The Ancient Future radio program is produced & hosted by Willard Jenkins for WPFW 89.3 FM (www.wpfw.org), Pacifica Radio for the Washington, DC metro area. HAITIAN RELIEF Joanne Brackeen Haiti B Tring-A-Ling Choice Mingus Big Band Haitian Fight Song Blues & Politics Dreyfus Jean Caze Haitian Peace Song Miami Jazz Scene Harper Brothers Haitian March [...]
Once you get past the outsized ego of its leader, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, the burgeoning New Orleans Jazz Orchestra is potentially an exceptional representation of both the modern and traditional jazz fruits of the city. The orchestra, or NOJO as it is known, boasts such gifted players as saxophonists Ed Peterson and Derek Douget, trombonist [...]
I remember posing the question in a BET Jazz interview to the late conguero and bandleader Ray Barretto about exactly what is meant by Latin Jazz and getting an earful, including what is NOT Latin Jazz. More recently I received a bit of a manifesto from the potent timbalero and bandleader Bobby Matos on the subject, [...]
Once again in the process of presenting the Ancient Future radio program (see playlists below), a vexing disparity reared its ugly head. With so many artists going the DIY route and producing their own recordings, not to mention the myriad and sundry small labels cropping up, why are folks so stingy with the pertinent information? [...]
The Ancient Future radio program is produced & hosted by Willard Jenkins for WPFW 89.3 FM, Pacifica Radio for the Washington, DC metro area. Meditations on Dr. King Max Roach Praise for a Martyr Percussion Bitter Sweet Impulse! Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Desired Eulogy Motown Sunny Sumter Freedom Freedom Sampler [...]
Full disclosure: Willard Jenkins is a coordinator of the NEA Jazz Masters Live program which funds NEAJM presentations at sites around the country. Email if you’d like further information… Last Tuesday evening was yet another sublime NEA Jazz Masters awards concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s sumptuous Rose Theatre. The evening commenced with each of [...]
This latest installement in our ongoing series of black music writers telling their story comes from Bill Francis. Brooklyn-based Bill Francis is a music and jazz journalist whose byline has appeared on countless stories and profiles ranging from bebop to hip hop, in the pages of Billboard, Spin, Essence, The Source, among many other publications. [...]
Songs that made the phones ring — an idea inspired by the late record man Joel Dorn — is our quarterly Ancient Future radio listing of selections that made the telephones ring at WPFW. At WPFW we have an open policy towards soliciting listener feedback; during our various programs listeners are free to call and [...]
Ancient Future is produced & hosted by Willard Jenkins over WPFW 89.3 FM (www.wpfw.org), Pacifica Radio in the Washington, DC metro area. January 14, 2009 Ben Webster & Harry "Sweets" Edison Did You Call Her Today Ben & Sweets Columbia Louis Armstrong Sing ‘Em Low Plays W.C. Handy Columbia Louis Armstrong [...]
As we approach the January 18 observance of MLK Day and all that the legacy of Dr. King means, including his brilliant remarks at the opening of the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival (see below), I’m reminded of a very successful event last fall. In November the Maryland Humanities Council presented "Music of the Movement", subtitled "A conversation about [...]