The post Animals Playing Music… appeared first on Good News!.

The T.S. Monk Sextet’s highly anticipated live album with seven songs is characterized by the steady pulse and groove that the world has come to know and love as the “T.S. Monk Sextet Sound”.

Two Continents One Groove is out now on Storyville Records.

Monk, also known as “Toot”, leads his sextet with an innovative and dynamic approach. Since 1992, the drummer has worked exclusively with his co-players, making the sound of the sextet incredibly tight. When they roll out their arsenal, they soar and swing, and are indeed exciting to hear. In that regard, it might be quite surprising to learn that this is Monk’s very first live album!

“This is my first live recording, ever! It’s daunting and an uncertain kind
of product. Most live albums aren’t that good. I’ve been lucky to always
have great people working with me.”

Cat. #: 1018530
Format: Digital & CD
Release: 17-June-2022
Storyville Records
www.storyvillerecords.com

The seven songs on the album are taken from two performances at two similar jazz rooms over a two-year period; three are from “Harlem’s Jazz Shrines Festival: Jazzmobile presents Minton’s Playhouse” at Ginny’s Supper Club on May 7, 2014, while others were recorded at Marians Jazzroom in Bern, Switzerland on April 24, 2016.

Drummer, percussionist, composer, producer and bandleader, T. S. Monk has taken his place in the pantheon of jazz royalty, to which he was born. The swing is DNA inherited and absorbed in this master drummer’s persona.

Monk’s sextet consists of some of the best jazz musicians in the business, each bringing something special to the table. Willie Williams on tenor saxophone is the original member of the sextet, who came up under the tutelage of Grover Washington, Jr. Additionally, we have the Chicago native, Kenny Davis on bass, who has worked with notables such as Cassandra Wilson and Kevin Eubanks, trumpeter Josh Evans, multi-reedist Patience Higgins, guitarist Dave Stryker and pianist and composer Helen Sung, a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow.

Two Continents One Groove is a masterpiece, so follow him to a new
promised land. As he states:

“If there’s one thing this album is, it’s swingin’! I hope you agree.”

#tsmonk #twocontinentsonegroove #drumspercussion #helensung #piano #williewilliams #tenorsax #patiencehiggins #altosax #joshevans #trumpet #kennydavis #bass #davestryker #guitar

The post T.S. Monk Two Continents One Groove appeared first on Good News!.

Happy Juneteenth Weekend
“WOW!! What a beautiful piece of music”

Dr. Nick, SiriusXM and WPFW-FM Radio, Washington, DC
regarding JUNETEENTH, The Song

Listen now:
https://chipshelton.bandcamp.com/track/juneteenth-the-song

Jim Klein- guitar, producer; Sipho Kunene- percussion;
Chip Shelton- piano, voice

NAACP Presents Juneteenth Family Reunion and Virtual Town
NAACP Presents Juneteenth Family Reunion and Virtual Town Hall

Washington, D.C. (June 18, 2020) – The NAACP, in conjunction with REVOLT, will host a special virtual Juneteenth Black Family Reunion and Juneteenth virtual Town Hall on Friday, June 19th at 4 PM ET/ 1 PM PT and 6PM ET/3PM PT. The afternoon of events will commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States with music, moments, and discussions around the growing awareness of racial disparities, mobilization, and bold actions necessary to further the fight for social justice and equal opportunity throughout the nation.

The Juneteenth Black Family Reunion will be hosted by Nischelle Turner of Entertainment Tonight with special guest appearances from Deon Cole, Actor and Comedian from Black-ish, Jenifer Lewihttp://goodnewsplanet.com/wp-admin/media-upload.php?post_id=65373&type=image&TB_iframe=1s, Actress from Black-ish, Whoopi Goldberg, award-winning actress and co-host of The View, Kierra Sheard, gospel-recording artist and actress, and Captain Kirk Douglas, legendary guitarist from The Roots, and many more.

