Suga' in My Bowl
Hank Williams
Sunday 11/15/15 Show: Hugh Masekela
Photo: Hugh Masekela | Joyce Jones. Creative Commons CC-NC-BY-ND.
The next show will air on Sunday, November 15, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast will feature an interview with Hugh Masekela.
Hugh Masekela is a world-renowned flugelhornist, trumpeter, bandleader, composer, singer and defiant political voice who remains deeply connected at home, while his international career sparkles. He was born in the town of Witbank, South Africa in 1939. At the age of 14, the deeply respected advocator of equal rights in South Africa, Father Trevor Huddleston, provided Masekela with a trumpet and, soon after, the Huddleston Jazz Band was formed. Masekela began to hone his, now signature, Afro-Jazz sound in the late 1950s during a period of intense creative collaboration, most notably performing in the 1959 musical King Kong, written by Todd Matshikiza, and, soon thereafter, as a member of the now legendary South African group, the Jazz Epistles (featuring the classic line up of Kippie Moeketsi, Abdullah Ibrahim and Jonas Gwangwa).
In 1960, at the age of 21 he left South Africa to begin what would be 30 years in exile from the land of his birth. On arrival in New York he enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music. This coincided with a golden era of jazz music and the young Masekela immersed himself in the New York jazz scene where nightly he watched greats like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Mingus and Max Roach. Under the tutelage of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, Masekela was encouraged to develop his own unique style, feeding off African rather than American influences – his debut album, released in 1963, was entitled Trumpet Africaine.
In the late 1960s Hugh moved to Los Angeles in the heat of the ‘Summer of Love’, where he was befriended by hippie icons like David Crosby, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. In 1967 Hugh performed at the Monterey Pop Festival alongside Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar, The Who and Jimi Hendrix. In 1968, his instrumental single ‘Grazin’ in the Grass’ went to Number One on the American pop charts and was a worldwide smash, elevating Hugh onto the international stage.
His subsequent solo career has spanned 5 decades, during which time he has released over 40 albums (and been featured on countless more) and has worked with such diverse artists as Harry Belafonte, Dizzy Gillespie, The Byrds, Fela Kuti, Marvin Gaye, Herb Alpert, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and the late Miriam Makeba.
In 1990 Hugh returned home, following the unbanning of the ANC and the release of Nelson Mandela – an event anticipated in Hugh’s anti-apartheid anthem ‘Bring Home Nelson Mandela’ (1986) which had been a rallying cry around the world.
In 2004 Masekela published his compelling autobiography, Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela (co-authored with D. Michael Cheers).
His story is far from over, and Bra Hugh shows no signs of slowing down. He maintains a busy international tour schedule as his fan base around the world continues to grow.
In 2010, President Zuma honoured him with the highest order in South Africa: The Order of Ikhamanga, and 2011 saw Masekela receive a Lifetime Achievement award at the WOMEX World Music Expo in Copenhagen. The US Virgin Islands proclaimed ‘Hugh Masekela Day’ in March 2011, not long after Hugh joined U2 on stage during the Johannesburg leg of their 360 World Tour. U2 frontman Bono described meeting and playing with Hugh as one of the highlights of his career.
In 2012, Bra Hugh opened his own studio and record label, House of Masekela which had already put out its first release: Friends – a 4 CD collection of jazz standards featuring his dear friend, pianist Larry Willis.
Masekela is currently using his global reach to spread the word about heritage restoration in Africa – a topic that remains very close to his heart.
“My biggest obsession is to show Africans and the world who the people of Africa really are,” Masekela confides – and it’s this commitment to his home continent that has propelled him forward since he first began playing the trumpet.
Bio adapted from Hugh Masekela’s official website.
Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
See the review of Masekela and pianist Larry Willis’s live show at Jazz Standard on our blog. Also see the show we did in tribute to Nelson Mandela and the South African Freedom Struggle.
Web Extras
Watch a live version of Maseka from UNESCO’s 2013 International Jazz Day.
Hank Williams is assistant producer for Suga’ in My Bowl and produces the weekly “On the Bandstand” segment as well as running the show’s website and blog, where he has reviewed several jazz festivals. His writing has also appeared in Left Turn magazine and American Music Review. He teaches at Lehman and Hunter colleges in the City University of New York system.
