The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the recipients of the nation’s highest honor in jazz. The 2025 NEA Jazz Masters are: Marshall Allen is a saxophonist and 100-year-old leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra. Marilyn Crispell is an avant-garde pianist and composer. Chucho Valdés is a pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, and influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz. Gary Giddins is a jazz critic and biographer, and recipient of the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy. NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, said: We are delighted to welcome these four lumin ..read more

Benjamin Fogelman opened the original Benny The Bum’s (“Where the famous gather”) on the ground floor of the Regency Ballroom circa 1936. On the second floor of the Regency Ballroom, internationally acclaimed African American artist Dox Thrash developed his influential carborundum printmaking technique while working at the Philadelphia Fine Print Workshop. The jobs for visual artists program was funded by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. At some point under the ownership of Alvin Fogelman, Benny The Bum’s moved to West Philly. The nightspot had jazz on the weeken ..read more

Edward “Lee” Morgan was born in Philadelphia on July 10, 1938. Since his last heavenly birthday, Lee has been honored with a Pennsylvania historical marker. At the dedication ceremony, Lee received commendations from Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Bob Casey, Representatives Brendan Boyle and Dwight Evans, state Senator Vincent Hughes, City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. Lee’s masterpiece, “The Sidewinder,” was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry on April 16, 2024. To celebrate Lee’s 86th birthday, I proposed the legendary trumpeter for a ..read more

As Black Music Month comes to a close, I want to focus on the message in our music. I believe to my soul that music can transform lives and inspire ordinary citizens to get involved in the fight for justice. From the sorrow songs of the enslaved to right now, Black music has been the soundtrack of movements for social change ..read more

This year marks the centennial of the birth of drummer, composer, bandleader and activist Max Roach. His groundbreaking album, “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite,” was influenced by the Emancipation Proclamation and the emerging Civil Rights Movement. Born in North Carolina, Roach’s family moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, when he was four. He grew up near the corner of Greene and Marcy avenues where the City of New York has co-named a street for the iconic drummer. Fittingly, the “Max Roach Way” co-naming ceremony was held on Juneteenth, Freedom Day. The Libra ..read more

The three-part series, Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution, debuts on PBS this week. The first episode focuses on the roots of disco. Philadelphia native, drummer Earl Young, is the architect of disco. Young is the founder and leader of The Trammps which had a No. 1 hit with “Disco Inferno.” The Trammps used to perform at North Philly’s Impulse Discotheque (the building still stands). Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution will premiere Tuesday, June 18 at 9pm ET on PBS (check local listings), PBS.org and the PBS App ..read more

Countless books, dissertations, studies, news articles and social media posts have been written about Black culture and Black music. It is said a picture is worth 1000 words. In an era when 1000 words are TL;DR, this image says it all: Black culture is the root; every popular music genre is the fruit ..read more

Black Music Month is the brainchild of music mogul and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Kenny Gamble, radio personality and media coach Dyana Williams and Cleveland DJ Ed Wright. The first celebration was held on June 7, 1979. President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter hosted a dinner and concert on the White House’s South Lawn. Performers included Chuck Berry, Billy Eckstine, Evelyn King and Max Roach. Every president since Carter has issued a proclamation recognizing the contributions of African American musicians. In his 2024 proclamation, President Joe Biden said: During ..read more

Originally called Decoration Day, Congress established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in 1968. The undertold history of Memorial Day dates back to the Civil War. First observed in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1, 1865, thousands of African Americans, including the formerly enslaved, 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and 34th and 104th United States Colored Troops, were led by children as they gathered to honor 257 Union soldiers who were buried in a mass grave on Washington Race Course which was used as a Confederate prison camp. The ancestors exhumed the mass grave, reburied ..read more

Two days after Lee Morgan’s historical marker was unveiled, The Philadelphia Inquirer published this demeaning and defamatory headline. Writing for The Inquirer, Shaun Brady dug up fake news that Lee Morgan’s gravesite had “vanished” and a white fan “unearthed” it. Even if the claim were true, why did Brady and his editor, Bedatri Choudhury, devote coverage of the dedication ceremony to “news” first reported by NPR in 2022? Shaun did not interview Lee’s family members. In an email, Choudhury wrote, “In retrospect, he should’ve spoken to Mr. Morgan’s family.” Lee is buried alongside his father ..read more