MARGARET WALKER

Margaret Abigail Walker was born on July 7 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama. Her parents, the Reverend Sigismund C. Walker, a Methodist minister and an educator, and Marion Dozier Walker, a music teacher, encouraged her to read poetry and philosophy from an early age.
Walker completed her high school education at Gilbert Academy in New Orleans, Louisiana, where her family had moved in 1925. She went on to attend New Orleans University (now Dillard University) for two years. Then, after acclaimed poet Langston Hughes recognized her talent and urged her to seek training in the North, she transferred to Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, where she received a B.A. in English in 1935, at the age of nineteen. In 1937, she published "For My People" in Poetry magazine. Her first poem to appear in print, “For My People” became one of her most famous works and was even anthologized in 1941 in The Negro Caravan.

In 1936, Walker took on full-time work with the Federal Writers' Project in Chicago under Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Project Administration, befriending and collaborating with such noted artists as Gwendolyn Brooks, Katherine Dunham, and Frank Yerby. Perhaps the most memorable of these friendships was that with noted author Richard Wright whose texts Walker would later help to research and revise. In 1988, Walker wrote a book recalling that friendship, entitled Richard Wright, Daemonic Genius: A Portrait of the Man, a Critical Look at His Work. Involvement in the Writers' Project offered Walker a firsthand glimpse of the struggles of inner-city African Americans who were products of the Great Migration, a northward movement that had resulted in hard times and broken dreams for many southern black immigrants. During this time, Walker authored an urban novel, "Goose Island," which was never published.

After completing her tenure with the WPA in 1939, Walker returned to school, entering the Creative Writing Program at the University of Iowa, where she earned a Master of Arts degree in 1940 and, later, a Ph.D. in 1965. In 1941, Walker began teaching at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina. In 1942, she left for one year to teach at West Virginia State College. In that year, she also published her first volume of poems, For My People, with the title poem quickly becoming her signature piece and helping elevate her toward success. For this volume, which served as her Master's thesis at Iowa, she won the Yale Younger Poets Award.
In 1943, Walker married Firnist James Alexander, or "Alex," as she lovingly called him, an interior designer and decorator. In 1949, following the birth of their first three children (they had a total of four children), the couple moved to Jackson, Mississippi. Walker began a prosperous teaching career at Jackson State College in the same year, retiring from its English Department thirty years later in 1979. In 1968, she founded the Institute for the Study of History, Life, and Culture of Black People (now the Margaret Walker Alexander National Research Center). She directed the center until her retirement. During her tenure at Jackson State, Walker also organized and chaired the Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival.

Following retirement, she remained active as professor emerita until she crossed over on November 30, 1998 from breast cancer. Jubilee, a neo-slave narrative based on the collected memories of the author’s maternal grandmother, Elvira Ware Dozier, was published in 1966, only a year after Walker completed the first version of it for her dissertation. Many scholars view the novel as an African American response to America's fascination with Gone With the Wind (1936). Others recognize the work as an example of the historic presence that the author commands as a prophet of sorts for her people. The novel has enjoyed tremendous popularity, winning the Houghton Mifflin Literary Award (1968), having been translated into seven languages, and having never gone out of print. It has also led the author into controversy: in 1988, Walker found herself in conflict with the famed author of Roots, Alex Haley, whom she accused of infringing on her copyright of Jubilee. However, her lawsuit against him was dismissed. Walker provides further detail regarding the production of the novel in her 1972 essay, "How I Wrote Jubilee."

Walker followed Jubilee with Prophets for a New Day (1970), a poetic treatment of the historic civil rights struggle of blacks in America. It also celebrates the tradition of African American folktales and expression.
Although October Journey (1973) is more personal in tone, it still resonates with Walker's commitment to highlight the black race's struggle for freedom through art. The poems of the collection pay homage to many of Walker’s contemporaries, such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Hayden, who also employed their art as tools of liberation.

Walker's influence on the younger Black Aesthetic poets of the 1960s and 1970s can be seen in her published talks with Nikki Giovanni. Appearing in 1974, A Poetic Equation: Conversations between Nikki Giovanni and Margaret Walker exemplifies the common concern for justice that linked the two artists and bridged their generations.
ForFarish Street Green, Walker’s fourth poetry volume, appeared in 1986. Pieces in this collection reflect life in the Farish Street community in Jackson, Mississippi. Walker begins her portrait of the people in the neighborhood by making their lives testaments to those of their African ancestors.

This Is My Century: New and Collected Poems (1989) chronicles Walker's auspicious literary career while proving that she has unrivaled tenacity and endurance as a poet. In 1990, she revised and re-published How I Wrote Jubilee and Other Essays on Life and Literature, coauthored with scholar Maryemma Graham. In 1997, with Graham as editor again, Walker released another collection of previously written essays, entitled On Being Female, Black, and Free: Essays by Margaret Walker, 1932-1992. Several other projects remained incomplete at the time of Walker’s death, including "God Touched My Life," a biography of Sister Thea Bowman, a black nun in Mississippi; "Black-Eyed Susans," an account of the murders of two students at Jackson State College; a book on Jesse Jackson's relationship to black politics; and an autobiography.

Among Walker's numerous accolades are six honorary degrees, a Rosenwald Fellowship (1944), a Ford Fellowship (1953), a Fulbright Fellowship to Norway (1971), a senior fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1972), the Living Legacy Award, given by the Carter administration, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the College Language Association (1992), and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in the Arts, presented by William Winter, then governor of Mississippi (1992).

Walker has been compared to many great writers and has claimed, as personal acquaintances and influences, the likes of James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Longevity was Walker’s friend, and, over the course of her career, she earned a place among the best (African) American poets, many of whom were her protégés.

DAVE BRUBECK

Dave Brubeck was born in Concord, California, on December 6, 1920. He was the third son of Elizabeth Ivey Brubeck, a music teacher and pianist, and Howard "Pete" Brubeck, a cattle rancher. Dave went to the College of the Pacific, in Stockton, California, as a pre-med student with the aim of becoming a veterinarian, but soon changed his major to music. Upon graduation in 1942, he entered the armed services where he served under Patton in the European Theater of Operations. Upon his discharge in 1946, Dave returned from Europe to study composition with the famous French composer, Darius Milhaud. With encouragement from Milhaud, Brubeck began composing and performing with an octet, which included Paul Desmond, Cal Tjader and Bill Smith. The Dave Brubeck Trio, with Cal Tjader and Ron Crotty, won both the Down Beat and Metronome awards for Best New Instrumental Group.

Following a near fatal swimming accident which incapacitated him for several months, Brubeck organized a quartet with his old friend, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. They were an inseparable team from 1951 to 1968, selling millions of records and winning dozens of jazz polls. After the original quartet disbanded, Dave Brubeck toured and recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Alan Dawson and Jack Six; and for two years led an all-Brubeck Quartet with his sons, Darius, Dan and Chris. The current version of the Dave Brubeck Quartet includes Randy Jones, drums; Jack Six, string bass; and Bill Smith, an original member of the 1947 Dave Brubeck Octet, on clarinet.

Over his long career, Dave Brubeck has received many honors. He was inducted into the first Playboy Jazz Hall of Fame, along with Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra. He was one of the first musicians to have a star placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University and holds six honorary doctorate degrees. In 1987, he received the Connecticut Arts Award, and was honored in 1988 at the American Eagle Awards presented by the National Music Council. In 1989, he was inducted into the Pantheon of the Arts at University of the Pacific, and was cited by the French Government for his contribution to the arts. In April of 1990, Fairfield University honored him with the Gerard Manley Hopkins Award. In 1992, he was honored by the Connecticut Bar Association and Simon's Rock College for distinguished service. He also received the BMI Jazz Pioneer Award and was commended by that organization for his "long and outstanding contributions to the world of jazz." And in 1994 Mr. Brubeck was awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President Clinton.

Dave Brubeck first appeared on the Telarc label as a guest artist on Big Band Hit Parade. Fortunately for Telarc, Mr. Brubeck brought his own group to the label and recorded Late Night Brubeck live at the Blue Note in 1993. Mr. Brubeck continues to record for Telarc bringing outstanding recordings to his fans - old and new.

YEWMANYETI

Yuma Bellomee (pronounced like Bellamy), who goes by the name Yewmanyeti was born August 23, 1981 in Bronx, NY. He spent most of his childhood living in the south side of Mt. Vernon, NY, where he currently resides, and between schools in Mt. Vernon and the Bronx. At an early age, he was exposed to West African culture through his mother, Brenda, who studied African dance, and his father, Zeleka, a musician who played an instrumental role in the Afro-Caribbean style band called Spirit Ensemble and specialized in playing the mbira (m-BEER-ah), cora (KOR-ah), dozengoni ('doze-n-GO-nee), and various percussion instruments. Yuma displayed his interest in many genres of music and culture at an early age and began studying the West African drum, djembe (pronounced JEM-bay) at the age of 2 years old under master drummer, Kyende Ohuru (kie-END-day oh-HOO-rue).

Unable to continue his lessons there due to time, money, and distance circumstances, he continued drumming for the cultural community of Mt. Vernon and learning more along the way. Also during his childhood, Yuma briefly took piano lessons, which he came out of with the ability to play using his right hand. He would tinker around with the piano and drums for a while, eventually learning the alto and tenor saxophone which he played from middle school through high school in band. At the age of 15, during his stay in Jacksonville, Florida is where he was persuaded by his brother, Rahjae, and who he refers to as his cousins, Joseph and John Scott, to embark on writing rap verses. Influenced by the creativity of Hip Hop artists such as Busta Rhymes, Wu-Tang Clan, Big Pun, and others, he concentrated on first honing his rhyming, then his lyrical skill.

