In conjunction with the centenary celebration of the birth of Mary Lou Williams, the great American jazz pianist and composer, I caught up with Professor Dr. Tammy Kernodle (Miami University of Ohio) during her lecture, “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit: Constructing Black Women’s Conversion Narratives in Jazz.” In addition to teaching, Dr. Kernodle is a renowned jazz pianist.
Sidebar: Mary Lou Williams was one of the first jazz musician to own her own record label and have full rights to her publishing. Keep in mind, this was in the 50′s, when this type of ownership was rare and unheard of.
Super shout out to Dr. Katz in the Music Department at UNC-Chapel Hill. When he first invited me to these jazz events back in April I kinda **paused** on it (trying to find the relevance between jazz and this blog), but I’m glad I went. It gave me the opportunity to learn how jazz, urban culture, and hip hop are similar in more ways than one.
Dr. Katz has a book coming this year titled Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip Hop DJ. His classes are very popular and known to bring in highly respected and well known DJs for guest lectures and live demonstrations on turntabalism. Dr. Katz is also founder of The UNC CHAT Festival, a 4-day digital arts and humanities.