“For many across this nation, Juneteenth signifies a momentous occasion that brings to light the sobering past of America,” said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO, NAACP. “I am looking forward to joining with people from across the country to commemorate Juneteenth while also discussing actions and sweeping changes needed to move us toward freedom and justice.”

The capstone event for the Juneteenth Black Family Reunion will be the Juneteenth virtual town hall conversation (6PM ET/3PM PT) moderated by Angela Rye, CNN Commentator discussing the actions and sweeping changes needed to move toward freedom and justice. Panel will include Cari Champion, journalist and former ESPN Anchor.

Participants can view both events LIVE on NAACP or REVOLT YouTube channels:

NAACP: Youtube.com/NAACP

REVOLT: Youtube.com/REVOLTTV

Click here to RSVP for the NAACP Juneteenth Black Family Reunion/Virtual Town Hall

###

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. You can read more about the NAACP’s work and our six “Game Changer” issue areas here.

The post The NAACP, virtual Town Hall on Friday, June 19th appeared first on Good News!.

Imagine waking up each morning to drum and dance in one of the world’s primary cradles of rhythm, amongst the world’s prime practitioners of Body Music. Then translating traditional rhythms to the conspicuous sounds of palms, fingers, legs, feet, torso, voice – exploring the confluence of Ghanaian and Body Music traditions in an uncharted cross-cultural language. Throw in market days, village excursions, intercultural exchange, and the 10th International Body Music Festival (IBMF) in Dzodze, Ghana – 6-16 July 2018 will be your unforgettable Body Music Adventure.

Body Music – clapping, snapping, stepping and vocalizing – is an amalgam of composition and choreography, music you can see, dance you can hear. Humans basically have the same instrument, yet they express music on it so differently culture to culture. There is an intimacy, a primacy, of the connection people have when you use your body as the sole instrument. It’s both personal and universal.

While Ghana is “a hotbed of percussive innovation and world rhythm,” IBMF founder and Artistic Director Keith Terry explains, “historically, there has been very little Body Music in their music traditions. There is a potential for the rhythmic language that is everywhere in Western Africa – not, as yet, translated into Body Music – to be explored and articulated in new ways, and the interchange is very exciting. Our partner, Dr. Kofi Gbolonyo, an ethnomusicology professor and Dzodze native, invited the IBMF to his village for this reason.”

Co-produced by Crosspulse and Dr. Kofi Gbolonyo and the Nunya Music Academy, the 10th IBMF consists of TEN days of concerts, workshops and cultural exchange with some of the world’s finest contemporary and traditional Body Musicians, plus intensive workshops in Ghanaian drumming and dance. No prior experience in either art form required, but rampant curiosity expected.

This year’s IBMF will feature Ghanaian artists, plus international Body Music artists from the US, Brazil, France, Israel, Columbia, Austria and South Africa — in concerts, workshops, cross-cultural collaborations, jam sessions, and more. The IBMF offers a unique musical and cultural immersion opportunity for international participants to experience and engage with Ghana while embodying its rhythms in diverse ways.

“This is not a luxury vacation, but rather a deep cultural, Body Music adventure,” says Terry. “Participants will be based in a Ghanaian village for most of it, then in Accra, interacting with cultural and musical institutions there through exchanges, workshops, and nightlife. Mornings will be spent studying music and dance, and in the afternoons, students will learn to translate that learning into Body Music. Trips to other villages to see ceremonies, workshops, and performances will provide the international participants with additional opportunities to experience the roots of Ghanaian culture.”

The International Body Music Festival is both a culmination of Crosspulse’s 40 years developing Body Music as a communicative performance art and educational model; and a jumping off place for a powerful forum of cross-cultural rhythmic performance and community development.