He wrote his first poem for an English assignment in his senior year of high school, and continued writing Hip Hop music and composing a few melodies for it. In the year 2000, he created the Yewmanyeti moniker that he's gone by ever since. After finding a few message boards online, including Vocalized Ink, he was encouraged to write more poetry and eventually record his written poetry pieces for the first time. Influenced by his Hip Hop style, he continues to write poetry occasionally as a hobby and form of release. He is also currently working on a Hip Hop CD entitled Fulphilological Progressions, which he is hoping to complete by the spring of 2007.

KAMAL IMANI

Kamal Imani was born Terrence Karlton Oats on September 17th, 1966 in Harlem NY . At the age of 3 after his parents divorced his mother moved to the Bronx , NY with his 2 younger sisters. He was recruited by the Junior Black Spades gang at the age of 7 and started witnessing situations that he didn’t desire or expect. He later moved to Teaneck NJ at the age of 9 with the assistance of his Grandmother Mrs. Mary C. Webb AKA “Sugarpie” and his Grandfather Henry C. Webb AKA “Pop” whom many would mistaken for Gladys Knight and Redd Foxx.
Watching his mother struggle working overtime for Ma Bell/AT&T and being a latch key kid, Kamal developed a sense of responsibility and protectiveness. He also developed a early sense of entrepreneurship and hustle. After school he would help ladies take their packages home for a few dollars.
One of his favorite quotes is “Everybody wants me to be what they want me to be, I’m not happy when I try to fake it” by Lionel Ritchie of the Commodores from the song “Easy like Sunday Morning”. This is due to Kamal’s many pressured influences. At 11 years old his grandmother worked for the NAACP and when asked by her and his aunt what he wanted to be when he grew up he said “either in communications, broadcasting or an astronomer” His grandmother said “you should want to be the first black president” which bothered him, but he remained determined to pursue communications and also developed a love for poetry and hip hop (his Grandmother gave him African American poetry anthologies to read).
His stepfather Shaka Zulu was and is a Harlem based Garveyite and was very strong with his instilling of his Pan African ideology. Kamal’s father was and is a Jehovah’s Witness and constantly attempted to pull him into that religion. His mother and grandmothers sides of the family went to both Baptist and Methodist churchs.

At the age of 16 Kamal’s 2 female cousins from the Bronx gave him the Autobiography of Malcolm X. His best friends taught him about the 5% Nation of Islam teachings and Kamal started hearing Minister Farrakhan on WWRL AM radio in NYC. This started him reading hundreds of books on spirituality, religion and African history. This is at a time when hip hop was new and on the rise and where Kamal use to write poems to please the young girls, now he was putting it to music.
He was invited to perform at high schools and house parties with his various hip hop crews. He later started promoting talent showcases at various Masonic lodges and making a good deal of money for a teenager. He learned a lot from those days and host several open mics to this day. He is also a radio host of the “Revolutionary Art Show” on Vocalized Ink Radio.

During hip hop’s Golden or Conscious age, Kamal was spitting fiery and conscious lyrics with a message. When he noticed the industry moving towards gangster music and he noticed that Russell Simmons was bringing a new wave of poetry back, he decided to let his message be heard through the poetry venue. In just 4 years he has emerged as a well known, loved and respected poet.

Kamal has been happily married for 12 years to his Bajan (From Barbados) wife and has a 2 year old son. His strong sense of responsibility for his family has caused him to approach the entertainment business with professionalism. He refuses to be viewed as anything but a top notch professional and rising star. He is a graduate of Teaneck High School , Bergen Community College , and Computer Career Training Center and is currently going for his Bachelors online via New York Institute of Technology with the goal of teaching in the inner city. Kamal is doing all of this while holding down a fulltime job at the Penguin Book Publishing Group where he is a Title Release Coordinator.

One of the open mics that Kamal host is at the Technology Resource/Khepera Center in Englewood NJ which houses the home offices and bases for infamous African historians Drs. Leonard and Rosalind Jeffries, Rev. Herbert and Dawn Daughtry, B.W.A.R.E (Black Women Against Racism Empowered) in which he is an advisor and lecturer for, African Medicine Women, Circle of Colors, African Drummers and Martial Arts Circle, The NOI Study Group and Mary K Cosmetics. He constantly participates with fundraising, marketing and networking efforts in his interactions with all of these groups.
He has poems such as “Lynch the N Word” which is primarily aimed at the youth and is being used by classes in the Paterson NJ school system as an educational tool. Also “You a Armchair Revolutionary” which encourages all of us to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. He helps keep the sister’s heads up with his dedication
“Ms. Melanin."

Kamal also has a new wedding maxi single which can be found at http://www.myspace.com/kamalthepoet as well as his CD “The Mic is Calling Me” which can be found at http://www.myspace.com/kamalsupreme

LEE MORGAN

Lee Morgan was born July 10, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Lee was a jazz prodigy, first picking up the trumpet on about the age of thirteeen or so, after developing an interest in the vibraphone. On his 13th or 14th birthday, Morgan was given his first trumpet, his sister Ernestine (his elder by ten years) and mother having brought it together. He joined the Dizzy Gillespie big band at 18, and remained a member for eighteen months, until Gillespie was forced to disband in 1958. Beginning in 1956, he began recording as a leader, mainly for the Blue Note label. Eventually, he recorded 25 albums for the company. Morgan's principal influence as a player was Clifford Brown, having had some lessons from Brown before his premature death.

He was also a featured sideman on several early Hank Mobley records, as well as John Coltrane's Blue Train. On the latter LP, he even played a bent-up horn (like the style that Gillespie made famous), and recorded one of the all-time great improvised trumpet solos on the title track.

Joining Art Blakey's's Jazz Messengers in 1958 further developed his talent as a soloist and songwriter. He toured with Blakey for a few years, and was featured on Moanin, which is probably Blakey's best known recording. According to the biography by Tom Pechard, it was Blakey who started Morgan on his addiction to heroin, which was to blight most of his career. When Benny Golson left the Jazz Messengers, Morgan persuaded Blakey to hire Wayne Shorter, a young tenor saxophonist, to fill the chair. This classic version of the Jazz Messengers, including Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt, would record the classic The Freedom Rider album. The drug problems of Morgan and Timmons led to Blakey sacking them in 1961, and Morgan was largely inactive professionally for about two years, returning to his family in Philadelphia.
Morgan tried to move in to the more advanced areas of the music in the early 1960s. In November 1963 he played on Grachan Moncur III's essentially avant-garde Evolution album (apparently his favorite work), and experimenting on some of his own recordings, such as the title track of Search for the New Land (1964).
But the popularity of his famous album, The Sidewinder, featuring Joe Henderson precluded his career developing in this way.

The title track of that record cracked the pop charts in 1964, and served as the background theme for Chrysler commercials during the World Series. This was done without Morgan's consent and it is thought by Perchard that the intercession of Blue Note's lawyers were enough for the commercial to be withdrawn. The Sidewinder's crossover success in a rapidly changing pop music market caused Blue Note to rush the track's "Boogaloo" sound to stores. This is evidenced in the mid-1960s output of many Blue Note stars, including Morgan, and some of the lesser artists in the stable, releasing albums with modified and rhythmically punchy blues tracks, such as "Yes I Can, No You Can't" on Morgan's own The Gigolo. According to drummer Billy Hart, Morgan said he had recorded "Sidewinder" as filler for the album, and was upset that it had turned into his first hit. In 1964, Morgan rejoined the Jazz Messengers after his successor Freddie Hubbard departed. At this point, the Jazz Messengers had become a sextet, with the addition of Curtis Fuller to the group.

Alongside this commercial success, Morgan continued to record prolifically, producing such works as Search For the New Land which reached the top 20 of the R&B charts. His work became increasingly more modal and free towards the end of the sixties. He had begun to lead his own group, featuring Bennie Maupin as a multi-reedist.

By 1965, Morgan's addiction had returned, and Blakey felt he was unable to use him anymore. Billy Hart says that things deteriorated to the point where Morgan was sleeping on pool tables, and didn't even have a horn, let alone a working band. He borrowed a horn for the recording of Night of the Cookers, in which he sat in with Freddie Hubbard's band at a live gig in New York. The recording captures some of Morgan's weakest playing. Helen Moore, who became his girlfriend and later his common-law wife, helped Morgan clean up his act. He eventually put together a working band and re-established himself. Live at the Lighthouse, recorded over three nights of a two-week stand at Hermosa Beach, California in July, 1970, captures some very strong playing by Morgan and his band. A three-disc box set of the performances has been issued in recent years.

On February 19, 1972 Lee Morgan was shot by Helen Moore following an argument between sets at Slug's, a popular New York City jazz club. According to an interview with drummer Billy Hart. Morgan had gotten into a dispute with a drug dealer, after buying a large amount of cocaine. He called Moore and asked her to bring his gun to him at the club.Moore showed up, and spotted him with another woman (whom Morgan had been planning to leave Moore for) An argument erupted, and Morgan kicked Moore out of the club. When she returned to retrieve something she had forgotten, Morgan got into a scuffle with her, and the gun went off. An ambulance was late in showing up, and Morgan bled to death. His last words to Moore while she was crying to him, were "Get away from me, you dirty bitch." Moore was judged to be insane at the time of the shooting, and spent several months in an asylum, in which she reportedly continued to talk to Morgan as if he was still alive. After her release, she moved down south, and disappeared, according to Hart.

