​BOSTON, MA, December 2 – Sun Music presents award-winning New York singer, arranger, educator and composer Charenee Wade at Scullers Jazz Club, 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston, MA on Saturday, December 21, 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm.

​Joining Charenee on the Scullers bandstand are Willerm Delisfort, piano; Jordyn Davis, bass; Freddie Hendrix, trumpet; Lucianna Padmore, drums; and Brandon Bain, vocals.
 
For tickets, go to https://www.ticketweb.com/search?q=charenee+scullers.
 
Sometimes, if you’re in the game, you get your turn not only to shine, but to be noticed.  In a November 1, 2024 Gigwise article, 27 Female Jazz Singers of the 2000s, writer Emma Richardson named Charenee Wade one of the standout contemporary female jazz vocalists who have made their mark in the new millennium.
 
Charenee has thrilled audiences all over the world with her ingenuity, vibrancy and vocal dexterity. A vocalist on the current Urban Bush Women and Sound of (Black) Music tours, Charenee is also heading to the studio to put the final touches on her next release of original music, completing an Anita Baker/Roberta Flack project, and gathering her band to hit the road and perform.
 
Charenee has worked with notable artists including Wynton Marsalis, Terri Lyne Carrington, Christian McBride, Winard Harper, Eric Reed, Jacky Terrasson, Curtis Lundy, Robert Glasper, and MacArthur Genius Awardee, Kyle Abraham. She has performed at top venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard and The Apollo and appeared at major festivals worldwide including Montreux, the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Istanbul Jazz Festival, Spoleto, Savannah Music, Jazz En Tete, Bern Jazz Festival, Charlie Parker Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival.
 
A recipient of the 2017 Jazz at Lincoln Center Millennial Swing Award, Wade’s critically acclaimed CD, Offering: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, is a powerful re-interpretation of the poet's musical library. Charenee released her first CD, Love Walked In, in 2011. As an educator, Wade has taught masterclasses, clinics and jazz camps in the U.S. and all over the world. Charenee is currently an instructor at the Aaron Copland School, Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University, and The Juilliard School.
 
Sometimes, if you’re in the game, you get your turn not only to shine, but to be noticed.  Charenee Wade is in the game, it’s her turn> She is shining and people around the world are noticing. See for yourself at Scullers on Saturday, December 21.
 
For more information, log on to https://scullersjazz.com or contact (617) 562-4111.
 
Sun-Music.Net, The Sound of the Sun, is Live 24/7, On-Demand, Online, & On Mobile, free streaming music featuring New and Popular Musicians from across the African-American diaspora and beyond. Sun Music is your Black Music destination. For more information on The Sound of the Sun, visit https://sun-music.net/.
 
 
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NEW YORK, NY, December 9, 2024 – Celebrate Your Holiday Vibes with renowned vibraphonist and composer Jay Hoggard in The Roscoe Room at Alvin & Friends, 14 Memorial Highway, in New Rochelle, December 19-21, at 7:00 pm nightly plus a 9:30 pm set on Saturday. Joining the celebration are pianist James Weidman, bassist Belden Bullock and drummer Jocelyn Pleasant.

In addition to a set of spirited music, guests can enjoy Southern and Caribbean food in the intimate art gallery setting.

For tickets: https://www.alvinandfriendsrestaurant.com/event/jay-hoggard-quartet-in-the-roscoe-room/. Cover Charge is $25.00.

Vibraphonist / Composer Jay Hoggard’s music has touched the  hearts and souls of listeners around Planet Earth for over 40 years.  Jay has long ranked with the greatest vibraphone innovators: he has been highly acclaimed as a master of the vibraphone and  marimba, a supportive and engaging bandleader, a comprehensive and compelling composer immersed in the infinite musical varieties of the African Diaspora, a dedicated educator, and a respected recording artist.
  
 Jay’s music is positive, spiritual, uplifting, and happy. He masterfully draws on traditional and contemporary musical vocabulary to develop new directions for the vibraphone. Jay seamlessly blends jazz and gospel roots with African marimba rhythms. His performance repertoire represents the three B’s of the jazz tradition (Blues, Bop, Ballads) with original innovations.
 
Overall, Jay Hoggard has recorded 23 CDs as a leader. His compositions have been featured internationally on radio, television, film and streaming. He has been consistently recognized as a significant composer of the music called jazz. 
 
