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#BornOnThisDay in 1899: Duke Ellington, American Composer and Synesthete (LISTEN)

#BornOnThisDay in 1899: Duke Ellington, American Composer and Synesthete (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on April 29, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Although we dropped in on Duke Ellington earlier this month on April 6th when we shared a quote from him and a snapshot of his career and contributions, today, on his birthday, this prolific composer and musician gets a much-deserved second look, because one thing we didn’t share last time about the Black, Brown and Beige maestro?

He had synesthesia, the neurological condition where sounds and colors blend.

To read about Ellington, read on. To hear about him, press PLAY:

[You can subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or listen every day here on the main page. Full transcript below]:

Hey, this is Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Friday, April 29th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Although we dropped in on Duke Ellington earlier this month on April 6th when we shared a quote from him and a snapshot of his career and contributions, today this prolific composer and musician gets a much-deserved second look:

Born on this day in 1899, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington made an indelible mark on American music for more than six decades. A pianist, composer and bandleader, Ellington created such now-classic standards as “Prelude to a Kiss,” “Mood Indigo,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing”– as well as full-length compositions such as Black, Brown and Beige and Jump For Joy and film scores for Anatomy of a Murder and Paris Blues.

Perhaps there were so many hues to Duke’s music because he had synesthesia, the neurological condition where sounds and colors blend. Other noted musicians who are also reported to be synesthetes are Pharrell Williams, Mary J. Blige, Frank Ocean and Kanye West.

To learn more about Ellington, check out our April 6th daily drop and its resources, and if you want to learn more about synesthesia, check out the links provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, written, produced and hosted by me, Lori Lakin Hutcherson.

Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

Excerpts from Black, Brown & Beige, Part 1 composed by Duke Ellington are included under fair use.

If you like these Daily Drops, follow us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon,Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

MUSIC MONDAY: “Grammys Got Soul” – Every Best R&B Song Winner Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Grammys Got Soul” – Every Best R&B Song Winner Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on April 4, 2022

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

At yesterday’s Grammy Awards, power group Silk Sonic (featuring Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars) and its signature song “Leave The Door Open” had a huge night, winning in both major categories for singles — Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

FYI, Silk Sonic was not nominated for Album of the Year — that Grammy went to Jon Batiste for We Are.

Black artists weren’t always so frequently celebrated in the key main categories.  As recently as 2015, there were no songs performed by Black artists in the Song of the Year or Record of the Year categories.  And wins for Black artists in the main categories have been infrequent through many of the past 6 decades+ of the Awards.

The Grammys, of course, have honored Black artists in the R&B and Hip Hop categories.  And they did it with Silk Sonic and “Leave The Door Open” last night too, as it tied with Jazmine Sullivan for Best R&B Performance and won in one more singles category that wasn’t televised — Best R&B Song.

In today’s #MusicMonday playlist, “Grammys’ Got Soul: All the Grammy R&B Song Winners,” we’re celebrating all those great tunes in the longest consistently running R&B Grammy category.

It’s a favorite sport of music fans to second guess whether  the Grammys got it right or not, but, as you’ll hear in today’s list, almost all the winners have ended up being — like “Leave The Door Open” is already — truly classic jams.

If you’ve been watching the Grammys for years, you know by now that the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gives awards in Performance and Record categories (which go to the artists) and in the Song category (going to the songwriters – but not the artist, unless they also wrote the song).

In the twists and turns of the Grammy Awards, a single R&B Performance of the Year honor has actually not been given out consistently through the years.

Although it was awarded up through most of the ’60s (completely ignoring Motown and Stax, by the way, in favor of Ray Charles), it was then discontinued in favor of separate performance categories for Male R&B Performance, Female R&B Performance and Duo or Group R&B Performance – three categories that awarded artists up until 2011, when they were combined once again into a collective R&B Performance of the Year Award.

So R&B Song of the Year essentially became a unique declaration of the Grammys’ top choice in R&B music, starting in 1969 with Otis Redding‘s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” and continuing to today.