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA

Yusef Komunyakaa was born on April 29, 1947 in Bogalusa, Louisiana. He is the eldest of five children. Komunyakaa uses his childhood experiences to inform many of his works: his familial relationships, his maturation in a rural Southern community, and the musical environment afforded by the close proximity of the jazz and blues center of New Orleans provide fundamental themes for several of his volumes.
Military service during young adulthood also proved formative to the budding poet. After graduating from Bogalusa's Central High School in 1965, Komunyakaa enlisted in the United States Army to begin a tour of duty in Vietnam. While there, he started writing, sometime between 1969 and 1970. As a correspondent for and later editor of the military newspaper, The Southern Cross, Komunyakaa mastered a journalistic style that he would use later to write poems about his time in war. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his work with the paper.
After leaving the army in the early 1970s, Komunyakaa enrolled at the University of Colorado, receiving a B.A. in 1975. While at Colorado, he discovered his nascent abilities as a poet in a creative writing workshop. The workshop, notes the author, was the first chance he had to write for himself. Even though he had long been an avid reader of poetry and a lover of literature, his attempts to write creatively--mainly short stories--had been unsuccessful.
Inspired by his newfound love and talent, Komunyakaa went on to earn an M.A. from Colorado State University in 1978, studying with poet Bill Tremblay in the graduate writing program. Meanwhile, he continued to practice his art, self-publishing two limited editions, Dedications and Other Darkhorses (1977) and Lost in the Bonewheel Factory (1979).
He left Colorado State to earn an M.F.A. from the University of California at Irvine in 1980. That same year, he joined the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, a closely knit community of artists geared toward encouraging the self-conscious, individualistic writer. Being in residence at the work center, the author felt, gave him an opportunity to develop his own voice. There he gained a deeper understanding of himself as a writer and as a human being, an acute awareness that he strives to express in his poetry. Komunyakaa says this of a poet’s quest--a search fulfilled for him by his unique workshop experience: "a sort of unearthing has to take place; sometimes one has to remove layers of facades and superficialities. The writer has to get down to the guts of the thing and rediscover the basic timbre of his or her existence."
Komunyakaa has been very prolific since his time at Irvine, writing nine additional volumes of poetry, co-editing two anthologies, and producing a couple of works of prose. His third collection, Copacetic (1984), is his first commercially published book, featuring some of the earliest poems he wrote. Komunyakaa completed Copacetic in 1981 after returning to Louisiana to reconsider how the music of his home town reflected racial issues of the time. He discovered that jazz music was being used both as a forum in which to express racial iniquity and as a catharsis to heal the wounds which resulted from hatred and bigotry. It is no coincidence, then, that in this volume, Komunyakaa focuses on childhood and folk experiences that are startling and pleasurable, gripping and appealing: he invokes jazz and blues forms, themes, and idioms, as noted by critic Kirkland Jones, to soothe the pain of his community, to create poetry "where everything is alright." In fact, the pieces in the collection are closely tied to the meaning of the word "copacetic," a term originally coined by the African American tap dancer, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, to refer to situations where everything is, as scholar Constance Valis Hill notes, "fine or tip-top." The expression was later adopted by jazz musicians to describe musical pieces that are particularly melodious, smooth, mellow, and entirely pleasing.
Despite its racially-charged content, Copacetic is framed by an overarching theme of contentment. It is as if Komunyakaa is ultimately rendering the hope of a people who, despite a long history of racism, have persevered and ultimately triumphed.
Quickly becoming an accomplished poet, Komunyakaa also took on the role of educator, teaching poetry in the public school system of New Orleans and then creative writing at the University of New Orleans. At the University he met Mandy Sayer, an Australian fiction writer, whom he married in 1985. Also in 1985, he became an associate professor at Indiana University at Bloomington, where he held the Ruth Lily Professorship from 1989 to 1990.
In 1986 the author's fourth volume, I Apologize for the Eyes in My Head, was published. This work is an attempt to coalesce otherwise disparate events, to mesh and extract meaning from what Aimé Césaire terms "all lived experiences." Despite the title's obvious proclamation, the book is not, as the author states, an apology. Rather it is a satirical analysis of the definitions that we often use to identify who we are to others and to ourselves. As a whole, it rejects status, class, and "Uncle Tom-ism." It embraces, instead, ordinary yet mythic images like those of old women, babies, prostitutes, and ghosts. For this volume, Komunyakaa won the San Francisco Poetry Center Award honoring the best book of poetry published in 1986.
Fourteen years after leaving Vietnam, Komunyakaa began recording his war experiences in verse. The two collections that specifically chronicle those experiences, Toys in a Field (1987) and Dien Cai Dau (1988), place him among the most notable of the soldier-poets. The latter volume made the 1988 Young Adults/American Library Association "Best Books for Young Adults" list. Several of the poems have been translated into a number of languages, and, in 1989, many were included in W. D. Ehrharts's anthology, Unaccustomed Mercy: Soldier-Poets of the Vietnam War.
February in Sydney (1989), the poet's next work, reflects his interest both in jazz composition and in Australian culture, particularly that of the Aborigine people. The Jazz Poetry Anthology, which followed in 1991, features more jazz- and blues-influenced poetry. Komunyakaa co-edited the collection with poet and jazz saxophonist Sascha Feinstein.
In Magic City (1992), the author details his childhood in Louisiana. He brilliantly portrays the imagination of a young child, drawing on such images as a Venus fly-trap plant, a love-torn and abusive father, a neighborhood street prophet, the trials of an immigrant grandfather, and the juvenile rivalry of siblings.
Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems (1993) features pieces that further exemplify the author's ability to elevate single images. In addition, some of his best work from earlier volumes is included. For this book Komunyakaa was awarded the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Kingsley Tufts Award and the William Faulkner Prize from the Université de Rennes in 1994.
In 1996, Komunyakaa teamed up with Feinstein again to publish a sequel to their first anthology, The Second Set: The Jazz Poetry Anthology, Volume 2. Komunyakaa’s Thieves of Paradise (1998), which was short listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award, includes poems about his stay in Australia.
Komunyakaa’s latest works of poetry include: Talking Dirty to the Gods (2000), a mixture of classical and modern themes where Greek mythology and deadly sins meet sensuality and jazz musicians; and Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999 (2001), both a collection of some of Komunyakaa’s premier poems from over the span of his twenty-five-year career and the debut of many more new poems.
Komunyakaa’s works of prose include: 1) the co-translation, with Martha Collins, of Nguyen Quang Thieu’s The Insomnia of Fire (1995); and 2) the contribution of essays, ruminations, and inspirations to Blues Notes: Essays, Interviews & Commentaries (2000), an exploration of the development of Komunyakaa’s blues aesthetic.
Critics have compared Komunyakaa to Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Amiri Baraka, and William Carlos Williams. The author has acknowledged that his work has been influenced by these poets as well as by Melvin Tolson, Sterling Brown, Helen Johnson, Margaret Walker, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Komunyakaa boasts numerous prestigious awards and titles, including two Creative Writing Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1981, 1987), the Thomas Forcade Award (1991), the Hanes Poetry Prize (1997), Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets (1999), and the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1998). Komunyakaa's critical acclaim, particularly as a "Southern writer," has garnered him biographical and critical inclusion in such collections as the Norton Anthology of Southern Literature, The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, and The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. He is currently Distinguished Senior Poet and Professor in the Graduate Creative Writing Program at New York University.

JOSHUA REDMAN

Joshua Redman was born February 1, 1969, in Berkeley, California. By the time of his birth, his father, noted saxophonist Dewey Redman, had moved to New York and was playing with Ornette Coleman. Redman's only contact with his father was hearing his records around the house, and during infrequent visits to town with Coleman, Keith Jarrett, Old and New Dreams, and others. His mother, Renee Shedroff, a dancer and librarian, was the driving force that nurtured his creativity.

Redman's formal music training began when his mother enrolled him in Indonesian and Indian music classes at the Center for World Music. These unique art forms, along with the recordings of Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, and Dewey Redman were his early influences. Redman soon learned to play the recorder, guitar, and piano. He listened to popular music, such as James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire, the Commodores, Parliament-Funkadelic, Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles.

At ten years old, Redman settled on the tenor saxophone; he had been exposed to it since birth and felt naturally drawn to the sound. He started with the clarinet and moved on to tenor the following year. The Berkeley Public Schools had an exceptional jazz program, directed by Phil Hardymon. (Graduates include Benny Green, Craig Handy, Peter Apfelbaum, and Rodney Franklin, among others.)

Although he quickly became an accomplished saxophonist, Redman was often more interested in popular music than jazz. Experimenting with guitar and keyboards, he would seldom practice the saxophone. The Berkeley High School jazz band, directed by Charles Hamilton, won several competitions, with Redman usually named the best soloist. His high school jazz quartet started working professionally. Though he still didn't practice, he was listening more and more, rediscovering the music of Rollins, Gordon, and Coltrane, and also absorbing the styles of Charlie Parker, Joe Henderson, Stanley Turrentine, Ben Webster, Wayne Shorter, Coleman, and others. Always a serious student, Redman's academic studies took precedence over music. With straight A's throughout high school, he graduated in 1986 number one in his class. He wanted to become a doctor and was accepted early admission to Harvard. Boston suited him well; he could be in a city with a strong music scene and still concentrate on his studies.