Reviews of Jay Hoggard’s recording , Christmas Vibes All Thru The Year, stated, in All About Jazz: “this oft unsung mallet master delivers a set of….. memorable performances …. high points include "We Three Kings/What Child Is This," which starts off in a wild and rangy place before settling in for the ride, and "Little Drummer Boy," which balances the refined and noble with the spacey and angular.” And in NPR’s A Blog Supreme : “ …he draws upon the Christian tradition in which he was raised — his father was a clergyman — for a universal message surrounding all the good things of the season. Joining Hoggard are fellow respected veterans James Weidman on organ and Bruce Cox on drums. That combination of instruments creates spaciousness on a program of traditional songs and original meditations.”
 
In 2023, Jay released two album’s on the JHVM label: RETRO FOCUS and RAISE YOUR SPIRIT CONSCIOUSNESS.
 
RETRO FOCUS is a diverse and dynamic compilation featuring 13 of his compositions previously released on five albums from his JHVM Label: The Right Place (2003), Swing ‘Em Gates (2007), Soular Power (2008), Solo from Two Sides (2009) and Harlem Hieroglyphs (2016). “Retro Focus is a digitally remastered, curated playlist focused upon some of my up tempo, straight ahead compositions,” Hoggard says. “These compositions are core elements of my live performance repertoire, and always receive positive audience response. I am blessed to be able to offer them in this reissue format.”  Retro Focus offers a presentation of Jay Hoggard’s solid musical foundation. “On this release, I was able to focus upon compositions which have stayed with me over the past thirty years” Hoggard  relates. “They’ve grown and developed in performance and creativity, and are my signature of where I go when I'm working in a mainstream jazz setting.” 
 
RAISE YOUR SPIRIT CONSCIOUSNESS, features original compositions, along with stunning and swinging reimaginations of compositions by Wayne Shorter, Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, and Stevie Wonder. As Hoggard wrote in the liner notes, “The music in this recording is intended to help you raise your spirit consciousness. It is grounded in African-derived global rhythms. The goal is to merge the sacred and the secular in the realm of thanksgiving for our everyday blessings. Let everything that has breath make a joyful noise to praise God.”

Jay Hoggard is a tenured Professor of Music at his alma mater, Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, where he directs the Jazz Orchestra, and has taught and mentored thousands  of young musicians since 1991. 

​NEW YORK, NY – For the second straight year, the innovative drummer, composer Joe McCarthy and his Latin Grammy award-winning New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band (NYABABB) will crisscross the country to perform The Pan American Nutcracker Suite (PANS), their spirited and swinging Latin jazz reimagining of Pyotr IIyich Tchaikovsky’s immortal 1892, eight-part ballet suite and Christmas classic, The Nutcracker. The performance, which features Afro-Latin rhythms from the NYABABB’s 2022 album also titled The Pan American Nutcracker Suite, makes a stop at Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland, CA, on December 23, at 8:00 pm.

“Overall, last year's tour was highly successful,” McCarthy says. “It was a little over ambitious, as we also introduced a dance version and a visual presentation of the suite, which we are not doing this year. I'm hoping that more people have had a chance to absorb some of the music, and at the same time, I look forward to enlightening people that have not heard it. I think that what we've created is unique and very accessible, whether people are fans of jazz or pop.”
 
The big band’s tour began on November 3 at the Scottish Rite Museum and Library  in Lexington, MA, and includes stops at Yale University in New Haven, CT (December 6), Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, NY (December 17-18); Clark Center for the Performing Arts in Arroyo Grande, CA (December 22); and Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, CA (December 23).
 
Tickets are $39-79 and are available here.
 
Joining McCarthy on the stage are: Omar Ledezma, percussion; Boris Kozlov, bass; Marco Diaz, piano; Dave McNab, guitar; Nick Marchione, lead trumpet; Neil Levonius,  Maneco Ruiz, Mike Rocha, trumpet; Alejandro Aviles, lead alto sax; Jesse Levit, Galen Green, Marcus Stephens, Aaron Lington, saxophone; Francisco Torres, lead trombone; Jamie Dubberly, Sam Gonzalez, Derek James, trombone.
 
