ARETHA FRANKLIN QUEEN OF SOUL ~ THE END OF AN ERA ~1942 – 2018


  As a baby boomer, I grew up 1950s-60s, being only 8 years behind Aretha. I was digging on all that good music from those people my parents liked, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Brook Benton, Dinah Washington, BB King, Bobby Blue Bland, Lloyd Price. Then the Motown thing hit L.A. starting with a group from Detroit…

PATRICE RUSHEN: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY FINGERS!


Patrice Louise Rushen (born September 30) is quite the  jazz pianist and R&B singer. She’s also a composer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director. Her 1982 single, “Forget Me Nots“, received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Rushen had great success on the R&B and dance charts. “Haven’t You Heard” went number 7 on…

REMEMBERING FREDERICK DEWAYNE HUBBARD: “HUBB”


written by Robert J. Carmack  #@blues2jazzguy As this writer was trying to decide on subjects and artists to write about during Jazz appreciation month, “Hubb”, BKA Freddie Hubbard, came into my mind It’s not easy to write about an eclectic figure like Frederick Dewayne Hubbard. So I’m just going to go against all traditional musings about Hubbard, as…

STRATO-SPHERE: THELONIOUS SPHERE MONK TURNS 100 – JAZZ-POETRY TRIBUTE


                A ROBERT J. CARMACK PRODUCTIONS Presents Strato-Sphere:Thelonious Monk Turns 100 A moving and eclectic project involving Jazz legend Thelonious Monk’s most prized compositions performed by Los Angeles’s most talked about Jazz musicians,vocalists, poets and dancers.  Follow this blog for all information forthcoming. If you’re interested in participation as co-sponsor, artist or media …

KEVIN GOINS ~MUSIC MAN OF THE AGES: RUDY VAN GELDER MEMORIAM


by Kevin Goins – Music/Media Consultant/Contributor         RUDY VAN GELDER – IN MEMORIAM….. Damn, Grim Reaper…bad enough we’ve seen many folks go to the Great Beyond before we hit mid-year, no thanks to you. And this week, you just had to go for the flippin’ trifecta. Toots, Steven Hill, and now this…