Singer-songwriter Fred Neil was born on this day in 1936. While not generally known as a performer, he was best known for the songs he wroter for others, including the Jefferson Airplane, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Buddy Holly, and others. His best-known song is "Everybody’s Talkin’ (Echoes)," which was a hit for Harry Nilsson in 1969. Neil recorded it in 1966, but his didn’t chart.

Trumpeter, composer, and orchestra leader Harry James was born on this day in 1916. He was married to Betty Grable for a time, and was in several movies, including 1943’s Best Foot Forward with Lucille Ball, 1944’s Two Girls And A Sailor with Van Johnson, June Allyson, and Gloria DeHaven, and 1950’s I’ll Get By with June Haver, William Lundigan, and Ms. DeHaven. "Two O’Clock Jump" was based on Count Basie’s "One O’Clock Jump" and is from 1939.

American exotica musician, orchestra leader and composer Les Baxter was born on this day in 1922. I wrote the following on exotica back in 2021:

[Orchestra leader Martin] Denny describes exotica as "a combination of the South Pacific and the Orient…what a lot of people imagined the islands to be like…it’s pure fantasy though." It’s intended for the listener to feel like they’ve been taken someplace exotic, usually someplace in the South Pacific, but really anywhere, from the top of Mount Everest to the jungles of Brazil and everywhere in between. In modern parlance, it’s lounge music, made for sitting around sipping Mai Tais as it plays on your hi-fi.

This is Baxter’s original recording of "Quiet Village" from 1952.

Blues guitarist and singer Otis Hicks, also known as Lightnin’ Slim, was born on this day in 1912. He often played with his brother-in-law Slim Harpo and harmonicist Lazy Lester. He started recording in Excello Records in the mid-’50’s, then quit for a time in the ’60’s and was working in a foundry near Detroit when he was rediscovered. I’m not sure when this was recorded, but it was probably from his early days on Excello.