Toshiko Akiyoshi: A Life in Jazz, A Legacy Beyond Labels
by Sarah Belle Lin
When I told Toshiko Akiyoshi that we would be featuring her as part of our Women’s History Month coverage, she responded with a single word: “Whatever.”
It’s no surprise. At 95, Toshiko has long seen herself as a musician first, a member of society second, and only distantly, if at all, as a “female artist.” Why should gender matter? “Maybe it’s necessary in order to get some platform, I don't know,” she tells me. “But basically speaking, I'm not for the separation of anything.”
Labels never did much to define Toshiko, but her achievements speak for themselves. She is recognized as one of the first Asian women jazz pioneers, the first Japanese woman to graduate from Berklee College of Music, and the first woman to win Best Arranger and Best Composer in DownBeat Magazine’s Readers Poll. Over the course of her career, she has been nominated for 14 GRAMMY Awards, from her first in 1976 (Long Yellow Road, RCA Records) with the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band, to her most recent in 1994. She’s won Best Jazz Instrumental Performance ten times and Best Arrangement on an Instrumental four times. She was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2007, and her six-hour oral history interview is preserved in the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/5d111cef0a.html#page/13.
Judy Carmichael: A Life in Jazz, A Career of Her Own Making
By Ken Dryden
From her teenage years, Judy Carmichael has been an artist who creates her own opportunities. Initially known for her stride piano chops, she has since carved out a multifaceted career as a vocalist, bandleader, composer, radio host, and author.
A German major in college, Judy played piano—especially ragtime—purely for fun. Then, a classmate suggested she audition for a Newport Beach gig, filling in for the regular pianist on his night off. She landed the job with a single ragtime tune. But at that point, she was still memorizing pieces from sheet music, not improvising. That all changed when she heard a Count Basie record featuring Benny Moten’s “Prince of Wales.”
“That was the first time I was really motivated to play the piano,” Judy recalls. “I started teaching myself by ear, playing that record over and over. I began seeing the patterns in the chord changes, and whenever a musician came up to the piano, I’d ask them what key I was in so I could start to understand how it all worked.”
She immersed herself in the recordings of Fats Waller, Earl Hines, James P. Johnson, and Art Tatum, developing a love for stride piano that would define her early career.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/5d111cef0a.html#page/7.
Renée Manning: The Quiet Superstar Who Redefined Jazz
Interview by Raul da Gama
Vocalist, musician and quiet superstar Renée Manning recounts how she came to play Bessie Smith in a jazz opera, with music by George Gruntz and a libretto by the Rabelaisian Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, also featuring Sheila Jordan and Mark Murphy. “I remember, I was told that George was looking for a singer with an operatic background for Cosmopolitan Greetings,” she says.
“So, I went to meet him in Köln. Not only do I see that he has Sheila and Mark signed up, but then he tells me, ‘I want you to play Bessie…’” she says. “‘What do you mean?’ I ask him, ‘Bessie Smith…?!’ I almost fell off my chair. I was surprised, apprehensive, and I said, ‘Uh, huh! No, I can’t do it!’ But George is, you know, charming and persistent.”
An even bigger challenge was walking into the first rehearsal. “I was greeted by grim, unsmiling faces of the members of the WDR Big Band. Oh, my goodness, they looked at me as if to say, ‘Here comes another Black diva.’ But when I was done, the musicians put down their instruments, stood up, and applauded,” Renée says without a smidge of egotism in her voice.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/5d111cef0a.html#page/10.
Kim Clarke : This Lady's Got Chops
by Raul da Gama
It is highly unlikely that the fabled tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson would have hired a prodigious young bassist named Kim Clarke to anchor his harmonic and rhythmic platform when he was at the height of his powers, as far back as 1986. In fact, not only did Joe do just that, but he toured Europe with her, adding the inimitable Joanne Brackeen on piano as well as the then-unknown Keith Killgo on drums. Clearly, the great tenor saxophonist had no misgivings when he threw in a challenge to the band, counting off Charlie Parker’s “Relaxin’ at Camarillo” to be played at breakneck speed—a night bristling with musical genius. The band responded to the test and came through with flying colors.
You would have expected the more experienced Joanne to dazzle with her chops. But your jaw dropped at Kim’s finger-breaking dexterity and unbridled virtuosity. “Who’s that girl?” many in a Hamburg audience might have asked. Joe might simply have announced her: “…on bass, Kim Clarke…” or something like that. A video of that performance circulates on YouTube. Around forty seconds into the song, the camera focuses on the fingers of Kim’s right hand. You feel as if you’re winded, hit right in the center of your chest. Her elegantly pizzicato also thumps right out of the screen as she deploys a rippling groove that builds ferociously under Joe’s complex boppish runs.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/5d111cef0a.html#page/16.
Darlesia Cearcy: A Star of Stage and Screen Who Breathes Life Into Every Role
Chrys Roney
In the vast landscape of Broadway and beyond, few performers possess the ability to completely transform the stage with sheer presence and artistic depth. Darlesia Cearcy is one such force. Her voice, a fusion of power and elegance, coupled with an acting range that seamlessly moves from tender introspection to grand theatricality, has made her a defining figure in contemporary theater. Most recently, she has taken center stage in A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, currently dazzling audiences in New York City. With this latest role, Darlesia once again proves why she remains a vital and magnetic presence in the performing arts.
Darlesia's journey to Broadway was one forged with determination and an insatiable hunger for storytelling. She honed her craft at the University of Akron, laying a foundation of discipline and artistic integrity that would become hallmarks of her career. From there, she immersed herself in the art of performance, continually pushing the boundaries of her talent.
Her stage work reads like a masterclass in versatility. From musicals that demand soaring vocal performances to intimate dramas that require a nuanced emotional touch, Darlesia embodies every role with an uncanny ability to connect with both the material and her audience. Each performance is more than just an interpretation—it’s an act of living, breathing storytelling.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/5d111cef0a.html#page/28.
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