It’s clear that the Grammys favored some trends and artists more than others.  After ignoring Motown in the 1960s, Grammy jumped into Motown fandom in the 1970s with Stevie Wonder and The Temptations – but in the process managed to almost completely ignore Philly Soul.

The Academy began to embrace Disco, but while awarding a Donna Summer song one year, the Grammy voters managed to relegate all the biggest Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards compositions to runner-up status through the years, yet somehow ended up awarding the R&B Song of the Year in 1978 to Leo Sayer‘s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” over The Commodores’ “Easy” and “Brick House,” Thelma Houston‘s “Don’t Leave Me This Way” and The Emotions’ “Best of My Love.”

By the 1980s, the Grammys favored slick adult soul in the vein of Luther Vandross, Stephanie Mills, Earth, Wind & Fire’s “After the Love Has Gone” and George Benson over more funky fare.

In fact, Prince won the R&B Song Grammy for penning “I Feel For You” when it was a hit for Chaka Khan. But his first R&B Song of the Year nomination for one of his own recordings – for “Kiss” in 1987 – was defeated by Anita Baker‘s breakthrough “Sweet Love.”

The 1990s brought multiple wins for Babyface compositions for Boyz II Men and Whitney Houston, a win for Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for their work with Janet Jackson, and yes, a win for R. Kelly.

And, if you wanted to win a R&B Song Grammy in the 2000s, you should have been writing songs for female performers, because the decade’s honorees were dominated by Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Destiny’s Child and Beyoncé tunes.

In the past decade, as hip hop has continued to dominate the story of Black artists crossing over to the mainstream, R&B crossover success on the charts has declined, along with the reach of R&B radio.

The Grammys have begun awarding more rootsy and alternative R&B fare.  While the vast majority of all the winning songs for decades had been major R&B and often major pop hits, multiple winners in the past decade have not even hit the Top 10 on Billboard R&B charts, including songs from Robert Glasper, P.J. Morton, D’Angelo and John Legend with the Roots.

Grammy finally seems to be putting musical achievement over sales figures. We hope you’ll enjoy this chronological journey through R&B history.

MUSIC MONDAY: Mulatu Astatke and the Vanguard of Ethiopian Jazz (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: Mulatu Astatke and the Vanguard of Ethiopian Jazz (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 15, 2021

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

Mulatu Astatke was born in 1943, and is widely sighted as being the greatest innovator of Ethiopian jazz. Astatke took the fusion of traditional Ethiopian folk music and American jazz to a new level.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:4Z7K7bGKL93XRpxM9vKLNb”]

He explained its roots to the BBC:

‘There are tribes in the south called the Derashe They are surrounded by people who play five tone music but they have created a diminished 12-tone scale. Diminished scales are very important in jazz music especially for improvising. We learn how Charlie Parker came up with diminished scales as well as Claude Debussy and Bach. But always on my mind is the question of who were first with the scale, these people or the Derashe tribe?”

By the late 1960s, he helped create a ‘golden age’ in Addis Ababa. It was in full swing in 1973 when American jazz legend, Duke Ellington, came to town and performed with with Mulatu Astatke.

Much of that thriving Ethiopian jazz scene came crashing down the following year, when a Soviet-backed military junta known as the Derg overthrew the government. It left tens of thousands dead and nearly destroyed the thriving musical community.

When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, and the Derg was subsequently overthrown, and the budding democracy quickly became a thriving home of musical creativity.

Ethiopian Jazz hit new global audiences through CD releases that included the Ethiopiques series and Rough Guide albums. Astatke’s songs fueled the soundtrack of Jim Jarmusch‘s film Broken Flowers in 2005.

Samples of his were used by Nas, Damian Marley, Kanye West, Cut Chemist, Quantic, Madlib, and Oddisee.

Today, Mulatu Astatke is still active, and collaborating with a new generation of artists including The Heliocentrics and Black Jesus Experience. His most recent album was released in 2020 at age 76.

