CELEBRATING TRANE opening theme: Randy Weston "Root of the Nile" Thelonious Monk Sweet & Lovely Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane Live at Carnegie Hall Blue Note George Russell (w/John Coltrane) Manhattan New York, NY Impulse! John Coltrane Blues To Elvin The Heavyweight Champion Rhino Atlantic John Coltrane Central Park [...]
Our series of conversations with black music writers continues with a contribution from Robin D.G. Kelley, who is currently a Professor of American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. The author of several books Robin’s forthcoming release Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (Free Press) is eagerly anticipated, set for [...]
Prentice Hall has released the 10th edition of Jazz Styles Jazz Styles has long been one of the most concise, comprehensive and useful jazz text books. Although the characterization here is of Jazz Styles as a textbook, it should certainly not be taken as some weighty, dry, academic tome to only be encountered [...]
The contributor of this piece is jazz activist Ron Washington. Besides being a stalwart jazz diehard and tireless observer of the scene, he is proprietor of Ron "Slim" Washington Productions, which provides jazz and other music for festivals, clubs and restaurants. Ron "Slim" Washington (with mic) onstage at one of his jazz productions [...]
The robust audience at the Arena stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival Much has been written about the reportedly dwindling jazz audience recently, including several ‘oh jazz, ‘po jazz, woe is jazz…" red flag wavings and various gnashing of teeth. (See elsewhere in The Independent Ear one writer’s righteous indignation over Terry Teachout waving that [...]
Ancient Future is produced & hosted by Willard Jenkins for WPFW 89.3 FM, 50,000 watt Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC. ARTIST TUNE ALBUM TITLE LABEL 3RD Thursday special: Jazz in South Africa Nancy Jacbs & Her Sisters Meadowlands Soweto Blues Sheer Voice Scullery Department Soweto Blues Sheer Bheki Mseleku Homeboyz Timelessness Verve Bheki [...]
My good friend and colleague Sara Donnelly (who many in the jazz community may remember as the former Sara Warner), has matriculated through the National Endowment for the Arts, worked at the late National Jazz Service Organization, and later the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, currently runs the JazzNext funding initiative for the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in Baltimore. [...]
For 15 years, up until her passing on to ancestry, DC area based vocalist and vocal educator RONNIE WELLS tirelessly produced the successful mid-winter East Coast Jazz Festival at the Doubletree Hotel in Rockville, MD (suburban Washington, DC). During that time Ronnie built an impressive and loyal audience, many of whom traveled from neighboring [...]
Ancient Future is produced & hosted by Willard Jenkins for WPFW 89.3 FM, Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC. ARTIST TUNE ALBUM TITLE LABEL Roy Haynes Remember Fountain of Youth Dreyfus Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers A Night in Tunisia A Night in Tunisia Blue Note Jose James Spirits Up Above The Dreamer [...]
Our correspondent for this edition of the series Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black jazz writers tell their story is Bridget Arnwine. I first encountered Bridget in 2005 when the Jazz Journalists Association sponsored a one-time fellowship award in the name of the late African American jazz writer Clarence Atkins. The fellowships were awarded [...]