While at Harvard, Redman played in the school jazz band, but that was about it for music. His limited playing experiences included a few gigs with Delfeayo Marsalis his senior year; after weeks without practice, Redman would get on a plane and show up for the gig.

However, during summer breaks in Boston, he spent most of his time hanging out with musicians at the Berklee College of Music and participating in jam sessions. He also debuted with his father at the Village Vanguard in summer 1990. His intense listening continued with his influences expanding to other instrumentalists — McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Kelly, Elvin Jones, Ray Brown, and Freddie Hubbard, among others.

Redman graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1991, and was accepted to Yale Law School. He was now on his way to a career in civil rights law or social work, but before jumping in, he took a year off. He wanted to check out the music scene in New York — not as a career move, but as a chance to concentrate on being creative again. In June 1991, he moved to a house with four other musicians in Brooklyn. For the first time in his life, he was practicing regularly, playing jam sessions every day, and taking advantage of the New York jazz scene. He was also playing regularly with his father.

Finally, in late November 1991, he performed at the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. He won the contest and has since performed and/or recorded with Elvin Jones, Charles Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Pat Metheny, Roy Hargrove, the Mingus Dynasty and Big Band, Red Rodney, and Paul Motion, among many others. He was also voted Best New Artist in the 1992 Jazz Times reader's poll.

MAX PARTHAS

Nelson Saha was born in Paterson, NJ. Nelson is a poet, producer, father, performer, preacher. activist dream builder and mentor to some of the most talented artists of our age. Nearly 20 years of experience in the edutainment industry has made the Man known as Maximus Parthas all of these things and more.

His career began in the early 90’s and by 1997 Max had hit the national scene with the rap group FAM. The first Family in Hip Hop history (Max & his children) Within 2 more years Max had established himself in the industry as a manager, producer, performer and marketing wizard of unparalleled ability. With Max as it’s head, the company he founded, “FAM Entertainment” became a local media icon with over 20 artists under that banner. Using his uncanny publicity savvy, Max and the edutainers he managed graced a multitude of magazine covers, newspaper headlines, and national television. All while doing it as a family.

By 2001 Max had done much. From his own radio show to a syndicated TV series. But something was missing and it left the poet unfulfilled. Money was neither the goal nor the answer. Fame was fleeting and finicky at best. None of it held the sense of achievement he sought. Growing up in impoverished Paterson NJ had taught Max many lessons. Primarily that life needs heroes and leaders who have the courage to face conformity head on and make a lasting difference in the quality of our society.

A born leader, it wasn’t long before his poetic peers sought direction from the much accomplished activist and writer. Unlike the present icons of rap, the pioneers of poetry were interested in truth and positive change. Their main goal wasn’t money. (what poet can expect to get rich?) They wanted nothing more than to be heard. These poets represented nearly every state in the union. Getting people heard was something Max excelled in. The combination could become a national phenomenon but Max was reluctant to lead so many when he himself knew the consequences of speaking out. Alone he could continue to fight against issues like poverty, racisms, inequity, corruption and political dictatorship. Yet he was loathe to include those who didn’t realize the price of such pursuits. Eventually, Through trust and friendship, the poets of DPJ convinced Max to lead them into a new era.

Within 4 years Max and the poets of a Prysmatic Dreams did exactly that. Repeating the steps that had made Hip Hop so successful and incorporating the emerging technologies of the internet, these groundbreaking literary pioneers created an ever growing movement that humbly began with their home site “PrysmaticDreams.com” and has now grown to over 500 poets, 14 venues nationwide, a nationally syndicated show and a global audience.

Maximus Parthas may have led the way, but every accomplishment was made as a team. With a multitude of venues, achievements and awards, those pioneers that began by chance at DPJ got what they wanted and more. To be heard. To make a difference in their communities and lives. To allow creative talents unrestricted growth while edutaining the world with art. To reach out and reach back for those who would follow the tenets of A New Word Order. As industry trendsetters, their influence continues to touch the entire genre of spoken word/poetry today.

MATT SAVAGE

Matt Savage was born May 12, 1992 Sudbury, Massachusetts, he is the son of Diane and Lawrence "Larry" Savage. . He was diagnosed with autism at age 3. Not one to be pegged with a label even as a toddler, Matt absorbed everything he could from early and intensive therapy. He taught himself how to read piano music at the age of 6 1/2, and immediately thereafter began studies in classical piano. He discovered jazz in 1999 and studied for 3 years at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. When his family moved out of state, Matt did not have a piano teacher for over a year until he began private studies with his current teacher. Matt has never had any instruction in composition.

Always up for a new challenge, Matt recorded his first CD in December of 1999 in collaboration with his instructor at The New England Conservatory to raise money for autism research. Matt became the youngest child to perform at the NEPTA “Gifted and Talented” classical piano recitals in early 2000.

In September of 2000, Matt met and played piano for Dave Brubeck. The meeting was aired by WGME-TV Channel 13 in Portland, Maine. Brubeck’s comments about the meeting: “I was amazed at how talented he is. Amazing is the word I can tell you. I keep track of young talent in kids, and he’s the first one that I met that young that was THAT talented. He has such a musical mind that it isn’t music that he has to learn. It seems like he’s such an advanced musician in so many ways already at 8.”


On December 21st, 2000, Matt met and played piano for and with Chick Corea (at a sound check). Matt jammed with Avishai Cohen and Jeff Ballard, Chick’s sidemen, during the meeting. Matt was playing with the sidemen when Chick walked in, and when Avishai said, “Hey Matt! Play something for Chick!” Matt proceeded to launch into one of the most well known of Chick’s own tunes…”Steps.” He played it flawlessly and at breakneck speed. Avishai ribbed Chick, saying, “He plays it better than you do.” Fortunately, Chick has a good sense of humor. The two pianists sat at the piano, playing impromptu duets and eventually a kind of “dueling improv,” smiling all the time. Then Chick shared his dinner with Matt while conversing about life and music.
Matt released his second CD (and first solo piano effort) entitled “Live at the Olde Mill” in January of 2001. Matt’s first live radio interview and performance was on May 16th, 2001 on WERS 88.9, a Boston-based radio station.

At the age of 9, Matt indicated he wanted to play in an ensemble. He attended a few open jazz jams on a few Sunday afternoons and hit it off with two adult musicians, John Funkhouser and Steve Silverstein. Matt was scheduled to play a benefit concert to raise money for autism research a few weeks later and asked John and Steve to join him. They agreed, and the chemistry among the musicians at that concert was such that The Matt Savage Trio was born. The band never rehearsed. They just started performing gigs together as a band. The Matt Savage Trio is headed by Matt, on piano, with John Funkhouser on bass and Steve Silverstein on drums.
Matt was featured as “The Artist of the Month” for Orchard music distributors in the spring of 2001, and opened for The Alon Yavnai Group around the same time at The Center for the Arts in Natick, MA.

McCoy Tyner was the next jazz great to invite Matt to his sound check in August of 2001. So, Matt jammed with Avery Sharpe and Al Foster and got words of praise and wisdom from McCoy. After an article came out about Matt in The Boston Globe in October of 2001, Matt started selling out concerts. And in November of 2001, The Matt Savage Trio released their first CD as a trio, a CD entitled “All Jazzed Up”. Around that time, Matt appeared on Lifetime Television and on ABC’s “20/20”. He also did interviews and performances on many, many radio stations across the country. Matt received his first CD review on the “All About Jazz” web site in February of 2002, and was heralded as “phenomenal”.

Matt has received many awards, including being signed in 2003 to Bösendorfer pianos. He is the only child to be so recognized in the company's 175-year history.
Matt has toured the world, performing for heads of state and others, and appearing on numerous television and radio programs such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Today Show, and All Things Considered. In 2006, at age 14, he was featured on a CNN report about the human brain, in which he was defined as a "prodigious savant," as opposed to the other types of savants. Matt has also appeared in several documentaries about savants.

SAFIYYAH AMINA MUHAMMAD

Safiyyah Amina Muhammad was born in Harlem, in 1969 to Gloria and Gilbert Muhammad. She was raised between Newark and East Orange, New Jersey; where she currently resides. Safiyyah’s paternal grandfather was a self-taught Jazz musician in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. Safiyyah attributes much of her inherent enthusiasm for Jazz music to this fact. Safiyyah was also highly influenced by her mother’s extensive collection of musical greats such as Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Etta Jones, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Shirley Caesar, Bobby Womack, Bobby Blue Bland, The O’ Jays, Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin and many of the Motown greats and Philadelphia sounds of the 70’s. It was the original and playful lyrics of Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band that invited Safiyyah to test the art of writing songs and poetry.

“I used to write poetry and songs all the time in my youth, I even co-founded an all girls rap group and, believe it or not, I used to break-dance. But as I got older, my interests had shifted”, states Safiyyah of why she decided to unlock her self-proclaimed “Briefcase of Verse” ©, which she plans to publish and record later this year. Safiyyah’s voice is like poetry in motion and her poetry is as soothing as it is powerful! Safiyyah’s first effort at reciting in public was what she proclaims to be “sweaty palms” moment when she read before Miguel Algarin of Nuyorican Poets Café and Amiri Baraka. Encouraged by Miguel’s positive words, she began featuring at the Jordan’s Red Carpet Restaurant in Roselle, New Jersey.


