Jazz collector & Host @ WRFG FM- Atlanta,GA JAZZ to Soothe your Soul Fridays 10-12 midnight
Atlanta resident, Thomas Simmons invites you and yours for a seat right down front at your favorite listening space. Holding it down each and every Friday night 10pm to midnightt eastern standard time at WRFG FM 89.3 ,Jazz to Soothe Your Soul.
Thomas explores be-Bop, Hard Bop, mainstream-straight ahead music , with no chaser or mute. His show is all the rave of Hipsters, Aficionados and record collectors world-wide. Starting out as a passionate record collector of rare and unusual vinyl, soon grew into the tens of thousands records and CDs. now an on-air jazz host almost 15 years in Atlanta primarily at WCLK, now at WRFG 89.3 FM almost 2 years. Thomas plays the stuff other stations are either scared to play or, don’t know about the music period. I suggest you catch the show from the very beginning, since it’s only a two-hour show, quality is packed into every minute of his unique and very grassroots style of broadcasting REAL Jazz, Never fluff. Tune every Friday at 10PM EST or stream on the worldwide web:
(click on the link above to access the radio program)
Radio programming produced and hosted by James Graves
McCoy Tyner with Robert J. Carmack
Robert J. Carmack Editor in Chief,Hipster Sanctuary.Com.
Robert grew up in Los Angeles (Watts & Compton) and has spent almost five decades in entertainment as musician, actor,producer ,writer and photo/journalist across many genres including Jazz, Soul/R&B and Blues. Co-founded The Paul Robeson Players, The Atlanta International Jazz Society, The SFBAAAM (San Francisco Bay-Area African American Musicians)works as publicist,promoter and producer for live concerts and awards shows.
An expert in Jazz & blues history, Robert studied Music, Communications and Theater Arts in college. He holds a Bachelors of Arts Degree from California State University Dominguez Hills. A passionate patron of Youth in the Fine Arts & Education.
It was announced recently by Publisher/Editor in Chief , Robert J. Carmack, Hipster Sanctuary.Com is expanding it jazz menu to include a hip and stimulating Jazz radio show featuring past, present, and emerging Jazz artists inside an hour interview format.
NIGHT JOURNEY REWIND (NJR) is hosted by veteran radio producer /On-Air personality, James Graves.The partnership was an idea of the two Jazz enthusiasts Robert J. Carmack and James Graves. “We’re attempting to fill the void of knowledgeable jazz radio personnel/journalists for the serious jazzy-philes who are seeking classic Jazz programming, and instant historical jazz content (Play On Demand).” said Carmack “All of this at a single source(www.hipstersanctuary.com.”
Debuting on July 4th, the Fireworks begin at midnight. the curious person simply go to, http://www.hipstersanctuary.com and click on the Night Journey Rewindicon/hot link.
This opens up and provides the jazz fan accessto the entire NJR archives for their selections by month or year,or, whenever they want it. the most recent Interviews with be under the “Featured Interviews of the current month” All previous interviews are listed in NJR’s PODcast Archive section, including a 1985 interview with iconic drummer Philly Joe Jones. How abouta frank chat with tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards? and, most recently, the highly touted percussionist/drummer, Famoudou Don Moye, to name a few.
Mr. James Graves has dedicated over 25 years to broadcast production. He began his career as an on-air personality and Program Director for the popular college jazz station KXLU in Los Angeles, California.
During his tenure at KXLU James produced Night Journey – a radio show, where he interviewed many of the Jazz greats such as, Donald Byrd, Philly Joe Jones, and vocalist Janis Mann. In the mid 90’s, Night Journey was syndicated by the Pacifica Radio network broadcasting across the United States.
Rebranded in 2012’s, Night Journey became Night Journey Rewind (NJR); a weekly one-hour radio series of revealing conversations with pioneering legends and today’s entertainers. Kawseff Productions and Orion Brown produce the series which airs weekly through the website http://www.nightjourneyrewind.com®, and global podcast service providers.
Mr. Graves resides in the Los Angeles area and notes, “These writers/performers personify greatness and have developed loyal audiences worldwide , said Graves. NJR’s commitment to our listeners is to preserve the foundations of Jazz and contemporary artistic talent, honoring a well deserved legacy for the inspiration of future creative performance.”
Composer, Pianist, TV host and Jazz legend RAMSEY LEWIS has been referred to as “the great performer,” a title reflecting his performance and style. It seems strange saying Ramsey Lewis in the same sentence as 80 years old. Still youthful looking and playing at the peek of his power ,one would never know it.
