The Grio

Grio100: Jason Moran, the future of jazz

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If Johann Sebastian Bach and Thelonius Monk were both alive today, they would probably be impressed by the musical ingenuity of Jason Moran. This jazz pianist has been making waves since his debut 1999 album Soundtrack to Human Motion, which is a mix of avant-garde jazz, hip-hop and spoken word.

Moran, a Texas native, started to receive classical piano lessons at the age of six from his late mother, an amateur cellist. However, when he was 14 years old, he had the pleasure of listening to Thelonius Monk’s The Composer, and realized his true musical passion.

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Grio100 Darin Atwater – the jazziest conductor to date

By Talia Whyte

There are only so many people who actually deserve to be called a leader and Darin Atwater is one of those people. As conductor of the Baltimore-based Soulful Symphony, Atwater is a trailblazer in the orchestral world for fusing traditional classical music with gospel, jazz, R&B and a dash of hip-hop.

Music has always been a part of Atwater’s life, starting at Washington, D.C. Third Street Church of God, where both of his parents sang in the choir. Atwater, who learned music primarily without instruction, dropped out of both Morgan State University and the Peabody Institute knowing early that success in the music business was in store for him.

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Grio100 Wynton Marsalis – jazz legend plays on

By Talia Whyte

Everyone knows that Wynton Marsalis lives and breathes by his trumpet. This is a man who has accomplished a lot with his instument and love of music. His name usually appears next to other jazz greats like Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Dizzy. Of course, Marsalis grew up around the greats, like the famed bandleader Al Hirt, who gave him his first trumpet when he was a child.

Growing up in New Orleans not only gave the young Marsalis a chance to fine-tune his trumpeting skills, but to also see music as activism in action.

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Grio100 Malcolm Gladwell – author and pop-sociologist

By Talia Whyte

Malcolm Gladwell has made a career for himself – as well as a lot of money – thinking aloud of the untold back-stories to many political and cultural institutions. For example, this curious journalist recently examined Atticus Finch, the white lawyer played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. While most film historians consider Finch to be one of the greatest on-screen heroes, Gladwell argued that the character was an example of “the limits of Southern liberalism” during the story’s time period, and that Finch was not the racial justice activist as he’s been seen historically.

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