Sunday 11/1/15 Show: Craig Harris
The next show will air on Sunday, November 1, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast will feature an interview with composer and trombonist Craig Harris as we celebrate the anniversary of an afternoon Jazz series in Harlem, which he is one of the curators.
When Craig Harris exploded onto the jazz scene in 1976, he brought the entire history of the jazz trombone with him. From the growling gutbucket intensity of early New Orleans music through the refined, articulate improvisation of the modern era set forth by J.J. Johnson, and into the confrontational expressionism of the ’60s avant-garde, Harris handled the total vernacular the way a skilled orator utilizes the spoken word.
He has performed with a veritable Who’s Who of progressive jazz’ most important figures – including Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jaki Byard, Muhal Richard Abrams, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Lester Bowie, The WORLD Saxophone Quartet, The Roots, RAKIM and the list goes on and on – his own projects displayed both a unique sense of concept and a total command of the sweeping expanse of musical expression. And it’s those two qualities that have dominated Craig’s past 15 years of activity, bringing him far beyond the confines of the jazz world and into the sphere of multimedia and performance art as composer, performer, conceptualist, curator and artistic director. Harris’ innovative approach to composition reflected in projects like Souls Within the Veil, composed to commemorate the centennial of W. E. B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk; Brown Butterfly, a multi-media work based on the movement of Muhammad Ali with video, dance, and music; and God’s Trombones based on James Weldon Johnson’s classic collection of poems that refigure inspirational sermons by itinerant Negro preachers. These works represent various strands of the African American folk tradition.
Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
This is a fund drive show and supporting WBAI Radio helps keep us on the air! Contributing as little as $5 supports the station and sends the message that people want to hear jazz and our show. If you like what you hear or are feeling generous, you can pledge for our exclusive “Who Owns Music” DVD with the full conversation with the above guests.
Harris will the headliner for for two lunchtime sets at his weekly Tuesday afternoon jazz series at Harlem’s Rendall Memorial Presbyterian Church on November 3.
Web Extras
Watch a live excerpt from Harris’s God’s Trombones.
Watch a live performance of Harris’s Brown Butterfly suite.
Hank Williams is assistant producer for Suga’ in My Bowl and produces the weekly “On the Bandstand” segment as well as running the show’s website and blog, where he has reviewed several jazz festivals. His writing has also appeared in Left Turn magazine and American Music Review. He teaches at Lehman and Hunter colleges in the City University of New York system.
Sunday 10/18/2015 Show: Who Owns Music?
The next show will air on Sunday, October 18, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast feature .
The popularity of the hit series Empire has let loose a flurry of conversation about the the hip hop industry’s inner workings and joins ongoing debates about the future of music and the music industry. With that backdrop, Suga in My Bowl presents a dynamic and timely discussion on the question of Who Owns Music with a focus on the present and future Jazz scene.
We’ll discuss the role of “gatekeepers.” Who decides what music gets produced? Who decides what gets airplay? Who has access to clubs and gigs? Who shapes the opinions and ideas of what people hear? And what does this mean for listeners and the future of music? What can we do about it?
This event brings together musicians, writers and broadcast professionals to discuss these important issues and raise funds for listener-supported community radio!
Participant bios:
William Parker is an improviser, and composer. He plays the bass, shakuhachi, double reeds, tuba, donson ngoni and gembri. Born in 1952 in the Bronx, New York, Parker has studied bass with Richard Davis, Art Davis, Milt Hinton, Wilber Ware, and Jimmy Garrison. In 1995, the Village Voice called Parker “the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time.” With dancer Patricia Nicholson Parker, this husband and wife team have been involved with artist collectives and the grassroots loft jazz scene since the 1970s. Through dogged determination, their Vision Festival celebrates 20 years in 2015. Parker is also a theorist and author of several books including a collection of writings titled Who Owns Music.
Sheila Anderson is primarily associated with being an on-air host and programmer at WBGO-FM, but is also a consultant for Jazzmobile and emceed their wildly popular Grant’s Tomb concerts for 8 years. She has also produced a jazz series at the Newark Museum. Anderson is the author of several articles and books, including the Little Red Book of Musician’s Wisdom; How to Grow as a Musician: What All Musicians Need to Know to Succeed.
