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Jazz, justice and Juneteenth: Wynton Marsalis and Bryan Stevenson join forces to celebrate Black protest

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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.

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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.

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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.

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“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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com

Music

SALT-N-PEPA SUE WEPTER

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Salt-n-Pępa They say that their label doesn’t push, fighting for the rights to their music.

A groundbreaking duo behind hip-hop classics, including “Shoop” from 1993 and “Push It” from 1987, say within the lawsuit that the Universal Music Group violates copyright law, refusing to consent to transfer rights to its predominant recordings.

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Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton filed a lawsuit on Monday on the Federal Court in New York, stating that the Copyright Act of 1976, which says that after several many years, artists can terminate previous agreements and regain the property of their recordings, apparently now it concerns them.

The fight, which led to the extraction of Salt-N-Pepa music from streaming services, comes because many artists with their beloved legacy are lucratively selling their catalogs, while others got stuck in classic battles with discs on old contracts.

“UMG pointed out that it would be a hostage of plaintiffs, even if it means refueling the value of the musical catalog of plaintiffs and depriving fans of access to their work,” says the lawsuit.

Representatives of UMG didn’t immediately reply to the e -mail with a comment.

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The claim suggests that situations comparable to Salt-N-Pepa are the rationale why the Copyright Act exists. It allows artists who made transactions “at the beginning of their careers” once they were relatively powerless to make use of the cultural and musical heritage, which they later determined.

In the lawsuit, James and Denton submitted a request to terminate the agreement under the Act in 2022, “wanting to regain the full property of art and heritage,” but “inexplicable, UMG refused to honor his rights.

James and Denton say that, in accordance with the law, they need to now have the option to have early recordings, including from the debut album from 1986, “Hot, Cool & Vicious” and “Push It” from 1987, page B, which the remix caught and have become their breakthrough hit.

They say that other recordings must be legally later, in 2026, including the album “Very necessary” from 1993, which incorporates “Shoop” and “Whatta Man”.

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The duo is searching for each actual damage for lost money and criminal compensation within the amounts that must be determined for the activities of UMG. The claim claims that actual damage can “significantly exceed $ 1 million”. They also need a everlasting order confirming their rights to recordings.

They said, pulling out songs from streaming and other industrial platforms, the label “maliciously punished” Salt-N-Pępa “too brave to confirm their rights.”

Lawyers of the label said in letters contained as exhibits within the lawsuit that they encouraged mediation and need to realize a “mutually acceptable solution”.

But the lawyers of UMG said in letters that James and Denton weren’t even personally parties within the 1986 contract, which included their initial albums, and there isn’t a evidence that they gave Copyright labels that may now get well.

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UMG maintains that the recordings were “works of the rental”, which might not allow the rights to be recovered. Salt-N-Pępa’s lawsuit says that ladies’s agreements with label explain that they weren’t.

Queens, New York, the James duo and Denton became Salt-N-Pepa in 1985. Later he joined them DJ Spinderellawhich was not a part of the early contracts within the dispute and will not be involved within the lawsuit.

“Salt-n-entpa boldly changed the appearance of rap and hip-hop,” says the lawsuit. “They were not afraid to talk about sex and share their thoughts about men. Their solid recordings” let’s speak about sex “and” lack of your interests “, for example they were huge hits. They honestly talked about women’s sexuality and strengthening when such topics were frowned, heavily criticized and called taboos. “

In 1995 they became the primary rap woman who won Grammy, and in 2021 they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Later this yr they’ll grow to be members of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame once they receive the organization of the organization.

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The Weeknd’s Return: New Music, Grammys and its next era

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The artist currently often called Weeknd spent the last 15 years, constructing his popularity “Dark Prince of Pop”. Starting as an enigmatic artist who released his songs anonymously, The Weeknd became a worldwide superstar and a house brand. But now-a few albums from the list Nickname Weeknd In favor of his real name Abel Tesfaye.

This is just one other step within the evolution of Tesfaye as an artist. To understand its influence on contemporary music, let’s take a have a look at the modest beginnings of Mixtape Weeknd, his meteoric known and what next for a person standing behind the nickname.

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Musical Evolution Weeknd: from Mixtapes to Supergowy

New York, New York – 13 May: Abel Tesfaye participates on the planet premiere of Liongate “Hurry up tomorrow” on May 13, 2025 in New York. (Photo Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) – credit: photo Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images

Early dark mixtape

After spending most teenage years to party and problems with the law, Tesfaye began to release music anonymously in 2009. His first effort was a group of leaked demonstrations entitled “Noise”. Songs comparable to “Love Through Her” and “Material Girl” aroused the interest of online listeners, establishing a dark sound R&B and hedonistic topics from which he could be known.

