Trumpeters

Tuesday 9/10/2019 Show: Keyon Harrold

Photo: Keyon Harrold at 2018 Charlie Parker Jazz Festival | @Suga’ Bowl Photography. Used with permission.

Program note: we’re in a new weekly Tuesday night slot from 10-12 midnight!

The next show will air on Tuesday September 10, 2019 from 10:00 PM – 12 Midnight Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org. This installment of the program puts a spotlight on trumpeter, composer, and Grammy winner for “Miles Ahead” Keyon Harrold.

Keyon Harrold grew up one of 16 children in a family that prioritized music and community across generations. His grandfather was a police officer who retired from the force to found a drum and bugle corps for local youth, both of his parents were pastors, and nearly all of his siblings sing and perform music today. Culture shock hit Harrold hard at 18, when he left Ferguson for New York City to enroll in The New School. In New York, he landed his first major gig with Common, an experience which he says broadened his musical horizons beyond jazz to include funk, Afrobeat, R&B, and hip hop. Soon he was performing with stars like Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, Beyonce, Rihanna, Eminem, Maxwell, and Anthony Hamilton.

In 2009, he released his solo debut, Introducing Keyon Harrold and then won wide acclaim for his trumpet performances in Don Cheadle’s Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead. The Mugician is a portmanteau of “musician” and “magician, a nod to a nickname Cheadle bestowed upon the young virtuoso, and it’s an apt descriptor for a record that pushes beyond the traditional boundaries of jazz trumpet.

(Bio adapted from Harrold’s website)

Keyon Harrold will be at the White Plains Jazz Festival for a free performance on September 12 and have a run at the Blue Note from Monday through Wednesday, September 23-25, 2019.

This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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:

Read the profile of Harrold’s mother, Shirley Harrold, in the St. Louis American. 

Watch Harrold play “The Mugician” live.

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 College in the City University of New York system.

Tuesday 7/16/2019 Show: Roy Hargrove Documentary Film

Program note: we’re in a new weekly Tuesday night slot from 10-12 midnight!

The next show will air on Tuesday July 16, 2019 from 10:00 PM – 12 Midnight Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org.This installment of the program will focus on Roy Hargrove by way of filmmaker Eliane Henri and her documentary “Hargrove.” Pianist Marc Cary, who was one of the interview subjects in film, will provide remembrances.

Eliane Henri has a long-standing career in Hollywood starting as a Creative Director in the music industry working for her mentor Quincy Jones in the ’90s, moving into PR & Special Events as a Director at Harrison & Shriftman, a multi-national PR firm in the early aughts. In 2003 Eliane founded her own event production company, Poplife Productions, where she produced events and experiences for cultural icons including Forest Whitaker, Naomi Campbell, Mos Def, Stevie Wonder, Jay Z, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, and Yoko Ono. In 2013 Henri segued into documentary production, as a producer on the film Feel Rich: Health is the New Wealth, executive produced by her mentor Quincy Jones. Her unique access to Roy Hargrove, a very eccentric and elusive character, makes her a unique fit as director for this documentary.

This is the story of Roy Anthony Hargrove: the internationally renowned musical genius and his rise from the Texas ghetto to Grammy award-winning fame. This documentary will showcase the resilience of the human spirit to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, including poverty, addiction, and a crippling genetic disease, to achieve greatness. Hargrove is an important point in the trajectory of trumpet greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Morgan, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard and Wynton Marsalis. But he is more than simply a great Jazz musician. He is an integral musical bridge between the 20th and 21st Centuries as the torchbearer of one generation and a pioneer for the other.

To find out more about the film and to become a contributor, go to the film’s donation page.

This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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 “Hargrove.”

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 College in the City University of New York system.

Tuesday 3/5/2019 Show: Jaimie Branch

Photo: Jaimie Branch | © Joyce Jones/ Suga Bowl Photography. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons CC-NC-BY-ND. Used with Permission.

Program note: we’re in a new weekly Tuesday night slot from 10-12 midnight!