Quincy Troupe’s energetic, highly syncopated poetry melds contemporary music rhythms—such as rap, jazz, and be-bop—to a “furious rush of images, sometimes jarring, arising from personal experience,” according to Los Angeles Times critic Tony Perry. Celebratory, but also cautionary, Troupe’s subjects range from jazz and sports to racism and urban decay; a member of the Watts Writers Workshop in the 1960s, he is frequently grouped with Black Arts Movement writers like Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, and Haki Madhubuti. Troupe’s editorial skill was instrumental in the landmark publication of Miles: the Autobiography. He currently edits Black Renaissance Noire, New York University’s Africana Studies Department’s journal.
Ahmed Abdullah leads the group Diaspora (Dispersions of the Spirit of Ra), which combines poetry and lyrics with a large instrumental ensemble. He formed Melchizedek Music Productions in 1995 with his wife, Monique Ngozi Nri. Together, they have produced concerts locally and abroad. In 1998, Abdullah was offered the position of Music Director of Sistas’ Place in Bedford Stuyvesant. Since then, he has introduced many of the adventurous musicians of the 70’s Loft Movement to this venue with great success. His vision has allowed for the expansion of its Saturday Night Jazz programming, from a bi-monthly to a weekly format initiating several new forums along the way.
Co-Hosts:
Joyce Jones is the creator, host, and executive producer of Suga in My Bowl on WBAI Radio. She has also created and produced several radio documentary specials. She is also a graphic designer, percussionist, and has had her photography published in Black Renaissance Noir.
Hank Williams is assistant producer for Suga’ in My Bowl and produces the weekly “On the Bandstand” segment as well as running the show’s website and blog, where he has reviewed several jazz festivals. His writing has also appeared in Left Turn magazine and American Music Review. He teaches at Lehman and Hunter colleges in the City University of New York system.
Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
This is a fund drive show and supporting WBAI Radio helps keep us on the air! Contributing as little as $5 supports the station and sends the message that people want to hear jazz and our show. If you like what you hear or are feeling generous, you can pledge for our exclusive “Who Owns Music” DVD with the full conversation with the above guests.
Sunday 10/4/2015 Show: Kamasi Washington
The next show will air on Sunday, October 4, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast feature an interview with saxophonist Kamasi Washingon, highlighting his debut 3-CD release as a leader, the appropriately titled The Epic.
Kamasi Washington is an American jazz musician based in Los Angeles, CA. Born into a musical family, Washington began playing saxophone at the age of 13, later attending the prestigious Hamilton High School of Music followed by UCLA. He has toured and recorded with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Rapahel Saadiq, Kendrick Lamar, Gerald Wilson, Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, Harvey Mason and Chaka Khan, to name a few. Along with his own 10-piece band, “The Next Step,” Washington released his groundbreaking solo album, The Epic, on May 5th, 2015. The 172-minute, triple disc masterpiece, which includes a full string orchestra and full choir, debuted at #1 on several iTunes Jazz charts, including the US, Canada, Australia, Russia and UK. In addition to composing his own music, Washington is part of a west coast musical collective called the “West Coast Get Down.”
Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
Washington will be at Brooklyn’s BRIC Arts JazzFest on October 15 and Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan on the 16th.
Web Extras
Watch Washington perform “Re Run Home” (from The Epic live in the studio of KCRW Radio.
Sunday 9/20/2015 Show: AACM at 50
The next show will air on Sunday, September 20, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast will celebrate 50 years of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and will feature interviews with the AACM co-founders Kelan Phil Cohran and Muhal Richard Abrams, AACM member Douglas Ewart, and Janis Lane-Ewart who is a co-curator of a recent art installation at the DuSable Museum in Chicago titled “Free at First: The Audacious Journey of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.”
AACM’s founding fathers pianists Muhal Richard Abrams and Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall and trumpeter Phil Cohran had sent out postcards inviting leading Chicago musicians to meet on May 8, 1965, at Mr. Cohran’s South Side home to set the AACM’s course and credo. The AACM has long offered sustenance and support to musicians steeped in Jazz tradition yet unwilling to be confined by it. Through a half-century, the organization has grown from a collective of ambitious Chicago musicians to an engine of creative inspiration and practical outreach that has touched nearly all corners of modern music.
A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and Experimental Music, a 2008 book by trombonist and composer George Lewis, also an important force in the AACM ranks. Mr. Lewis’s book framed the conditions that gave rise to this movement: A legendary South Side jazz and blues scene quickly evaporating; creative ferment demanding a broader jazz aesthetic; a transformation of African-American identity and its representations; and, above all, a dedication to wherever collective purpose and individualized composition might lead gifted musicians in a troubled yet genre-free world.
