Following the article I did on gospel music for The Undefeated, WYNC’s The Takeaway invited me on the show to discuss the state of gospel in the wake of Aretha Franklin’s passing. Before Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, made a mark with mainstream hits, she was a gospel icon. Like many famous singers, her career began in the church. Aretha’s father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, was a famous...
My friend and former colleague, Grammy Award and Pulitzer prize winning artist Wynton Marsalis made a statement during an appearance on Jonathan Capehart’s podcast Cape Up that has set the internet ablaze. During an interview promoting his new work The Ever Funky Lowdown, a piece for jazz orchestra, voice with narration that critiques the tribal game that is used to exploit us all, Capehart was...
Kendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize for Music yesterday for his album DAMN. I have been fortunate to have worked in the arts, particularly the black arts for the past 20 + years and have had a close direct and indirect relationship with former black Pulitzer Prize winners. I was VP and Producer at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC where I worked alongside Wynton Marsalis, who won the prize for...