Conversations About Jazz & Other Distractions

Conversations About Jazz Features 

The Composers on September 3 

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 September 3 Conversations about Jazz delves into the subject of influential jazz composers. Carl’s guests for this program will be saxophonist, composer and educator Tia Fuller; trumpeter, composer and leader of the Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra Russell Gunn; and drummer, educator and activist Jaimeo Brown. They will discuss their own music, composers that have influenced them, leadership, making albums and more. This program is for the jazz novice and jazz head alike. The event is FREE, but you must register. To register click HERE.

Saxophonist Tia Fuller is an accomplished solo artist who has recorded five full-length projects with her quartet. Her most recent album, Diamond Cut, received a Grammy nomination in the Best Instrumental Jazz category. She is recognized as well-respected collaborator who has recorded and toured with numerous high-profile artists. She performed as part of the I AM… Sasha Fierce and Beyoncé Experience World Tour on stages across the globe; served as assistant musical director for Esperanza Spaulding’s Radio Music Society tour; and recorded and toured with Dianne Reeves for her Grammy-winning Beautiful Life album. Currently, Fuller is a faculty member at Berklee College of Music.

Trumpeter, composer and band leader Russell Gunn grew up listening to rap and hip hop. At the age of sixteen his dedication to the art of jazz took shape, although hip-hop has remained an influence on his work. Gunn has performed with numerous musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Roy Hargrove, James Moody, and R&B hitmaker Maxwell. In 1999 Gunn released his first solo project, Ethnomusicology Vol. 1, which earned him a Grammy nomination. SmokinGunn followed a year later and, in 2001, Ethnomusicology Vol. 2. Since that time, Gunn has released two more volumes in his Ethnomusicology series. In 2007 the trumpeter paid homage to fellow St. Louis, IL, native and trumpet icon Miles Davis with Russell Gunn Plays Miles. More recently Gunn released Pyramids (2019) and Get It How You Live (2020) with his Afro-Futurist Jazz Big Band, The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra.

Jaimeo Brown (pronounced jah-mayo) began his drum career at age 16 with his father bassist Dartanyan Brown, mother pianist and woodwind specialist, Marcia Miget, and drum teacher, Sly Randolph. In the last 20 years, Brown has worked with musicians including Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Q-Tip, Carl Craig, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Locke, David Murray, and others. He gained experience performing and educating audiences around the world as an ambassador for the US State Department. In addition to performing, Jaimeo contributed material for the Oscar and Grammy award winning documentary ’20 Feet from Stardom’ and PBS production of Ralph Ellison’s ‘King of the Bingo Game.’ As the Director of Transcending Arts Jaimeo is a passionate educator, working in community service in NJ and NY by giving lessons to kids through programs such as NJPAC and New City Kids.

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…

Frank Galbreath was born on September 2, 1913 in Robeson County, North Carolina. He got his start with local groups such as the Domino Five of Washington and Kelly’s Jazz Hounds of Fayetteville. He then found work with groups in other regions such as the Florida Blossoms minstrel show and the Kingston Nighthawks, a territory band. He was with Smiling Billy Steward’s Floridians when they played the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago, Illinois.

The mid~1930s saw Galbreath moving to Chicago, and playing with Fletcher Henderson, Jelly Roll Morton, Edgar Hayes, and Willie Bryant. Around 1937 he joined Lonnie Slappey’s Swingers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but was called back to New York by Lucky Millinder, with whom he played for some time. Following this he joined the Louis Armstrong Orchestra until its dissolution in 1943, then he went on to play with Charlie Barnet for a few weeks before serving in the Army. After his discharge, he worked in the second half of the decade with Luis Russell, Tab Smith, Billy Eckstine, and Sy Oliver, then returned to play with Millinder from 1948 to 1952.

From 1952 he played in USO tours, first with Snub Mosley and then with various other ensembles over the course of the next decade. Frank led his own band during the decade, then played in the bands of Arthur Prysock and Benny Goodman. During the Sixties, he played with Ray Charles, Fats Domino, and Sammy Davis, Jr.

In 1963 he moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey and played locally until his failing health forced his retirement in 1969. Trumpeter Frank Galbreath passed away in November 1971.

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Three Wishes

The Baroness asked Donald Byrd what his three wishes would be and he replied: 

1. 1. “Health.”

   2. “Education.”

   3. “Long life.”

*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…

Lou Colombo was born in Brockton, Massachusetts on August 22, 1927 and started playing the trumpet when he was twelve. At seventeen he turned his attention to professional baseball and was signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers for seven years until a knee injury ended his career at 24.

Turning his attention to music Lou dove in full-time, mostly as an ensemble player and studio musician, playing and recording in the big bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Buddy Morrow, and Pérez Prado. He also worked sessions with Meredith D’Ambrosio on the 1989 recording South to a Warmer Place, George Masso on That Old Gang of Mine, 1996) and Jerry Jerome’s Something Borrowed, Something Blue.

Under his own name, Colombo recorded some albums one, including 1,990 at Concord Records, a tribute album for Bobby Hackett, one with Dave McKenna and Keith Copeland. Active on the Cape Cod jazz scene for five decades, trumpeter Lou Colombo passed away due to a traffic accident on March 3, 2012 at the age of 84.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Marlon Jordan was born August 21, 1970 in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of six performers of a prominent family of New Orleans musicians. He is the son of saxophonist Edward “Kidd” Jordan and classical pianist Edvidge Jordan, and his brother Kent is a flutist, his sister Rachel is a violinist, and sister Stephanie is a jazz singer.

Starting on playing trumpet in the fourth grade, he graduated from the famed New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. A major influence was Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard who he knew when he was a child. Marlon recorded as a sideman with his brother Kent in 1987 and Dennis González in 1988.

In 1988 at age 18 he recorded his debut album as a leader, For You Only, with Branford Marsalis, brother Kent, and Elton Heron. Taking his quintet on the road, with Wynton Marsalis, Miles Davis and George Benson, he was billed as one of the headlining act in a series of JVC Jazz Festival dates. They would go on to play some of the country’s top jazz clubs, as well as in concerts.

He has recorded with his immediate family, Stephanie, Edward, Rachel, Kent, along with uncle Alvin Batiste, cousin Jonathan Bloom, uncle Maynard Chatters, and Chatters’ son, Mark.

In 2005, Marlon and sister Stephanie toured Bucharest, Germany, Lithuania and Ukraine as Jazz Ambassadors on a European Tour as part of the Higher Ground Relief effort sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, and Jazz at Lincoln Center to thank the people of Europe for their support of New Orleans and the Gulf region following Hurricane Katrina. Trumpeter, composer and bandleader Marlon Jordan continues to perform, record, and tour.

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