McCarthy released The Pan American Nutcracker Suite album in 2022, on his Angelface Records label, which LatinJazz.net hailed as “a five-star performance from end to end.” Reimagined in McCarthy and co-arranger/conductor Vince Norman’s arresting arrangements, and driven by McCarthy’s Tony Williams and Ray Barrett-inspired, in-the-pocket drumming, the recording includes the infectious, Afro-grooved take on “Overture,” the martial mambo-fired bolero “March,” and a cha-cha-cha/6/8 take of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” “Trepak” reminiscences in Ellington’s terrific tempos he recorded on his 1960 recording of The Nutcracker Suite with Billy Strayhorn, contrasted to the atmospheric, Gil Evans-inspired vibe on “Arabian Dance.” The Chinoiserie cadences on “Chinese Dance,” are matched in intensity by the partido alto-pulsed Brazilian rhythms on “Dance of the Reed Flutes” and the Venezuelan joropo dance grooves on “Waltz of the Flowers,” which was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award® In the Best Arrangement category.
 
A native of Connecticut and a graduate of the University of North Texas, McCarthy is a 20-year veteran of The United States Naval Academy Band. He was inspired to create the PANS around 2019 during the Pandemic, writing two movements with arranger Vince Norman. McCarthy moved to Miami to take a teaching position, and he finished writing the piece there. The University of Texas at Arlington commissioned McCarthy to premier the suite in 2021. “Tchaikovsky's music is so perfect. It's just perfect music… such amazingly great writing that is durable and flexible,” McCarthy proclaimed. “My real challenge was coming up with some great rhythmic settings to present this [Suite] in a different way. And that's how we came up with what we came up.”
 
McCarthy’s previous recordings include The Caribbean Jazz Project/Afro Bop Alliance featuring Dave Samuels won a 2008 Latin Grammy®, and was also nominated in the Latin Jazz category at the 2009 Grammy Awards®. His other recordings include Encarnacion, Una Mas, Camino Nuevo, Angel Eyes, and Upwards and Revelation. The big band also won four Wammie Music Awards.
 
The alternating core of the 18-piece NYABABB, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, consists of: McCarthy on drums; bassists Boris Kozlov and Luques Curtis; percussionists Luisito Quintero and Ray Contreras, pianist Hector Martignon, guitarist Vinny Valentino; lead trumpeter Nick Marchione, 2nd trumpet Tony Kadleck and David Nieves; 3rd trumpet Maneco Ruis and Stuart Mack ; 4th trumpet Diego Urcola; lead alto saxophonists Alejandro Aviles; 2nd alto saxophonist Andrew Gould; lead tenor saxophonist Luis Hernandez; 2nd saxophonist Lucas Pino, Frank Basile and Matt Hong on baritone sax; lead trombonists Noah Bless and Joe Fiedler, 2nd trombonists Juanga Lakunza and Matt  McDonald;  3rd trombone Sam Blakeslee and Jeff Nelson and James Borowski on bass trombone.
 
McCarthy taps outstanding local and regional musicians to perform with the Big Band outside of New York and the East Coast. In Arroyo Grande, musicians include Quinn Johnson, piano; Giancarlo Anderson, percussion; Tony Bonsera, Nate Johnson and Joe Terry, trumpet; Andy Waddell, guitar; Tom Luer, alto saxophone; Brian Scanlon and Scott Martin, tenor saxophone; Adam Schroeder, baritone saxophone; Andy Martin, Phil Menchaca and Michael Nuefield, trombone; and Cody Kleinhaus, bass trombone.
 
More than a remake or a re-arrangement, McCarthy’s PANS is a rousing work of art that speaks in all musical languages and is understood across the world’s peoples and cultures. “Music has zero boundaries,” McCarthy authoritatively states. “It was my job not to mess up a masterpiece! I'm not a big fan of regurgitating other people's music, so it was extremely important that I did something that was completely different. So, when people hear what we do, and whether they have ever seen or heard The Nutcracker, they'll realize that a piece of music like this is just borderless. Music is a universal language.”
 
For more information on Joe McCarthy’s New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band, click here.
​

​NEW YORK, NY – November 20, 2024 -  For the second straight year, the innovative drummer, composer Joe McCarthy and his Latin Grammy award-winning New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band (NYABABB) will crisscross the country to perform The Pan American Nutcracker Suite (PANS), their spirited and swinging Latin jazz reimagining of Pyotr IIyich Tchaikovsky’s immortal 1892, eight-part ballet suite and Christmas classic, The Nutcracker. The performance, which features Afro-Latin rhythms from the NYABABB’s 2022 album also titled The Pan American Nutcracker Suite, makes a stop at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts, 487 Fair Oaks Avenue, Arroyo, CA, on December 22, at 7:00 pm.

