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MUSIC: “Cool Yule” – GBN’s Jazzy Christmas Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC: “Cool Yule” – GBN’s Jazzy Christmas Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 24, 2020

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Whether you are among those celebrating the Christmas holiday with loved ones (via Zoom or in the same room) or doing it solo, you may want some mellow-yet-festive holiday music playing as you spend the day.

Earlier this month, Good Black News offered the comprehensive, 465-song Ultimate Soul of the Season Christmas Soundtrack on Spotify as well as Silver Bells: An Afroclectic Christmastime Playlist for 2020. Today, on Christmas Eve we offer Cool Yule: A Jazzy Christmas Collection.

From Take 6 to Duke Ellington to Geri Allen to Oscar Peterson, this playlist includes vocal and instrumental jazz renditions of traditional and modern Christmas and end-of-year classics for all to enjoy.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:2rCXw95SjIgNZllitaQ8Fb”]

Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Etta James, Dinah Washington, Esperanza Spalding and Billie Holiday are among the female jazz vocalists represented on “Cool Yule,” with Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Louis Armstrong lending their deeper pipes to the playlist.

Also represented are jazz titans Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Count Basie Orchestra, Benny Carter, Kenny Burrell, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, the McCoy Tyner Trio, Jimmy Smith, the Elvin Jones Quintet and the Ramsey Lewis Trio.

Wishing you all the best tomorrow and in the coming new year. Enjoy!

Rapper and Activist Meek Mill Donates Gifts and Money to Families in Philadelphia Impacted by Criminal Justice System

Rapper and Activist Meek Mill Donates Gifts and Money to Families in Philadelphia Impacted by Criminal Justice System

By goodblacknews on December 24, 2020

[Photo: Meek Mill via facebook.com]

Yesterday hip hop artist and activist Meek Mill along with his Dream Chasers record label delivered toys, clothes, and new Xbox consoles to 35 families in Philadelphia impacted by the criminal justice system.

In partnership with the REFORM Alliance, Puma, GoPuff, and DocuVault, the rapper helped arrange the deliveries, and saw the families receive everything from MacBook Air laptops or iPads, to baby clothes and Xbox Series X consoles.

To quote from complex.com:

“It’s been a tough year for all of us, but through all the ups and downs, I’ll always do my part to support and give back to the Philly community that raised me,” said Meek. “I remember not having much growing up, so it’s important to use my platform to give back, especially to the families trying to provide for their kids while also dealing with the criminal justice system.” Among the recipients was Anthony Morse, who fosters five kids as well as raising his own children.

Conducted with social distancing protocols, Meek personally FaceTimed some of the families to hear their stories as the deliveres were conducted. He also announced that he has donated $30,000 to the Philadelphia chapter of volunteer organization Twelve Days of Christmas, which aims to help families make it through the holiday season. His contribution will go towards 30 families across North Philadelphia, include those who went to his old school, James G. Blaine Elementary School.

Robert Rihmeek Williams aka Meek Mill was born and raised in Philadelphia and was executive producer and subject of the 2019 Free Meek documentary on Prime Video detailing his own personal battles with the criminal justice system.

To read more: https://theurbandaily.com/3609086/meek-mill-gifted-toys-clothes-electronics-to-philly-families-hurt-by-the-criminal-justice-system/

Confederate General Robert E. Lee Statue Removed From U.S. Capitol Building

Confederate General Robert E. Lee Statue Removed From U.S. Capitol Building

By goodblacknews on December 22, 2020

[Photo: Workers removing a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington. | Jack Mayer/Office of Governor of Virginia]

According to huffpost.com, the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was removed from the U.S. Capitol early Monday morning.

The statue has been one of two representing Virginia (every state gets two; Virginia’s second is of George Washington) in the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall since 1909.

There is already a movement to replace Lee’s statue with one of Black civil rights activist Barbara Johns, who led an all-Black student walkout to protest school segregation in 1951.

To quote from the huffpost.com article:

In July, the Commission for Historical Statues in the United States Capitol ― an eight-member commission tasked with deciding whether to recommend the removal of Lee’s statue from the Capitol ― unanimously voted to have the monument removed.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who had testified before the commission in favor of the removal, called the moment an “important step forward for our Commonwealth and our country” in a statement on Monday.

“The Confederacy is a symbol of Virginia’s racist and divisive history, and it is past time we tell our story with images of perseverance, diversity, and inclusion,” he said.

Earlier in December, the eight-member commission voted to replace Lee’s statue with one of Johns, whose organizing and ultimate court case later became one of the five cases reviewed in the landmark 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision.

The statue of Johns must be approved by the state’s General Assembly, according to Gov. Northam’s office.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robert-e-lee-statue-us-capitol-removed_n_5fe0af61c5b6e5158fa8f910

MUSIC MONDAY: “Stand With Each Other” – Great Jazz Releases from 2020 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Stand With Each Other” – Great Jazz Releases from 2020 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 21, 2020

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Jazz has been around for 100 years and while many think it’s music from a bygone era, it is still very much alive.

