Book Review: Guided by Love by Sarah Cion

Guided by Love: Navigating a Mother with Memory Loss, a new book by award-winning jazz pianist and author Sarah Cion that includes poems with artful drawings by her mother, Elizabeth Heller, is a tour de force. Its power and appeal draw deeply from a wellspring of human sensitivity and compassion, as aptly denoted in the

Memories of My Segregated American Swimming Pool

More than two decades ago I interviewed my esteemed former neighbor, community leader Mrs. Rosemary Moore, RN, a lovely woman of great dignity. Maturing ever so gracefully, she personifies wisdom and experience. My hope was that our conversation would yield a unique story and perspective about life’s joys and the challenges of raising and educating

An Historic Day in Harlem: 2007

This Black History Month 2023 we look back at the opening of a landmark educational institution spearheaded by the late civil rights leader, educator, and pastor of Abyssinian Baptist church, Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III. This is a picture of the opening of Thurgood Marshall Training Academy for Social Change in Central Harlem in

A Candid Interview: The Life, Leadership and Legacy of Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III

As Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, family, and friends along with citizens of New York City and beyond are joining to celebrate the life of Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, I invite those who may not be familiar with Rev. Butts to watch this interview from the show Explorations in Black Leadership, produced and hosted

Historic Collaboration Lives up to its Billing

The Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) Orchestra, directed by Wynton Marsalis, led a spectacular jazz tribute to New Orleans and Jazz Music on October 15. JALC partnered with the extraordinary University of Michigan Marching band in a spectacular half-time performance before a packed stadium known in the powerhouse Big Ten conference as “The Big House.”

Tribute to Dr. Paul T. Kwami

Today, I join with the Fisk University community and countless others throughout the international music world in mourning the loss of Dr. Paul T. Kwami, Director of the historic Fisk University Jubilee Singers. Dr. Kwami passed this week at age 70. He was a native of Ghana and himself a former Fisk Jubilee Singer whose

Brooklyn Memorial to Billy Kaye

A musical memorial to post-Bebop-era drummer Billy Kaye, who made his transition in August at the age of 89, took place on September 1 at Ornithology Jazz Club in Brooklyn, the NYC borough where Willie King Seaberry Wilson (AKA Billy Kaye) grew up after his family relocated from North Carolina. The event was organized by

Jazzstoria

“Jazzstoria,” a musical journey through Black History, was performed at St. Peter’s Church in midtown Manhattan in 2001. Here I’m re-posting the program’s publicity description as I am looking back at that performance while considering future similar efforts. “Jazzstoria” draws from the rich literary and musical legacy of the African American experience. Singer-composer Dennis Day

Remembering Drummer Billy Kaye – Passion, Poise, Style, and Rhythm

My dear friend and mentor, Billy Kaye, jazz drummer par excellence has made his transition. As relayed in a feature article in the Washington Post, “As a boy, Billy, who was born in Wilson, N.C. in 1932, took piano lessons; he didn’t start playing drums until he enlisted in the Air Force, at age 17.

A Tribute to Irene Day by Dr. Geneva Cobb Moore

In honor of African-American Music Appreciation Month 2022, I am posting this tribute written by Dr. Geneva Cobb Moore, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Here is Dr. Moore’s tribute to my mother, Irene Day-Comer: The first African American novelist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Toni Morrison has been