This week’s playlist was suggested and titled by our fearless leader, Lori Lakin Hutcherson. “Things With Strings” is a collection funky harps, string quartets, and violin virtuosos playing over beats of all kinds.
We’ve also thrown I a few Soul and Hip-Hop tracks that feature strings prominently.
I hope you enjoy this freewheeling collection of string music of all kinds.
Over the weekend, Good Black Newsoffered a remembrance and playlist of one of the world’s most iconic and influential jazz singers, Ella Fitzgerald, in honor of her 103rd birthday. But what about those women who also contributed mightily to jazz but are not commonly recognized?
“This week’s playlist is inspired by Giovanni Russonello’s New York Times piece, “10 Women in Jazz Who Never Got Their Due.” This collection includes the oft-forgotten artists mentioned in the piece, including Mary Lou Williams, Jutta Hipp, Marian McPartland, Hazel Scott, Dorothy Ashby, Shirley Scott and Alice Coltrane, though it also features several current artists who are also frequently overlooked like Vi Redd, Nubya Garcia, Linda Oh and others.
This one was a real pleasure and education to compile. Do enjoy. And stay safe, you all.”
GBN Contributor Marlon West is back again this week with his excellent curation of a sub-genre known as “Soul Jazz.”
In Marlon’s words:
“Heavily influenced by funk, gospel, and R&B, Soul Jazz emerged in the late 1950 and ‘60s. Artists like Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott, and Art Blakey were not going to take the popularity of soul music laying down. They created music designed for jukeboxes of the time, and is still endlessly sampled and influential today.”
