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Forgotten Treasures

Kay Robinson “We Need Time” (1970, King Records)

(Dedicated to the Charleston Nine, Sandra Bland, and Mary Elizabeth Guthrie) Jesus is a popular dude… and he didn’t play the drums. Growing up in the Black American church in the 1980s, I was exposed to a more modern form  Read more  »

Forgotten Treasures

Forgotten Treasure: Yusef Lateef “The Centaur and the Phoenix” (Riverside, 1960)

The history of Jazz is full of eccentric and unique thinkers (more of the former and the latter). Women and men such as Charles Mingus, Melba Listen, Terry Pollard, and Cecil Taylor are just a few that immediately come to  Read more  »

Forgotten Treasures

Forgotten Treasure: The Prestige Jazz Quartet LP (1957, Prestige)

Recorded and released in 1957 on the independent Prestige Records label, The Prestige Jazz Quartet is a typical oddity. The four compositions work as a pendulum between the tail end of bebop era, the coming hard-bop medium, and the beginning  Read more  »

R.I.P

R.I.P Bernie Worrell (1944-2016) – Back to the Mothership

Every now and then a soul transitions that makes us think of loved ones more than those of the recently departed. Today is one of those days for me. News broke on 6/24/2016 that Bernie Worrell (Parliament/ Funkadelic) became an  Read more  »

Forgotten Treasures

Forgotten Treasure: Ring Games “Line Games and Play Party Songs of Alabama” (1953)

The last few years have brought many changes into my life. Getting older, I’ve taken a more serious approach to marriage and starting my own family. But, how would my wife and I be raising this family of ours. What  Read more  »