Well beyond Chicago, the AACM (which includes a New York chapter, formed in the late 1970s by Mr. Abrams and pianist Amina Claudine Myers, among others) holds a singularly celebrated place. Its key members form a roll call of distinguished African-American musicians, with National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellowships, MacArthur Foundation grants and prestigious academic appointments: Mr. Abrams, still a formidable creative force at 84, whose early-1960s Experimental Band helped foster the organization; Mr. Lewis, now 62, the Edwin H. Case professor of American music at Columbia University; and, among others, multireedists Anthony Braxton, Joseph Jarman, Henry Threadgill and Mr. Mitchell, and trumpeters Wadada Leo Smith and the late Lester Bowie. These musicians’ individual expressions sound nothing alike, yet their careers trace a shared ascendance.
(Excerpts from Larry Blumenfeld’s Wall Street Journal article titled “At 50, A Musicians’ Group Keeps Growing” – 4/21/15)
Show engineered, produced, hosted, and edited by Joyce Jones. Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
AACM’s New York chapter is celebrating their 50th anniversary with talks and performances every Friday night in October starting on the 9th at the Community Church of New York on E 35th St. Full schedule and details are at the AACM New York website.
Web Extras
Watch Douglas Ewart perform live at Vision Festival 14 with Joseph Jarman, poet Amiri Baraka, and others.
Watch Kelan Phil Cohran play the frankiphone in this short live clip.
Watch Muhal Richard Abrams in this live clip with Roscoe Mitchell and George Lewis.
Sunday 9/6/2015 Show: Lizz Wright
The next show will air on Sunday, September 6, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast will feature an interview with vocalist Lizz Wright.
Lizz Wright is a vocalist and composer who synthesizes R&B, jazz, folk, blues, and gospel. She was born in 1980 in the Georgia town of Hahira, and her musical tastes blossomed early on. Her father served as the pianist and musical director at the local church, and he encouraged his daughter to absorb the soulful dispositions of classic hymns.
Eventually, blues and jazz were added to Wright’s musical plate, and by high school she was earning awards in choir competitions. Wright was coming into her own with a warm, smooth singing voice, so her decision to attend Georgia State in Atlanta to study voice at a professional level wasn’t surprising. In 2000, Wright joined the vocal quartet In the Spirit. The group was quickly hailed as the best jazz group in the city, which motivated Wright to hone her craft all the more.
Two years later, the Verve label signed her as a solo artist. Her impressive singing style was captured on her 2003 debut, Salt. Dreaming Wide Awake, for which she shifted to Verve Forecast, followed in 2005. After making a guest appearance on the Toots Thielemans album One More for the Road in 2006, Wright released her third album, The Orchard, in 2008. In 2010, she returned with Fellowship, a gospel-heavy set that featured guest performances from kindred spirits Me’Shell Ndegéocello and vocalist Angélique Kidjo. After a move to Concord, she released Freedom & Surrender, on September 4, 2015. Her fifth album includes versions of Nick Drake’s “River Man” and Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody”.
Bio excerpt courtesy of Allmusic.
Show engineered, produced, hosted, and edited by Joyce Jones. Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
Lizz Wright will be at Highline Ballroom on 9/10 for an album release show for Freedom and Surrender. Details at Highline’s site.
Web Extras
Watch Wright perform the standard “Nature Boy”, live in Germany in 2004.
Watch Wright perform the Nina Simone classic “Four Women” live with Dianne Reeves and Angelique Kidjo.
Watch Wright sing “Dreaming Wide Awake” in a stunning live solo performance.
Sunday 8/23/15 Show: Alexis P. Suter
The next show will air on Sunday, August 9, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast will feature an interview with the Blues vocalist “Big Mama” Alexis P Suter.
Alexis P. Suter is the youngest daughter born to Carrie Suter (Artist, Teacher) and Albert Suter (Postal Worker, Preacher) in Brooklyn, New York. Suter was always destined for the stage as she began singing at the tender age of four in church recitals and special events. As a young girl she would create songs to sing for her mother or anyone else who wanted to listen. Alexis attended “The Little Children’s Theatre” on Church Avenue in Brooklyn briefly for vocal lessons but preferred her mother’s instructions as she would receive her undivided attention.