Stay stay, sane, and kind, you all.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

Kanye West and Chick-Fil-A Partner to Distribute 300,000 Meals to Families in Need During Covid-19 Crisis

By goodblacknews on April 22, 2020

Kanye West and fast-food chicken restaurant Chick-Fil-A have partnered to distribute 300,000 meals through the Los Angeles Dream Center to those in need during the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to foxnews.com, over 300,000 meals have already been served through the Los Angeles Dream Center since mid-March.

“Every morning I wake up and stand in the parking lot with our dedicated staff, I am blown away that day after day, week after week, there is enough food to provide to folks that need it,” Matthew Barnett, Dream Center co-founder, said in a statement to Fox News.

The Dream Center’s doors open seven days a week, from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., to provide food and other essential items.

Because of Kanye West’s support, Fox reported, Barnett said they were able to expand their drive-thru meals to delivering to vulnerable seniors who need to remain isolated in their homes.

Chick-Fil-A came under fire when it was revealed that they had been donating funds for years to anti-LGBTQ Christian organizations. Once they faced public backlash, Chick-Fil-A promised to discontinue their support of the groups, in a November 2019 statement about their new giving strategy. In 2020, Chick-Fil-A promised to focus on promoting youth education, combating youth homelessness, and fighting hunger.

Though West and Chick-Fil-A have been politically controversial in recent years, working to feed Americans grappling with the new reality of food shortages, lost jobs and quarantined living, seems like a positive step for both.

Virgil Abloh is Named New Men’s Wear Designer at Louis Vuitton – The New York Times

By goodblacknews on March 28, 2018

The designer Virgil Abloh at the Off-White show at Paris Fashion Week earlier this month. (Credit Francois Durand/Getty Images)

by VANESSA FRIEDMAN and ELIZABETH PATON via nytimes.com
Virgil Abloh, the founder of the haute street wear label Off-White and a longtime creative director for Kanye West, will be the next artistic director of men’s wear at Louis Vuitton, one of the oldest and most powerful European houses in the luxury business. He becomes Louis Vuitton’s first African-American artistic director, and one of the few black designers at the top of a French heritage house. Olivier Rousteing is the creative director of Balmain, and Ozwald Boateng, from Britain, was the designer for Givenchy men’s wear from 2003 to 2007.
“I feel elated,” Mr. Abloh said via phone on Sunday, adding that he planned to relocate his family to Paris to take the job at the largest brand in the stable of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury group. “This opportunity to think through what the next chapter of design and luxury will mean at a brand that represents the pinnacle of luxury was always a goal in my wildest dreams. And to show a younger generation that there is no one way anyone in this kind of position has to look is a fantastically modern spirit in which to start.”

The appointment, widely rumored in recent months, is part of a shake-up on the men’s wear side of LVMH, which began in January with the departure of Kim Jones, Mr. Abloh’s predecessor at Louis Vuitton. Last week, it was announced that Mr. Jones would become the men’s wear designer at LVMH stablemate Christian Dior, replacing Kris van Assche.

Mr. Abloh’s appointment is also a reflection of the increasing consumer-driven intermingling of the luxury and street wear sectors, which helped boost global sales of luxury personal goods by 5 percent last year to an estimated 263 billion euros (about $325 billion in today’s dollars), according to a recent study by the global consulting firm Bain & Company. And it is an acknowledgment on the part of the luxury industry that it must respond to contemporary culture in new ways.