During this year where so much has stopped and languished, fine music has flourished. Here is a collection of jazz recordings released in 2020.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:3vqERsvhDmUHNFZn6J5QIG”]

There’s an unleashed record by the legendary Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, new music by the masterful Jimmy Heath, a collection of remixed and covers by Blue Note Records, and several young artists opening cans musical whoop-ass.

The playlist features women and men from around the world pushing the music in new ways, such as Nubya Garcia, Ambrose Akinmusire and Jyoti. They are creating musical hybrids with funk, rock, hip-hop, and afro-pop.

Many artists are using their music for activism and social change. Don’t let the smooth taste fool you, after a century, jazz is still moving forward and blazing new trails.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday week. Back next week with my favorites of 2020. And again be safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is Key Scientist in Development of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine

Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is Key Scientist in Development of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine

By goodblacknews on December 15, 2020

[Photo: Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett via commons.wikipedia.org]

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) recently reported the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett has been instrumental in developing is highly effective, and will likely ship for national distribution to millions of Americans this weekend.

According to abcnews.go.com, when Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and a leader during the coronavirus pandemic, was asked a blunt question during a forum hosted last week by the National Urban League about the input of African American scientists in the vaccine process, Dr. Fauci did not hesitate when giving his answer.

“The very vaccine that’s one of the two that has absolutely exquisite levels — 94 to 95% efficacy against clinical disease and almost 100% efficacy against serious disease that are shown to be clearly safe — that vaccine was actually developed in my institute’s vaccine research center by a team of scientists led by Dr. Barney Graham and his close colleague, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, or Kizzy Corbett,” Fauci told the forum. “Kizzy is an African American scientist who is right at the forefront of the development of the vaccine.”

To quote the abcnews.go.com article:

Corbett is an expert on the front lines of the global race for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and someone who will go down in history as one of the key players in developing the science that could end the pandemic.

She is one of the National Institutes of Health‘s leading scientists behind the government’s search for a vaccine. Corbett is part of a team at NIH that worked with Moderna, the pharmaceutical company that developed one of the two mRNA vaccines that has shown to be more than 90% effective.

Even before Corbett took on one of the most challenging tasks of her professional career, she was a force to be reckoned with. As a student,she was selected to participate in Project SEED, a program for gifted minority students that allowed her to study chemistry in labs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and eventually landed a full ride to the University of Maryland Baltimore County, according to The Washington Post.

Corbett spent her summers at laboratories and earned a summer internship at the NIH, the very place where she would be instrumental in developing a vaccine for the coronavirus.

After graduating, Corbett enrolled in a doctorate program at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she worked as a research assistant studying virus infections and eventually received a PhD in microbiology and immunology, according to her LinkedIn page.

Her work with such pathogens began when she joined the NIH’s Vaccine Research Center as a postdoctoral fellow in 2014.

To read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/kizzmekia-corbett-african-american-woman-praised-key-scientist/story?id=74679965

MUSIC MONDAY: An Afroclectic Holiday Playlist for 2020 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: An Afroclectic Holiday Playlist for 2020 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 14, 2020

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Holidays, in this fifth day of Chanukah. I’ll keep it brief this time. Other contributors are also offering Christmastime collections.

Though as is my style, this one is pretty free-wheeling. This collection has Soul, Reggae, Gospel, Ska, and Jazz Christmas tracks. (I included a few Christmas songs by the late Charley Pride too.)

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:09mJ2j43zg3TB9ULmoJpxF”]

There are Yuletide classics from legendary artists like Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye, to recent cuts by Lil Nas X, Daveed Diggs and Sharon Jones.

I have again included tracks about food, cold weather, and songs like Love’s “Alone Again Or” that is particularly apt for Christmas 2020.

I hope these collections have been as sustaining for you to listen to as they have been for me to make them. Please enjoy this Afroclectic playlist selected for this holiday season.

There are a couple of funky Chanukah tracks include, not only because they are great, but this year in particular the Festival of Lights that celebrates a small victory in the midst of battle, has a lesson and meaning for us all.

Whatever lights you have in your window this year, it is a stalwart signal of joy and tenacity in these toughest of times.

As always stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
#DionneTurns80: Happy 80th, Dionne Warwick! “Dionne Through The Decades” Playlist and Tribute (LISTEN)

#DionneTurns80: Happy 80th, Dionne Warwick! “Dionne Through The Decades” Playlist and Tribute (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 12, 2020

[Photo: Dionne Warwick via commons.wikipedia.org]

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

One of my most indelible musical memories as a child is riding in the back of my mom’s silver Cadillac Seville, listening her harmonize with a singular, sophisticated voice asking and answering the compelling question: “What do you get when you fall in love? A guy with a pen to burst your bubble – that’s what you get for all your trouble.”

When Mom (and Dionne) sang these words with biting, philosophical wit and charm I’d learn in my teens was more succinctly known as irony, I was instantly intrigued and couldn’t wait to hear them again and again. Especially on that “get enough germs to catch pneumonia” line. That was the best.