“Overall, last year's tour was highly successful,” McCarthy says. “It was a little over ambitious, as we also introduced a dance version and a visual presentation of the suite, which we are not doing this year. I'm hoping that more people have had a chance to absorb some of the music, and at the same time, I look forward to enlightening people that have not heard it. I think that what we've created is unique and very accessible, whether people are fans of jazz or pop.”
 
The big band’s tour began on November 3 at the Scottish Rite Museum and Library  in Lexington, MA, and includes stops at Yale University in New Haven, CT (December 6), Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, NY (December 17-18); Clark Center for the Performing Arts (December 22); and Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, CA (December 23).
 
Tickets are $34-54 and are available here.
 
McCarthy and his big band released The Pan American Nutcracker Suite album in 2022, on his Angelface Records label, which LatinJazz.net hailed as “a five-star performance from end to end.” Reimagined in McCarthy and co-arranger/conductor Vince Norman’s arresting arrangements, and driven by McCarthy’s Tony Williams and Ray Barrett-inspired, in-the-pocket drumming, the recording includes the infectious, Afro-grooved take on “Overture,” the martial mambo-fired bolero “March,” and a cha-cha-cha/6/8 take of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” “Trepak” reminiscences in Ellington’s terrific tempos he recorded on his 1960 recording of The Nutcracker Suite with Billy Strayhorn, contrasted to the atmospheric, Gil Evans-inspired vibe on “Arabian Dance.” The Chinoiserie cadences on “Chinese Dance,” are matched in intensity by the partido alto-pulsed Brazilian rhythms on “Dance of the Reed Flutes” and the Venezuelan joropo dance grooves on “Waltz of the Flowers,” which was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award® In the Best Arrangement category.
 
A native of Connecticut and a graduate of the University of North Texas, McCarthy is a 20-year veteran of The United States Naval Academy Band. He was inspired to create the PANS around 2019 during the Pandemic, writing two movements with arranger Vince Norman. McCarthy moved to Miami to take a teaching position, and he finished writing the piece there. The University of Texas at Arlington commissioned McCarthy to premier the suite in 2021. “Tchaikovsky's music is so perfect. It's just perfect music… such amazingly great writing that is durable and flexible,” McCarthy proclaimed. “My real challenge was coming up with some great rhythmic settings to present this [Suite] in a different way. And that's how we came up with what we came up.”
 
McCarthy’s previous recordings include The Caribbean Jazz Project/Afro Bop Alliance featuring Dave Samuels won a 2008 Latin Grammy®, and was also nominated in the Latin Jazz category at the 2009 Grammy Awards®. His other recordings include Encarnacion, Una Mas, Camino Nuevo, Angel Eyes, and Upwards and Revelation. The big band also won four Wammie Music Awards.
 
The alternating core of the 18-piece NYABABB, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, consists of: McCarthy on drums; bassists Boris Kozlov and Luques Curtis; percussionists Luisito Quintero and Ray Contreras, pianist Hector Martignon, guitarist Vinny Valentino; lead trumpeter Nick Marchione, 2nd trumpet Tony Kadleck and David Nieves; 3rd trumpet Maneco Ruis and Stuart Mack ; 4th trumpet Diego Urcola; lead alto saxophonists Alejandro Aviles; 2nd alto saxophonist Andrew Gould; lead tenor saxophonist Luis Hernandez; 2nd saxophonist Lucas Pino, Frank Basile and Matt Hong on baritone sax; lead trombonists Noah Bless and Joe Fiedler, 2nd trombonists Juanga Lakunza and Matt  McDonald;  3rd trombone Sam Blakeslee and Jeff Nelson and James Borowski on bass trombone.
 
