Conversations About Jazz & Other Distractions
Conversations About Jazz Features
The Vocalists on October 29
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. Every other Thursday, Carl takes audiences on a unique journey through the world of jazz music with artist talks, workshops, and listening sessions.
On October 29 at 7:30 pm (EST), Conversations about Jazz features some of the world’s most talented jazz vocalists. Carl’s guests will be Carmen Bradford, Kathleen Bertrand, & Lenora Zenzalai Helm. This program is for the jazz novice and jazz head alike. It is free, and will stream live on Hammonds House Museum’s Facebook and YouTube.
2019 Grammy Nominee, Carmen Bradford, was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Altadena, California. She is jazz royalty being the daughter of legendary coronetist/composer Bobby Bradford and world-renowned jazz vocalist/composer/author Melba Joyce. Her grandfather Melvin Moore sang with Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band in the 1940’s and with the Ink Spots, making Bradford the third generation of incredible musicians. At the age of 22, she was discovered and hired by William “Count” Basie and became the featured vocalist in the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. She has since performed and/or recorded with artists and musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Nancy Wilson, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, James Brown, and Frank Sinatra. Most recently she was featured on the 2019 “All About Basie” album, along with Stevie Wonder, Kurt Elling and Wycliff Gordon. Currently Bradford is a Roots, Jazz, and American Music faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. More info HERE.
Multifaceted recording artist and writer Kathleen Bertrand is a native Atlantan and Spelman College graduate, whose performances have ranged from two Olympic Games to performances before two presidents, as well as appearances at jazz festivals world-wide. Bertrand toured and recorded as vocalist with jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers. This three-octave vocal artist has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on three occasions and has made multiple appearances at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, including as headliner in 2012. She has opened for many of America’s finest artists, including Ray Charles, Will Downing, Rachelle Ferrell, Najee, Roy Ayers, and Kenny G. Her fan base includes radio and internet listeners across the globe. Bertrand’s most recent CD, 2017’s It’s Time To Love, has received international airplay. More details HERE.
Throughout her 30+-year span of musical achievements as a Jazz Vocal Musician specializing in classic, traditional standard jazz, Lenora Zenzalai Helm has toured, recorded, and performed with renowned artists around the world. A 2018 inaugural Javett International Scholar in Jazz for the University of Pretoria, she has also earned recognition as a quarter-finalist for the Grammy Music Educator of the Year Award, a Salzburg Global Citizenship Fellow, a UNC Global Educator Fellow, a Fulbright Senior Music Specialist, and is the former US Jazz Ambassador under the State Department and Kennedy Center. She is jazz clinician and vocal musicianship coach, with six solo recordings, including her latest CD, For the Love of Big Band. Helm currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Music and Jazz Studies Program for the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina University (NCCU). More information HERE.
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, 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, 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…
Jothan Callins was born October 29, 1942 in Birmingham, Alabama. The third of nine children he received his childhood education in Ensley at Council Elementary School and Western-Olin High School. Obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida A&M University, he subsequently became a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and performed with Max Roach, Milt Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sun Ra, Cecil McBee, Consuela Lee, George Coleman, Geri Allen, Joseph Jennings, Jeff Watts and many others.
In 1978, Jothan became the first Jazz Artist-In-Residence for the Birmingham Public Schools and helped found the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and City Stages. In 1982, after receiving a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, he obtained a Masters’ Degree in Ethnomusicology and Jazz Studies and remained there for five years teaching jazz history. As a prolific, creative artist, Jothan was a performer, composer, arranger, educator, consultant, musical director, and cultural catalyst, who earned the respect and admiration of fans, musicians, and critics throughout the world.
With his band, The Sounds of Togetherness, he toured and performed around the United States and the world. He specialized in Jazz performances and workshops for children and adults. In the ‘90s, Callins founded the Birmingham Youth Jazz Ensemble, Inc. (BYJE), serving as Director until his death. Trumpeter, flugelhornist, electric bassist, and composer Jothan Callins, who was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979, passed away on April 30, 2005 at Baptist-Princeton Medical Center.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Glen Moore, born October 28, 1941 in Portland, Oregon started his performing career began at age 14 with the Young Oregonians in Portland. It was at this time where he met and played with Native American saxophonist, Jim Pepper.
Graduating with a degree in History and Literature from the University of Oregon, his formal bass instruction started after college with Jerome Magil in his hometown, James Harnett in Seattle, Washington, Gary Karr in New York City, Plough Christenson in Copenhagen, Denmark, Ludwig Streicher in Vienna, Austria, and Francois Rabbath in Hawaii.
Moore is a founding member of Oregon but worked also regularly with Rabih Abou-Khalil, Vasant Rai, Nancy King, and Larry Kar. For the past 30 years, has played a Klotz bass fiddle crafted in Tyrol circa 1715 on which he has made extensive use of a unique tuning with both a low and high C string. He has recorded ten albums as a leader, twenty~eight with Oregon, and twenty as a sideman. Double bassist Glen Moore, who also plays piano, flute, and violin continues to perform and record.
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Three Wishes
Pannonica inquired of Marshal Royal what his three wishes would be if given and his response was:
- “Health.”
- “Life.”
- “Happiness.”
*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…
William Carl “Bama” Warwick was born on October 27, 1917 in Birmingham, Alabama and lived in Brookside, Alabama as a child. Moving northward in the early 1930s he lived with Charlie Shavers and together they moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1936. There they became members of Frank Fairfax’s band, playing alongside Dizzy Gillespie.
They subsequently played with Tiny Bradshaw and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. After Shavers left to join John Kirby’s ensemble, Carl then worked with Teddy Hill, Edgar Hayes, Don Redman, and Bunny Berigan. During World War II, he conducted a military band, and played with Woody Herman in 1944-45, then with Buddy Rich.
In the 1950s he led his own group and also worked with Lucky Millinder and Brew Moore; he returned to Gillespie’s employ in 1956, playing intermittently with him until 1961. He took a position in 1966 directing music with the New York City Department of Corrections, and in 1972, he appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival with Benny Carter.
Trumpeter Carl Bama Warwick passed away in 2003, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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