Among the many travels I was afforded while working with NEA Jazz Master pianist-composer-bandleader Randy Weston (African Rhythms, 2010 Duke University Press) was an extremely pleasant journey to Annecy, France, a lovely alpine town hard by Lake Annecy and the Swiss border where Randy had resided for a time. It was on that trip that I also met the man who had produced several of Randy’s late career records for the Universal Music Group, Jean-Phillipe Allard. More recently Jean-Phillipe has launched his own Artworks imprint. What exactly is the role of a record producer and how does one arrive ..read more

One of my earliest off the bandstand encounters with trumpeter, composer, bandleader, educator and curator Ahmed Abdullah came when I conducted a series of oral history interviews for the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn. Working with my colleague Jennifer Scott, our task was to build Weeksville’s considerable archives with a specific focus on past and present history of jazz in Central Brooklyn. At the time Ahmed was part of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium orbit, along with such good people as the late Jitu Weusi, public school educator and one of the guiding forces behind the leg ..read more

Are you familiar with the Music Workers Alliance and their efforts on behalf of music practitioners? For insights we turned to the extraordinarily diverse bassist Jerome Harris. Diverse discography? Besides his four releases as a leader, Jerome has recorded with such artists as Ray Anderson, Jack DeJohnette, Marty Ehrlich, Oliver Lake, Michael Gregory Jackson, David Krakauer, Bob Moses, Amina Claudine Myers, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Previte, Bob Stewart, Bill Frisell, Jay Hoggard, Julius Hemphill Big Band, Jeanne Lee, Roy Nathanson, Jaki Byard and a raft of others. Given that it appears the genes ..read more

DC Jazz Festival and Howard University recently celebrated the rich legacy Professor Fred Irby established at Howard University. On the cusp of his retirement after 50 years directing the Howard University Jazz Ensemble and the jazz program first established by NEA Jazz Master Donald Byrd and Dr. Arthur Dawkins, bassist-educator Carroll Dashiell,Jr. has been appointed the Chairman of the Howard University Music Department, tasked with the next step in the exceptional legacy of jazz at HU. Serendipity is rich with this appointment of a NW DC native, HU jazz alum, touring and recording jazz arti ..read more

The alluring city of Perugia is the capital of the central Italian region of Umbria. Located approximately equidistance between Rome and Florence, Perugia covers a high hilltop with magnificent views of the verdant valleys below from numerous vantage points. In 1973 a group of intrepid jazz fans founded Umbria Jazz, much in the manner of grassroots jazz enthusiast formations and volunteerism-generated efforts down through the history of jazz music’s inherent fan base. Now 50 years later Umbria Jazz has established a rich tradition as one of the signature events in the jazz festival firmament ..read more

Bassist-saxophonist-composer Luke Stewart has firmly established his artistic pursuits on the world stage. As one of DC’s best & brightest musicians, Luke collaborated with many of the DMV’s finest, particularly if they exhibited the kind of forward motion and progressive attitude by which he himself addresses the precincts of his jazz & beyond musical pursuits. His stint as a vital component of rising tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis‘ rangy trio has propelled Luke forward on the world stage as a leader himself. More recently Luke has joined NEA Jazz Master tenor saxophonist Davi ..read more

In 1972, while living in Tangier, Morocco and operating his African Rhythms Club, Randy Weston determined to present a festival that would span multiple styles of music from Africa and the African diaspora around the world. A tremendous undertaking, the festival presented a vast range of music ranging from Dexter Gordon and Max Roach to Afro pop by the likes of Osibisa, with a multitude of traditional rhythms and forms in between. The festival was a big success, but in its under-capitalized form it left Randy deeply in debt… a condition later alleviated by what Randy always referred to as “di ..read more

Andromeda Turre Vocalist and arts educator-activist-radio host Andromeda Turre couldn’t help but start life in deep musical immersion… her parents are music masters, cellist Akua Dixon and trombonist Steve Turre. Currently a program host of Growing Up Jazz at Sirius/XM’s Real Jazz channel, working her singing career ongoing (she has a forthcoming new album), and pursuing her work as an educator via her Growing Up Jazz program (which is also the title of her radio shows), we recently caught up with this busy woman, who is also the lone woman champion on Jazzology, my bi-weekly jazz trivia show ..read more

Recently I polled some jazz business professionals asking the following question: If a young person (or otherwise) were to ask you how best to get started with their budding interest in jazz music, who/what would you recommend they listen to and what would you recommend they read to get a real ground floor sense of jazz and it’s evolution? “I always tell them a great first step is to find the jazz station in their area… usually at the left end of the dial. I also tell them to look for jazz via other sources, such as satellite radio (i.e. Sirius/XM’s Real Jazz), though that’s more for listening ..read more

Executive Producer, Stefany Calembert Earlier this year one of the most vibrant musical social justice projects was Black Lives – From Generation to Generation, an exceptional, cross genre 2-CD set that included artists from an array of musical pursuits and from across the globe – from such masters as saxophonist-composer Oliver Lake to one of his musical grandsons, altoist Immanuel Wilkins, as well as voices from the striking mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran to South Africa’s Tutu Puoane. The project is executive produced by Stefany Calembert, whose spouse – bassist Reggie Washington – also co ..read more