Source: Louis Vuitton Names Virgil Abloh as Its New Men’s Wear Designer – The New York Times

Harvard Design School Graduate Dana McKinney Merges Architecture and Social Justice

By goodblacknews on April 16, 2017

Architect Dana McKinney (photo via news.harvard.edu)

article by Christina Pazzanese via news.harvard.edu
When Dana McKinney was a girl, her family drove every week from their small town in Fairfield County, Conn., to Sunday dinner at her grandmother’s home in Newark, N.J. To a child who loved dance and art, the changing scenery on those trips revealed stark contrasts that stung of economic inequality.
“I was going back and forth between a very comfortable lifestyle in Connecticut to a very depressed environment in Newark and became really inspired to look at how people can affect the built environment,” McKinney said. “I want to be able to fix this! — That was my immediate reaction — I’ll be an architect!”
After studying architecture at Princeton University, McKinney went to Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) to earn master’s degrees in architecture and urban planning. It’s an unusual and demanding course of study, but one McKinney felt would merge her design work with her interest in social change, social justice, and the power of architecture to transform people’s lives.
“I want to make beautiful spaces and buildings, but I don’t want … the pitfall of only working with elite clients, and I think a lot of times architects end up serving a very high-income population. A majority of housing is done by developers in the U.S., [so] good architecture barely reaches outside a certain economic class,” McKinney said.
Much of her academic work has focused on institutional change: improving elderly housing and studying the effects from the abrupt closure in 2014 of a large homeless facility in Boston. But with one in four Newark residents likely to spend some time in prison, McKinney’s thesis focused on “sensible and sensitive” design alternatives to prison that would help break the cycle of incarceration and poverty.
It was an unconventional choice. When she put her idea before her faculty advisers, “I could hear the crickets in the room,” she said. But “by the end of it, they were all about it.” While McKinney doesn’t believe architecture alone can end homelessness or poverty or incarceration, she does believe the field has something important to offer.
“Everyone has a role in social development and in making sure that our society is a reflection of what we want it to be.”Indeed, though “spatial justice” is often thought of as an enterprise in the public realm, like the construction of parks and community centers, it’s not as frequently addressed in the private realm. Because housing is essential to well-being, McKinney hopes to eventually create spaces that promote not just equality, but equity. “Your self-worth and what you need to do well as a person starts with the safety and comfort you feel in your own home,” she explained.
Outside the classroom, McKinney has been active in bringing together African-American students at GSD and shining a spotlight on black women and men in a field where only 1 percent of architects are African-American. Having sometimes found herself one of only two black students in a class of 80, McKinney was among the earliest members of the African-American Student Union five years ago, serving last year as its president.

Salt-N-Pepa and Chance The Rapper to Perform at 2016 Black Ball to Aid Alicia Keys’ Keep A Child Alive Charity

By goodblacknews on September 28, 2016
Chance The Rapper Salt N Pepa KCA Ball
Chance The Rapper (l); Salt N Pepa (r) [Dave Mangel/Astrid Stawiarz via Getty Images]

article by Sidney Madden via xxlmag.com
Alicia Keys is making sure hip-hop is giving back in a big way. Chance The Rapper and Salt N Pepa will perform at Keys’ 13th annual Black Ball in NYC on Wednesday, Oct. 19. The annual black tie affair is put on by Keys’ charity Keep a Child Alive (KCA). It was announced earlier this month that A$AP Rocky would be performing along with rock star Patti Smith.
Star-studded events, humanitarian and otherwise, are nothing new to Chano or the ladies. The Chicago rapper just wrapped his Magnificent Coloring Day Festival in his hometown to celebrate the launch of his charity Social Works Inc. The 23-year-old mixtape star brought out big names like Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, 2 Chainz, and Keys to celebrate the day. In fact, Chance has had a long history of helping his city through community efforts.
As for Salt-N-Pepa, the legendary crew has been reppin’ for hip-hop for more than 30 years now. Back in the 1980’s, the Queens duo, along with DJ Spinderella, were among the first rappers to promote safe sex, and were recently honored at VH1’s 2016 Hip Hop Honors.
The 2016 Black Ball will take place at Hammerstein Ballroom on Oct. 19 with a special tribute to legendary music mogul Clive Davis. As always, Alicia Keys will serve as the night’s host. Check out details about how to donate to KCA and attend the Ball here.
Read More: Chance The Rapper and Salt-N-Pepa to Perform at Alicia Keys’ 2016 Black Ball – XXL | http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2016/09/chance-the-rapper-salt-n-pepa-to-perform-alicia-keys-2016-black-ball/?trackback=tsmclip

