I was recently featured on The Derrick Ashong Experience, which is one of the shows on Oprah Radio. What an honor, what rich conversation… you can view the video interview below.
Please note that due to editing, there is 1:47 min of silence before the interview begins, due to commercial breaks.
I was seduced today, three times.
First, by this quote by Caroline Casey:
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Then, by this gem by Julie Daley.
“A new female human being is being born anew. She is coming into existence and we are midwifing her birth. Our ways of wisdom and powers of mystery were hidden well. They’ve been buried treasure for centuries. Now, it is time to listen, to remember, to recognize, to join together the vast humanity of woman. It is time to listen to the sacred sound that is uttered when we remember as the One that we are.
When I listen to her, I hear her anguish. And I feel her love. I feel myself as part of the Big Mother, and the home she offers up in every moment.”
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And then this…
This month, I was the featured artists for the United Divas (aka the Diva of the Month). It is an honor to be showcased by this amazing organization, whose mission is mission is “to empower people to be artistic leaders, professionals, innovators and role models for both aspiring and practicing artists, with an emphasis on helping women achieve their goals as a creative professional.”
Thank you for the love and support United Divas!
You can read the full interview here:
I recently read an except from the book A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody by David Liebman, and wanted to share this with you:
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“Like all forms of communication, music consists of the interplay of patterns and violations of the pattern. Without order, sound is noise. But perfect order conveys no message, either. The C major scale carries little musical information because everyone knows exactly where it leads. It is the unexpected that sings to us, the note out of the blue, F sharp as the fourth of the C. But the unexpected cannot exist independently of the expectations it frustrates. Freedom needs an underlying order for it to sing.
The clearest example of transcendence and the given is the tension between the diatonic harmonies that form the basis of all Western art music through the nineteenth century and the chromatic elements that slowly encroached. In the early days it was termed the conflict between harmonies and invention.
Harmony binds the notes that follow; chromatic invention is the liberating knife. But the knife cuts keeply. There is no stopping point in the logic of the blade as it drives towards the absolute, which is entropy’s mortal chill – the incommunicate, random whiteness of noise.
Looked at another way, harmony is reason, dissonance the spirit of passion. Diatonic structure sustains a person’s sanity against the awful, chromatic knowledge of mortality. But only the chromatic can touch the unconscious and set loose its shattering forces.”
~ From The Best of Jackson Payne by Jack Fuller (A. Knopf, used by permission)
Recently Molly Peterson from NPR’s KPCC in Los Angeles recently did a 3-part multi-media story on my music, projects and activism work in climate… in celebration of Martin Luther King (who as an inspiration to this album), NPR showcased my work both on the air and online.
You can read/listen to the interview here.
Below is the video where I explain the motivations and inspiration behind each song from Vol. I: Battle Cry. Enjoy!