McCarthy taps outstanding local and regional musicians to perform with the Big Band outside of New York and the East Coast. In Arroyo Grande, musicians include Quinn Johnson, piano; Giancarlo Anderson, percussion; Tony Bonsera, Nate Johnson and Joe Terry, trumpet; Andy Waddell, guitar; Tom Luer, alto saxophone; Brian Scanlon and Scott Martin, tenor saxophone; Adam Schroeder, baritone saxophone; Andy Martin, Phil Menchaca and Michael Nuefield, trombone; and Cody Kleinhaus, bass trombone.
 
More than a remake or a re-arrangement, McCarthy’s PANS is a rousing work of art that speaks in all musical languages and is understood across the world’s peoples and cultures. “Music has zero boundaries,” McCarthy authoritatively states. “It was my job not to mess up a masterpiece! I'm not a big fan of regurgitating other people's music, so it was extremely important that I did something that was completely different. So, when people hear what we do, and whether they have ever seen or heard The Nutcracker, they'll realize that a piece of music like this is just borderless. Music is a universal language.”
 
For more information on Joe McCarthy’s New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band, click here.
 

 
 

​Ray and her band – Tom Appleman on bass, Amy Bellamy on keyboards, Mike Casano on drums and Scott Tarulli on guitar – will feature music from her upcoming self-titled album as well as some of their favorite neo-soul and jazzy covers.
 
Ray has performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, including Newport and Monterey Jazz festivals, Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl and others. Her versatility from neo-soul/R&B to jazz, pop, classical/opera and rock is unmatched.
 
Trained at the Handel and Haydn Society Vocal Apprenticeship Program and the New England Conservatory Prep School, Debo earned her stripes in opera voice. A graduate in vocal performance and classical composition from Berklee College of Music, she mastered vocal prowess and versatility that allows her to sing in any style. A spirited and cooperative collaborator, she has worked with multiple Grammy award winners, including Bobby McFerrin, Esperanza Spalding, Antonio Sanchez, Terri Lyne Carrington, Screaming Headless Torsos, Women of The World.
​
A composer at heart, Debo is known for the unique way she embraces and expresses the music she creates, as well as her style of blending theory with emotion in her performances. Spanning genres from pop and R&B to rock fusion, her mission is clear: to instill joy in music without sacrificing skill through an immersive experience. Her relatable yet universal sound creates a connection with listeners, encouraging them to embrace their uniqueness and find joy in the rich fabric of her musical expression.
 
For tickets to Debo Ray at Scullers, go to https://www/ticketweb.com/search?q=debo+ray+scullers. See more about Debo Ray’s musical journey at https://www.iamdeboray.com.
 
To learn more about Sun-Music productions and Sun-Music Live radio, go to https://www.sun-music.net
 

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Media Contact: Carolyn McClair Public Relations
(212) 721-3341 | Info@CarolynMcClairPR.com
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Media Contact: Carolyn McClair Public Relations
(212) 721-3341 | Info@CarolynMcClairPR.com

​NEWARK, NJ, November 8, 2024 - New Orleans and Newark are nearly 1300 miles apart, but that distance disappears when New Orleans’ native son, pianist, composer and bandleader Davell Crawford and his quartet return to the TD James Moody Jazz Festival to perform “Davell Crawford: a Musical Journey from New Orleans to Newark at Newark Symphony Hall, 1020 Broad Street on November 16, 2024, at 1:00 pm. The concert is presented by the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation (LAEF) and the WBGO Children’s Concert Series.
 

Crawford, who performed with Gladys Knight at the festival last year, unveils his Crescent City pianism – a great gumbo of gospel, jazz, blues, R&B and Caribbean influences – and musically narrates a scintillating and syncopated tale of two cities, featuring the music of New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong, Professor Longhair, Jon Batiste, and Newark’s James Moody, Sarah Vaughan and Whitney Houston.
 
Also known as the “Piano Prince of New Orleans,” Crawford was born in 1975 with The Big Easy in his blood. “I tell people that my mom had triplets,” Crawford told WBGO’s Sheila Anderson on the Salon Sessions podcast. “She had me, a little grand piano and a microphone.” He alternately grew up in New Orleans, Lafayette and Western Louisiana. His godmother is the legendary soul diva Roberta Flack, and he is the grandson of R&B pianist James “Sugar Boy” Crawford. His primary influences were Patsy Cline and Sarah Vaughan, along with the great New Orleans pianists Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, and James Booker. Crawford started playing piano at the age of 7, played the organ at St. Joseph Baptist Church, where he was the choir director at the age of 11, and toured Europe as a teenager. He attended the famed New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), where the Marsalis brothers, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison and Trombone Shorty also matriculated, and was mentored by vibes master, Lionel Hampton.
 
