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Posts tagged as “Marlon West”

Thirteen Years Ago Today: Good Black News Was Founded

Thirteen Years Ago Today: Good Black News Was Founded

By goodblacknews on March 18, 2023

Every year on March 18, Good Black News celebrates the day of its founding. We continue that tradition today, thirteen years after GBN’s inception.

Even though this past year has been particularly challenging (details here), and led to way fewer postings on the main goodblacknews.org site as well as the cessation of the GBN Daily Drop Podcast, we are still exceedingly proud of all we’ve offered and accomplished over the years, even as we continue to search for our new footing as we forge ahead into the future.

We were glad to publish “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day Calendar for 2023” via Page-A-Day.com, of which we are sharing some of the contents on GBN’s Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (it’s still available in its entirety for a limited time on Amazon.com).

And although it’s no longer weekly, every month we are happy to offer new and/or updated Music Monday playlists from our incredible music contributors Marlon West and Jeff Meier.

I also want to acknowledge 2022’s other volunteer contributors in alphabetical order: Julie Bibb, Gina Fattore, Julie Fishman, Michael Giltz, Warren Hutcherson, Fred Johnson, Epiphany Jordan, Brenda Lakin, Joyce Lakin, John Levinson, Dena Loverde, Catherine Metcalf, Flynn Richardson, Maeve Richardson, Becky Schonbrun, and Teddy Tenenbaum. 

You are all deeply, greatly appreciated.

But what truly keeps me, my co-editor Lesa Lakin and all of GBN’s wonderful volunteer contributors going is the appreciation you’ve shown us over the years and still show via follows, likes, comments, shares, reblogs, DMs and e-mails (even when we are overwhelmed and can’t respond to them all).

Your support means the world, and inspires me as Editor-in-Chief to keep working to find ways to improve GBN on the main page as well as on Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, RSS feed, LinkedIn and Flipboard, and yeah, our sometime-y GBN newsletter you can get via email.

Please continue to help us spread GBN by sharing, liking, re-tweeting and commenting, and consider following GBN on the main page, as well as wherever you are on social media.

Please also consider joining our e-mail list via our “Contact Us” tab on goodblacknews.org. We will only use this list to keep you updated on GBN and send you our e-newsletter from time to time. And, of course, you may opt out whenever you like.

Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to providing you with more Good Black News in the coming months and beyond!

Warmly,

Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Editor-in-Chief
MUSIC MONDAY: “Speak No Evil: The Best of Wayne Shorter” Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Speak No Evil: The Best of Wayne Shorter” Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 6, 2023

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

Happy Music Monday, you all. This collection celebrates another recently departed great, Wayne Shorter. He was a giant of jazz for six decades. He was a well-regarded improviser, bandleader, composer, and thinker.

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From his teen years with Art Blakey and Miles Davis to his work as a founder of Weather Report, to leading his own landmark quintet Shorter was among the greatest.

A well-known figure on the jazz circuit since the late 1950s, Shorter would go on to take a strong hand in shaping much of 20th Century jazz music.

The 12-time Grammy award winner played alongside several greats, including Carlos Santana, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock.

In 1964 he was swooped away after several attempts by jazz legend Miles Davis to become part of Davis’ “Second Great Quintet.”

Wayne Shorter would also release solo albums by 1959, including the acclaimed Speak No Evil, Night Dreamer, and JuJu.

Among the dozen Grammy awards he won, Shorter received a Lifetime Achievement award in 2015

In 2018, Shorter received the Kennedy Center Honors Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for his lifetime of contributions to the arts.

Hope you enjoy the collection. As usual, stay safe, sane, and kind. See ya next month!

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “Close To You: Soulful Burt Bacharach Covers” (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Close To You: Soulful Burt Bacharach Covers” (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 13, 2023

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

Happy Black History Month, you all. Now it might seem counterintuitive to use my February offering to feature and honor Burt Bacharach, who died on February 8 at age 94.

The prolific composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. He was a six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach’s songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists.

However, no one would disagree that Bacharach’s (and his lyricist partner Hal David‘s) most popular success was with Dionne Warwick. They created a string of 39 consecutive chart hits including “Don’t Make Me Over,” “Walk On By,” and “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.” Their collaboration would continue for decades including his production of “That’s What Friends Are For.”

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This “Close To You: Soulful Burt Bacharach Covers” collection features generations of Black artists who have collaborated directly with Bacharach (Ronald Isley), covered beautifully (Aretha Franklin, Love), and sampled (Mos Def, Masta Ace, Floetry) the work of Burt Bacharach.

Stevie Wonder‘s live performance in 1972, of “Close To You” and the Jackson 5′s “Never Can Say Goodbye utilizing the ‘talkbox,’ inspired Frank Ocean’s cover on his 2016 album, Blonde.