Kanye West Becomes The 1st Artist to Reach No.1 On Billboard Albums Chart From Streaming Only

By goodblacknews on April 10, 2016
kanye-west-the-life-of-pablo-640x427
Kanye West (CREDIT: Getty Images)
article by Richy Rosario via vibe.com
Kanye West is reportedly the first artist in history to have an album at No. 1 solely on music streams from major outlets. His latest project The Life of Pablo, was distributed and consumed by the masses through some paid downloads from his personal G.O.O.D / Def Jam page, but most of the revenue (a nice 90k), came from music streaming services like Apple Music and Tidal, according to HITS Daily Double. 
Reports state that this strategy was created by Ye’s new management team: Scooter Braun, Steve Bartels and Def Jam. You can also catch Kanye at the top of the iTunes chart along with Drake in their collaboration on “Pop Style.”
This comes as no surprise to us as it was reported last month that TLOP was streamed over 250 million times since its release.

Q-Tip Named Kennedy Center's 1st Artistic Director of Hip-Hop

By goodblacknews on March 8, 2016

Q-Tip (photo via eurweb.com)
Q-Tip (photo via eurweb.com)

article by Maeve McDermott via usatoday.com
Before last year, Kennedy Center hosting hip hop shows seemed like an unlikely prospect.
But after hosting Kendrick Lamar’s sold-out performance with the National Symphony Orchestra last year, the center’s 2016 season includes its first hip hop culture series, bringing on rapper and producer Q-Tip as their first artistic director of hip hop.
The social justice-oriented rapper is best known as a founding member of the seminal hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, and has worked with many of music’s biggest names, including Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, the Beastie Boys, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige and Pharrell Williams.
The Kennedy Center, which celebrates John F. Kennedy’s 100th birthday this year, announced details of six events celebrating different facets of hip hop culture, including a poetry slam, a teach-in and a dance competition. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and soprano Renee Fleming were also appointed at-large artistic advisers for the 2016-2017 season, according to the AP.
“This new programmatic platform recognizes Hip Hop’s contributions to global culture and its role in promoting values such as courage, freedom, justice, and service,” the center announced in a release.
To read more, go to: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/03/08/q-tip-named-kennedy-center-first-hip-hop-director/81485882/

La La Anthony & Timbaland Developing Hip-Hop Docuseries set in NYC

By goodblacknews on January 27, 2016

timbaland-la-la-anthony
Timbaland and La La Anthony (photo via deadline.com)

Actress, author and producer La La Anthony, and Grammy-winning producer Timbaland (Empire) are teaming with Leftfield Pictures (Pawn Stars) to develop a hip-hop docuseries.
The project will focus on Jeff Janvier and Session Cruz’s Face Time Agency, the industry’s premiere casting agency for booking music video and hip-hop fashion models, with clients including Drake, Kanye West and Robin Thicke. Set inside the New York City nightlife scene – where clubs have become the new boardrooms – the series exposes the cutthroat entrepreneurial side of hip-hop, with models, DJs and social media stars “hustling” to break through as fashion, music and media moguls.
“La La and Timbaland are perfect examples of what can be achieved when talent, determination and creativity collide with entrepreneurship,” said Leftfield Entertainment CEO David George. “We’re thrilled to be in business with these two entertainment innovators to create a series that uncovers a unique, rarified faction of hip hop and provides a true soundtrack for the unpredictable journey toward fame and fortune.”
Anthony will executive produce the project, with Timbaland serving as executive music producer.  “I’m thrilled to be executive producing a project that offers a true insider’s look into the business side of hip hop, especially one that explores the lives of fascinating women who have used hip hop as their platform to become successful entrepreneurs in fashion, music and more,” said Anthony.
article by Denise Petski via deadline.com