The next show will air on Tuesday March 5, 2019 from 10:00 PM – 12 Midnight Eastern Standard Time on WBAI, 99.5 FM in the NYC metro area or streaming online at wbai.org.This broadcast features an interview with trumpeter Jaimie Branch. We discuss a few of her projects including Fly or Die, Anteloper with drummer Jason Nazary and varying sideman projects including Fay Victor’s “Mutations for Justice,” James Brandon Lewis’ “An Unruly Manifesto” and Party Knüllers.

Jaimie Branch is a Huntington, Long Island native, who became a mainstay of the Chicago jazz scene and an active recent addition to the New York scene, Jaimie Branch is an avant-garde trumpeter known for her “ghostly sounds,” says The New York Times, and for “sucker punching” crowds straight from the jump off, says Time Out . Her classical training from the New England Conservatory (NEC) and “unique voice capable of transforming every ensemble of which she is a part” (Jazz Right Now) has contributed to a wide range of projects not only in jazz but also punk, noise, indie rock, electronic and hip-hop. Branch’s prolific as-of-yet underexposed work as a composer and a producer, as well as a sideman for the likes of William Parker, Matana Roberts, TV on the Radio and Spoon, is all on display in her debut record Fly or Die – a dynamic 35-minute ride that dares listeners to open their minds to music that knows no genre, no gender, no limits.

[(Bio adapted from the International Anthem Recording website)

This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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:

Read

Watch the video preview of Branch’s Fly or Die album.

Watch Branch in this live performance.

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 College in the City University of New York system.

Sunday 11/25/2018 Show: Leon Parker

Photo: Leon Parker | © Goffredo Loertscher, Drummersworld.com

The next show will air on Sunday November 25, 2018 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 features an interview with drummer/percussionist Leon Parker.

New-York born musician Leon Parker is one of the most intriguing musicians of his generation. Drummer, percussionist and body-rhythm pioneer, he constantly explores new sound possibilities, using an infinitive range of colors with an often-limited drumset (consisting sometimes in a unique cymbal). His distinctive groove, he draws from very natural roots, has built him a solid reputation on the jazz scene and beyond.

Leon Parker started drums when he was three, becoming a confirmed jazz musician in early adolescence. After having studied classical percussions, he took lessons with Barry Harris and started performing regularly in New York. Remarked for his unique musical print, he recorded first with Harvie Swartz and played with musicians such as Sheila Jordan and Kenny Barron.

After 10 years building his reputation as a side-man, recording with other musicians (including Dewey Redman, Jacky Terrasson, Brad Mehldau, Peter Bernstein, among others), and leading groups at clubs, he met producer Joel Dorn and recorded his first leader album, “Above and Below”, in 1994, before releasing two other albums for Sony. His 1996-album, “Belief”, and 2 years later “Awakening”, emerged as the result of a long work on sound and deep musical explorations. After the release of his album “The Simple Life” in 2001, he decided to move to France and started to work on a Body-Rhythm method.

While still appearing on numerous albums as a sideman (Including those of Jacky Terrasson and Giovanni Mirabassi), he developed his Body-Rhythm techniques for many years, teaching workshops and leading his own voice and body-rhythm group in Toulouse. This method, called “EmbodiRhythm”, is the basis on which Leon Parker has written new compositions.

(Bio adapted from Parker’s website)

This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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.

Sixteen years ago, Parker left the U.S. for France to focus on teaching EmbodiRhythm workshops instead of the French Jazz scene.

Leon Parker returns to New York as part of the Aaron Goldberg Trio along with Matt Penman. The Trio will have a run at the Jazz Standard from Thursday, November 29, through Sunday, December 2. Chamber Music America’s (CMA) French-American Jazz Exchange partnered with the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and Brooklyn’s National Sawdust to help bring this project to fruition. Tune in for a ticket giveaway during the live broadcast!

Web Extras:

Watch Parker’s drum solo in this  live performance of “Perhaps.”

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 College in the City University of New York system.

Sunday 11/11/2018 Show: Eddie Henderson

Photo: Eddie Henderson @ 2013 Winter Jazz Fest in New York | © Joyce Jones/ Suga Bowl Photography. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons CC-NC-BY-ND. Used with Permission.

