The Ancient Future radio program airs on WPFW 89.3 FM, Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC at 50,000 watts; produced & hosted by Willard Jenkins. THANKSGIVING DAY CELEBRATION OF SONNY ROLLINS Sonny Rollins God Bless The Child The Bridge RCA Sonny Rollins interview segment with Ted Panken (WKCR) Babs Gonzales feat. [...]
Like most of the participants in our ongoing dialogue with African American music writers, Gregory Thomas, has both feet and hands in several camps. Greg’s byline has been featured in numerous publications, including Salon.com., Guardian Observer (London), American Legacy, Africana.com, BlackAmericaWeb.com, Daily News (NY, NY), TBWT.com, Callaloo and others. He was the founding editor-in-chief of [...]
Robin D.G. Kelley, author of the exhaustively-researched and superb new Thelonious Monk biography Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of An American Original (Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster), contributed the following piece to the recent 75th birthday commemoration for Amiri Baraka. He granted re-print permission to The Independent Ear. Read Robin’s contribution [...]
New York-based writer Ron Scott, past contributor to our ongoing dialogue with African American music journalists Ain’t But a Few of Us, weighs in here with his take on the recently-released compilation of Amiri Baraka writings. Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music by Amiri Baraka A Review by Ron Scott The [...]
We continue a dialogue we began on these pages, a fire that was further stoked by a thoughtful Facebook post by trumpeter Sean Jones and Greg Osby’s subsequent, typically pointed, follow-up. The last two weekends have revealed other young artists who are invested in the kinds of audience-embracing (and therefore audience developing/sustaining) bandleadership we’ve been espousing [...]
DC-based Tom Porter is a man with a vast range of experiences — from community activist to college professor to community radio station executive. Some of his more recent crate digging has involved unearthing a treasure chest of unreleased recordings captured at the many sessions at Amiri Baraka’s Spirit House performance space for Porter’s own Son Boy [...]
Ancient Future radio is broadcast over WPFW 89.3 FM, Pacifica Radio for the Washington, DC metro area; hosted & produced by Willard Jenkins. Theme: Randy Weston "Root of the Nile" Ornette Coleman Ramblin’ Beauty is a Rare Thing Atlantic (box) Han Bennink Thako’s Tune Han Bennink Musica Jazz Wayne Shorter Deluge [...]
Ancient Future radio is hosted & produced by Willard Jenkins on WPFW 89.3 FM, Pacifica Radio in the Washington, DC metro region broadcasting at 50,000 watts. Theme: Randy Weston "Root of the Nile" Thelonious Monk Straight No Chaser Live at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival Montery Jazz Festival Records Sam Cooke Please [...]