June 2016 Celebrates One Year of Jazz on the JNote

I am experiencing tender feelings today, with the knowledge that this month makes a year since I started my show Jazz on the JNote.

It was never planned. My role in this situation sort of just happened and from the jumping off point of embarking on this task of creating a show featuring jazz music in hopes to keep jazz music alive, I can honestly say that it has added value to my world.

My humble beginning started without a clue of how but the why was always there. I loved jazz music and I had a goal of conducting research on the topic to write about it. My first show in June of 2015 was a tribute to Sarah Vaughan. I was never in a radio studio until that day and never knew how to operate the equipment but, I did it, just a few months shy of using those examples to build my internship which from, I came up with a thesis topic. I am thankful to Fitz Richardson who is the station manager of Medgar Evers College Radio, for allowing me the opportunity.

I finally found a way to apply my professional writing skills of creating a timeline and script and applying it to something. I sounded nervous in the final mix but, I did it and overnight I became a radio show host. A year later, I have decided to do another tribute to my favorite singer of all time, but this time, with a year of radio hosting and producing which now enables me to operate from the grounds of experience.

When I was in high school, my sister introduced me to jazz music, telling me that it helped to retain information if listened to while studying. That trendy thought was so easy for me to believe as a spoken truth and I started listening to Miles Davis and since then, have more jazz in my music collection than any other genre. I take comfort in the knowledge that jazz music has impacted change on everything about who I am.

And so, with my mission in mind to discover aspects of jazz and racism, I made it a matter for the crowd and I am thankful for the process as well as all those who took time to listen to my ramblings of what I’ve discovered about this culture that has become a part of the blood that runs through my veins. You have been a part of my succeeding in gaining this information.

I must mention however that history is not always the whole truth and though you may gain bits and pieces of valid data, one may never know that total authenticity of what has been mentioned about any topic you think of researching. Sometimes, we research and find conflicting stories compressed in metaphor.  Author of the book, Magical Realism, Maggie Ann Bowers said, “reality is built on prejudices, misconceptions and ignorance as well as on our perceptiveness and knowledge” (Bowers). If at times, you feel the urge to question history, it is because the conventional truth might not seem right.

History may not always be flawless in execution. Remember that heresy, even when written in a book featuring historical data still can be compared to the telephone game when I say something and you repeat what you think you heard which may not always be what was said. I wrote 44 pages for my thesis on jazz and racism based on books, scholarly journals, articles and more. I started my show with a mission to develop my knowledge on understanding on the culture. 

I began with a show on Sarah Vaughan the day after one door closed. And with the new door that opened, I presented it to the most respectable body of people to have ever allowed me placement in their good hearts. Today, I will pay tribute to Sarah Vaughan again, which can be heard this evening, June 5, 2016 at 7:30PM on WNYE 91.5 FM. And to think it has been a year already makes me see how time truly does fly at the speed of light. Where did the year go?

Thank you for making my year purposeful.