The next show will air on Sunday November 11, 2018 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 features an interview with trumpeter, flugelhorn player, and composer Eddie Henderson who has been a member of two supergroups: Mwandishi and The Cookers.

Jazz trumpeter extraordinaire Eddie Henderson received his first informal lesson on the trumpet at the age of 9 from Louis Armstrong. As a teenager he studied trumpet at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and performed with the San Francisco Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. In 1957, Eddie met Miles Davis for the first time. Miles, a family friend, admired the strikingly beautiful tone and musicality of Henderson’s trumpet playing and encouraged him to pursue a career in music. As a family friend, Miles has been a major musical influence throughout Henderson’s life. That culminated in May of 2002 with the recording of So What, a tribute to Miles that features songs associated with the legend. As Henderson puts it, “Miles is so very special to me because when I was in high school he stayed in my parent’s house when he came through San Francisco. I was going to the conservatory then studying classical music. I saw him do all these songs live that I recorded on the tribute album.”

Henderson had the good fortune of meeting many famous musicians growing up (including getting those early tips from Satchmo) because his parents were both entertainers. His mother was a dancer at the original Cotton Club and his father a member of the popular singing group Billy Williams and the Charioteers. His stepfather was a doctor to people like Miles, Coltrane and Duke Ellington, so the association with musicians continued. In addition to excelling on his instrument, Eddie excelled academically enough to go to medical school and become a doctor.

From 1968 until the late ‘80s, Henderson mixed music and medicine. He received his first major musical exposure as a member of Herbie Hancock’s trailblazing Mwandishi sextet, an ensemble that also included young innovators such as Bennie Maupin, Julian Priester, Buster Williams and Billy Hart. From 1969 through 1973 they recorded Mwandishi and Crossings for Warner Bros. and Sextant for Columbia. His experiences with Hancock exerted a profound influence on Henderson as reflected in the music on his first two solo albums, Realization and Inside Out, recorded in 1972 and 1973 for Capricorn Records.

After leaving Hancock, the trumpeter worked extensively with Pharoah Sanders, Norman Connors and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Eddie returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1975 where he joined the Latin-jazz group Azteca and fronted his own bands. The expressive rhythmic thrust of Henderson’s jazz/fusion experiences manifested itself on his Blue Note recordings Sunburst and Heritage and in 1977, he broke through with a single on the Billboard charts, “Prance On” (from the album Comin’ Through).

Eddie has also performed with such notables as Dexter Gordon, Roy Haynes, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Elvin Jones, Johnny Griffin, Slide Hampton, Benny Golson, Max Roach and McCoy Tyner.

(Bio adapted from The Cookers’ website)

This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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 Henderson play “Cantaloupe Island” in this 2009 live performance.

Watch Henderson play with Mwandishi in this 1972 live clip.

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 College in the City University of New York system.

Sunday 10/14/2018 Show: Terence Blanchard

Photo: Terence Blanchard with bassist Christian McBride @ 2012 International Jazz Day at the UN in New York | © Joyce Jones/ Suga Bowl Photography. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons CC-NC-BY-ND. Used with Permission.

The next show will air on Sunday October 14, 2018 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 features trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, who will be headlining this year’s BRIC Jazz Festival with his E-Collective ensemble.

From his expansive work composing the scores for Spike Lee films ranging from the documentary 4 Little Girls to the epic Malcolm X, as well as his own discography of recordings such as A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), 2018 USA Fellow and five-time Grammy-winning trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning painful American tragedies – past and present. With his current quintet E-Collective he addresses the staggering cyclical epidemic of gun violence in this country with his new album Live, seven powerful songs recorded live in concert that both reflect the bitter frustration of the conscious masses while also providing a balm of emotional healing. With a title that carries a pointed double meaning, the album is an impassioned continuation of the band’s GRAMMY-nominated 2015 studio recording, Breathless.

