WBGO Blog

  • Johannesburg's Maboneng Precinct with Simon Rentner

    May 3, 2013. Posted by Simon Rentner.

    Add new comment | Filed under: Jazz Alive

    Our celebration of global jazz all May continues with more from my recent trip to South Africa. In this second report for The WBGO Journal, I investigate urban renewal in Johannesburg's Maboneng Precinct.

    Once a notoriously dangerous part of the city's bustling Central Business District, Maboneng now a playground and living space for some of the country's top artists.

    Click here to hear my first report for The WBGO Journal, on the Capetown Jazz Festival.

    Maboneng Graffiti

    There are over 100 murals of Graffiti Art throughout the Maboneng Precinct.

    Arts on Main

    The flagship development of the Maboneng Precinct is Arts on Main.  This courtyard hosts their very fashionable Sunday Market.

    The Museum of African Design

    This October, the Museum of African Design in the Maboneng opens to the public. The museum is currently showcasing this private show of works described "braille astronomy."

    The Museum of African Design Part II

    Skateboard Ramp and Graffiti Wall

    Skateboarding is very popular in Johannesburg.  This ramp is installed on the main avenue of the Maboneng Precinct in effort to "activate" the streets and welcome kids from the surrounding poor neighborhoods.

    Remed's View Mural

    The murals and special commissions of public art throughout the precinct are impressive, including this work by the French artist Remed.  This painting is featured on an under-construction building for low-income students called Remed's View.

    For more of my South African arts coverage, click here for a recap of the 14th Annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival.  And here's my article about five South African swing artists every jazz lover should know.

    © 2013 WBGO

  • Chick Corea, JLCO with Wynton Marsalis

    May 2, 2013. Posted by David Tallacksen.

    Add new comment | Filed under: Jazz Alive

    Watch Live on Sat May 18, 2013 8:00pm EDT

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    Now in his seventies, the pianist-composer Chick Corea will be celebrated during JALC's 25th Anniversary Season with a multi-venue festival.

    On the Rose Theater portion, Corea will reconnect with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in a reprise of their highly acclaimed collaborations in 2011, performing deeply original arrangements by JLCO members of Corea's masterful songbook. This interplay showcases Corea's singular abilities as a musical storyteller, with vocabulary that contain a global range of reference-Bach and bebop, Bartok and the blues, Mozart and montunos, Ravel and rumba, Stravinsky and samba, all tempered with the language of swing and the Spanish Tinge.

    © 2013 WBGO

  • Singer Ann Hampton Callaway With Michael Bourne

    May 1, 2013. Posted by Tim Wilkins.

    Add new comment | Filed under: Interviews, Jazz Alive, michael bourne

    Singer Ann Hampton Callaway talks with WBGO's Michael Bourne about her new show, “From Sassy to Divine”, which honors Newark native and NEA Jazz Master Sarah Vaughan. Callaway performs at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center from May 2 through 5. Enjoy!

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    © 2013 WBGO