Ellie piercy biography of michael jackson

In every issue ofJazzwise, Editor Mike Flynn chooses a selection of the most outstanding new releases as his Editor's Choice. Below, you will find all of the albums selected as Editor's Choice in 2024 – so far...

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LesGo!

Sam First Records 

Devin Daniels (as), Julien Knowles (t), Chris Fishman (p), Jermaine Paul (b) and Benjamin Ring (d). Rec. 16-17 February 2024

Devin and his cohort met at UCLA’s Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance, and Mr Hands himself has personally mentored the young alto prodigy and taken him on tour. The title track of this, his second album, shows us why: Daniels simply explodes out of the gate with a flurry of creative phrases before the theme, a sort of Ornette-ish gospel chant, kicks in – then he’s away, his poky, acidic tone burning over a tricky dotted rhythm bassline. In a similar vein to the Immanuel Wilkins quartet, Daniels and his band operate at the forefront of the US acoustic jazz tradition - there are versions of Monk’s ‘Ugly Beauty’ and the evergreen ‘Scrapple From The Apple’, and the soloists’ language is rooted in bop and it’s more free-ranging successors, but the rhythm arrangements are furiously contemporary so that Coltrane’s ‘Spiral’ seesaws between straight swing and a breakneck Vijay Iyer inspired 11/8.

If that sounds intense, it definitely is. Tunes like ‘Reckon’ show a more contemplative side and indicate Daniels' potential as a composer, and while there’s still a flavour of the conservatoire about some of the studiedly knotty themes, the overt link with the powerful, edgy West Coast black avant-garde tradition of Horace Tapscott and Arthur Blythe imbues this music with palpable passion and commitment. Outstanding. Eddie Myer

Seeing

ECM

Tord Gustavsen (p), Steinar Raknes (b) and Jarle Vespestad (d). Rec. October 2023

Like many ECM ar

News

(This story was originally published in ‘E Roar | Vol. 2 Issue 1 in Jan. 2025)

By Jet Turner, Assistant Director of Communications

Dr. John Coleman received a call from the fourteenth president of Langston University, Dr. Ernest Holloway, in 1993. Holloway’s gregariousness led their conversation all over the place, but his message was clear: the students at Dear Langston needed additional support.

Coleman left his position as an assistant professor at Hudson Community College in New Jersey after that summer and journeyed back to his home state of Oklahoma. He only planned to stay for a couple of years, but his dedication to helping students be their best kept him on Langston University’s campus. After 32 years of service and mentorship, Coleman will retire at the conclusion of the 2024-2025 academic year.

His career as the Chair of the Department of Chemistry at LU has been dedicated to teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and equally to seeing that students learn to excel in academics and life. His influence can be seen all over the University and, more importantly, in its students.

Beginnings

Coleman grew up around educational excellence in Boley, Oklahoma.

Today, the historically Black town might seem unassuming, but when Coleman was growing up in the 1940s and ’50s, the town was described by Booker T. Washington as the “finest Black town in the world.” Many of the individuals Coleman grew up around had their doctoral degrees or some other form of higher education, including his parents.

Boley’s significance in education parallels no other Black town in the nation, historian Currie Ballard said in a 2017 article by The Oklahoma Eagle.

This meant Coleman was always surrounded by excellent teachers. One of whom was Holloway, his future president, who taught chemistry at Boley Junior High in the 1950s.

“Holloway knew what was happening in Boley and how we got prepared,” Coleman said. “You always have someon