Music
Jazz, justice and Juneteenth: Wynton Marsalis and Bryan Stevenson join forces to celebrate Black protest
NEW YORK (AP) – Black music traditions like jazz play a key role in Juneteenth celebrations, says civil rights lawyer and jazz pianist Bryan Stevenson.
That’s why he and Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz artist Wynton Marsalis debuted “Freedom, Justice and Hope,” a live album of historic jazz records created to protest racial injustice, just in time for this 12 months’s celebration.
In addition to a brand new arrangement of saxophonist John Coltrane’s “Alabama,” a tribute to the 4 black girls killed within the 1963 Ku Klux Klan bombing of Birmingham’s sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the project features original compositions by rising bassist Endea Owens and trumpeter JoshEvans.
The album, released by Blue Engine Records, encompasses a guest appearance by the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra, of which Marsalis is the artistic and managing director. It is currently streaming on digital platforms.
Its publication comes ahead of this summer’s tenth anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, a black teenager fatally shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri, which sparked a wave of Black Lives Matter protests. When “Freedom, Justice & Hope” was recorded three years ago in 2021, the nation was reeling from one other flashpoint – the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
“To take some of the great jazz works of the 20th century and integrate them into the narrative of the long struggle for social justice in this country is just a dream come true,” said Stevenson, founding father of the Equal Justice Initiative, a criminal justice reform nonprofit. and racial justice based in Montgomery, Alabama.
The history of jazz and the musicality of Black American protest runs deeper than many individuals realize, said Marsalis, the legendary trumpeter who provides moving melodies throughout the album. Stevenson accompanies on piano and intersperses spoken reflections on disenfranchisement, racial injustice and the activism that has erupted in response.
“Jazz itself was the opposite of minstrelsy,” Marsalis said, referring to a type of entertainment popularized within the twentieth century wherein white actors with blackened faces performed racist depictions of African Americans.
“Jazz still has the same influence,” he said. “People come in, they can play and they take what they do seriously. They will discuss issues and be honest about them, and they don’t feel the need to denigrate themselves.”
Originating in ragtime and blues, cultivated in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, and rising to prominence through the Harlem Renaissance, the genre is a crossroads where music meets the march for justice. Some historians even credit jazz singer Billie Holiday’s 1939 rendition of “Strange Fruit,” an anti-lynching poem by Abel Meeropol, as one among the catalysts of the Civil Rights Movement.
“I think jazz as an art form should be understood as a protest against the narrative that black people are somehow incapable,” Stevenson said. “The extraordinary thing that jazz musicians did was that they took Western music, did things with art forms that others had been doing for centuries, and added things that dazzled and inspired.”
“They did it with dignity and purpose, debunking this false narrative of racial hierarchy,” he said.
In that spirit, Owens’s lighthearted “Ida’s Crusade” chronicles journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s lifelong struggle against lynching and false imprisonment. Evans’ “Elaine” draws inspiration from the 1919 Arkansas massacre wherein several hundred Black Americans were killed.
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With Marsalis and Stevenson, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs recent arrangements of “Honeysuckle Rose,” originally composed by Fats Waller in 1929; “We Will Overcome” – The Civil Rights Movement Has Stopped Since 1947; and “Freedom Suite”, originally composed by Sonny Rollins in 1958.
Apart from Stevenson’s monologues and songs from the album “Freedom, Justice and Hope”, these songs are entirely instrumental and contain no vocals.
Jazz’s reliance on instrumental solos has led some to stereotype it as outdated, irrelevant, and less connected to social justice than rap and vocal-based hip-hop – similar to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” “F(asterisk)(asterisk) (asterisk “NWA) Tha Police” and “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar. But musicians, scholars and activists urge listeners to recognize and defend the political messages conveyed through the emotional depth of music.
“Sometimes there are no words to express the joy and sadness we feel,” said Reiland Rabaka, founder and director of the Center for African and African American Studies on the University of Colorado Boulder.
“And sometimes these trumpets, these saxophones, these guitars, these pianos – they can express it better than our words can,” said Rabaka, who has written extensively about hip-hop and Black Power, songs about women’s liberation and civil rights.
According to Rabaka, the improvisational elements of jazz may be present in the Middle Passage from Africa to the Americas, where slaves chained to the underside of ships invented songs. Improv is also present in Juba and juke dances, common in various parts of the southern United States, including Congo Square in New Orleans, where slave auctions were held.
Improvisation may be compared to the resourcefulness of Black Americans who, using what they’d, built a life for themselves after freeing themselves from the agricultural environment wherein they were confined.
For Marsalis and Stevenson, the eleventh release of the album recorded three years ago is symbolic. June 19, or Juneteenth, is the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom – greater than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation granted them it.
“Enslaved people learned to love in the midst of sadness, and that is something extraordinary that can be achieved,” Stevenson said. “This is the part of Juneteenth that I hope we can start celebrating. Not just emancipation, but this whole legacy. … I think music plays a key role in that.”