When Ms. Warwick and Ms. Lakin told me to take a “Message to Michael” to “Walk on By” or would ask me “Do You Know The Way to San Jose?” — I was riveted by the evocative, worldly wisdom washing over me.

Nobody on the radio sang like this. Told stories like this. Skillfully navigated between grit and grandiosity, poise and pressure, emoted the expansive sound of je ne sais quois like this. I have been a Dionne Warwick fan ever since.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:6NLmSJmZoDlaN27wkFfsoF”]

What I didn’t know then but learned later is most songs sung by that mesmerizing voice were singles from the 1960s and early ’70s written by legendary songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, two men who grasped the women’s perspective on the pain and futility of many a romance.

Maryam Tsegaye, 17, Becomes 1st Canadian to Win $450K International Science Competition (WATCH)

Maryam Tsegaye, 17, Becomes 1st Canadian to Win $450K International Science Competition (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on December 9, 2020

[Photo: Maryam Tsegaye via YouTube]

According to cbc.ca, Maryam Tsegaye, a 17 year-old student at École McTavish Public High School, became the first Canadian to win the $500,000 International Breakthrough Junior Challenge, a prize that includes a scholarship and new science lab for her school.

The competition asks students from around the globe to create a video which explains a scientific principle for the public.

Fort McMurray, Alberta resident Tsegaye took up the challenge and put together a three-minute video explaining quantum tunnelling:

Tsegaye spent two weeks creating her video, comparing quantum tunnelling to rolling dice and playing video games.

“I just had a lot of time over quarantine and I just decided to enter,” Tsegaye said to CBC. “In previous years, I always hesitated from entering because I was really intimidated by all the other competitors.”

About 5,600 students sent in entries. The competition’s prize is a $250,000 US scholarship, $100,000 toward a science lab for her high school and $50,000 cash for the teacher who inspired her.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-maryam-tsegaye-khan-1.5829840

MUSIC MONDAY: “One Nation Under a Groove” – Celebrating the Sounds George Clinton (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “One Nation Under a Groove” – Celebrating the Sounds George Clinton (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 7, 2020
by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

George Clinton, along with James Brown and Sly Stone, is one of the foremost innovators of funk music. And the originator of P-Funk, “uncut funk, the bomb!”

The Parliament-Funkadelic collective he lead championed an influential and eclectic form of funk music drawing on science fiction, outlandish fashion, psychedelia, and surreal humor. This work, Clinton’s solo career, and artists he’s championed have impacted, been sampled, and covered by funk, rock, and hip-hop artists.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:2yGmtPLCmANIVOTdw7B7LL”/]

George Clinton officially retired from touring in 2019 and has shown up on recordings in 2020. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. In 2019, he and Parliament-Funkadelic were given Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Starting in the 1960s as a staff songwriter for Motown, Clinton eventually developed a sound once called “The Temptations on acid.” Just listen to Funkadelic’s “I”ll Bet You” and that comparison will be clear.

George Clinton has produced a diverse discography, with over 40 R&B hit singles (including three number ones) and three platinum albums.

Here are Clinton’s best songs and those of many of his protégés. I’ve also included covers of his tunes, tracks that sample his work, and tracks he has produced for other artists. Please enjoy.

Next week I’ll offer my Afroclectic Christmas collection. Until then, stay safe, sane and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
Campaign Zero Activist Organization Launches National Campaign to Ban ‘No-Knock’ Police Raids

Campaign Zero Activist Organization Launches National Campaign to Ban ‘No-Knock’ Police Raids

By goodblacknews on December 5, 2020

According to colorlines.com, data-driven, activist-led organization Campaign Zero recently launched their ‘End All No-Knocks’ campaign with the goal of transforming the way police search warrants are executed across the nation.

To quote colorlines.com:

Police raids disproportionately impact Black communities, according to research conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). No-knock warrants allow officers to legally force their way into private residences without announcing themselves or their purpose. “These raids, often carried out for low-level drug offenses, are executed at night by forcible entry, which commonly involves breaking through doors with battering rams, military-grade weapons and flash-bang explosives,” Campaign Zero said in its statement. Such practices endanger the community and can severely traumatize (or kill) children in the process—and in the case of Breonna Taylor, these warrants can also tragically lead to death.

“Simply banning No-Knock warrants isn’t going to make us safer and hold police accountable,” stressed Katie Ryan of Campaign Zero in an emailed statement. “In practice, knock-and-announce warrants can be executed like a No-Knock warrant so we must couple banning No-Knock warrants with heavy restrictions on the issuance and execution of all search warrants.”

DeRay McKesson, co-founder of Campaign Zero, said in a statement, “The trauma, injuries, and many deaths of innocent people make the practice of military-style warrant executions unsafe and barbaric.”

To read more: https://www.colorlines.com/articles/activists-launch-national-campaign-ban-no-knock-police-raids