Issue Articles
Best of the Beat Heartbeat Award: Uncle Lionel
A flurry in the crowd at the Down By the Riverside post-Thanksgiving concert marked the arrival of Uncle Lionel on the scene. Folks gathered around him, jubilantly greeting him with […]
Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement in Music Education: Wanda Rouzan
“I just hate ignorance where there’s knowledge for you,” Wanda Rouzan declares adamantly. The much-loved vocalist, bandleader, actress, businesswoman and life-long educator elaborates saying, “It just takes a book and […]
Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement in Music Business: George and Nina Buck
George and Nina Buck reign over what could be described as the “house that jazz built.” Upstairs in what was once an old French Market warehouse at 1204 Decatur Street, […]
No One Like Rosalee
When I would hear the snap of my mailbox shutting late at night I could be fairly certain that Rosalee Baker was on the prowl dropping off press releases. Baker, […]
Sonny Rollins, The Essential Sonny Rollins: The RCA Years (RCA Victor/Legacy)
As jazz critic Bob Blumenthal’s informed liner notes remind us, when it was rumored in 1961 that saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins was about to emerge from his two-year exile a […]
Wynton Marsalis with illustrations by Paul Rogers, Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits (Candlewick Press)
Trumpeter and jazz advocate and educator Wynton Marsalis waxes poetic as he alphabetically celebrates 26 jazz legends. Each one, from trumpeter Louis Armstrong to trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, is regaled using […]
Frederick Sheppard, Blessed (Independent)
When Frederick Sheppard, better know as Shep, is on a second line parade with the Tremé Brass Band, the spot to be is right by his side. This is the […]
Warmdaddy’s Home
“Desi always says that we’ve been married for 15 years but she’s only known me for seven because I’m on the road so often,” says Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson. Now, the […]