Echoing his colleague’s words, Marsalis said he hopes to encourage people to have a look at the challenges ahead moderately than continuing to fight old battles.
“I like Juneteenth in a symbolic sense because often people, wherever they are in the world, don’t know they are free,” he said. “From a national standpoint, the nation must view June 11 within the context of the national struggles we’re still fighting.
“We are still fighting this conflict, now on a unique battlefield. No one was telling people, “Hey, it’s long overdue.” Let’s be present,” Marsalis said.
Music
Kendrick Lamar tops Apple Music song charts in 2024 and women are making history
NEW YORK (AP) — “Not Like Us” but people sure like him: Kendrick Lamar Smash topped Apple Music’s global song chart in 2024 as a large music streamer published year-end lists Tuesday and provided listeners with data on their most listened to songs.
“Not Like Us” is Lamar’s first-ever song to succeed in primary on the worldwide year-end charts.
In second place is “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone. Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” is third, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is fourth, and Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” is fifth.
“Cruel Summer” is, in fact, a fraction of Swift’s seventh studio album “Lover”, released in 2019. revival in summer 2023
Of the 100 songs on the chart, 39 are songs by female-identifying artists, which is the primary record in the worldwide chart’s seven-year history.
And this may occasionally come as a surprise: Japanese hip-hop band Creepy Nuts’ breakthrough song “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” topped Apple’s most read lyrics in 2024. Other Creepy Nuts songs include “Not Like Us”, “Espresso” and “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish.
“Bling-Bang-Band-Born” also topped the Apple Music song chart, which allows users to see which songs fans sang along to probably the most. It is obvious that Japanese music is becoming more and more popular internationally: in 2023 one other Japanese group, YOASOBI, topped the Sing charts in its inaugural yr, with “Idol”. “Idol” continues to dominate this yr, peaking at #2.
New to the 2024 year-end charts set is the addition of the Shazam Global Radio Spins chart, which uses Shazam to see what songs are being played on radio stations world wide. “Houdini” by Dua Lipa Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” and Tate McRae’s “Greedy” top the list.
Also available Tuesday might be Replay — Apple’s alternative to Spotify’s Wrapped playlist — which allows Apple Music subscribers to experience the most well-liked music on the streaming service this yr. Artists can now also share their year-end data using Apple Music for Artists.
In November, Apple Music named Eilish Female Artist of the Year, following her hugely successful 2024. This yr, Eilish became the youngest person to ever win the award two Academy Awards, and released her critically acclaimed third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, which gained popularity seven 2025 Grammy Awards nominations. At this yr’s awards ceremony, she accepted two latest record player-shaped trophies – despite the fact that she hasn’t released a brand new album – each for “What Was I Made For?” With hit movie “Barbie”.
“It’s always special when a young artist can connect with so many people so quickly,” Rachel Newman, senior director of content and editorial at Apple Music, said in an announcement. “But what has been truly remarkable about watching her evolve over the past yr will not be only that her voice and artistry proceed to resonate so widely. The point is that she blossomed as bravely and truthfully as she did – on her own terms and in her own way.
Music
Kendrick Lamar and SZA embark on their ‘Grand National’ tour across North America, including Toronto. MUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!
We all knew this was coming. Kendrick Lamar dropped his latest album “GNX” on the Friday before Thanksgiving and people were screaming “MUSTAAAAAAAAAARD” over Kendrick’s hilarious shouting of DJ Mustard’s name on the song “tv off.” This appears to be the case for DJ Mustard, who recently wrote that he I shouted as I walked down the road forgetting that he was referring to himself. Good times.
Anyway, because Kendrick is the variety of artist who abandons a project and then continues an enormous tour to support heron Tuesday, December 3, 2024, his press team spammed all of our inboxes with a press release announcing that Kendrick and SZA were embarking on the “Grand National Tour,” a 19-city stadium tour crisscrossing North America. Makes sense. The show covers most major cities within the United States – the New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Washington, DC, Vegas, Philadelphia, etc. – and one fun little performance on June 12, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
This guy.
If you’ve got literally been living under a rock or spent 12 months recording “Naked & Afraid” or something, you realize that Kendrick Lamar and one in all Canada’s biggest exports, Drake, were embroiled in a tiff that included criminal charges, legal motion, bops, and an absolute song 2024’s ‘Not Like Us’ where Kendrick Lamar beat Draked Drake in every way possible. Drake is, in fact, from Toronto. Considering that Kendrick and Drake haven’t only repeatedly attacked one another lyrically over the past nine months, but their teams, supporters, and fans have also taken sides, performing together in their respective cities really didn’t seem to be a no brainer. that may occur. At least not now. Drake continues to be Drake, although his luster has been greatly enhanced (some due to Kendrick, others since the claims of the colonizers are beginning to look more accurate than we would love, no matter what “business” dictates), so in fact when he decides to set out tour to support whatever he’s doing, he’ll Los Angeles.