Safiyyah says that, as of four years ago, writing poetry became a therapeutic retreat to compliment her hectic lifestyle. "I believe that Sufyaan's love of jazz is also inherent. Jazz delivers the synchronicity, syncopation and dissonance in its musical expression that often captures what's going on inside the mind. It's melodic and pragmatic all at once. I believe this is characteristic of Jazz music, Autism, even Attention Deficit Disorder; the latter of which I have been striving to live with. There's so much going on that it's not. A mind in a confused state is like having internal comping with your psyche. Each instrument represents a different thought, a different scope; a different point of view. It begins so serene and subtle, but like MY thoughts, the melodies all take on a life of their own. The syncopation of the bass line, the percussion and the melodic instrumentation is like fluctuating feelings. My chest gets tight and my throat begins to close. I read the same reaction as I study my son. Jazz music is so deliciously invasive. The music jumps inside of the body to define the mind. We’re consumed by Jazz." Safiyyah admits that the only instrument that she plays is the violin, “But in my mind I have a mean Johnson stride”, she says jokingly.

Safiyyah has been married for eleven years to her best friend and has five dynamic children ages 21, 11, 9, 8, and 4; four boys and one girl. Her eldest son is expecting his first child in August, which will add more excitement to Safiyyah’s already eventful life. One of the main facts that make her life so busy is raising a child with special needs. Safiyyah’s nine year old son, Sufyaan, has Autism. “It was a lonely struggle trying to figure out why my son was different and what that difference was”, she stated, “I couldn’t defeat this challenge until I knew what the challenge was”.

Once Safiyyah began advocating for the rights of her son and challenging the status quo in decisions regarding his care, it was evident that advocacy was her calling. She began by learning everything about Autism Spectrum Disorder and the options that are available in obtaining treatment and educating herself and her child. By age three, Safiyyah was taking Sufyaan to Speech therapy sessions on one side of town, sending him to school in the Preschool Disabled program in her public school district and juggling maintaining and supporting a family both inside and outside of her home. Safiyyah is the oldest of 7 and maintains a matriarchal relationship with her relatives both in New York and New Jersey and the in the South.

As an African-American Muslim woman, Safiyyah has always been aware of the biases and prejudices that exist in society, however, having a child with a developmental disability opened up a whole new world that Safiyyah did not expect. Her Islamic upbringing and strong spiritual influence of her grandmother has led her to declare that “if you’re a true follower of your faith, who YOU ARE should define how you deal with who I AM”. She soon found that this compassion for others was not shared in every venue she and her son were exposed to and this eventually led to her crusade for justice for people with disabilities and the disparities that are apparent in today’s public school systems. She began volunteering in her children’s classrooms by providing their teachers with a support network and chaperoning school trips. Consequently, she was elected to the Parent Teacher Organization. Safiyyah has worked diligently with parents, school staff and administrators and students in addressing concerns within public schools for children who receive mainstream and Special Education instruction. “I’d like to know that if I present a problem, I equally present a viable solution, or at least, I’d like to help in finding resources that lead to a solution”.


Following in the footsteps of their talented mother, Safiyyah’s oldest son Bashir has played the guitar, saxophone and writes poetry and songs. Her daughter Aatikah is an aspiring singer-songwriter and has already written seven songs. The second oldest, Abdul-Salaam, has written a 3-part comic book series and aspires to complete an animated series and video game.

Safiyyah says; “Like Loretta Claiborne, I would love to one day see Sufyaan take the world by storm displaying his athletic prowess in the Special Olympics World Games. I know he can do it. He’s determined, he has support and he’s loved and with that love that we feel for him, if he wanted to touch the moon, he could.”

Safiyyah’s advice to other parents of children with disabilities is that early intervention is the most important aspect of addressing differences in your child that concern you. "Seek advice from a professional but don’t limit yourself to the diagnosis of one. Many medical professionals have not yet unlocked the mystery of Autism and they may ignore something that could be crucial to your child’s success in treatment. Support legislation that promotes better means of connecting with the community of individuals who have or are affected by disabilities. Knowledge is the key to understanding. If you don’t know someone who is affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder; chances are YOU WILL”.

ERIK LAWRENCE & Hipmotism

Erik Lawrence was born in upstate NY and grew up around NYC area. His father, a jazz saxophonist and noted jazz educator (creator of the Jazz Studies Department at the New School) introduced him to Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Chico Hamilton and other jazz masters at an early age. He played with their bands. When Erik turned 5 years old his father handed him his first saxophone, taught him how to hold it, where the notes where and how to breathe and said "Now play what you feel" and that is what Erik is still doing.

In addition to the jazz he heard with his father Erik became entranced with the sound of the saxophone and with saxophonists with great sounds. He immersed himself in the music of Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Sidney Bechet, Booker Ervin and George Adams. Later it was Pharoah Sanders, Charles Lloyd, Archie Shepp and even Grover Washington Jr and David Sanborn. Along the way he developed his own sound on all of the saxophones and the flute.

Erik was also drawn to the soulful music of Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, New Orleans Rhythm and Blues, Chicago Blues, Reggae, African Music, Asian Music, Middle Eastern Music, Eastern European Music, Spanish Music, South American Music until finally he listened to sounds in nature; bird songs and humpback whales.

Erik began teaching jazz history in college when he was 18 years old and has continued the role as educator throughout his career. Erik believes the creative process does not belong to one person or people; that it's not what you are doing but HOW you are doing it and he wishes to convey this idea to the young and the young at heart. Aside from saxophone and flute students, Erik teaches his method of creative approach to drummers, brass players, strings, in fact all instruments, also to poets and artists who wish to learn the nature of interaction and how to respond to the natural rhythm found in all things.

Erik says, “I believe my own personal learning will never be completed.”

Erik Lawrence plays Saxophones and Flutes. He has received a Meet-the-Composer Grant for his writing. He began playing sax at five years old under the guidance of his father, jazz musician, founder of the New School of Jazz in NYC and the International Center for Creative Music Studies in Jerusalem, Rock and Roll Guru Arnie Lawrence, who told him to "Play what you feel." Thus beginning what has been a lifelong spiritual quest through music. He is at home playing in various styles, from tradition to experimental, from large ensembles to solo.


By now he has brought his original melodic and rhythmic approach to Europe, Across the United States, South America and the Caribbean. He has performed Solo improvised saxophone at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York and has been the featured performer at the World Peace Festival and has performed in Europe at the Northsea Jazz, Discover Jazz, Montreal Jazz, Molde Jazz, Pori Jazz, Porto and Saalfelden Jazz festivals, the Free Jazz Festival in Brazil, the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Berkshire Jazz Festival and Bumbershoots.

Erik leads and plays with various ensembles. His sidemen have included Garth Hudson, Mark Egan, Steven Bernstein, Dave Tronzo, Aaron Comess, Mark White, Eric Schenkman, Alex Blake, Cameron Brown, Lonnie Plaxico, John Pizzarelli, Murali Coryell; and poets Jane LeCroy, Frank Messina and many, many others. His current original projects include Hipmotism, featuring Grammy nominee Steven Bernstein and drummer Allison Miller; MERGE Poetry/Music project featuring poet Cassandra Cleghorn, Allison Miller drummer and Rene Hart acoustic bass .

Erik has also currently or recently performed and recorded with legendary jazz drummer Chico Hamilton; with Steven Bernstein's much acclaimed Millennial Territory Orchestra; Levon Helm and the Barnburners, Branford Marsalis, and The Masters of the Groove, featuring Bernard Purdie, Grant Green Jr. and Reuben Wilson.

Erik currently teaches jazz saxophone at Williams College and the Putney. He has taught sax, jazz, jazz history, ensembles, and methods classes at Montclair State University (94-2000) and Rockland Community College (80-84). He has also taught saxophone and flute to all ages and improvisation to all instruments for well over 20 years and is available for clinics.

He would ask that if you say daily prayers you consider adding the phrase "May Peace Prevail on Earth" to your daily prayers to help raise both personal and world consciousness about the possibility that peace is a viable alternative to anger in ANY situation.

Erik has performed and/or recorded with numerous artists in his roles as sideman and bandleader. Notable artists include:

Chico Hamilton (legendary Jazz drummer)
Neville Family Affair (featuring Aaron Neville and his sons)
Buddy Miles
Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint
David Amram
Rickie Lee Jones
Sonny Sharrock (Avant Garde Guitar Legend)
The Band
Levon Helm
The Spin Doctors
John Popper (from Blues Traveler)
Bob Dylan
Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra
Joan Osborne
Branford Marsalis
Masters of the Groove: Bernard Purdie, Grant Green Jr, Reuben Wilson
Istanbul Orchestra
Jackie Cain and Roy Kral
Arnie Lawrence
John Cale (from Velvet Underground)
A.C. Reed (Chicago Blues Sax Legend)
David Tronzo (Slide Guitar Master)



www.mergepoetrymusic.com
www.myspace.com/hipmotism
www.levonhelm.com/erik_lawrence.htm

APRIL SIMS

April Sims aka Sensual Angel was born April 16, 1966 in Washington, D.C. She was raised in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area where she still resides today.
She is the proud mother of three beautiful daughters who are her constant inspiration for striving to be the best she can be each and every day.

