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Posts tagged as “Jimmy Smith”

MUSIC MONDAY: “Cool Yule” – A Jazzy Christmas Collection (LISTEN)

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

With Thanksgiving firmly in our rearview, it is officially time to bring on the peppermint, egg nog and, best of all (at least in my mind), Christmas music playlists!

This season Good Black News is starting off with a playlist chestnut we dropped last Christmas Eve, perhaps missed by anyone who was traveling, already out and about or otherwise engaged in the spirit. So one more again, I am happy to bring to you “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.

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 as we warm into the winter season, and in the coming new year. Enjoy!

“Black Americana”: Traditional and Modern Takes on Patriotic Songs by African American Artists (LISTEN)

[Photos: Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock; Marian Anderson at Lincoln Memorial; Whitney Houston at Super Bowl XXV]

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Yesterday was a good day. As Joe Biden and Kamala Harris became President-Elect and Vice President-Elect of the United States of America, in several cities across the nation literal dancing broke out in the streets. So many people from all stripes of life — Black, Brown, white, Asian, Indigenous — were together exhibiting their joy at the victory.

The massive turnout — in the middle of a surging pandemic, no less — to celebrate the repudiation of the path towards division and exclusion in favor of the path towards inclusivity and diversity was the most patriotic thing I’ve witnessed on a national level in a long time. And so many were carrying and waving American flags.

It’s being acknowledged in the media – as well as in President Elect Biden’s speech – how vital the African American community was in saving this nation’s democracy.  The visuals and the fireworks brought home for me just how much at heart Black people are patriots.

Even though from jump we have been treated unjustly, cruelly, unfairly — we have worked tirelessly to fight for the ideals America is supposed to stand for. Justice. Freedom. Equality. Perhaps we believe in democracy the most because we have always been the most vulnerable when it doesn’t exist.

Hearing Vice President-Elect Harris strut out to Mary J. Blige‘s “Work That” and President Elect Biden sprint out to Bruce Springsteen‘s “We Take Care of Our Own” before their respective speeches, then enjoy the crowd and fireworks to some Jackie Wilson, Coldplay, Hall & Oates and Tina Turner, made me think about some of my favorite takes on patriotic American songs by African American artists that could have been cool to play as well. (My most recent favorite from the past few years? Jon Batiste‘s inventive, unexpectedly moving version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”)

When my sister Lesa texted me a song she’d been listening to all day — “This Land Is Our Land” by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings — my thoughts turned to action and I started making the playlist below I call “Black Americana” for inspiration now and in the months to come:

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:5X7NWDviuh5ITT9e22wD2a”/]

MUSIC MONDAY: Weekly Playlist From GBN – Soul Jazz from Herbie Hancock, MeShell Ndegeocello, Art Blakey and More (LISTEN)

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.”

Enjoy!

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

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)