Crawford has worked with Nicholas Payton, Kermit Ruffins, Delfeayo Marsalis, Irma Thomas, Dr. John and many other musicians. Crawford’s albums as a leader include, Let Them Talk, The B-3 and Me, Love Like Yours and Mine, My Gift to You, Abide with Me: Hymns, Piano in the Vaults, Vol. 1, Spirituals and Solos and his 2024 releases, Alone Together: The Music of Roberta Flack for Solo Piano and Gentle Soul: The Music of Aretha Franklin for Solo Piano.
 
Hailed by Blues Access magazine as “…one of the most talented musicians alive,” Crawford is an all-encompassing artist, who understands that innovation comes from a deep knowledge of tradition. “I have a responsibility to preserve the music,” Crawford tells Steinway & Sons, “to carry it forth and to breathe new life into the music, when it’s appropriate to do that.”
 
ABOUT WBGO CHILDREN’S CONCERT SERIES/NEWARK PUBLIC RADIO
The WBGO Children’s Concert Series brings world-renowned jazz musicians to concert halls and venues throughout New York and New Jersey. These free concerts give young listeners the chance to discover the enjoyment of jazz, improvisation and musical collaboration. WBGO-FM/Newark Public Radio is a non-profit, publicly funded arts and cultural institution, dedicated to the curation, presentation, and preservation of music created out of the African American experience. The station is committed to providing its world-wide jazz community with independently produced music programming and journalism for the purpose of public enrichment, entertainment, and insight. https://www.wbgo.org
 
ABOUT THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG EDUCATION FOUNDATION (LAEF)
The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation (LAEF) was founded and funded by Louis and Lucille Armstrong in 1969 to give back to the world “some of the goodness he received.” The mission of the organization is to preserve and promote the cultural legacy of Louis Armstrong by fostering programs, lectures, and other educational events to assist those interested, gifted and talented in the field of music, primarily jazz. Today the Foundation is a major source of funding for programs to expose and educate adults and children in the history of American jazz and has provided solid financial support to institutions across the nation. In October 2021 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of LAEF, Verve Records, in conjunction with LAEF, released A Gift to Pops, a CD by The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All-Stars with special guests Wynton Marsalis and Common.  https://louisarmstrongfoundation.org
 
ABOUT THE TD JAMES MOODY FESTIVAL/NJPAC
Named for Newark’s great saxophonist/flutist James Moody, The TD James Moody Jazz Festival presents dozens of free and ticketed events, including Dorthaan’s Place, Jazz Vespers and the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. NJPAC is a nonprofit arts organization that is the cultural institution for the city of Newark that presents audiences with world-class performances, and nurtures students through a comprehensive arts education, and engages the community with free cultural events across the city.  https://www.njpac.org/
https://www.njpac.org/series/james-moody-jazz-festival/
 
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Media Contact: Carolyn McClair PR
(212) 721-3341 | https://carolynmcclairpr.com
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

​NEW YORK, NY, October 24, 2024 – Today on what would have been his 95th birthday, the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation (LAEF) pays tribute to long-time board member Dan Morgenstern, who passed away September 7. He was celebrated as a jazz writer uniquely embraced by musicians, using unpretentious prose and a vast knowledge of jazz history to capture the essence of their music.