Bobby Womack and Isaac Hayes each spent ample time covering Bacharach while pushing against what they saw as limits of what was acceptable for Black artists.

The 5th Dimension, who were stung by being called “the Black group, with the white sound,” are present with “One Less Bell To Answer.” Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. perform it twice in this collection.

There are ample examples of hip-hop artists using Warwick and Bacharach’s work on “Recognize,” “Hold U,” “Must Be Bobby,” “Know That” and other tracks.

So please enjoy this Black History Month celebration of Burt Bacharach’s impactful work through the creation of these great Black artists.

Until next month, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: A “Soulful 2022” Collection (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: A “Soulful 2022” Collection (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on January 16, 2023

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

I do hope 2023 has been treating well, so far. I’d like to take a this month of the year to look back on great releases of 2022.

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The first track by Little Simz dropped in the last weeks of December. And this British Nigerian artist kicks off the truly international musical journey.

Nigeria’s Burna Boy sets up a string of American artists including Compton’s own Steve Lacy and Kendrick Lamar. The playlist features big names like Beyoncé, Lizzo, Drake, Black Thought & Danger Mouse, though this collection is also heavy on comparative newcomers including Yaya Bey, Amber Mark, Koffee, and Jensen McRae.

Here is the best of hip-hop, R&B, Jazz, Afrobeat, Reggae and much more in over five freewheeling hours of music that features established favorites and certainly a few new surprises.

Hope you enjoy this collection of good music. See ya next month. And until such time, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: Groove Christmas 2022 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: Groove Christmas 2022 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 19, 2022

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

For many of us 2022 was a time of recovering from lockdown. It was a return to normalcy for many of us. I am wishing you all safe and wonderful Holiday Season.

I am more than delighted to share this week’s playlist, Groove Christmas 2022, just in time to share and gather with friends and family.

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As usual this is freewheeling and “afroclectic” collection season tunes from several genres. Soul, Jazz, Gospel, Reggae, and many other styles are on hand for the Christmastime collection. You know, Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye, Eartha Kitt, Donny Hathaway, Sharon Jones and other Christmas standard-bearers are on hand.

Though there are artist like Aloe Blacc, Vika & Linda, Kontawa, and DRAM with recent releases.

Whether you are staying home, or traveling, please have a wonderful, and peaceful, holiday season.

It has been an honor and delight to share music with you all here on Good Black News for another trip around the sun. I’ll see you back here in January with a round-up of this year.

And until such time stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: Soulful Thanksgiving 2022 Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: Soulful Thanksgiving 2022 Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on November 14, 2022

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

The holiday season fast approaches, and I’m back with a collection to gather around the table with family and friends.

Here’s a Thanksgiving playlist that includes new music by Rihanna from the BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER soundtrack, and food-centered classics like Cab Calloway’s “Everybody Eats When They Come To My House” from way back in the day.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”https://open.spotify.com/playlist/21kETv2UnVKnydn4bIQfnV?si=c19aa43679904c20″]

This musical journey features soul, jazz, reggae, and gospel, all good music to cook, eat, and clean that kitchen to.

Here’s Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole singing songs about autumn, and several artists like Sly Stone, Massive Attack, and Otis Redding offering songs of thanks.

Plus Little Eva, Fantasia, Louis Jordan and others praising grits, stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes, greens, cornbread, and collards to name a few. Hungry yet?

Happy Early Thanksgiving, y’all. I’ll see you soon with a funky holiday season offering next month.

Until such time, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: Funky Halloween Playlist for 2022 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: Funky Halloween Playlist for 2022 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on October 10, 2022

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

Happy Monday, you all. It’s Halloween time once again, and I’m here with another free-wheeling playlist for the season.

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Soul, Reggae, Funk, Jazz, and movie soundtracks make up this collection. There are midcentury classics, plus brand new and previously unreleased tracks.

Michael Abels’ music from Jordan Peele’s neo-Western science fiction horror film, NOPE, serves as a through line for this mix.

It features Beyoncé, The Weekend, Ella Fitzgerald, Little Simz, Exuma, King Tubby, and long-lost collaborations with the late Ranking Roger and The Clash.

I freely admit to casting a very wide net for this playlist. It won’t scare kids off your porch on the 31st, but it might have you shaking a tail feather from now until then.

Please enjoy this collection that offers, witches, ghost, werewolves, and monsters both real and imagined.

Until next month, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: The “In” Crowd: A Celebration of Jazz Legend Ramsey Lewis (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: The “In” Crowd: A Celebration of Jazz Legend Ramsey Lewis (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on September 19, 2022

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

Happy Monday, you all. It’s your friend and selector, Marlon West, back with another dose of fine music.

Earlier this month we lost jazz legend, Ramsey Lewis. He can be credited with extending the life of jazz on the pop charts with his cover of Dobie Gray’s “The ‘In’ Crowd.”