The music of Live was symbolically culled from concerts performed at venues in three communities that have experience escalating conflicts between law enforcement and African American citizens: The Dakota in Minneapolis (near where Philando Castile was pulled over and shot by a cop on July 6, 2016); The Bop Stop in Cleveland (near where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by police on November 22, 2014); and the Wyly Theatre in Dallas (near where police officers Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson and Patricio Zamarripa were assassinated while on duty covering a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest on July 7-8, 2016). The E-Collective’s Live project condemns gun violence of all manner whether against profiled citizens of color or targeted members of law enforcement.

Discussing the origin of E-Collective, Blanchard states, “I didn’t put this group together to be a protest band. We started out wanting to play music to inspire young people that didn’t want to play jazz to play instrumental music on its highest level. In this computer age, we saw too many kids playing music but not trying to learn theory or master their craft. However, while we were on tour in Europe, Mike Brown got shot. Trayvon Martin had already been murdered. And back then it seemed like these shootings were happening every month. That’s when I felt we had to stand up and make a statement with our 2015 album, Breathless [named in honor of Eric Garner who pleaded in vain to a pile of police officers with their knees in his back that he could not breathe]. After touring that music for two years, we couldn’t just let it go. What would we look like as artists doing a record like Breathless then come out with some other shit totally devoid of consciousness?”

Experimental, electric and exotic, E-Collective consists of Terence Blanchard on trumpet, Charles Altura on guitar, Fabian Almazan on piano and synthesizers, Oscar Seaton on drums, and new addition David “DJ” Ginyard on bass.

“This band is an example of the revolution that is taking place,” Blanchard explains. “The pianist Fabian – born in Cuba, raised in Florida – has his own record label, Biophilia, that’s devoted to making the planet green. Most people are trying to make money but that’s not where his focus lies. The bassist David, from Greensboro, South Carolina, is a very talented church boy. He doesn’t preach or wear it on his sleeve yet he walks tall in his confidence everyday. The guitarist Charles looks like a hard rocker but he’s a brilliant Stanford alumnus who studies anthropology – sits at the piano and plays Chopin after a show. And the drummer Oscar, who grew up playing gospel in church in Chicago, has been with Lionel Richie for 16 years. When you look at the conglomeration of us all from different walks of life, look at how we come together and create something harmonious. We are what the promise of America is supposed to be.”

Indeed, throughout the album, Blanchard’s horn does not play the traditional role of a lone voice above the fray. Instead, he plays his horn through an effect that gives it the sound of a group of people standing up for their rights in ‘Marleyan’ harmony.

Terence Oliver Blanchard began playing piano at age 5, and later trumpet beginning in summer camps alongside his childhood friend Wynton Marsalis. While studying jazz at Rutgers University, Blanchard was invited to play with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra in 1982 before Marsalis recommended him as his replacement in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Following a string of collaborative recordings, he released his first self-titled solo album on Columbia Records in 1991, leading to a string of acclaimed often conceptual works and over forty movie scores, primarily feature films and documentaries for director Spike Lee, including HBO’s 4-hour When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.

Regarding his consistent attachment to artistic works of conscience, Blanchard confesses, “You get to a certain age when you ask, ‘Who’s going to stand up and speak out for us?’ Then you look around and realize that the James Baldwins, Muhammad Alis and Dr. Kings are no longer here…and begin to understand that it falls on you. I’m not trying to say I’m here to try to correct the whole thing, I’m just trying to speak the truth.” In that regard, he cites unimpeachable inspirations. “Max Roach with his ‘Freedom Now Suite,’ John Coltrane playing ‘Alabama,’ even Louis Armstrong talking about what was going on with his people any time he was interviewed. Herbie Hancock & Wayne Shorter who live by their Buddhist philosophy and try to expand the conscience of their communities. I’m standing on all of their shoulders. How dare I come through this life having had the blessing of meeting those men and not take away any of that? Like anybody else, I’d like to play feel good party music but this album is about the reality of where we are.”

(Bio adapted from Blanchard’s website.)

We’ll begin the show with a 2018 BRIC Jazz Festival preview from co-curator Lia Camille Crocket. This year’s festival features film, dance and marathon music nights from October 13-20 at BRIC’s downtown Brooklyn location.

