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Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds chats with WBGO's Dave Popkin about the band's latest album "Struck Down"

On the September 6 WBGO Journal, we get a preview of the 2025 Montclair jazz Festival and an in-depth chat with singer and actor Keith David

A week after Kendrick Lamar's new album, GNX, was surprise released, it proved to be a chart phenomenon, debuting at No. 1 on the album chart and claiming the Top 5 spots on the singles chart.

The Berkeley College Men's Basketball team in New York City won 53 games in a row to claim it's third consecutive USCAA Division 2 Championship. Berkeley…

Jené Elzie is the Chief Growth Officer for Athletes First Partners and has more than two decades of experience as a global sports and entertainment…

“Unlike some bassists who are content to compose and remain mostly as a vital cog of the rhythm section, Reed does that but also manages to solo on almost every piece. He has a lyrical touch but can swing too.” - Jim Hynes, Making a Scene Music Magazine, July 29, 2020 Sean Jones, trumpet Todd Marcus, bass clarinet Jonathan Epley, guitar Eric Kennedy, drums Jeff Reed, bass Jeff Reed is an acoustic bassist, electric bassist, composer, and educator residing in Baltimore, MD. One of the most in-demand sidemen in the area, Jeff has performed extensively throughout the United States and throughout the world. As a sideman, Reed frequently works with bass vibraphonist Warren Wolf, trumpeter Sean Jones, and bass clarinetist Todd Marcus. Jeff has also performed with a slew of musicians over the years including Gary Thomas, Miguel Zenon, David Sanchez, Dave Kikoski, Dave Liebmann, Tom Scott, Jeff Coffin, Bennie Maupin, Kirk Whalum, Take 6, and Tom Morello to name a few. Reed has also been recorded on over fifty full-length albums. Showtime is 7 pm ET/6 pm CT/5 pm MT/4 pm PT/11 pm GMT Streaming cost is $10 Donations are welcomed. The link will be revealed to you 15 minutes before the show and will remain active through May 28

Michael C. Bright, who is the President and CEO Of the YMCA of Newark, is a member of the Bucknell University Athletics Hall of Fame. Bright set numerous…

Pianist and composer Aaron Diehl mystifies listeners with his layered artistry. At once temporal and ethereal, his expression transforms the piano into an orchestral vessel in the spirit of beloved predecessors Ahmad Jamal, Erroll Garner and Jelly Roll Morton. Following three critically-acclaimed leader albums on Mack Avenue Records — and live appearances at historic venues from Jazz at Lincoln Center and The Village Vanguard to New York Philharmonic and the Philharmonie de Paris — the American Pianist Association’s 2011 Cole Porter fellow now focuses his attention on what it means to be present within himself. His forthcoming solo record promises an expansion of that exploration in a setting at once unbound and intimate. "Diehl has developed an organic, sophisticated approach" says DownBeat.

During his kaleidoscopic quarter-century as a professional jazz musician, pianist Orrin Evans has become the model of a fiercely independent artist who pushes the envelope in all directions. Never supported by a major label, Evans has ascended to top-of-the-pyramid stature on his instrument, as affirmed by his #1-ranking as “Rising Star Pianist” in the 2018 DownBeat Critics Poll. Grammy nominations for the Smoke Sessions albums The Intangible Between and Presence, by Evans’ raucous, risk-friendly Captain Black Big Band, stamp his bona fides as a bandleader and composer. In addition to CBBB, Evans’ multifarious leader and collaborative projects include the Eubanks Evans Experience (a duo with eminent guitarist Kevin Eubanks); the Brazilian unit Terreno Comum; Evans’ working trio with bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Mark Whitfield, Jr.; and Tar Baby (a collective trio of 20 years standing with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Waits). One of Tar Baby’s two 2022 releases will be released on Evans’ imprint, Imani Records, which he founded in 2001 and relaunched in 2018.

HOLLA & HEAL: A live concert event featuring Magnetic North & Taiyo Na (MNTN) and special guests Ann One, Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, and Treya Lam with proceeds to benefit the community organization CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities. This collective brings live musicianship to the genres of soul, folk, jazz and hip hop from a distinct and politicized Asian American perspective. The event aspires to be a safe gathering for communal healing, especially in context of the pandemic and spikes in anti-Asian violence. Magnetic North & Taiyo Na consists of Theresa "T-Vu" Vu, Derek Kan, Taiyo Na, and Chucky Kim. They created Home:Word, an album of chart-topping hits in Japan and Korea that Phil Yu of AngryAsianMan called “one of my favorite albums of the year," and writer/historian Jeff Chang described as “an album my family plays when we get together.” In 2021, they released “We Belong ‘21” in response to increased nationwide anti-Asian violence. A dedication to the late photographer Corky Lee, the music video was directed by An Rong Xu with ZZ Design.

WBGO News Director Doug Doyle is the host of this extended one hour edition of the WBGO Journal