theblackbottom

On this Memorial Day weekend, I’d like to take time to acknowledge a great artist and friend who passed away, ironically on my birthday May 5. Frederick”Fred” Brown was a truly gifted artist and the world art community will mourn his loss. I met Fred Brown in New York about 8 years ago at the [...]

Nicole Margaret Mitchell has been noted as “a compelling improviser of wit, determination, positivity, and tremendous talent…on her way to becoming one of the greatest living flutists in jazz,” (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader). A creative flutist, composer and bandleader, Mitchell has been named “Top Flutist 2010″ by Downbeat Magazine’s Critic’s Polls and also placed first [...]

Source: Chicago Tribune
For anyone who admires musical culture in general, jazz in particular, the news was startling:
In a preliminary report, the Office of the Provost at Columbia College Chicago has recommended closing the school’s Chicago Jazz Ensemble and Center for Black Music Research.
No other institution on the planet studies, archives, documents, [...]

Nola Darling… a who dat? dem rude gals dem. Alex and Jaq!!! Whachuuknow bout that teen witch rap, yardies??! ya dunnnn kno!
Exactly.
Hailing from L.A., New York City*slash*Miami…by way of Haiti & St. Lucia, NOLA DARLING’s distinct sound is new school fresh, yet old world cool. Tongue in cheek sensibility and spit-fire flows combined with [...]

I am on the road, but thought I would post something I wrote some years back for my earliest attempt at blogging. I hope you will enjoy it.
In Search of Billie Holiday: If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery
I met the author Farah Griffin at the Association for the Worldwide Study of African Diaspora [...]

Taylor was born in Greenville, but moved to Washington, D.C. when he was 5. He graduated from Virginia State College with a B.S. in Music in 1942, and later earned a Masters and Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.[5] Taylot also served as a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University and was [...]

Once You Learn How to Read, You Will Be Forever Free~Frederick Douglass
REVIEW Michael Schmelling is a photographer, director, and author of several photo books, as well as the principal photographer for The Wilco Book. Schmelling’s images have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, and have been exhibited widely in the United States and Europe. [...]

Jazz saxophonist and flutist James Moody has died. A virtuoso player known for his effusive warmth on and off stage, Moody’s career in music stretched well over 60 years. He was 85.
Moody is known for his decades-long association with bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie, whose band he first joined following a stint [...]

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