After performing at countless New York City rite-of-passage venues and now with the band Cross Culture, she continues her fusion of soul, R & B and classic hip-hop with a new single: "Searching for Love." Yes- people still put on the music in backyards, pools, basements and garages to just dance. No occasion is necessary. But given we've arrived to Labor Day much faster than I realized one summer could pass, this weekend is a perfect one for "Searching for Love." Enjoy our conversation about this latest Nemiss song.
Tag: NegressionSuggestsSounds
Lauryn Can Rest On Her Laurels.
Ms. Hill complicated the Negress image in all the right directions and ways, and she made it clear the auras of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone were more stubborn than stereotypes, and she made it known paying audiences were waiting for more like them.
An Interview with Maya Jensen, Filmmaker behind ‘Solidarity in Saya: An Afro-Bolivian Music Movement’
Bolivians of African descent introduced Jensen to Saya music, an old artform which was a universal language in the Spanish-speaking land of their political and labor oppressors. Jensen’s film documents Saya music of today.
Billy Strayhorn: An Illustrated Life
The gospel-influenced and classically-trained pianist and composer is in renaissance of interest and celebration thanks to the establishment of Billy Strayhorn Songs in 1997. The family-owned company's efforts include marking the centennial of his birth in 2015. The Bill Strayhorn Foundation, Inc's is committed to deepening appreciation for jazz music in general, starting with Strayhorn. Now longtime fans and new discoverers can enjoy Strayhorn: An Illustrated Life, a fine biographical coffee table book available from Bolden Books/Agate Publishing in Chicago.
Toni Morrison and Boy George Cover Billie Holiday
Morrison has proved to be the most thorough documentarian of African-American female existence in all its forms: in the womb, baby, child, girl, woman, senior, from the afterlife. The mantra of "God bless the child..." is actually her most consistent answer to black women. Enjoy Holiday's original version, as well as a neat cover by Boy George and Micah Paris.
Must-Hear Phyllis Hyman Interview
This 1988 oral history, recorded at the height of her popularity and fame, covers Phyllis Hyman's intense discipline and commitment to development as an artist.
What Billie and Phyllis Sang About
Read my story "What Billie and Phyllis Sang About", about an abandoned black woman left to survive alone in Harlem, in the new issue of Atticus Review. My favorite Billie Holiday and Phyllis Hyman music is on the story's companion soundtrack Here. #BillieandPhyllis
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