Transition to the mainstream pop

In 2011, Tesfaye used the noise generated by his first editions, spending a variety of additional mixtapes – “House of Balloons”, “Thursday” and “Echo of Silence” – which might later switch to the platinum album of the “Trilogy” compilation.

But this was his contribution to the soundtrack within the dirty film “Fifty Shades of Gray” from 2015, which might really drive The Weeknd music from the bedrooms and basements to the national pop radio. Combining the sexy delivery of Tesfaye with a skillful pop approach, “Zarach IT” not only reached the number three on the Billboard Hot 100 list, but was nominated for the ACADEMY ASCADEM Award for the perfect original song and his first Grammy Award for the perfect R&B performance.

Albums and Weeknd era

Pepsi Super Bowl Lv Palflime Show
Weeknd performs during Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show on the Raymond James Stadium on February 7, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

“Kiss Land” and “Beauty for madness”

Before Tesfaye released his official debut album “Kiss Land” in 2013, he was already a recognized R&B trailblazer. The Canadian artist prepared for the album, traveling to Tokyo and beginning to handle more experimental and film styles that may turn into central for later Tesfaye works.

While his second album from 2015, “Beauty Behind the Madness”, nodded to his dark R&B roots on songs comparable to “Shameless”, he also leaned in POP with hits comparable to “Can’t Feel My Face”.

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“Starboy”, “My dear melancholy” and “After hours”

The seeds he planted on “Kiss Land” and “Beauty Behind the Madness” would bloom the next project The Weeknd, “Starboy” from 2016. With the assistance of the electronic duo Daft Punk, Tesfaye successfully combined his experimental tendencies and fresh production in several primary pop hit, including “I Feel It Come” and the title song.

Later, the older work of Wieknd fans was treated with a brief return to the shape for the EP “My Melncholy” from 2018, which studied his breakup with the singer Selena Gomez and the model Bella Hadid. But EP was not an indication that The Weeknd abandoned his latest path. Two years later, he published “After Hours” inspired by the Nineteen Eighties, which began the second trilogy.

“Dawn FM” and “Hurry up tomorrow”

Thanks to the “Dawn FM” from 2022, Tesfaye selected a nostalgic radio program as a crap device to make sure moody meditations on fame, life and death. The album was a critical and industrial success, setting a brand new Billboard Global 200 list record and pushing Weeknd to #1 for the perfect Spotify listeners.

His latest project “hurry up tomorrow”, limited the trilogy with even darker treatment of those topics, while pointing to the artist’s next evolution. While melancholy, as all the time, Tesfaye sings a couple of sense of readiness to vary his ways, especially on the title track.

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Innovation and Strategy: The Weeknd’s Vision in music and film

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Weeknd performs on stage during 105.1 Powerhouse 2017 at Barclays Center on October 26, 2017 at Brooklyn, New York City. (Photo Theo Wargo/Getty Images for iHeArtMedia)

Weeknd joins “Idol”

Until 2023, Tesfaye proved his power as a pop star and began to look for brand new artistic efforts. HBO series “Idol“-who co-founded with the director of” Euphoria “, Sam Levinson-he offered him many latest challenges, including delays, prescribing and hasty changes.

Critical party and fans

Working along with Lily Rose-Depp and sharing writing inscriptions with Levinson, The Weeknd was largely chargeable for what led to an enormous critical and industrial failure. The charged sexual nature of the narrative of the series didn’t resonate with the audience, who recognized “Idol” each disturbing and it’s difficult to follow. The result was the primary real Tesfaye brush with failure as a mainstream artist.

Grammy return: change of perspective

Ghettos

The failure of “Idol” could change the attitude of Tesfaye to greater than just television as a tool for telling stories. When “After Hours” was neglected by the Grammy 2021 awards without nomination – even for the hit hit “Olinding Lights” – the artist criticized the Recording Academy and began a boycott of annual ceremonies.

Over the next 4 years, Tesfaye refused to submit his music to contemplate Grammy. But this boycott would end the surprising end in 2025, when he returned to the Grammys stage to make just a few songs from his album “Has hurry up tomorrow”.

Was it a tip on the next change within the profession of the controversial singer?

Rebranding as Abel Tesfaye: Why did The Weeknd change his name?

Tesfaye’s experience working on “The Idol” had one other significant impact on the artist: the sport within the series reminded him of the artificiality of his character, The Weeknd.

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After removing within the series, Tesfaye said within the WW magazine: “This reaches the place and time when I prepare to close the Weeknd chapter.”

The artist quickly explained that he didn’t intend to completely withdraw from the music: “I will continue to create music, maybe like Abel, maybe like The Weeknd,” he thought. “But I still want to kill Weeknd. And I will do it. Finally. I definitely try to lose this skin and reborn.”