Although she appreciated all types of music, Suter’s roots were Gospel. She often attended different churches to experience the many styles of worship and music ministry. In her early twenties, Suter discovered the world of theatre. She joined a very talented and diverse group of artists known as the “Performance Art Chorale” (PAC) under the direction of Miche Braden. With Ms. Braden’s coaching she deepened her knowledge of the performance art, developed acting skills and expanded her vocal repertoire.
After singing for several years in various choirs and making small club appearances, Suter longed for the opportunity to share her talents on a broader scale. She began to sing “House/Dance” music and made her first solo recording with the song “Slam Me Baby”; released in 1990. The success of this record launched her career and she became the first African American woman signed to Epic Sony Japan’s Dance label. Shortly thereafter she met Vicki Bell (songwriter, producer, vocalist with “Hipbone Records”) at a function where they both sang background vocals for a mutual friend. Suter quickly signed with “Hipbone Records” and has continued her relationship with them to the present day.
In 2005, Suter recorded her first full length CD entitled Shuga Fix featuring original tunes and a more soulful sound. To her credit she has recorded a total of 6 CDs thus far. In addition to Shuga Fix are Just Another Fool, Alexis P Suter Band LIVE at the Midnight Ramble (Suter went on to open for the late Levon Helm at the Midnight Ramble in Woodstock, NY over 90 times), Two Sides, Live at the Turning Point and her current Blues/Rock CD Love the Way You Roll. The latter is presently doing very well on all of the Blues Charts.
Recently Suter has formed “The Ministers of Sound” ensemble which includes Vicki Bell, Ray Grappone (Drummer) and various guest musicians. They are presently recording their first CD which will feature Gospel and other Spiritual/Inspirational music.
Bio excerpt courtesy of alexispsuter.com.
Show engineered, produced, hosted, and edited by Joyce Jones. Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
Web Extras
Watch Suter perform the title track from her latest release, “Love the Way You Roll”, live at NYC’s BB King’s.
Watch Suter perform “John the Revelator” and “Savior” at a live 2011 show.
Watch Suter perform “Built for Comfort” live.
Sunday 7/26/15 Show: Kurt Elling
The next show will air on Sunday, July 26, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast will feature an interview with the versatile vocalist Kurt Elling.
GRAMMY® winner Kurt Elling is among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. He has won every DownBeat Critics Poll for the last fourteen years and has been named “Male Singer of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association eight times in that same span. Every one Elling is a renowned artist of vocalese—the writing and performing of words over recorded improvised jazz solos. The natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure and Jon Hendricks, Elling has set his own lyrics to the improvised solos of Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny. He often incorporates images and references from writers such as Rilke, Rumi, Neruda and Proust into his work. The late poet and Bollingen Prize winner Robert Creeley wrote, “Kurt Elling takes us into a world of sacred particulars. His words are informed by a powerful poetic spirit.” Said Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States, “In Kurt Elling’s art, the voice of jazz gives a new spiritual presence to the ancient, sweet and powerful bond between poetry and music.”
Elling has toured vigorously throughout his career, thrilling audiences throughout the world. In that time he has led his own ensemble and has collaborated with many of the world’s finest orchestras.
Elling’s new album Passion World is indeed all about “passions” – the forces that shake our souls. As one of the busiest touring jazz artists, Elling has encountered these passions around the world; he has observed how the same depth of feeling is shaped in different ways by each unique culture through which it is filtered. The result is an album vibrant with diversity and variety, and at the same time a singular celebration of what makes us all human.
Bio excerpt courtesy of www.kurtelling.com.
Show engineered, produced, hosted, and edited by Joyce Jones. Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
Web Extras
Watch Elling’s stunning version of “Nature Boy” recorded live with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Watch the preview video for Elling’s Passion World release.
Watch Elling’s adaptation of Coltrane’s “Resolution” recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Sunday 7/12/15 Show: Nina Simone
The next show will air on Sunday, July 12, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast will feature an interview with filmmaker Liz Garbus; the writing of poet Pamela Sneed; and a conversation with Nina Simone’s brother, educator, bandmate and once manager Sam Waymon. We have included Mary Phillips, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies at The City University of New York (CUNY)-Lehman College to discuss Black Power Feminism in relation to Simone’s political significance.
