Research Guides
1940 - John Cage debuts his "prepared piano" in Seattle on April 28, 1940.
1941 - Conductor Sir Thomas Beecham debuts with Seattle Symphony Orchestra on October 20, 1941.
1941 - Woody Guthrie commissioned to write “Roll on Columbia” – declared the Washington State folksong in 1987.
1942 - Founding of Seattle Youth Symphony, currently the largest youth symphony in the U.S.
1945 - Singer Enestine Anderson and teenaged trumpeter Quincy Jones recruited to join Robert A. “Bumps” Blackwell Junior Band.
1948 — Ray Charles arrives in Seattle & befriends fellow teenage jazzer Quincy Jones.
1954 - Seattle Symphony Orchestra announces on February 7, 1954, that Milton Katims will lead upcoming season.
1958 — Desegregation, black musicians’ union joins white union, Local 76-493.
1956 - Dave Lewis (Father of Northwest Rock) Combo hailed as Northwest's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band.
1956 - Seattle's Segregated Music Scene Merges
1960 — The Ventures cut their #1 international hit, ”Walk—Don’t Run,” in Seattle with Joe Boles. Listen to it here.
1960 - Wailers record Richard Berry's 1957 song "Louie Louie" (and the sage begins). Listen to it here.
1961 — The Wailers record their classic At The Castle LP live at the Spanish Castle Ballroom.
1962 - Century 21 Exposition (1962): Music at the World's Fair.
1962 — Elvis Presley films It Happened at the World’s Fair in Seattle.
1962 - Seattle Symphony debuts opera with Verdi's Aida on June 7, 1962.
1963 — Seattle’s Jerden label issues the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” which becomes a controversial worldwide hit. Listen to it here.
1965 — The Northwest’s Paul Revere and the Raiders becomes the house band on Dick Clark’s TV show Where the Action Is.