Click here to tell the Senate to support critical pieces of the HEROES Act in the next COVID 19 relief bill including:
Extending Pandemic Unemployment Compensation which provides an additional $600 per week that unemployed workers have been receiving since the CARES Act passed in March.
Preserving healthcare benefits by passing a 100% COBRA premium subsidy for families who have lost access to their employee-based insurance.
In this episode of MFM Speaks Out, Dawoud Kringle interviews Austin TX based guitarist, singer, songwriter & producer Jackie Venson. The topics discussed include Venson’s beginnings, her stylistic development, her approach to music video, her business model, her experiences as a professional musician during the COVID-19 pandemic, and racism & sexism in the music business.
Review by Dawoud Kringle
Artist: Mehmet Polat
Title: The Promise
Label: Aftab Records
Genre: Turkish/Oriental music
In the past, I reviewed Turkish oud master Mehmet Polat’s, who lives in Amsterdam (Holland), releases Ask Your Heart, Next Spring and Quantum Leap. I had come to expect Polat to come up with something different and amazing each time he released new music. This is no easy feat for the oud; an instrument that expresses itself in a very specific way. I was curious to hear what new music Polat would come up with.
He does not disappoint.
In this episode Adam Reifsteck interviews Kingston (NY) composer and pianist Peter Wetzler about the evolution of his music career over the years, how current events are affecting the livelihood of professional musicians, and the importance of coming together as a community to become advocates for change.
The following music featured in this episode is provided courtesy of Peter Wetzler.
Artist: Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Title: Four Questions
Label: ZOHO Records
Genre: Latin jazz/Spoken word
CD Review by Dawoud Kringle
One of the most important hallmarks of jazz is its focus on social consciousness. Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” Sonny Rollins’ “Freedom Suite,” Charles Mingus’ “Fables of Faubus,” Max Roach’s “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite,” John Coltrane’s “Alabama,” and many others all used jazz to address social injustice, and a call to action.
After releasing Four Questions, Arturo O’Farrill now stands side by side with these giants.