She is a true renaissance woman that can do it all when it comes to the arts. She is spoken word artist (currently working on her debut cd), a poet (currently working on two books of poetry) and photo artist (photographer who is proficient in Photoshop).

Her works touch the very essence of the soul and whispers to the heart deeming her a “Heart Whisperer”. Her writings keep you hanging on each and every word and hold you with baited breath in anticipation of the next word.

She has been writing since she could hold a pen, but due to high demand has recently started formulating her writing for the public at large to consume.
Her kind spirit and selfless attitude have deemed her by many an angel on Earth while her sensual and sultry voice commands her audience, hence Sensual Angel.

LEE RITENOUR

Lee Mack Ritenour, was born January 11, 1952 in Los Angeles, CA. The prolific Ritenour has established himself as one of the world's leading jazz guitarists with a series of accessible albums over three decades. Starting at the age of 16, Ritenour played his first session with The Mama's and the Papa's. Two years later he was backing Tony Bennett and Lena Horne at L.A.'s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Know as "Captain Fingers," Ritenour became a sought-after session player in the mid-70's. Starting in 1976, at the age of 24, he began his own solo career which now includes over 30 albums and collaborations. Although heavily influenced in his early days by the relaxed styles of Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass and Barney Kessel, he now has his own distinctive sound and fluid style. His list of session work is awesome (some 3,000 sessions), but some of his most notable performances were with Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Pink Floyd. Since the mid-80's, Ritenour has been strongly influenced by Brazilian music.

Along the way, Ritenour has received 17 Grammy nominations, earned several gold albums, numerous #1 spots in guitar polls and the prestigious "Alumnus of the Year" award from USC. In 1981, he scored the pop15 hit "Is It You," featuring vocalist Eric Tagg, which has also become a smooth jazz radio classic. He joined GRP Records in 1985 after recording for Electra the previous 7 years. At that time, he recorded the magnificent "Harlequin" album with GRP co-owner Dave Grusin. It was nominated for 4 Grammy’s and won 1 that year.

REBECCA "Butterfly" VAUGHNS

Rebecca "Butterfly" Vaughns has been married to poetry since the age of ten. There are no words that can explain the passion and love Rebecca has for poetry. She holds Langston Hughes accountable for turning her into a fiend. Rebecca leaves audiences amazed at her ability to freestyle poetry leaving one to think its been inked for awhile.

She impressed Bruce George ~ Co-Founder of Def Poetry Jam in 2002 at the 2nd Annual Spoken Word Expo held in St. Louis, MS when she came hard from the dome in the midst of a cipher out in the parking lot after an open mic session. Rebecca has tapped many of mics on various stages from elementary schools to high schools to colleges to jails to festivals and is in high demand for weddings, funerals, baby christenings, retirement parties, church galas and everything else in between.

She's an International Spoken Word Artist with people appreciating her work in Canada, The Bahamas, Jamaica, Belize, Africa, and Argentina just to name a few. She's appeared on internet and mainstream radio as well as underground radio. She's done live broadcasting performances on Haitian and Spanish television locally and has appeared on various radio stations and television in other cities throughout the USA . Her work is supported and loved by the likes of Shang~comedian/ poet, Betty Wright ~ singer/songwriter, Floetry, MC Lyte, Joss Stone, and Robert Townsend just to name a few. Rebecca has truly made a name for herself in the arena of spoken word and poetry since taking the stage May, 1997. Rebecca holds several accolades for her craft to include 2003 Spoken Word Artist of The Year, two slam wins, and her work is featured on compilations in New york, Chicago, and Miami just to name a few as well as appearances in anthologies to include Drumvoices Revue ~ spring,summer, fall 2004 issue with a tribute to Katherine Dunham.

She's released three cds My Voice, Your Ears being her current project as of April 2, 2005 and a book of poetry under the title of Gypsy Poet: A Journey of All Roads That Lead to Poetry. She's in rotation on MusicChoice ~ digital cable ~ Smooth R&B channel Spoken Word Music & The Lounge that airs on Saturdays 6:00pm-8:00pm, Sundays 9:00am-11:00am and Tuesdays 3:00pm-5:00pm. Rebecca's most memorable moments date back as far as January 1995 when she was given the opportunity to open up for and introduce Dave Chappelle to April 27, 2005 as she was one of five poets selected to perform for Nikki Giovanni at the closing reception for the Pan African Book Fest ~ April 16-27 ~ Ft. Lauderdale, FL..

SONNY ROLLINS

Sonny Rollins was born in New York City, in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem, on September 7, 1930. As a very young child, he tried his hand at piano, but switched to alto sax at age 11. Rollins became part of a Harlem-based nucleus of young musicians, which included drummer Art Taylor and pianist Kenny Drew, who were regularly called on to perform and record with larger lights.

At just 19, Sonny had spent several months rehearsing with Thelonious Monk and had already recorded with trombonist J. J. Johnson and trumpeter and pianist Bud Powell Monk. Alto saxophonist Louis Jordan and tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins -- whose saxophone case the young Sonny would dutifully carry to and from gigs -- were key early influences for Sonny.

In 1951, Rollins began a professional and personal friendship with trumpeter Miles Davis, with whom he collaborated on the latter's Dig album. While Rollins' career track was on the rise, his personal life was sadly, slowly taken over by heroin, with his first drug possession arrest coming in 1950.

But Rollins fought back and successfully preserved his growing reputation in the mid-1950s as one of the jazz scene's most innovative improvisers. His resume included work with pianist Thelonious Monk and trumpeter Clifford Brown. At the decade's end, Rollins and drummer Elvin Jones recorded the classic Night At The Village Vanguard album.

Rollins shocked the jazz world in 1959 when he took the first in a number of self-imposed exiles. During this hiatus, he practiced on New York's Williamsburg Bridge, and delved into a number of Eastern philosophies. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean often practiced with him on the Williamsburg Bridge.
His return in the 1960s saw intense creative development, especially in his growing string of landmark concert and studio efforts. Rollins became particularly celebrated for his live performances, well documented on collections like 1974's The Cutting Edge.

Rollins continues to perform and record, but he's increasingly drawn to the solitude found on his upstate New York farm, which he shares with his wife and manager, Lucille. Though he frequently notes that "It's four in the afternoon for me", age has only further sweetened Rollins' ever-soulful invention and sound.

GEORGE BENSON

George Benson was born March 22,1943 in Pittsburgh, Pa. He is an American musician, whose recording career began at the age of 21 as a jazz guitarist. He is however, better known to the public at large as a Pop/R&B singer, famous for such hits as "Give Me The Night", "Lady Love Me (One More Time)", "Turn Your Love Around", "In Your Eyes" and "This Masquerade", amongst many others. George Benson started out playing straight-ahead instrumental jazz with organist Jack McDuff. Benson got his first experience playing with his several-year stint with McDuff's group. At the age of 21, Benson recorded his first album as leader, The New Boss Guitar, with Brother Jack McDuff on organ.

Benson's next recording was It's Uptown with the George Benson Quartet with Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax. This album showcases Benson's talent in constructing swinging bebop lines at blistering tempos. Benson followed it up with "The George Benson Cookbook," also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber.

ELLE "ThatChick" JOHNSON

ELLE, also known as THAT_CHICK, has been singing and writing poetry for many years. She has been blessed to headline many packed showcases at the once famous now defunct Sweetwaters Club as well as opening for many acts including Ray, Goodman and Brown and the jazz group Pieces of a Dream. She has had the good fortune to be featured on the CD of jazz drummer extraordinaire Lenny White. She has also regularly performed on Paltalk Internet radio - which has an international audience.

Elle is currently working on projects with up and coming producers and artists. It is the music of Chaka Khan, who with her vocal skill and ability to relay her emotions with a song that made it clear to Elle that she had to sing. “Chaka Khan is the reason I sing today,” Elle responds when asked why she loves writing and performing. “Chaka Khan is the truth!” Natalie Cole, Patrice Rushen Anita Baker, Sade and Brenda Russell have also been big influences in Elle’s musical life. “Sade’s smooth throatiness talks to me – shows me it’s ok not to sing happy songs all the time, while Brenda Russell’s music proves that people really will listen if they can relate to the things I write about.

When listening to Elle you hear the smoothness of Sade, the fire of Chaka Khan, the simplistic truth of Brenda Russell’s writing style and a dash of Anita Baker’s sultry tones. It’s truly a “melting pot of emotions” for your ear.

Presently THAT_CHICK Elle hosts a radio program entitled "Taste of Romance". She is a true lover of love songs... not the same old same old love songs, but when "I love you" is said in a unique way - it gets her attention. Although recently becoming single Elle still believes in love and it shows…Most of Elle’s poetry is about love, however she also writes about life in general - up's, down's disappointments, as well as life’s high points.

Elle is currently working on a project, which will blend poetry, and soulful music that is sure to reach anyone who has a heart - a poetry/music CD that she has waited a very long time to do. Elle says “Life is beautiful...even when its raining, there is something to smile and be thankful about. Take each moment and make a memory.”

