Terri Lyne Carrington was born in Medford, Massachusetts in August of 1965. Her father played sax and her grandfather played sax and drums. (Her grandfather once played drums for Duke Ellington.) Ms. Carrington says that her grandfather died before her … Continue reading
Diamond Cut, the latest album by saxophone great Tia Fuller, received a Grammy nomination this year in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category. A well deserved acknowledgement. Ms. Fuller used the platform accorded her by this honor to speak on … Continue reading
For Black History Month, the gar spot will focus on a handful of the many gifted and talented black women instrumentalist who play jazz. Regina Carter began studying violin when she was four years old. Initially, she studied the European classical repertoire. … Continue reading
For Black History Month, the gar spot will focus on a handful of the many gifted and talented black women instrumentalist who play jazz. Many can easily rattle off a list of some of the biggest names from the Swing … Continue reading
December 16 is the birthday of my fictional character Alfonso Rutherford Berry, III, protagonist for my novel Sin Against the Race. So to mark the occasion, I read parts of the book that reflect upon Alfonso’s 21st, which he spent in … Continue reading
Crawl on over to San Francisco this coming Saturday, October 20 and check out Lit Crawl 2018. Lots of folks will be reading at various venues, including yours truly. I will read in the session Musical Muses: BARtab’s Tenth Lit Crawl … Continue reading
I created a Spotify playlist of the music associated with my novel Sin Against the Race. As I’ve written previously, and as those who have read the novel can attest, I reference a lot of music. It became, in effect, a … Continue reading
I’ve heard Bay Area-based singer Tiffany Austin several times. She frequently returns to her alma mater, Berkeley Law, to perform at the commencement day after party. My work often keeps me from hanging out and listening to her and her … Continue reading
[Part of a series of posts previewing the novel Sin Against the Race.] Sin Against the Race did not start life as a “jazz novel.” When I first started this journey, I listened mostly to classical. Dvořák, Chopin, Mozart, Brahms, the … Continue reading
My favorite section of Hajdu’s Strayhorn biography Lush Life, the part with the strongest storytelling, is where he talks about Billy Strayhorn’s cancer diagnosis. For this chapter, he relied on the vivid memories of Marian Logan, Harlem socialite and wife … Continue reading