The recognition of June’s Black Music Month is in full swing with two significantly powerful releases from respected jazz artists with more than melodies on their minds.
Four-time Grammy-winning, NEA jazz master Terri Lyne Carrington and vocalist Christie Dashiell present “We Insist 2025!,” a bold reimagining of the seminal 1961 album “We Insist! Max Roach‘s Freedom Now Suite,” originally created by the drummer in collaboration with his wife, singer Abbey Lincoln and lyricist Oscar Brown Jr.
The work, recognized by the Library of Congress as one of the most essential jazz recordings in history, commemorated the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and served as a rallying cry during the civil rights movement.
Carrington and Dashiell’s reimagined version honors this legacy while expanding its sonic palette, blending jazz with influences from gospel, neo-soul, funk, Afro-Latin, West African and blues traditions.
Pianist/composer Bobby West (“Leimert Park After Dark”) and visual artist Lori Precious collaborated for “Requiem For Mary Turner,” commemorating the martyrdom of an African-American woman and 135 other women who were victims of lynching.
In Brooks County, Georgia in 1918, Turner dared to speak out in the defense of her husband who was falsely accused of killing an abusive plantation owner and lynched. This angered a white mob into hanging the eight months pregnant mother of two sons, who was set on fire with her child cut from her body.
The baby fell to the ground and one of the members of the mob crushed the infant’s head into the Georgia clay moments before they riddled the mother with hundreds of bullets and killed her.
Turner’s tragic odyssey was chosen for this album and artwork to symbolize the martyrdom of all women lynched, not as anonymous victims but real people with names. As this dark door opens to the racial terrorism of American history, it also lets in the healing light of truth.
“I wanted to represent that she is free,” says West, whose release features a classical 13-minute oratorio performed by a 22-piece symphonic orchestra, a guest turn by singer Maxayn Lewis, and a Latin jazz rendition of Sting’s “Fragile.” “She is free of all the burdens and tragedy of her short life. I wanted to create a finale that sounds like the ascension of her soul.”
AT THE MOVIES: “Finding Faith,” a heartfelt inspirational thriller with an all-star ensemble led by Paula Patton with Keith David, Loretta Devine, Stephen Bishop, Nadine Velazquez and Demetrius Grosse, is being unveiled in cinemas nationwide June 16-17. Visit fathomentertainment.com for theaters and tickets.
WORD: “I want you all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us. What type of government is that? People are being swept up and torn from their families and I feel it’s my responsibility as an artist to use this moment to speak up for all oppressed people, for Black people, for Latino people, for trans people, for the people in Gaza. We all deserve to live in hope and not in fear. And I hope we stand together, my brothers and my sisters against hate, and we protest against it.” – DOECHII at the BET Awards
CLIPPETTES: Vocalist Gloria Hendry (who was the first Black “Bond Girl” in “Live and Let Die”) performs at The World Stage on June 13 while the Catalina Jazz Club presents “Every Woman” with Patrice “Choc’let” Banks (Graham Central Station), Grammy Award-winner Hazel Payne (A Taste of Honey) and Freddie Pool (The Three Degrees) …
June 14 begins with Lalah Hathaway leading the 2025 Long Beach Juneteenth Celebration at Rainbow Lagoon Park. Later, Grand Performances launches its 39th season with a hometown celebration of Ozomatli’s 30th anniversary while the Fonda Theatre hosts country singer Valerie June …
It also marks the kickoff of the two-day Blue Note Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl starting with host Arsenio Hall welcoming The Isley Brothers, De La Soul, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Keyon Harrold, Lakecia Benjamin, and others. Day two artists include the incomparable Grace Jones, Willow, Stanley Clarke N•4EVER, The Soul Rebels (with special guests Rapsody, Goapele & Brandee Younger), Will Calhoun and more …
On June 15, the Los Angeles Center Studios throws its Black on the Block Juneteenth Festival hosted by comic James Davis with headliner Mario, the Hollywood Improv holds the taping of Jesus Trejo’s stand-up special “First Time Dad,” and Catalina Jazz Club opens with David Garfield: Songs For Our Fathers with percussionist Lenny Castro …
Laughs are on the menu June 16 with Deon Cole at The Improv; and Horribly Funny starring Tiffany Haddish, Dane Cook, Pauly Shore and others at The Comedy Store. They keep coming the next night with Celebration of The Gays featuring Margaret Cho, Lisa Ann Walter, Joel Kim Booster and Bob The Drag Queen at The Improv; along with Sunset Comedy Night at the Catalina Jazz Club with Brett Goldstein, Chaunte Wayans and more …
Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning singer, fiddler, banjo player and composer Rhiannon Giddens brings “American Tunes” to the Hollywood Bowl on June 18 with her own Old-Time Revue alongside Our Native Daughters …
Legendary bassist Nathan East and 24-year-old pianist/organist Noah East make their electrifying L.A. debut June 18 at Vibrato Grill & Jazz in support of their new album “Father Son” which features guest artists Eric Clapton, Hubert Laws, Merry Clayton, Greg Phillinganes and more …
Hip hop rules June 19 with The Function: Scarface, Too $hort, DJ Quik with special guest WC at The Novo; and Souls of Mischief with Gaslamp Killer at Riverside’s Farm House Collective.