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It spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Top 100 and rose as high as No. 5. The album spent 12 weeks in the top spot among best-selling R&B albums.

Throughout his decades-long career, Lewis was the maestro of jazz crossover. Ramsey Lewis’ trio included bassist Eldee Young and drummer Red Holt.

They received not only chart success with “The ‘In’ Crowd” but also cultural acclamation: the cut earned him the Grammy award for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance.

“Improvisation that should swing, have some forward motion to it, even if it’s a ballad, to have some movement about it. Where are you going to find that spontaneous improvisation in the moment except in jazz?” Lewis told Molly Murphy in a 2006 interview for the National Endowment For the Arts.

Lewis was born in Chicago on May 27, 1935 and grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project. He started taking piano lessons at a young age and played at church, where his father was choir director.

Throughout his life he always returned to his hometown and as a teacher and mentor. Here’s some of the best of Ramsey Lewis. Enjoy!

“See” ya next month! Just in time for a soulful and funky Halloween offering.

And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “I Will Always Love You” – A Whitney Houston Celebration Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “I Will Always Love You” – A Whitney Houston Celebration Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 22, 2022

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

Happy Monday, you all.  It’s your friend and selector, Marlon West.

I’ve been away for a while, and now I’m back. August 9th would have been the 59th birthday of Whitney Houston.

Sista was one of the biggest pop stars of all time. Her accomplishments as a performer were extraordinary, becoming the first artist to have seven consecutive singles hit number one, from “Saving All My Love for You” (1985) through “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” (1988). Her version of Dolly Parton‘s “I Will Always Love You” (1992) became the biggest hit single in rock history.

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Whitney Houston and Whitney, her first two albums, each went diamond platinum. She followed them with a string of additional multi-platinum LPs including the likewise diamond-earning soundtrack for The Bodyguard.

Houston was able to handle stylish dance-pop, adult contemporary ballads, and slick contemporary R&B with equal dexterity.

The result was an across-the-board appeal that was matched by few artists of her era and helped her become one of the first Black artists to find success on MTV.

Over time, she developed a virtuosic singing style given over to swooping, flashy melodic embellishments. The shadow of Houston’s style and technique still looms large over nearly every pop and R&B diva to this day. Please enjoy this collection of the best of Whitney Houston.

And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
ART: Marlon West’s Ink Tributes to Real Life Heroes Debuts at Museum of Social Justice in Los Angeles on 8/13

ART: Marlon West’s Ink Tributes to Real Life Heroes Debuts at Museum of Social Justice in Los Angeles on 8/13

By goodblacknews on August 8, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Disney VFX Supervisor Marlon West (Iwájú, Princess and The Frog, Moana, Frozen) will have his own art on display in an exhibition that debuts at the Museum of Social Justice in Los Angeles on August 13.

Since 2020, West has been drawing and posting ink tributes on his social media of African-American people slain by police or targeted by racists, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland and Michael Brown, to name a few.

“For many of us Black nerds, Marvel’s characters are particularly relatable. They are often hated and hunted by the powers that be,” West said.  “There isn’t a more American form of portraiture than black ‘inks’ over white, to honor those that faced this nation’s fear and loathing of the Black body.”

West has also posted ink tributes to civil rights leaders and protestors like John Lewis and Gloria Richardson Dandridge (seen below).

West, who is also a contributor to GBN (check out his prolific and eclectic Music Monday playlists on this site), recently did a Q&A with us to share more insight into the process and journey that led to his drawings and the upcoming exhibit:

GBN: When you started posting and sharing your drawings on social media, what was the response?

Marlon West: The response was very positive. They were met with surprise from many, as I had limited myself to drawing only effects and instructional drawovers for decades. It took being on lockdown, away from some of the best artists on the planet, and feeling the despair that so many of us did around George Floyd’s murder to move to draw what I initially thought would be four drawings. I’ve done more than 40.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

When you decided who you were going to draw, how did you decide what image of them to use?

Almost all of them are based on photos that have been widely seen. Many are in fact selfies taken by the subjects themselves. It felt very intimate to draw them, staring into their eyes while I did so. It was often tear inducing to do so for the hours it took to do each one. But I found it cathartic to sit alone and try to honor each one. 

Did you ever receive any feedback from any family or loved ones of your subjects?

A good friend knows Michael Brown Sr. I created, until this exhibit, the only physical copy of any of them to give to him. He was thankful, but understandably guarded. 

How did the museum display of your work come about?

My friend and colleague reached out to the museum regarding them. They were very receptive to the idea. I am super flattered and honored. They are also leaning into presenting them in the comic style nature that I drew them.

To attend this free event or to learn more, click here: https://bit.ly/InkTributesOpening

Follow Marlon at: FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest

West also recently organized the  “A Great Day in Animation” photo of 54 Black professionals in animation. Read more about that here.