Over the course of its nine previous incarnations, the International Body Music Festival has become a meeting ground for both students and teachers of the various styles of global Body Music. Since 2008, the IBMF has been hosted around the world, from Brazil to Turkey to Indonesia to Paris, though every few years it returns to its home base in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Festival is a moving hub for performers who engage with humanity’s first instrument: the body itself. The shushing of palms, the snapping of fingers, the stomping of feet, and the seemingly infinite potential of the throat and mouth have inspired people worldwide to create moving music, audible dance. Tap, stepping, hambone, flamenco, beatbox, every style that forefronts the sounds of bodies in motion. It’s the oldest music on the planet, and it’s brand new.

Now, a full 40 years since he first coined the term “Body Music” back in 1978, Terry says this will be the final full-scale festival he will produce, preferring to concentrate on professional training and IBMF MiniFests after Ghana.

In honor of this decade-long benchmark, the Percuaction Global Percussion Network plans to honor Terry’s contributions to the field by presenting him with The Percuaction Lifetime Achievement Award during the time of the festival in Ghana, which adds a special value and significance to this year’s program

The Percuaction Lifetime Achievement Award is presented on an annual basis and is the organization’s highest recognition. Since 2012, the prize has acknowledged the life-time missions and achievements of percussive luminaries who have supported Percuaction’s vision of a global rhythm community.

But despite Terry’s impending departure from producing IBMF in upcoming years, he’s not at all worried about the future of the Body Music movement.

“The community will continue to grow, and there are so many places that are interested in hosting IBMF MiniFests in their communities,” he says, “Each new year, I marvel at the quality of the students and the state of the art form. You can see there are lots of embers sparking and we’re leaving Body Music in good hands with the younger generation…I can take a step back. As has happened in past IBMF locations like Bali, Brazil, Turkey, when the young generation experiences Body Music for the first time, then you go back a year later and see it everywhere. I’m really excited by this. It’s happening. It’s moving!”

Confirmed teachers/performers for IBMF 2018 (more announced weekly on our website):

Bryan Dyer, circle singing/beatbox (USA)
Dr. Kofi Gbolonyo, dance/sweat (Ghana)
Evie Ladin, MoToR/dance (USA)
Rémi Leclerc &Quelen Lamouroux, Humanophone (France)
Tupac Mantilla, body music (Columbia)
Molodi, stepping (USA)
Pedro Consorte & Zuza Gonçalves, Musica do Circulo (Brazil)
Max Pollak, RumbaTap (Austria/USA)
Charles Raszl, choreography (Brazil)
Lior Shoov, improvisation (Israel)
Keith Terry, body music (USA)
Vuyani King Gaba Gumboots Idadla Feni, gumboot (South Africa)

Please check out the details and read our full press release on our OPK here. And please let me know if you’d like to cover let me know if I can arrange an interview with IBMF Founder and Creative Director Keith Terry!

The post 10th International Body Music Festival translates body music to Ghanaian Beats appeared first on Good News!.

SPECIAL DONATION ASSEMBLY TO TAKE PLACE TOMORROW,

THURSDAY, MARCH 27th  AT 1 P.M.  AT FAMILY LIFE ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL

WHO: The Traveling Guitar Foundation, a nationwide 501(c) (3) non-profit organization to help keep music education programs alive in schools. Founded by acclaimed guitarist / songwriter Damon Marks in 2010, the Traveling Guitar foundation has worked with 30,000 students in over one hundred schools nationwide by donating musical equipment such as guitars, amps, drums and cables, as well as providing an eight week guitar curriculum to schools that are struggling to keep their arts education programs alive. In May 2013, Damon Marks and his Traveling Guitar Foundation team of musicians completed its first USO Tour to donate similar musical equipment to military schools and support the troops and their families abroad in Germany, and just recently confirmed, TGF has been invited back for another USO Tour in 2014. Throughout the years, major recording artists such as Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Melanie Fiona, Leon Thomas III, Ariana Grande, Victoria Justice, Mariah Carey, Michael Bolton and Rick Springfield have all donated their time and energy to the Traveling Guitar Foundation.

The post TRAVELING GUITAR FOUNDATION TO DONATE DRUMS TO FAMILY LIFE ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL appeared first on Good News!.