Live trips and performances Weeknd

67th Grammy Awards - Show
Los Angeles, California – February 02: (just for editorial use) Weeknd performs on stage during 67. Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo of Amy Sussman/Getty Images) – credit: photo of Amy Sussman / Getty Images

After hours, until performance and location at dawn

If you hope you will notice the weekly live, before you get to the nickname, you may still catch him in his record place after the hours of the Dawn route, which has turn into strong since 2022. The route-which will stop within the United States and Canada this summer, including cities comparable to Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Seattle and Vancouver-Union in September.

What to expect

The route program leads fans through a guide journey of the Weeknd era, made a characteristic artist’s style for moody glasses. According to reviewers of Tesfaye live shows, he organizes a stunning program, together with spare dancers, pyrotechnics and thrilling interpretations of hits comparable to “victim”, “can Feel My Face” and “often”.

Cultural influence and heritage: redefining R&B and Pop

"The Idol" Photocall - 76. Annual Film Festival in Cannes
Cannes, France-23 May: (editors Note: The picture was converted to black and white) Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp Work on Photocall “The Idol” on the 76th annual Film Festival in Cannes at Palais des 23 May 2023 in Cannes. (Photo Andreas Rentz/Getty Images) – credit: photo Andreas Rentz / Getty Images

Redefination of recent R&B and Pop

Music Weeknd has all the time been a refreshing contrast with the industry dominated by squeaking pop stars and conventional forward R&B. Thanks to the polarizing theme and daring aesthetic election, Tesfaye isn’t applying to create music that provokes.

Influence on emerging artists

Unfilted Weeknd texts and experimental sound landscapes inspired many more moderen artists to understand authenticity and innovation of their music. Young artists, comparable to 6lack and Partenextdoor, take obvious recommendations on Tesfaye music and even peers, comparable to Drake, Usher and Miguel, turned on some Weeknd sounds in their very own music.

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Expanding in film and business

Despite the error from “Idol”, Tesfaye still imprints its trail on television and film. He made his debut within the film in “Uncut Gems” in 2019, he expressed the primary character within the upcoming animated film “Ari The Bat” and is working on a brand new film with director Trey Edward Shults.

In addition to the movie and TV, Tesfaye also borrowed his creative eye of cooperation with Puma, H&M clothing corporations and a washing monkey.

New music chapter and identity

Is this an actual revival for Abla Tesfaye or simply a brief change on his creative path? Regardless of its name, nothing can erase the massive influence he had on R&B and pop music. He influenced various artists – even a number of the biggest pop stars within the industry – to wear latest genres and tell their most intimate stories through music. Regardless of what’s going to occur next, Tesfaye has already strengthened his heritage – in music and more.

Still interesting Canadian star? Check our archives for more information The Weeknd.

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Chris Brown arrested in Great Britain in connection with the incident at the Night Club in London in London

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Chris Brown was arrested on Thursday at Lowry Hotel in Manchester in England, in connection with the incident at the London Night Club in 2023, in keeping with American edition Sun. On May 14, he flew to Manchester, where the authorities were notified of his presence.

The arrest results from a quarrel on February 19, 2023, between the bronze and the music producer, Abe Diaw, who claims that Brown attacked him with a bottle, after which hit him and kicked him at the nightclub in London. Diaw was taken to the hospital, where he had to make use of KUL after discharge. London Metropolitan Police are holding Brown in terms of “suspicion of causing severe damage to the body.”

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DAW also made a civil claim against Brown for $ 16 million (12 million kilos) compensation related to the incident.

This isn’t Brown’s first brush with the right to attack at the nightclub. In 2012, Brown was involved in the Night Club in New York, which included the NBA star All-Star Tony Parker and Rapper and the pop star, Drake. As early as 2024, Brown was accused of assaulting 4 live shows behind the scenes at the TEXASA concert bus stop; Brown is the defendant for $ 50 million in connection with the alleged incident.

Over the years Brown had a litany of runs with the authorities for allegations and accusations of varied arguments, fighting and assault and was accused of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Brown is He planned to make a limited series of live programs in Manchester from June 15 and is preparing for his stadium “Breezy Bowl XX”, which he made available In the Instagram post On the occasion of his 20 years in the music industry. The program includes Summer Walker at the American stage of the trip and Bryson Walker for the European leg, which is able to start on June 8 in Amsterdam.

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“Celebrating 20 years of cb. So excited that I can share this moment with the world and my amazing fans. I can’t wait to see all the beautiful faces. Taking you these eras, but most importantly, give you my heart and soul,” reads the signature.

The brown song “Remains” is currently 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and spent 35 weeks on the chart and it arrived No. 1 on the adult R&B AirPlay taber.

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