I grew up on Ramsey sort of..I mean, One day me and a buddy was fooling around with his cousin’s jazz albums listening and just checking out people we never heard of before. we were able to do this unsupervised because his cousin was in Viet Nam, a long ways away from seeing us . Especially since we were only 13, well, almost 14.
We were just trying to be cool and mature by knowing all the latest Cats in Jazz and those before as well. Anyway, I ran across this one album that had a beautiful black woman with a dress sitting by a pond barefooted looking all sexy.
As all young boys do, we started bragging on our latest girls looking as good or better than . Finally I said, “lets play that record?” my friend said, ” Man,I don’t know??? looking at them is one thing, but playing it might mean trouble. But I egged him on by telling him he was chicken,”I’m Not CHICKEN! ,He said loudly. “OK you not chicken then play it and prove it, I replied.
Huffing and puffing, He finally reached over and took the album out of the sleeve and put it on the stereo Hi-Fi (that’s right Hi-Fi).. from the very first cut we were popping our fingers and lighting imaginary “Joints” , then we went into full “Hipster-mode” the rest of that whole album. This album “swung like a gate” on a well-oiled post.
Barefoot Sunday Blues .(ARGO Jazz label, a div. of Chicago based CHESS Records.)
I was a fan from that day on, then the big day came. Ramsey hit #1 on the radio, a cover song to an already Hit Soul tune by Dobie Gray, “The IN-CROWD”. That sealed the deal for me, that one cut changed the whole music industry for jazz. Here we are 50 years later, and Ramsey is still part of the In-Crowd, just ask anybody in music like Nancy Wilson or Quincy Jones.
His performances and records touch all genres of music for the last 6 decades. A native Chicagoan born May 27, 1935, Ramsey represents the great diverse music for which Chicago is noted. Ramsey Lewis first captivated fans with his first album Ramsey Lewis And The Gentlemen of Swing by the Ramsey Lewis Trio in 1956.
He has three Grammy Awards and Seven Gold Records to his credit. Often called legendary, Mr. Lewis concedes “It’s a high honor when someone says so, but I don’t see myself that way. What keeps me enthusiastic and energizes me, is the realization that the more I learn, the more I find there is to know.”
Ramsey Lewis Trio in Europe 1960s photo by William Claxton
posted by R.J. Carmack #@blues2jazzguy BESSIE: More B FLAT Than B Natural by Robert J. Carmack Watching the HBO produced TV movie “Bessie” with Queen Latifah as Blues singer Bessie Smith was quite painful. I not sure which was worse the writing or the acting, to be honest, the acting was scattered by instances like Michael K. Williams as Jack Gee and Khandi Alexander as the mean sister Viola…a surprise high-Dap acting performance by Mike Epps as Richard the Boot-legger.I thought he did a real good job in spite of the weak writing. I was most disappointed in Queen Latifah’s Bessie Smith. She did her best ,but unfortunately, she was unable to make that transition that great actors do when ,despite the uneven script their craftsman skills take over.Unfortunately, I never saw that happen during the two hours of the movie. I’m not sure if the producers/Director was, more or less trying to chase the Hip Hop audience. I felt they should have acted on bringing a quality performance that focused on the impact the iconic artist had on the Blues genre , the reasons we should care about Bessie Smith. The script appeared to gloss over important facts in the career and life of Bessie Smith from the historical sense. There was no shortage of her sexuality, drinking and uneven persona on stage and off. Perhaps, this is what I can expect from today’s writers and producers when delving into BLACK HISTORICAL CHARACTERS. I may be in the minority, but I expect no more from the upcoming movies on Nina Simone & Miles Davis. CAST: Queen Latifah, Mo’Nique, Michael Kenneth Williams, Mike Epps, Oliver Platt, Bryan Greenberg, Charles S. Dutton, Khandi Alexander, TikaSumpter, Tory Kittles AIRTIME: HBO, check local listings
posted by Eric L. Wattree via R.J. Carmack #blues2jazzguy
Quincy Jones is one of the last truly GREAT composers and arrangers to come out of jazz, or any other form of music, in quite some time. NOBODY is greater, and no one ever has been. He stands among Ellington, Basie, Mancini, and Gershwin in complete comfort, so we shouldn’t take him for granted, because Quincy is easily among the greatest men who have ever lived, and that’s not meant as hyperbole.
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Yes, we already recognize him as a celebrity, but he’s much more than just that. Due to our contemporary philosophy of “de-education” – or the dumbing-down of society – we fail to recognize Quincy’s true statue as an artist, or what he represents to the history of music as a whole. Quincy Jones is not just famous, he’s an icon of the arts of a historic stature, and we should all recognize and honor such greatness within our midst, because there is nothing of more value to humanity than those who have achieved Quincy’s level of excellence, greatness, and accomplishment.