This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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.

Terence Blanchard will be at the 2018 BRIC Jazz Festival in conversation with Jazz critic Nate Chinen on Wednesday, October 17 and performs with his E-Collective ensemble to close out the Festival on Saturday, October 20.

Web Extras:

Watch Blanchard and the E-Collective perform “Breathless” live in studio.

Watch Blanchard and the E-Collective perform “Hey Jimi” live in this 2018 clip from Austria.

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 College in the City University of New York system.

Sunday 6/10/2018 Show: Adam O’Farrill

Photo: Adam O’Farrill | © Joyce Jones/ Suga Bowl Photography. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons CC-NC-BY-ND. Used with Permission.

The next show will air on Sunday, June 10, 2018 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 presents an interview with trumpeter and composer Adam O’Farrill.

In June 2018, O’Farrill released his second album, El Maquech with his band Stranger Days, tapping into an eclectic range of influences, including traditional Mexican music, and covers of Gabriel Garzon-Montano and Irving Berlin.

Adam O’Farrill was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Born to a deep musical legacy – his grandfather, the legendary Afro-Cuban composer/arranger, Chico O’Farrill, his father, the GRAMMY award-winning pianist/composer/activist Arturo O’Farrill, and his mother, pianist and educator Alison Deane – O’Farrill has been surrounded by music since he was very young. He began studying piano at age 6, and trumpet at age 8, while starting to compose around the same time. Since then, O’Farrill has made numerous artistic accomplishments.

With his brother, Zack, a drummer/composer, they released two well-received albums under the O’Farrill Brothers Band: Giant Peach (2011) and Sensing Flight (2013), both on ZOHO Music. They primarily featured Adam’s original compositions. In 2016, he released his first album under his own name, called Stranger Days (Sunnyside Records), which features Zack on drums, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown on tenor sax, and Walter Stinson on bass. The album has been critically acclaimed with Nate Chinen of the NY Times writing “Marshaling a sharp band of his peers — Chad Lefkowitz-Brown on tenor saxophone; Walter Stinson on bass; and Zack O’Farrill, his older brother, on drums — Mr. O’Farrill establishes both a firm identity and a willful urge to stretch and adapt.”

In 2015, O’Farrill was featured on two of the year’s most acclaimed albums. He was featured on Rudresh Mahthappa’s Bird Calls, which won the Downbeat Critics Poll for Best Jazz Album, and was named one of the Best Jazz Albums of 2015 by NPR, New York Times, Observer Chicago Tribune, and more. Later that year, O’Farrill was featured (along with Mahanthappa, and Zack O’Farrill) on Arturo O’Farrill’s Cuba: The Conversation Continues, was was nominated for the GRAMMY Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, and won the Latin GRAMMY Award for Best Latin Jazz Album. In 2016, Adam was featured on several new releases. He was featured on Stephan Crump’s Rhombal, along with Ellery Eskelin and Tyshawn Sorey, which also released to critical acclaim. O’Farrill was also featured on Evergreen (Canceled World), from rising composer-pianist Gabriel Zucker and his large ensemble, The Delegation, as well as Kadawa, the debut album from the Israel-born experimental trio of the same name, and New Helsinki, the debut album from Finnish guitarist Olli Hirvonen. In addition to these, Adam has also performed with established artists such as Vijay Iyer, Mulatu Astatke, Steve Lehman, Christian McBride, Jason Lindner, in addition to rising artists such as Samora Pinderhughes, Onyx Collective, Maria Grand, JIL, and more.

O’Farrill has also been developing his voice as a composer, since a young age. He recently received the 2016-2017 The Jazz Gallery Residency Commission, for which he will premiered a new work, “I’d Like My Life Back,” for voice and septet, in April 2017. He was commissioned by YoungArts to collaborate with actress Devyn Tyler, and filmmakers Dan Frantz and Andy Koeger on a short film called Gold, which Adam scored. The Baltimore-based chamber duo, The Witches, commissioned O’Farrill to write a piece for their project, Behind the Curtain, celebrating femininity and female leaders of the world today. He wrote a piece called “Overcoming,” dedicated to Lizzie Velasquez, the motivational speaker who was born with a disease that prevents her from accumulating body fat.

