Conversations About Jazz & Other Distractions

Conversations About Jazz Examiness 

The Ethnomusicology Of Jazz on January 28 

Hammonds House Digital invites you to join us for Conversations About Jazz & Other Distractions hosted by former jazz radio host and founder of Notorious Jazz, Carl Anthony. On Thursday, January 28 at 7:30 pm (EST), Carl’s special guests will discuss Ethnomusicology of Jazz. Tune in for an inspiring evening with noted experts in the field: Dr. Gabriel Solis, Dr. Alisha Lola Jones, and Dr. Melvin Butler. Conversations About Jazz comes out twice a month – on the second and fourth Thursdays. The program is free and will stream on Hammonds House  Museum’s Facebook and YouTube channels. For more details about upcoming virtual events, visit hammondshouse.org.

Ethnomusicology is the study of music in its social and cultural contexts. Ethnomusicologists examine music as a social process, to understand not only what music is but what it means to its practitioners and audiences. Individuals working in the field of ethnomusicology may have training in music, cultural anthropology, folklore, performance studies, dance, area cultural studies, gender studies, race or ethnic studies, or other fields in the humanities and social sciences.

A scholar of African American music and of Indigenous musics of the Southwestern Pacific, Dr. Gabriel Solis has done ethnographic and historical research with jazz musicians in the United States and with musicians in Australia and Papua New Guinea. Drawing on work in African American studies, anthropology, and history, he addresses the ways people engage the past, performing history and memory through music. He has received the Wenner Gren Foundation’s Hunt Fellowship, the Arnold O. Beckman Fellowship for distinguished research, the Madden Fellowship for research in technology and the arts, an Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities fellowship, and most recently a Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory senior fellowship. He is Professor of Musicology at the School of Music, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Alisha Lola Jones, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University (Bloomington). Dr. Jones is a graduate of University of Chicago (Ph.D.), Yale Divinity School (M.Div.), Yale Institute of Sacred Music (ISM) and Oberlin Conservatory (B.M.). Dr. Jones’ is a council member of the Society for Ethnomusicology’s (SEM) council and the co-chair of the Music and Religion section of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Additionally, as a performer-scholar, she consults seminaries and arts organizations on curriculum, programming, and content development.

Dr. Melvin Butler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Musicology at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami. He specializes in music and religion in Haitian, Jamaican, and African American communities. Dr. Butler’s research explores the cultural politics of musical performance, national identity, and extraordinary experience. He also examines the discourses of cultural authenticity and spiritual power that inflect congregational practice. At the heart of his scholarly work lies a critical reconsideration of how spiritually charged music-making is embedded in processes of boundary crossing, identity formation, and social positioning throughout the African diaspora.

Hammonds House Museum is generously supported by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, Fulton County Arts and Culture, the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, The National Performance Network, AT&T and WarnerMedia.

Hammonds House Museum’s mission is to celebrate and share the cultural diversity and important legacy of artists of African descent. The museum is the former residence of the late Dr. Otis Thrash Hammonds, a prominent Atlanta physician and a passionate arts patron. A 501(c)3 organization which opened in 1988, Hammonds House Museum boasts a permanent collection of more than 450 works including art by Romare Bearden, Robert S. Duncanson, Benny Andrews, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Hale Woodruff, Amalia Amaki, Radcliffe Bailey and Kojo Griffin. In addition to featuring art from their collection, the museum offers new exhibitions, artist talks, workshops, concerts, poetry readings, arts education programs, and other cultural events throughout the year.

Located in a beautiful Victorian home in Atlanta’s historic West End, Hammonds House Museum is a cultural treasure and a unique venue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to observe CDC guidelines, but look forward to welcoming in-person visitors soon!  For more information about upcoming virtual events, and to see how you can support their mission and programming, visit their website: hammondshouse.org.

