Andrey Henkin

Seventy years ago this summer, a young pianist from Tryon, North Carolina—a town of fewer than 2000 residents—made her professional debut in Atlantic City. This was not the culmination of a dream but rather an economic choice born of the racial circumstances of the era. It was a letdown.

The venue was the Midtown Bar. If they'd known what she was doing, her parents would have objected and her musical peers would have sneered, so Eunice Waymon performed under a pseudonym: Nina Simone. Adding to the indignity for this classically trained pianist, playing wasn't enough; she was also expected to sing.

Rufus Reid and Caelan Cardello: Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello; Julie Kelly: Freedom Jazz Dance; One For All: Big George; Archie Shepp: Derailleur; Chris Potter: Eagle's Point.

Social Distortion: Mommy's Little Monster, 40th Anniversary Edition; Mötley Crüe: Shout at the Devil 40th Anniversary Edition; The Allman Brothers Band: Bear's Sonic Journals: Allman Brothers Band Fillmore East February 1970.

In 1984, Metal Blade Records of Van Nuys, California, released the fifth edition of its Metal Massacre series, which had already unleashed such bands as RATT, Metallica, Slayer, and Lizzy Borden onto an unwitting music-buying public. On the second track, among future stalwarts Overkill, Fates Warning, and Metal Church as well as no-hit wonders Lethyl Synn and Jesters of Destiny, was an oddly named band from Jonquière, Quebec: Voïvod, spelled Voi Vod on the album cover. Voïvod's four members were Blacky, Away, Piggy, and Snake.