Recently, O’Farrill completed his Bachelor’s Degree at the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Laurie Frink, Cecil Bridgewater, Reiko Fueting, Thomas Smith, Greg Gisbert, and Tony Kadleck.

(Bio adapted from Adam O’Farrill’s website.)

This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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.

O’Farrill’s El Maquech released on June 1 on Biophilia Records. There will be a release performance at 55 Bar on Wednesday, June 13, at 10:00 p.m.

Web Extras:

Watch O’Farrill play “Stranger Days” in this live clip.

Watch O’Farrill perform “Gravity” with Olli Hirvonen’s New Helsinki ensemble in this live clip.

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 College in the City University of New York system.

Sunday 5/27/2018 Show: Freddie Hendrix

Photo: Freddie Hendrix | © Joyce Jones/ Suga Bowl Photography. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons CC-NC-BY-ND. Used with Permission.

The next show will air on Sunday, May 27, 2018 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 features an interview with trumpeter Freddie Hendrix as part of our 2018 Vision Fest coverage.

Over the past two decades, Freddie Hendrix has become one of the most in demand trumpeters in Jazz, and beyond. Also an accomplished composer, arranger and educator, the Teaneck, New Jersey native’s skill and versatility has resulted in him working with a wide array of performers that range from the Count Basie Orchestra and The Christian McBride Big Band, to Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys.

With the release of his first recording as a leader, Jersey Cat, Freddie is serving notice that now is his time. One of the music’s most exciting players, Hendrix has forged his own sure footed, full toned sound, out of the tradition of Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Lee Morgan, and Clifford Brown. A powerful septet recording, Jersey Cat, a scintillating septet debut, impresses from the opening bars of the powerful first track, “St. Peter’s Walk”. At home on fiery, uptempo tracks, or on ballads like “You Don’t Know What Love Is”, Hendrix shows that he can handle any tempo and interpret any song with ease, and when called for, nuance. And on originals like “On The Rise” (one of his first compositions), “Madeira Nights”, (inspired by his first trip to Europe), and “Whims Of A Waltz”, Freddie’s aforementioned composing and arranging talents are on full display. Among the other selections on this well rounded project is a wonderful performance of the Horace Silver classic “Peace”, and a swinging rendition of Freddie Hubbard’s “Hubtones”.

A product of the esteemed Jazz program at William Paterson University, with a Masters in Jazz Studies and Performance from New Jersey City University, Hendrix also shares his knowledge and passion for the music by serving as a faculty member at the Hartt School of Music at The University of Hartford (Ct.), The New School in New York, and Jazz House Kids, in Montclair, New Jersey.

Whether leading his own groups, or lending his talents as a lead or section player in much larger ensembles, Freddie Hendrix continues to flourish as one of the most exciting trumpet voices on the music scene.

(Bio adapted from Hendrix’s website.)

This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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.

Freddie Hendrix will be at the closing evening of Arts for Arts’ Vision Festival 23 as part of the Oliver Lake Big Band on Memorial Day, Monday May 28.

Web Extras:

Watch Hendrix play a cover of Miles Davis’s “Tutu” in this live clip.

Watch Hendrix play with saxophonist Oliver Lake’s Organ Quartet in this live clip.

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 College in the City University of New York system.

Sunday 7/9/2017 Show: Kelan Phil Cohran Memorial Broadcast

Photo: Kelan Phil Cohran @ the 2014 CIMMFEST, Concord Music Hall | © Jamie Bernstein. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons CC-NC-BY-ND.