I feel the identical might be said about Kendrick. Should he NOT go to Toronto because he’s arguing with Jimmy within the wheelchair? I assume that is silly. Plus, Kendrick told us he really loves New Ho King, a restaurant in Toronto. Shouldn’t he go for fried rice and dipping sauce? Of course I did, especially after it went away claimed that Drake shut down TDE artist SiR’s performance at a location in Toronto.
I hope everyone has their popcorn ready because that is just diabolical. Like, honey, after you go to the Super Bowl and perform “Not Like Us” (that is gonna be wiiiiiiiild) for hundreds of thousands of individuals, are you going to do the identical thing at Drake Stadium? I do not even know what to say here. If Kendrick ever desired to make an announcement, performing “Not Like Us” in Toronto to a sold-out arena that screamed “A-minoooooooor” in unison and then screamed “MUSSSSTAAAAAAAAAARD” could be the stuff of legend.
I ponder who comes up with these schedules and locations. I assume LiveNation gave Kendrick a listing of places and he replied, “Yes, Toronto.” Now that I give it some thought, I’m really surprised he won’t stop in Toronto on June 16, which is Tupac’s birthday, considering what a distinguished (and weird) role Tupac played in all this. It almost looks as if an oversight on Kendrick’s part – either that or the room was booked that day.
Who knows what’s going to occur? It’s doubtful, but perhaps between now and the beginning of Kendrick’s tour, Kendrick and Drake will sit down with Farrakhan (or anyone this generation holds in high regard) and squash the meat and we’ll never hear “Not Like Us.” have performed again, with Kendrick safely traversing Canadian soil while Drake has been digging within the bag and actually releasing an album that shows some growth – or a minimum of real ambition. Once again, I doubt this can occur, so I’ll just patiently wait until June 12, 2025 is circled on my calendar.
BLACKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Music
It’s almost time for Spotify Wrapped. When can you expect the 2024 summary?
NEW YORK (AP) – It’s almost that time of yr: Spotify is preparing to release an annual, personalized summary of users’ listening habits and the yr in the audio industry.
Spotify has been providing its listeners with data sheets since 2016. Year by yr it becomes an increasingly larger production and Internet sensation. Spotify said his yr 2023 is closed was “the largest ever created” by way of audience reach and sort of data provided.
So what is going to 2024 bring? Here’s what you have to know ahead of this yr’s edition of Spotify Wrapped.
What exactly is Spotify Wraped?
It’s an annual have a look at individual listening trends, in addition to trends around the world on the streaming service. Users discover their top artists, songs, genres, albums and podcasts, multi functional interactive presentation.
The campaign has turn into a social media sensation as people share and compare their Wrapped data with their friends and followers online.
Previous versions gave users all types of charts and facts, including whether or not they were amongst an artist’s hottest listeners, in addition to a personalised playlist of the yr’s 100 hottest songs that they may save, share, and take heed to each time they wanted. nostalgic.
Spotify also creates a series of playlists that reflect national and global listening trends, featuring the hottest artists and songs streamed. In 2023 Taylor Swift was the most streamed artist on Spotifyunseating Bad Bunny, who had held the title for three years in a row.
Every yr holds something latest. In 2019, Wrapped featured a decade-long summary of user trends in streaming. Last yr, Spotify matched listeners to City of Sound based on their artistic interests and the way this overlaps with those of artists from other parts of the world.
When is the expected release date?
So far, the streaming platform has kept the long-awaited release date of Wrapped under… hmm, under wraps.
In previous years, it was published after Thanksgiving, between November 30 and December 6.
Every yr, rumors spread on social media about when Spotify will stop collecting data to organize its summary results. This yr was no exception. Spotify He quickly debunked these assumptionsasserting on social media that “Spotify Wrapped doesn’t stop counting on October 31st.”
A Spotify representative didn’t reply to a request for comment on when the company will stop data tracking for Wrapped.
Where can I find my Spotify Wrapped?
Once Wrapped is released, each user’s Spotify account will prompt them to view an interactive data summary. It can be accessed through the Spotify smartphone app or via by logging in to Spotify. Wrapped is out there to users with and and not using a Premium subscription.
What else can I learn from my Spotify data?
There are several third-party sites you can connect your Spotify account to that can analyze your Wrapped data.
How bad is your Spotify is an AI bot that assesses your music taste. Reception shares the best songs in a shared graphic that appears like a receipt. Instafest gives you your individual personal music festival-style lineup, powered by your best artists. What sort of NPRCore are you rates how similar your music taste is to NPR Music.
What if I haven’t got Spotify?
Other major streaming platforms like Apple Music and YouTube Music have developed their very own versions of Wrapped in recent times.
Apple Music Replay not only gives its subscribers an end-of-year summary of their listening habits, but additionally monthly summaries – a feature that helps differentiate itself from Spotify’s one-time summary. This is issued at the end of the calendar yr.
Meanwhile, YouTube Music offers its listeners similar year-end releases, in addition to periodic seasonal releases throughout the yr. Earlier this month, it published its annual summary for users.
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