Editing 1959 in music (section)

==Events==
*[[January 5]] – The first sessions for Ella Fitzgerald's ''[[Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook|George and Ira Gershwin Songbook]]'' are held.
*[[January 12]] – Tamla Records is founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit, Michigan.
*[[January 22]] – [[Buddy Holly]] records some acoustic demos in his New York City apartment, the last songs he will record. Songs included "Peggy Sue Got Married", "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", "Learning the Game", "What to Do", "That's What They Say", and "That Makes It Tough."
*[[January 29]] – The first [[Melodifestivalen]], an annual Swedish music competition that determines the country's representative for the [[Eurovision Song Contest]], is held in [[Stockholm]].
*[[February 3]] – "[[The Day the Music Died]]": [[Buddy Holly]], [[Ritchie Valens]] and [[The Big Bopper]] are killed in a plane crash in Iowa. Future country star [[Waylon Jennings]] was scheduled to be on the plane, but instead gave his seat up to The Big Bopper.
*[[March 2]]–[[April 22]] – The recording sessions for the extremely influential [[Miles Davis]] [[jazz]] album ''[[Kind of Blue]]'' take place at the [[CBS 30th Street Studio]] in New York City. The album is released on August 17 in the United States, opening with Davis' "[[So What (Miles Davis composition)|So What]]" and including the Davis-[[Bill Evans]] composition "[[Blue in Green]]".
*[[March 11]] – The 4th [[Eurovision Song Contest 1959|Eurovision Song Contest]] is held in [[Cannes]], France, and won by the [[Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest|Netherlands]] with the song "[[Een beetje]]" performed by [[Teddy Scholten]].
*[[April 3]] – The [[BBC]] in the United Kingdom bans [[The Coasters]] song "Charlie Brown" because of the word "spitball", a decision it reverses later in the month.
*[[April 24]] – The ''[[Your Hit Parade]]'' television series airs its last episode in the United States.
*[[May 4]] – The [[1st Annual Grammy Awards]] are held in [[Los Angeles]]. [[Henry Mancini]]'s ''[[The Music from Peter Gunn]]'' wins [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]], while [[Domenico Modugno]]'s song "[[Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song)|Nel blu, dipinto di blu (Volare)]]" wins both [[Grammy Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year]] and [[Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year]].
*[[May 12]] – [[Plácido Domingo]] makes his stage debut at the Teatro Degollado in [[Guadalajara, Jalisco|Guadalajara]] as Pascual in ''Marina''.
*[[May 30]] – [[Helge Rosvaenge]] gives his farewell concert at Vienna's Great Musikvereinsaal.
*[[June 11]] – Violence erupts at the Seventh Festival of Neapolitan Song in a scandal that sparks a parliamentary inquiry amidst accusations of corruption and involvement of organized crime in a song competition that is seen to have become increasingly commercialised.<ref>Nicola Adelfi, "Per le dolci canzoni d'amore un pandemonio da codice penale", ''La Stampa'', no. 140 (13 June 1959).</ref>
*July–November – [[Alan Lomax]] and English singer [[Shirley Collins]] make a folksong collecting trip in the [[Southern United States]] during which they 'discover' [[Mississippi Fred McDowell]].
*[[August 25]]–[[September 5]] – [[Darmstädter Ferienkurse]] held in Darmstadt, with lectures by [[Włodzimierz Kotoński]], [[György Ligeti]], Andrzej Markowski, [[Yoritsune Matsudaira]], [[Werner Meyer-Eppler]], [[Luigi Nono]], [[Henri Pousseur]], [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]] and Bo Wallner, and world premieres of [[Claude Baillif]]'s ''Mouvements pour deux'', [[Sylvano Bussotti]]'s ''Piano Pieces for David Tudor'', [[Cornelius Cardew]]'s ''Two Books of Study for Pianists'' and ''Piano Piece 1959'', [[Niccolo Castiglioni]]'s ''Cangiati per pianoforte'', [[Roman Haubenstock-Ramati]]'s ''Interpolation: Mobile pour flûte'', [[Mauricio Kagel]]'s ''Transición II'', Angelo Paccagnini's ''Canti brevi: secondo libro'', and Stockhausen's ''[[Zyklus]]''.
*[[September 13]] – [[Bo Diddley]]'s single "Say Man" enters the US R&B charts.
*[[November 29]] – Though they are held in the same year as the inaugural ceremony, the [[2nd Annual Grammy Awards]] are held in [[Los Angeles]] and [[New York City|New York]] and are notable for being the first televised [[Grammy Award]] ceremony. [[Frank Sinatra]]'s ''[[Come Dance with Me! (album)|Come Dance with Me!]]'' wins [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]], [[Bobby Darin]]'s version of "[[Mack the Knife]]" wins [[Grammy Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year]] and [[Jimmy Driftwood]]'s song "[[The Battle of New Orleans]]" wins [[Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year]]. Darin is also awarded [[Grammy Award for Best New Artist|Best New Artist]].
* Fall – [[Bill Haley & His Comets]] end their groundbreaking association with [[Decca Records]], for whom they have recorded since 1954. Their first recording for the label, "[[Rock Around the Clock]]", helped usher in the rock and roll era. Haley signs with [[Warner Bros. Records]].
* [[Joan Baez]] performs at the first [[Newport Folk Festival]] as a surprise guest and becomes an underground favorite
* [[Otto Luening]] and [[Vladimir Ussachevsky]] co-found the [[Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center]] in New York City.
* The [[National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences]] in the United States sponsors the first [[Grammy]] Award ceremony for music recorded in 1958.
* [[Dalida]] receives a Music Oscar for Best Song and a first foreign award (a "Golden Lion" in Berlin).
* [[Jacques Loussier]] releases ''Play Bach No.1'' with bassist [[Pierre Michelot]] and percussionist Christian Garros.
* [[Ornette Coleman]] plays a legendary and controversial concert at New York's [[Five Spot]].
* [[Roy Orbison]] signs with [[Monument Records]].
* [[The Supremes]] are founded as a quartet ("The Primettes").
* [[Jimi Hendrix]] buys his first electric guitar: a White Single pickup [[Supro Ozark 1560 S]].
* Veteran sarodiya and multi-instrumentalist [[Allauddin Khan]] records for [[All India Radio]].
*[[Jilin]] opera is developed in China.
*Approximate date&nbsp;– Ballads and Blues [[folk club]] founded by [[Ewan MacColl]] and others in a London [[Public house|pub]] in [[Soho]] as part of the second [[British folk revival]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Georgina|last=Boyes|title=The Imagined Village: Culture, Ideology, and the English Folk Revival|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=1993|isbn=0-7190-2914-7|page=231}}</ref>