The next show will air on Sunday, July 9, 2017 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 show is a memorial broadcast in honor of multi instrumentalist, composer, bandleader, and teacher Kelan Phil Cohran featuring remembrances from artists Kahlil El’Zafar, Maia, Aquilla Graves Sadilla and son Gabriel Hubert, who is one of the member of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

“Women in wool hair chant their poetry. Phil Cohran gives us messages and music made of developed bone and polished and honed cult. It is the Hour of tribe and of vibration, the day-long Hour. It is the Hour of ringing, rouse, of ferment-festival. On Forty-third and Langley black furnaces resent ancient legislatures of play and scruple and practical gelatin. They keep the fever in, fondle the fever. All worship the Wall.” – Gwendolyn Brooks, “Two Dedications: II The Wall August 27, 1967”

Kelan Phil Cohran was born in Oxford, Mississippi (May 8, 1927 – June 28, 2017) and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. ‘Kelan’ is an honorific meaning ‘holy scripture’ bestowed on him by Chinese Muslims during a visit to China. He played trumpet in bands led by Jay McShann in the early 1950s, and then in a U.S. Navy band.

He was introduced to the Sun Ra Arkestra by John Gilmore in 1959. He appeared on the albums Fate In A Pleasant Mood and Angels and Demons at Play among others. He played mostly trumpet and sometimes stringed instruments such as the zither. He can be heard with The Arkestra on “Rocket Number Nine,” “Fate In A Pleasant Mood,” “Holiday For Soul Dance” and “We Travel The Spaceways,” but his most striking contribution was his ukelin zither playing on “Angels And Demons At Play.” Cohran’s harp-like fills working against Sun Ra’s organ on “Music From The World Tomorrow” and his abstract stabs against astral flute on the title track epitomise The Arkestra’s ‘black to the future’ concept like no other early Sun Ra recordings.

When the Arkestra moved from Chicago in 1961, Cohran declined to accompany them. In 1965 he took part in the founding of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). The first meeting was held in Cohran’s house on his birthday.

Early in his career, he invented an instrument he called the Frankiphone or the Space Harp, which is actually an electrified mbira or kalimba; he played it on some of Sun Ra’s early albums. This instrument inspired Maurice White to use an electrified Kalimba in performance with Earth, Wind and Fire. “On the Beach” features the Frankiphone on the title track, as well as a piece called “New Frankiphone Blues”.

He formed the Artistic Heritage Ensemble with Pete Cosey, future members of Earth, Wind and Fire’s horn section and Motown percussionist “Master” Henry Gibson, among others. By this time, he was playing the harp, cornet, French horn, baritone saxophone and percussion. The group recorded the album On the Beach around 1967, which there was a celebration scheduled on the day of this broadcast in Chicago to recognize its 50th anniversary .

In the autumn of 1967, Cohran set up the Affro-Arts Theatre as a permanent home for the kind of events that were taking place on the beach that summer. “The band played Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that’s how we paid our bills because we had a popular band,” Cohran says. “We trained music, history; we had Hebrew, Arabic and Swahili taught free; civilization classes, forums. We also held conferences there, one conference of Third World countries.” The reissue of On The Beach includes a live version of their most famous track, “Unity”, recorded at the Affro-Arts Theatre on 15 February 1968.

Unfortunately, not everyone involved in the Affro-Arts Theatre was of one thought. After some internal turmoil, at the end of 1968 Cohran left the group and the theatre to teach at Malcolm X Junior College.

Several of Cohran’s sons make up seven of the nine members of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, which consists of four trumpets, two trombones, one euphonium, a sousaphone and drums. Cohran taught voice and music to inner city youth and adults at Northeastern Illinois University’s Center for Inner City Studies. He died in Chicago on June 28, 2017 at the age of 90.

(Bio adapted from Wikipedia)

This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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 “Brother Phil” sing “Boon to a Loon” in this 2014 live performance in São Paulo.

Watch Cohran play the Frankiphone in this short clip.

Watch Cohran join the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble to play “Cuernavaca” in this live clip.

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 9/18/2016 Show: Ibrahim Maalouf

Photo: Ibrahim Maalouf | Photo Credit: Jean-Paul Lesage, 2014 Pleins Feux Festival
 
The next show will air on Sunday, September 18, 2016 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 features an interview with trumpeter and composer Ibrahim Maalouf.
 