This show will use Garbus’s documentary film What Happened, Miss Simone? as a springboard to discuss Simone’s life, art, and politics and expand on what’s in the film.
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21st, 1933, Simone’s prodigious talent as a musician was evident early on when she started playing piano by ear at the age of three. Her mother, a Methodist minister, and her father, a handyman and preacher himself, couldn’t ignore young Eunice’s God-given gift of music. Raised in the church on the straight and narrow, her parents taught her right from wrong, to carry herself with dignity, and to work hard. She played piano – but didn’t sing – in her mother’s church, displaying remarkable talent early in her life. Able to play virtually anything by ear, she was soon studying classical music with an Englishwoman named Muriel Mazzanovich, who had moved to the small southern town. It was from these humble roots that Eunice developed a lifelong love of Johann Sebastian Bach, Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert. After graduating valedictorian of her high school class, the community raised money for a scholarship for Eunice to study at Julliard in New York City before applying to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her family had already moved to the City Of Brotherly Love, but Simone’s hopes for a career as a pioneering African American classical pianist were dashed when the school denied her admission. To the end, she herself would claim that racism was the reason she did not attend. While her original dream was unfulfilled, Eunice ended up with an incredible worldwide career as Nina Simone – almost by default.
To survive, she began teaching music to local students. One fateful day in 1954, looking to supplement her income, Simone auditioned to sing at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Word spread about this new singer and pianist who was dipping into the songbooks of Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and the like, transforming popular tunes of the day into a unique synthesis of jazz, blues, and classical music. Her rich, deep velvet vocal tones, combined with her mastery of the keyboard, soon attracted club goers up and down the East Coast. In order to hide the fact that she was singing in bars, Eunice’s mother would refer to the practice as “working in the fires of hell”, overnight Eunice Waymon became Nina Simone by taking the nickname “Nina” meaning “little one” in Spanish and “Simone” after the actress Simone Signoret.
When Nina Simone died on April 21, 2003, she left a timeless treasure trove of musical magic spanning over four decades from her first hit, the 1959 Top 10 classic “I Loves You Porgy,” to “A Single Woman,” the title cut from her one and only 1993 Elektra album. While thirty-three years separate those recordings, the element of honest emotion is the glue that binds the two together – it is that approach to every piece of work that became Simone’s uncompromising musical trademark.
By the end of her life, Simone was enjoying an unprecedented degree of recognition. Her music was enjoyed by the masses due to the CD revolution, discovery on the Internet, and exposure through movies and television. Simone had sold over one million CDs in the last decade of her life, making her a global catalog best-seller.
Bio excerpt courtesy of www.ninasimone.com.
Show engineered, produced, hosted, and edited by Joyce Jones. Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
Web Extras
Watch the trailer for the Liz Garbus documentary film What Happened, Miss Simone?
Sunday 6/28/2015 Show: Vision Festival 20
The next show will air on Sunday, June 28, 2015 from 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM Monday Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This broadcast will feature an interview with several artists scheduled to appear at this year’s upcoming Vision Festival.
This year marks the Twentieth Anniversary of the Vision Festival. To celebrate this milestone, Arts for Art (AFA) has organized an event that sets the standard for creative FreeJazz music, dance, visual art, poetry and ideas, embracing values that challenge and inform.
As the AFA press release states, “We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before and have inspired us to be our best, our most profound, and in fact, our most Visionary. We think of artists like John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Jayne Cortez, and Amiri Baraka, and consider what our role must be to carry their legacy forward. How do we keep alive in the hearts and minds of a new generation, all of the idealism, integrity and sense of responsibility that lay at the heart of those creative movements? This year AFA celebrates all VISION artists. In particular, those iconic NY artists whose creative voices have helped build our reputation as the world’s premier FreeJazz Festival.”
Join us as we celebrate Vision 20 with former Suga’ guests who will be part of the festivities this year such as Joseph Daley, Craig Harris, Oliver Lake and others. We will also revisit an interview with Arts For Art / Vision Festival / RUCMA organizer Patricia Nicholson Parker laying out the history of the Festival and an additional conversation discussing this year’s commemoration.
Show engineered, produced, hosted, and edited by Joyce Jones. Listen for our On the Bandstand segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with Associate Producer Hank Williams.
See the full Vision Fest line-up here and check our blog for a preview and full festival coverage.
Suga' in My Bowl 