MUSICIAN/EDUCATOR MELTON MUSTAFA FIGHTING RARE CANCER

Jesse Jones, Jr

Melton Mustafa's Fight For Life

IT'S A HARDBOP LIFE ~ Off-Broadway

Thursday Evenings 10:30PM
at the Producers Club 358 West 44th Street NYC

Set in 1964 New York, a jazz trombone player named
Q. (Gregory Charles Royal) struggles with his wealthy
girlfriend (Jolynn Carpenter) over his artistic ethics
and her shallow desire for singing fame on the day of
his band Hardbop's debut performance at the Jazz
Corner Nightclub. The production features live
performace in the hardbop jazz style by Duke Ellington Orchestra and Art Blakey alum Gregory Charles Royal who was also chronicled in the book Art Blakey Jazz Messenger(Leslie Gourse Shirmer Books, New York 2002 .

Read feature article in Jazz Times Magazine!



Remember to shut off music player to the right of the screen.

ESP-DISK’ opened for business in New York City in 1966 on the 12th floor of 156 5th Avenue. During its first 18 months, 45 albums were recorded and released, featuring previously unknown free improvisational artists. The only exceptions were Ornette Coleman and Paul Bley, both of whom had gained global recognition during the 1950's. Artists who made their debuts as leaders on ESP included Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, Gato Barbieri, Bob James, Marion Brown, Roswell Rudd, Burton Greene, Patty Waters, Henry Grimes, Charles Tyler, Sunny Murray, Milford Graves, Sonny Simmons, Ronnie Boykins and Frank Wright. Several of these artists were then quickly sought out and recorded by the Impulse and Columbia labels. ESP had signed no term agreements with its artists, anticipating that this might happen, and that they would then enjoy promotional support from these large companies.

continued @ ESPDISK

 The American poet, musician, authour and 'the godfather of rap', Gilbert “Gil” Scott Heron died on May 27 2011. He was a hugely respected musician whose influence runs deep in the veins of many of jazz, funk, soul and hip-hops greatest contemporary exponents.

 WORLD MUSIC NETWORK

HUMANITY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF JAZZ

“God has brought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create – and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations. Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music. Modern Jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of “racial identity” as a problem for a multi-racial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls. Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down. And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Gene Sweeney (Baltimore Sun Photographer)

 Welcome to The Global Jazz Radio & TV Network.Com

           COMING SOON...

 MILES DAVIS Dark Magus (2006 UK 176-page hardback book which wipes away the public perception of Davis & gets down to the realities of his personality, his relationships & his many quirks, the swings between sobriety & prodigious drug use; his tender family moments & his destructive selfishness; his search for marital stability & his obsession with young women, the book also delves into his relationships with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie & John Coltrane, his obsession with sports, the ups & downs of his career & its affect on his family & finally their turmoil over his final will).