MEDIA: For more information, contact Karen Hatchett at Hatchett PR, karen@hatchettpr.com

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Shinobu Ito was born in Oiso, Kanagawa, Japan on January 28, 1951. While a young boy, his interest was in American pop songs, so his father bought him a guitar and gave him lessons. Devoting great efforts to his study of the guitar, in junior high school he organized his own pop music group and performed at various musical events. He became interested in jazz guitar during his high school days when he listened to Wes Montgomery. While attending Tokai University, he studied guitar with Ikuo Shiosaki, and became a member of the university’s Jazz Workshop.

He began his professional career at this time, performing at clubs and on recordings. In 1975, during a 6-month stay in Los Angeles, California he met Toshiko Akiyoshi, who introduced him to many musicians and strongly suggested to him that he go to New York to learn and play jazz on his next visit to the States.

When he returned to Japan in 1975, Shinobu joined vocalist Yoshiko Kimura’s group, and also resumed activities with top Japanese musicians such as Kohsuke Mine, Seiichi Nakamura, Shigeharu Mukai, Hidefumi Toki and Takao Uematsu. He also performed with Tete Montliu, Bill Reichenbach, Ronnie Foster, Stanley Banks in this era.

Back in New York City again in 1977 he became a member of a 10-piece band directed by Reggie Workman, joined Teruo Nakamura & his Rising Sun Band and Shinobu appeared on pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto’s album in 1981. Once settled he performed and recorded with Joe Jones Jr., Sadik Hakim, John Orr, Tommy Turrentine, Bob Mintzer, Rickey Ford and Kenny Kirkland, Valery Ponomarev, Lonnie Plaxico, Eddie Henderson, Lonnie Smith, Jesse Davis, Kenny Davis and Jeff Williams, Mike Formanek, Vincent Herring and Judy Niemack among others.

Shinobu released his first CD in 1991 with Tom Harrell, Danny Gottlieb, Gary King, Mark Soskin and Dick Oates. While Shinobu is known as a jazz guitarist who plays with a pick, he also plays only with his fingers, and his improvisations effectively fuse classical guitar and jazz.

As an educator he has worked as an instructor in the Jazz Division of the Senzoku College of Music in Tokyo, Japan. Returning to New York City in 2009 guitarist Shinobu Ito resumed performing and recording and continues to explore new directions.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Charlie Holmes was born on January 27, 1910 near Boston, Massachusetts and began playing alto saxophone at age 16 and emulated the style of his childhood friend, Johnny Hodges.

Beginning his professional career a week later, after moving to New York City Charlie worked for a variety of groups, including Luis Russell in 1928. Between 1929 and 1930 he recorded with Red Allen. He would work with Russell again a few times and in 1932 joined the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. He was in John Kirby’s Sextet, Cootie Williams’ Orchestra, and Louis Armstrong’s band for much of the next two decades.

Leaving music in 1951, Holmes did not return for twenty years then worked in Clyde Bernhardt’s Harlem Blues & Jazz Band. He later played for the Swedish band Kustbandet. He never acted as a leader in any recording or group.

Alto saxophonist Charlie Holmes, best known for composing Sugar Hill Function, not only performed during the swing era but also played clarinet and oboe for the Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra, passed away on September 19, 1985 in Stoughton, Massachusetts.

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Three Wishes

When Monk Montgomery was asked by the Baroness if given what his three wishes would be he responded by telling her:  

1. “My first wish would be that the older people let the younger people think for themselves.”
2. “I wish they would give jazz an opportunity.”
3. “I wish I could beat you just one time at Ping-Pong.”

*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Arthur Crawford Wethington was born on January 26, 1904 in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from the Chicago College of Music. Working under pianist Lottie Hightower in the mid-1920s, he then took a position in Carroll Dickerson’s band in 1928. 1929 saw this ensemble playing with Louis Armstrong in New York City.

Between 1930 and 1936 Crawford played with the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, recording several times with the group. He recorded with Edgar Hayes in 1937 and also worked with Cab Calloway, Red Allen, and Adelaide Hall.

After 1937 Wethington quit performing full-time but was active as a music teacher, and in the 1960s he took work in New York City as a supervisor for a transit line power plant.

Saxophonist and educator Crawford Wethington, who was never recorded as a leader, passed away on September 11, 1994 in White Plains, New York.

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