MULGREW MILLER

Mulgrew Miller is an American jazz pianist born in 1955 in Greenwood, Mississippi. In a childhood filled with early musical experiences and constant meddling in jazz piano, Miller is said to have set his mind definitely to becoming a jazz pianist after hearing a record by Oscar Peterson (a first for Mulgrew). “It was a life changing event. I knew right then that I would be a jazz pianist”. Mulgrew did indeed become a jazz pianist, and has adopted more from Peterson than his profession. Much of Mulgrew's playing has the same technical prowess so often connected with Peterson. Currently, Mulgrew maintains a working trio with Derrick Hodge on bass, and Karriem Riggins on drums. With this trio he has released two albums to date (both on the label Max Jazz Records): Live At Yoshi's Vol. 1 (2004), Live At Yoshi's Vol. 2 (2005).

Mr. Miller, has been hired as the new director of the jazz studies program at William Paterson University, in Wayne, N.J.

On May 20, 2006, Miller was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Performing Arts at Lafayette College's 171st Commencement

ARINE WARD

ARINE WARD, better known throughout the poetry world as Skee Wee 1908 was born November 6, 1973 to the Bishop and Mrs. James Ward, right outside Music City, TN. A 1996, graduate of TSU, with a nursing degree, a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, INC. Arine heads the family business as well as maintains employment within the travel industry. Arine is single and makes her home in Houston, Texas.

Arine says she has been writing all ofher life. But within the last six months, she has taken on the challenge of recording her work. After hosting an open mic poetry hour on Paltalk.com, in the Black House of Music and Soul Jams, she saw the excitement and eagerness of poets striving for a better tomorrow. She was encouraged to step out and see which direction her work could actually flow. After speaking with a beats producer, and learning the ins and outs of the poetry world, networking began to flourish. Soon people who had no Idea she existed started inquiring of my next read. From there She became and active member of Nipps Poetic Nook on paltalk.com, Chocolate Nipps, took Arin under her wing, and together they make things happen.

When she is able, Arine does a lot of volunteer work, especially within the developmental pediatric units. Her ultimate favorite pasttime, is running. Arine loves to run. You can catch her in gyms and tracks coast to coast just running!

Currently though, she is recovering from ACL/Cartilage surgery, and with time on her hands, she has been able to pour more energy into the craft that has given her the outlet to heal and work all at the same time. Arine is currently working on her first CD Project, entitled “The Rebirth of Me” a brief history of this CD, is more of a testimonial from where she's been to the person she is today. Overall being the Bishops daughter, to being kidnapped, Arine is a survivor with a story.

MARION Q. ROZELLE

Marion Q. Rozelle aka PoeticLovette, was born in Columbus, Ohio on May 19th, 1950. She attended and graduated from East High School; afterwards she attended Columbus State College for a degree in Law Enforcement.

She has been employed with the State of Ohio for twenty-two years and as an Entrepreneur for fourteen years. Marion is the Union’s Chief Steward, Board Member Association and Volunteered Liaison within the prison system.

She married at a very young age and was blessed with five wonderful children who have blessed me again with several wonderful grand-children. Marion is currently a widow.

Her greatest fear is God.

Poeticlovette is artistic, intelligent, amusing, self-disciplined and enthusiastic. Besides poetry, she loves music, computers, motorcycles, and ventures away from home.

Marion was introduced to poetry at the age of eleven. I was listening to an old 78 record that belonged to my grandmother and a man was reciting a poem with music in the background. It captivated me so much that I wrote the poem down; I had to restart it over and over to get all the words, but I accomplished the task and to this day I can still narrate that poem from memory. Thus begin my journey into writing poetry.

In regards to music Marion is a devoted listener of jazz and old school.
The jazz artists that she enjoys listening to are Cannonball Adderly, Noel Pointer, Mary Stallings, and Roy Ayers.

The correlation between jazz and poetry is that they can be used in consistency with one to the other or as stimulation for one to the other.
Rhythm, tenor, and lyricism are the property of both and share the nuance of creativeness. Our culture is rich in the history of poetry and jazz, thus making it important to continue that trend. As well as being entertaining, they are a learning and teaching tool for our next generations to come.

VINCENT HERRING

Vincent Herring has developed into a virtuoso with a voice that is uniquely intense and vigorous with energy and direction. He is considered one of the premier saxophonists of his generation.

Vincent first toured Europe and the United States with Lionel Hampton’s big band in the early 1980’s. As he developed his musicianship he began to work with Nat Adderley a liaison that continued for nine years. Along the way he worked and / or recorded with Cedar Walton, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Hayes, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver Quintet, Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition, Larry Coryell, Steve Turre, The Mingus Big Band, Kenny Barron, Nancy Wilson, Dr. Billy Taylor, Carla Bley, and John Hicks. Other special concert and projects have included special guest soloist engagements with Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center. Vincent also appeared as a guest soloist at Carnegie Hall with John Faddis and The Carnegie Hall Big Band.
While amassing these impressive credentials, Vincent continues to develop his own voice and style. In addition to the legends and peers he has worked with Vincent is inspired by a collage of diverse musical influences. Which is reflected in his original band called Earth Jazz Agents.
Vincent is also involved in Jazz education. He is currently on staff at William Patterson University as well as conducting master classes and jazz workshops at Juilliard. Vincent has also conducted master classes on jazz improvising at Duke and Cornell Universities.
Vincent has recorded 15 CD’s as a leader and can be heard on over 200 as a sideman.

DONALD BYRD

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II was born December 9, 1932 in Detroit, Michigan. He performed with Lionel Hampton before finishing high school. After playing trumpet in a military band during a term in the United States Air Force, he obtained a bachelor's degree in music from Wayne State University and a master's degree from Manhattan School of Music. While still at the Manhattan School he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, replacing Clifford Brown. After leaving the Jazz Messengers in 1956 he performed with a wide variety of highly regarded jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, and Thelonious Monk.

In the 1970s, he moved away from his previous hard-bop jazz base and began to record jazz fusion, Jazz-funk, soul-Jazz, and rhythm and blues. Teaming up with the Mizell Brothers, they produced Black Byrd, which was enormously successful and became Blue Note Records' highest-ever selling album. The Mizell Brothers follow-up production albums for byrd, Places and Spaces, Steppin' Into Tomorrow and Street Lady were also big sellers, and have subsequently provided a rich source of samples for hip-hop artists such as Us3.

He has taught music at Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, and Oberlin College. In 1974 he created the Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of his best students. They scored several major hits, including "Walking In Rhythm" and "Blackbyrds Theme

STEPHANE MOORE

Stephane Moore aka Brownskinpoetic is a soul child of the sixties who exited his mother’s womb with creativity on his mind had all of the influences of that era. Born on February 8, 1962 in the Deep South, he would see and hear a lot during his childhood that would fertilize his creative being. The civil rights movement was in full gear. The war in Vietnam was rolling right along, the Cuban missile crisis had everyone on edge, and the word assassination seemed to be a part of the international fabric. In other words, these were exciting times for creative types. With influences all around him, Brownskinpoetic took full advantage of what he read, saw, and heard on the evening news. Writing would become his sounding board and music was his muse. The likes of Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Willie Hutch, T.S.O.P., Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, and many others gave him fuel and loads of ammunition to write fire onto his pages,

With the help of his extended family of uncles and aunts, Brownskinpoetic was introduced to many genres of music from jazz, hard rock, blues, gospel, funk, and a whole lot of soul. During his early adulthood, brown decided to take his love for music into his other artistic passions. Photography soon became something he could not resist. Painting and sculpting would soon follow. Yes, a renaissance man in the making. While listening to a late night radio show one night, brown was introduced to the voice of Gil Scott Heron. This was his first taste of spoken word infused with jazz. The last poets came next and this is where the preverbal rubber met the road. He began looking for venues where he could dig these vibes on a real level and discovered Club Kalunba in Atlanta, a local spot where free spirits would vibe with musicians and deliver their poetry to the world.

Later on in life, brown would be introduced to pal talk, an interactive chat site where a friend named Sherykah hosted a poetry chat room. She would talk about her dreams of starting a poetry radio station on the internet which was right down brownskin’s alley. He quickly jumped on board as a radio host with a show called, POETICSOUL. Soon after, he created HOT BUTTA SOUL and ECLECTIC SOUL. This lead to brownskin getting into producing tracks for other poets as well as few singers he knew from doing collaborations.

Where does he find all of this time to be creative? And why do you think a show like Spotlight on Jazz & Poetry is so important?

He responded “My motto is if you can’t find time to do what you love, then you are wasting oxygen and SOJP will show the relationship that exists between poetry and Jazz and start the construction process of building bridges that will fill the gap that exists between generations.


This brother truly breathes art.

LAMONT CAREY

Lamont Carey was born in the heart of Southeast, Washington, DC. He is a businessman and entertainer. On stage he is a powerful performer with a delivery so electric that he has the ability to present an issue in such a way that it alters audiences’ perspective.

He has featured as an actor in the 2005 DC Hip Hop Theater Festival in the stage reading of HiddenPages. He has even appeared in several independant films as well as being featured on the HBO Hit cable series "The Wire".

Lamont is also an outstanding spoken word artist. He has featured in such places as the world renowned Lincoln Theater, Smithsonian, The Nuyorican Poets Café, The French Embassy, The Cuban Embassy, and the National Cathedral. He has toured in NC and the Virgin Islands. He has won several poetry slams and poet of 2005 by Dream In motion.. Lamont was even nominated at the NUSPA (National Underground Spokenword Poetry Awards" in the catagory "Why Didn't I think of that Piece" for "I Love My Son".