INTROSPECTION: “Something about me or my persona has put me in the right place at the right time … in a lot of different moments in my life. And I have to accept that that’s what I’m meant to be sometimes; an agent of change, whether I know it or not. And to be proud of it and to know God has placed me in a place that I can be influential. I wanna be on the right side of history in terms of what’s going on, and sometimes it’s not by choice.” — SAMUEL L. JACKSON, who is joining “Tulsa King” before spinning off as “NOLA King,” to “Mad Sad Bad”
TC ON TV: June 13 – “Great Performances” (PBS): In this staging of Verdi’s epic love triangle, featuring intricate projections of ancient Egypt and animations, Angel Blue makes her highly anticipated Metropolitan Opera role debut as “Aida,” the Ethiopian princess torn between love and country. “Good Morning America” (ABC): Alicia Keys chats and performs with the cast of Broadway’s “Hell’s Kitchen.”
June 14 – “Blaxploitation Marathon” (Shout TV): Showing “TNT Jackson,” “Caged Heat” and more cult classics. “Off Script with the Hollywood Reporter” (IFC/AMC+): Anthony Mackie, Ricky Martin, Bowen Yang, Kelsey Grammar, John Goodman and Theo James. “Two For One” (TCM) Brian Tyree Henry (“Dope Thief,” “Atlanta”) is co-host and curator of this evening’s double feature of two of his favorite films — “Imitation of Life” & Gordon Parks’ “The Learning Tree.”
June 15 – “The Chi” (SHO): The Lena Waithe-produced series has been renewed for an eighth season ranking it among the cabler’s most venerable shows along with “Dexter.” “Godfather of Harlem” (MGM+): Actor, musician, and Emmy Award winner Rome Flynn (who has been captivating this season as Frank Lucas) returns to his first love, music, with a soulful new single, “Heaven,” just released in partnership with Platform Sounds.
June 16 – “The View” (ABC): Damson Idris (“Snowfall”) and his “F1” co-star Javier Bardem. Global Soul Kitchen” (FYI): Chef Deborah VanTrece prepares Smoked Ham Hock Galumpkis and Thai Seasoned Catfish & Corn Hushpuppies. “AfroPop” (WORLD YouTube/Black Public Media YouTube): “Tongo Saa (Rising Up at Night),” an award-winning documentary feature by Nelson Makengo bringing viewers to Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where residents are fighting to survive the turmoil and violence rising from the uneven distribution of electricity.
June 17 – “The View” (ABC): Dominique Thorne (“Ironheart,” “Wakanda Forever”), Renee Elise Goldsberry, Arnold Schwarzenegger “Live with Kelly & Mark” (ABC): Ego Nwodim, Chris Hemsworth
June 18 – “Somebody Feed Phil” (Netflix): Phil Rosenthal is back for an eighth season of culinary travels visiting Amsterdam, Boston, Las Vegas, Manila and Venezuela. “The 50th AFI Lifetime Achievement Award: A Tribute to Francis Ford Coppola” (TNT): Celebrates the career of the famed filmmaker (“The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The Cotton Club“) with tributes from co-stars and friends Robert De Niro, Spike Lee, Morgan Freeman, Al Pacino, and more.
June 19 – “The View” (ABC): Juneteenth special with Rep. Jasmine Crockett
END QUOTE: “It’s a violation to blend in! When you stay in your lane, there is no traffic in your life.” – NIPSEY HUSSLE
As featured in the Los Angeles Wave and Independent, Tasty Clips is one of the leading entertainment columns in the nation, serving nearly one million weekly readers. Bill Vaughan may be reached at tastyclips@yahoo.com, via Twitter @tastyclips, or Instagram @tasty_clips.