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People such as Quincy enhance all of humanity. They serve as living testaments to what man is capable of at his best. Their contributions represent the ultimate political, spiritual, and moral statement of mankind as a whole. They also stand as a constant reminder of what man can, and should be, and of the kind of excellence that we should all strive for.
Q in session with the great William “Count ” Basie 1959
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Thus, this is my tribute to a GREAT man, and a great artist, who has managed to achieve the ultimate in our human endeavor – immortality. (The lyrics were written to be sang by a woman).
. QUINTESSENCE lyrics by ERIC WATTREE
I____ love the sound____ of maestro\Quincy Jones____.
His music____ is so____ divine______.
When I sing____his songs____ I know I can’t____go wrong,
because I’m filled____with the soul____of Quincy Jones______.
*
Q’s____serenades_____ are always so refined________
The mel-o-dies linger____ on_____.
They sing of love for you____from a guy_______ known
as “Q”_____,
A name____that will always_______ sing for
you______
And then when Phil____ begins to play,
Quin-tes-sence\in his\own____and special way____
he seems to know\ . . . . exactly what the Q had to say.
They sung about jazz and love\ and of \ling___er___ing
Sunsets__________,
and______ blessed the dawn________with this song__
They sung of love\ and when your heart is full,
trem-bl-ing lips\ beneath a mistletoe____
they made my heart____ stand still_______.
So as I sing____ this song____ I know I\Just\ can’t____ go wrong______,
because it flowed____ from the pen ____ of
Maestro, Quincy Jones______.
I____ love the sound____ of maestro\Quincy Jones____.
His music____ is so____ divine______.
When I sing____his songs____ I know I can’t____go wrong,
because I’m filled____with the soul____of Quincy Jones______.
And then when Phil began to play\ Q just let him have____ his own way_____,
and Phil said, \”Maestro\ . . . I just love the sound of this
mel-o-dy.”
Then picked up his horn\ and started to
soar________like an angel__________,
and joined____ the immortals____ in fame_____.
Genius like this\ you never see no more____, \kissed
by the Gods\ as they walk through the door;
\A genius where time____stands still___________.
So as I sing___ his song______I know I____
can’t________ go wrong_________,
because I am wrapped\ in the soul_____ of Maestro____ Quincy Jones______.
*
Beauty is Q’s genre, and
he uses our heartstrings as his ax.
The fabulous Quincy Jones and the great Clark Terry!
INVITATION by Q and Orchestra with sax solo by Phil Woods
About the writer
Eric L. Wattree is a writer, poet, and musician, born in Los Angeles. He’s a columnist for The Los Angeles Sentinel, Black Star News, The Atlanta Post, and a member of the Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists (http://www.spj.org/). He’s also the author of “A Message From the Hood.”
“Some of the greatest minds I’ve ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lots of ghetto liquor stores, while some of the weakest minds I’ve ever known roamed the halls of academia in pursuit of credentials over knowledge.”
posted by robert j. carmack #blues2jazzguy #chefrobb #GrammyAwards #GrammySalute #CBSNetwork
“Songs in the Key of Life: An All-Star Grammy Salute” aired Monday on CBS, which featured the best of the new generation performers, all paying respect to the legendary Stevie Wonder.
Performers including Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Pharrell, Tony Bennett and The Band Perry paid homage to the singer/songwriter and his muscular music catalog during the show, which was taped last week in Los Angeles. I don’t watch the Grammy Awards show and have not in over twenty years because of low quality shows and antics by publicity-starved pseudo mega stars. I saw one of the best show openers in any Grammy-related or, not TV show by Beyoncé, with less “Rump-Shaking and more soulful singing along with two very talented young singers I was not aware of.
Singer/guitarist Gary Clark Jr. joined Beyonce and Sheeran for medley of Wonder hits that included “Higher Ground.”
A “Dialed back” Lady Gaga played the piano and performed a spirited version of “I Wish” after sharing that Wonder’s SONGS album was the first she ever played on her own as a child. we watched on-screen as Stevie mouthed the words “Oh Wow” when she told of his influence on her as a 6 year old child.
Singer/songwriter Babyface joined Ariana Grande for “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours.” Overall, a remarkable tribute to a man who began the journey as an eleven year old boy in 1961 at Motown Records, “Little Stevie Wonder”.
Quote of the Year by Jamie Foxx: ” Let’s be Honest, STEVIE WONDER has more talent in One Braid than most of the people we hear today “
WAS THIS SHOW BETTER THAN THE GRAMMYS ? Stripped of all the Punk & Circumstances it’s a resounding YESSSSSSS!!!!! IMHO.