He continues to leave his mark in spoken word arena with his debut CD” IMAGINE”. This is 14-tacks of pure energy and mind traveling that listener can’t help but to brace themselves for the next emotional rollercoaster that are sure to erupt with the next track.
Lamont Carey can also diving into radio personality. He co-host a show called "Freestyle Friday" along side Marck Thompson on XM satille radio Channel 169 The Power.

Furthermore, Lamont is a true entrepreneur. He is CEO and founder of CONTACT VISITS a nonprofit organization that assist ex-offenders transition back into our communities as productive members of society. He is also the president of .SERVINGNTIME. This is an internet based business that lists profiles of current prisoner. His goal is to help them keep positive ties to the community and support systems in place so that they can find employment, housing, etc. Finally, he is the president of LaCarey Entertainment, LL.C. This is his management company where he has already assisted clients appear in several movies, TV, and plays. He also does improvisational workshops, poetry performance workshop, and teaches acting.

Yes, Mr. Carey is making an impact in our communities by working for the community.
For more info or booking contact him personally at lacareyentertainment@yahoo.com.

YUSEF LATEEF

Yusef Lateef was born William Emanuel Huddleston in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1925, Lateef and his family moved to Detroit, Michigan where would begin Lateef's musical career. Throughout his early life Lateef came into contact with a number of accomplished jazz musicians including Milt Jackson, Paul Chambers, Elvin Jones, and Kenny Burrell. Lateef was a proficient saxophonist by his graduation from high school at age 18, at which point he launched his professional career and began touring with a number of swing bands. In 1949, at age 29, Lateef was invited by Dizzy Gillespie to tour with his world-renowned orchestra.

Lateef first began recording as a leader in 1956 for Savoy Records, which released a number of albums under his name in the following year. By 1961, with the release of Eastern Sounds, Lateef's distinctive sound had matured. His "Eastern" influences are clearly audible in these recordings, while they remain within the bounds of approachability for most Western ears. Lateef's sound has been claimed to have been a major influence on the saxophonist John Coltrane, whose later period free jazz recordings contain similarly "Eastern" traits.

In 1992, Lateef founded YAL Records, his own label for which he records today. In 1993, Lateef was commissioned by the WDR Radio Orchestra to compose The African American Epic Suite, a four part work for orchestra and quartet based on themes of slavery and disfranchisement in the United States. The piece has since been performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Lateef has expressed a dislike of the terms "jazz" and "jazz musician" as musical generalizations. As is so often the case with such generalizations, the use of these terms do understate the breadth of his sound. For example, in the 1980s, Lateef experimented with new age and spiritual elements. His 1987 album Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony won the Grammy award for Best New Age Album. His core influences, however, are clearly rooted in jazz, and in his own words: "My music is jazz." [1]
In 1950, Lateef returned to Detroit and began his studies in composition and flute at Wayne State University. It was during this period that Lateef converted to Ahmadiyya Islam and changed his name to the form it holds today.

In 1960, Lateef again returned to school. At the Manhattan School of Music in New York, Lateef pursued further studies in flute. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Music in 1969 and a Master's Degree in Music Education in 1970. He taught courses in autophysiopsychic music at the school from 1971, and from 1972 was an associate professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

In 1975, Lateef completed his dissertation on Western and Islamic education and earned a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Lateef has written and published a number of books including a novella entitled A Night in the Garden of Love and the short story collections Spheres and Rain Shapes. Along with his record label YAL Records, Lateef owns Fana Music, a music publishing company. Lateef publishes his own work through Fana, which includes Yusef Lateef's Flute Book of the Blues and many of his own orchestral compositions.

Happy Birthday BigTrigger! (March 4, 2007)

Now this is the plan:

Stop by his webpage at 360.yahoo.com/Bigtrigger3458 OR send him greetings at sojp@nalradio.com ! (He's working tommorow and we want to make his day special...)

Happy Birthday BigTrigger -- may this year be the best year ever!

From the teams of
Spotlight On Jazz and Poetry
National Artist League Radio and
Unlimited Vision Productions!

"An Old Soul Speaks"by: Tabitha DeGruy

February 10, 2007


Billie Holiday sings "Strange Fruit" in the background and in my own way I find comfort in the sound of her voice. In actuality, my soul has always floated more towards music from an era I believe I was meant to be in. Many (my age) will find it hard to see eye to eye when I say artist such as Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane are what made the world right for me. My family is comprised of music lovers, athletes and poets. But, the one thing we all had in common was a great love of music. Every family party was filled with great food and even greater music. Before I was born my mother and aunt Diana love and lived to be singers. They were called "The Sugar Lumps" and traveled all over meeting and working with stars like Tina Turner. My family was and will always be big on music from Earth Wind and Fire, The Commodores, Heatwave, and too many more to name.

It was my aunt Cheryl who formally introduced me to Old Blue Eyes (Frank Sinatra). My Grandfather was in love with his music, but at that age I only cared about going outside to play. It was hanging with her that I truly had the opportunity to feel what Mr. Sinatra was all about. It wasn't very long before I was in love and I do mean in love in the literal sense. His voice wrapped around my heart and never let go for one second.

It was Cheryl again who introduced me to Miss Billie Holiday. I don't even think she realized what was happening as I sat with her to watch a PBS special featuring Miss Holiday. She looked so sad and alone, so I asked Cheryl what was wrong with her. She told me in these exact words "that bitch is high!" She then explained a great deal of Miss Holidays' troubles and I then understood why she could sing of sorrow and make it sound sweet. Not sweet as in her pain was glorified, but in a way we all could relate and bond. We all go through crap in life and she expressed hers the only way she knew how. I'm no stranger to obstacles, but hearing Miss Holiday sing "God Bless The Child" made me feel like everything would be okay. You know what? She was right.

Being a poet has a great deal to do with my love for jazz, because I feel they mesh together like silk. The first jazz artist I truly took an interest in was Miles Davis, but as I got older I was introduced to many of the earlier greats. The movie "Love Jones" came out and I damn near lost my mind! What poet didn't fall head over heels for "Love Jones?" Watching Lorenz Tate flex his poetic beauty made it even greater. I heard a musical piece in that movie titled "In A Sentimental Mood" and was completely in awe. This song took me back to when dances were held in ballrooms and everyone was dressed in their very best. I've written many of my love pieces to this one song, because I could not help but to be inspired by this work of art.

Now here we are in 2007 and I turn on the radio and want to jump out of my skin. To me hip-hop is a lost art. I feel the artist of today are totally not getting what the True hip hoppers were about. Every artist wants to rap about who they killed, sexed or how much they have and own. Singers want to talk about sex, sex and more sex. It's discouraging and distasteful to those of the past and those artist of today who are struggling to bring the true art of music back. Granted we can find peace in the talent of artist such as John Legend, India Arie, Jill Scott, The Fugees (we need them back now) and Ms. Whitney Houston(say what you want she is pure greatness).

In doing my show I found that there are thousands of artist out there who truly want to sing about something of substance. This show has given me hope that one day we will no longer be force fed filth and depleted lyrics. Hearing artist such as Shenole Latimer (Jazz Musician) remind me of Mr. John Coltrane and listening to the soulful sounds of Mike Hammond (R&B Singer) can lead any female to compare him to the great Luther Vandross. I could go on and on, but the list would never end.

John Legend sings in the background now and I smile as I wrap this up. If I could go back in time I would just to stand before Miss Holiday, Frank Sinatra, John Coltrane and all of the great ones who knew how to present "true music." I would thank them for giving me a place to go when life became too chaotic. I would tell them how I appreciate the talent in which, they possessed.

I'm grateful that God gives us all special talents. I'm even more grateful that many wish to share their talent and love of music with us. Especially, the ones that have crossed my path within the past two years and the ones to come. True music without passion equals crap and I for one have had my fair share of crap. A new dish is being served up and I hope you all will join me in this harmonious feast.



Tabitha aka SunShyne

SOJP; Valentine's Day Show "For Lover's Only" Playlist.

Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response. Poetry has been known to employ meter and rhyme.

Lyric is a category of poetry that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often in a songlike style or form.

The Wonderful Women of Jazz


1. Karyn Allison - "Everytime We Say Goodbye"
2. Billie Holiday - "Fine and Mellow"
3. Sarah Vaughan - "He's My Guy"
4. Diana Krall - "I'm Just A Lucky So and So"
5. Etta James - Medley; "At Last, Trust In Me, Sunday Kind Of Love"
6. Gloria Lynne - "I'm Glad There Is You"
7. Diane Schuur - "Funny, But I Still Love You"
8. Nancy Wilson - "All In Love Is Fair"
9. Anita O'Day - "Tenderly"
10. Lena Horne - "More Than You Know"
11. Nnenna Freelon - "Come Into My Life"
12. Nancy Wilson - "How Glad I Am"

The Magnificent Men of Jazz


1. Andy Bey - "Prelude To A Kiss"
2. Arthur Prysock - "I Worry Bout You"
3. Little Jimmy Scott - "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You"
4. Peter Cincotti - "The Girl For Me Tonight"
5. Tony Bennett - "My Foolish Heart"
6. Joey DeFrancesco - "They Say It's Wonderful"
7. Bigtrigger - Poem; "Visions Of You"
8. Lou Rawls - "Sophisticated Lady"
9. Joe Williams - "Everyday, I'll Fall In Love With You"
10. Johnny Hartman - My One And Only Love"
11. Little Jimmy Scott - "Someone To Watch Over me"
12. Harry Connick, Jr. - "Only You"
13. Michael Feinstein - "My Funny Valentine"