 
Ibrahim Maalouf discovered the trumpet with his father Nassim Maalouf – a former student of Maurice André and the first Arabic trumpeter to play Western classical music. He studied modern, classical, baroque and contemporary concertos, and at the same time was surrounded by Arabic classical, ethnic and traditional music. All those types of music were based on makams (Arabic modes), and Ibrahim could reproduce them thanks to his father’s invention in the sixties – the quarter-tone trumpet (with a fourth valve). The music that comes out of this particular trumpet is the expression of an age-old culture. Nobody before his father had thought of paying tribute to it by adapting the Arabic musical language to the trumpet through the real quarter tones system.
 
As a boy, Maalouf used to dream of becoming an architect in order to rebuild Lebanon. Instead he built his life around the rich and mixed heritage which he can communicate through his music.
 
After a prestigious classical career with several international awards (France, Hungary, Finland, USA), the 1er prix of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, and after having collaborated with many symphony and chamber orchestras, as well as various ensembles throughout the world, Maalouf became a well known figure on the music scene thanks to his collaboration with singers such as Sting, Amadou and Mariam, Lhasa de Sela , Salif Keita, Vanessa Paradis and many others who wanted to use his sound and his unique playing style to color their music.
 
Maalouf has long been one of the most sought after musicians to accompany such artists in a wide variety of styles, not only in the studios but also onstage. And yet despite the pleasure and rich artistic experience gained from working with these artists, Maalouf hasn’t been sidetracked from his own priorities: composing and developing his work in a highly personal manner so that the extent of his gifts as an instrumentalist – and the diversity of his own influences – can express themselves fully.
 
Maalouf was rapidly recognized by the Jazz world and his five albums were unanimously acclaimed by the national and international press. After Diasporas (2007), Diachronism (2009), Diagnostic (2011), Wind (film soundtrack-2012), and Illusions (2013) for which he received from the French Music Awards the prize of Best World Music Album.
 
Maalouf also composes music for symphonic orchestras, different ensembles, and film scores. His film credits include the soundtracks of Prey to the Wind, Smart Ass, Yves Saint Laurent, and Red Rose. Additionally, he teaches improvisation to all instruments in a Conservatoire Supérieur in Paris.
 
In 2006, Maalouf created his own label to produce his albums but also more recently to produce other projects and artists.
 
His release Kalthoum (2015) is a celebration of women who changed the course of history and whose artistic influence has had an impact even in our present lives. Maalouf says “I chose a symbolic figure, a true landmark in the history of the Arab people, and is also the voice that I heard the most since my infancy: Oum Kalthoum.”
 
Kalthoum is based on “Alf Leila Wa Leila” (“One Thousand and One Nights “), one of the biggest hits of the Egyptian diva Oum Kalthoum. Maalouf and pianist Frank Woeste “translated” the suite into a fairly conventional jazz suite, but kept its innovative blending. This 1969 song composed by Baligh Hamidi is a suite of about an hour, with a chorus of 3 minutes and couplets from 5-25 minutes. Maalouf says: “Improvisation, in the original version as in this version, is important, but this result is mostly a series of scenes in which the staging was exciting to transcribe.”
 
Recorded and mixed in New York with the same team as the 2011 Wind album, Kalthoum continues his collaboration with Larry Grenadier (bass), Clarence Penn (drums), Mark Turner (Saxophone) and Frank Woeste (piano).
 
Red & Black Light (2015) focuses on strong women using primarily an electro-pop style. The personnel features Eric Legnini (keyboards), François Delporte (guitar) Stéphane Galland (drums).
 
Bio adapted from the Impulse! Records description of Kalthoum and other sources.
 
This program is hosted, engineered, produced, 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.
 
Ibrahim Maalouf will be making a rare US appearance at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room on September 30th and October 1st. He’ll also be at the Monterey and San Francisco Jazz Festivals and have standalone concerts in Columbus OH; and Montreal and Quebec City, Canada. See his website for dates.
 
Web Extras
 
Watch Maalouf play “Red & Black Light” in this live clip.
 

 
Watch this swinging live clip of “Khaltoum”.
 

 
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.