born in Budapest
Mar 3 Marco Antonio Muñoz, Mexican Latin pop singer (Que Murmurmen; Escandallo), and actor (Sinful), born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Mar 4 Ann Burton [Anna Rafalowicz], Dutch jazz singer, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1989)
Mar 5 Norbert Linke, German composer
Mar 6 Dorothy "Dolly" Ann Collins, English folk musician and composer
Mar 8 Johnny Dollar, American country and rockabilly singer, born in Kilgore, Texas (d. 1986)
Mar 9 Anatoly Kremer, Russian composer and conductor (Eksperiment), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 2015)
Mar 9 Lloyd Price, American R&B singer ("Lawdy Miss Clawdy"; "Stagger Lee"; "Personality"), born in Kenner, Louisiana (d. 2021) [1]
Mar 9 W. Francis McBeth, American composer (Of Sailors and Whales), conductor, and pedagogue (Ouachita Baptist University, 1957-96), born in Ropesville, Texas (d. 2012)
Mar 10 Bernadetta Matuszczak, Polish composer (Diary of a Fool; Apocalypsis According to St. John), born in Toruń, Poland (d. 2021)
Mar 10 Ralph Emery, American country music DJ and television host (Nashville Now), born in McEwen, Tennessee (d. 2022)
Mar 13 Mike Stoller, American composer (Lieber & Stoller - Hound Dog; Charlie Brown; Jailhouse Rock; Ben E. King - Stand By Me), born in Belle Harbor, Queens, New York

Quincy Jones Jr (90 years old)

Mar 14 American jazz trumpeter. composer, arranger, record producer (Michael Jackson; Frank Sinatra; "We Are The World"), and film producer (The Color Purple), born in Chicago, Illinois

Mar 15 Cecil Percival Taylor, American pianist and poet (University of Wisconsin)
Mar 15 Ronald Roseman, American composer
Mar 18 Dayton "Bones" Howe, American record producer and sound engineer (The 5th Dimension; The Association; Tom Waits), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 20 Jacquez Guyonnet, Swiss composer, born in Geneva, Switzerland
Mar 23 Dave Frishberg, American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and lyricist ("I'm Just A Bill"), born in St. Paul, Minnesota (d. 2021)
Mar 23 Norman Bailey, British operatic bass-baritone (Flying Dutchman), in Birmingham, England
Mar 24 David Harries, Welsh composer (Epithalamium), born in Portsmouth, England (d. 2003)
Mar 25 (Charles William) "Wee Willie" Harris, English singer known as "Britain's wild man of rock 'n' roll", born in Bermondsey, England (d. 2023)
Mar 28 Vincente "Tete" Montoliu, Catalonian jazz pianist, born in Barcelona, Spain (d. 1997)

Deaths in Music

Mar 4 Willie Walker, American jazz singer and guitarist (Dupree Blues), dies at 36
Mar 26 Eddie Lang [Salvatore Massaro], American jazz guitarist known as the "father of jazz guitar", dies of tonsil surgery complications at 30
Mar 29 Alexander Schmuller, Russian-Dutch violinist and conductor, dies at 52