“Dan Morgenstern was a dear friend and colleague. A member of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation family, he was a friend of Louis Armstrong and an authority on the jazz great,” said Wynton Marsalis, Chairman of the Board of LAEF, world-renowned trumpeter and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. “Dan was a highly regarded jazz journalist, teacher, historian, a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, a multi-Grammy Award winner and a true fan.”
About Dan Morgenstern
Throughout his career, Morgenstern wrote thousands of articles for various publications, served as the last editor-in-chief of Metronome magazine, and became the first editor of Jazz magazine. He reviewed live jazz for The New York Post and albums for The Chicago Sun-Times, and while at DownBeat, he published 148 record reviews and served as chief editor from 1967 to 1973.
Morgenstern’s contributions to jazz writing were widely recognized. He won eight Grammy Awards for his liner notes and was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2007. He also received three Deems Taylor Awards for excellence in music writing, two for his books Jazz People (1976) and Living with Jazz (2004). He played a key role in more than a dozen jazz documentaries and, from 1976 to 2011, served as the director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University-Newark, where he helped build the world's largest repository of jazz documents, recordings, and memorabilia.
Morgenstern was born in Munich on October 24, 1929, to Soma Morgenstern, a novelist and journalist, and Ingeborg von Klenau, the daughter of a Danish composer. Growing up in Vienna, his early years were marked by the horrors of the Holocaust. His father escaped Austria after the Anschluss, while Morgenstern and his mother fled to Denmark. When the Nazis reached Copenhagen, they were smuggled to Sweden by the Danish resistance, remaining there until the war ended.
After the war, Morgenstern reunited with his father in New York City in 1947, where he began his career at Time-Life and then as a copy boy at The New York Times. Drafted in 1951, he returned to Munich for his tour of duty, and upon his discharge, he attended Brandeis University on the G.I. Bill. He became deeply involved in the Boston jazz scene and started writing about jazz, eventually finding work at The New York Post, where he covered jazz festivals and befriended many legendary musicians, including tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins.
Morgenstern’s deep love for jazz and his genuine connection with its musicians made him a trusted figure in the jazz community. His European background helped him earn the trust of African American musicians during a time when racial tensions were high. He became known as an eyewitness to jazz history, attending jam sessions, recording sessions, and gatherings that were usually off-limits to non-musicians.
He married Elsa Schochet in 1974, and they had two sons, Adam Oran and Joshua Louis. Even after retiring as director of the Institute of Jazz Studies in 2011, Morgenstern continued to write about, listen to, and learn about jazz. In 2024, at his final public appearance at the Jazz Gallery Honors Gala, he received a lifetime achievement award.
Throughout his life, Morgenstern remained devoted to jazz, describing his role more as an advocate for the music than as a critic. He believed his success came from learning about the music directly from the people who created it, rather than from books. "I’ve had a long life," he once said, "and I’ve been able to make a living and a life out of involvement with something that I really loved, and still do."

LAEF misses Dan’s sage advice, countless memories and warm spirit. We offer our condolences to his son Josh and family. May he rest in joy and peace.
 

 

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​PITTSBURGH, PA, September 12, 2024 – Fifteen years ago, on September 17, 2009, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture opened its doors to the public, embarking on a journey filled with amazing arts experiences and cultural milestones.
 
Throughout the last 15 years, we have celebrated many successes and successfully navigated periods of uncertainty. In 2017, a new cultural organization sparked a renaissance, transforming the August Wilson African American Cultural Center (AWAACC) into one of the largest, multi-disciplinary Black performing arts centers in the country.

We are proud of what we have built upon the foundation that others established. Our mission remains steadfast: to become a premier performing arts center, a home for arts, storytelling, and the exchange of ideas rooted in the African American experience and the African Diaspora. We welcome all to learn, recognize, and uplift the Black experience in artful and impactful ways.
 
Highlights over the past 15 years include the US premiere of the Flying Girls sculpture by Nigerian artist Peju Alatise, the Black Bottom Film Festival, the virtual salon series Lit Fridays and the culinary series, A Seat at Our Table.
 
Now, it is time to celebrate once more as we look forward to the next 15 years while honoring the past, celebrating the present, and envisioning the future of the August Wilson African American Cultural Center – a place where art and culture are created, presented, and ignite the imaginations of future generations. 
 
Janis Burley
CEO/President
August Wilson African Cultural Center
 
ABOUT AUGUST WILSON AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER
The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is a non-profit cultural organization located in Pittsburgh’s cultural district that generates artistic, educational, and community initiatives that advance the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. One of the largest cultural centers in the country focused exclusively on the African American experience and the celebration of Black culture and the African diaspora, the non-profit organization welcomes more than 119,000 visitors locally and nationally. Through year-round programming across multiple genres, such as the annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, Black Bottom Film Festival, AWCommunity Days, TRUTHSayers speaker series, and rotating art exhibits in its galleries, the Center provides a platform for established and emerging artists of color whose work reflects the universal issues of identity that Wilson tackled, and which still resonate today. www.awaacc.org.
 
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​Media Contact: Carolyn McClair
(212) 721-3341 | Cmcclair@awaacc.org