Home Rule Mag.Zine Issue 2.

HE PLAYS TO MAKE MUSIC FIRE: THE PYRAMIDS, AFRICA AND BEING A GRIOT OF OUR TIMES

THE LINER NOTES: STOP ERASING BLACK WOMEN FROM FREE JAZZ HISTORY

ODE TO NEW LIFE: WES FELTON ON THE FELTON ARTISTIC LEGACY

Issue 002

HOME RULE ZINE Celebrating Past Futures

HOME RULE ZINE

SUMMER 2023 | ISSUE 002

Issue 002

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jackson Sinnenberg

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jamal Gray

ART DIRECTOR St. Clair Castro-Wright Jr.

PUBLISHER Home Rule Foundation

PRINTER

Heritage Printing

ASSISTANT EDITORS A.M. Wolfe, Jordan Handler

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTING WRITER Marcus J. Moore

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Tommy Gartman, Leon Spinner, Brianna Thomas, Majeedah Johnson

TABLE OF CONTENTS

04. Editor‘s Letter 05. 2023 Sponsors 06. 2023 Artist Line Up 08. D.C. Jazz Fest Review 14. NextFest 19. Legendary Venues: Malcolm X Park 24. Sugar Bear 28. The Liner Notes: Stop Erasing Women from Free Jazz History 34. The Pyramids Box Set 42. Lou Stovall 48. Hilton & Wes Felton © 2023 Home Rule All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized Duplication Without Prior Consent is Prohibited.

Summer 2023

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Letter From The Editor Even before we published the first issue of Home Rule Magazine back in June 2022 – to coincide with and serve as an expanded guide to the first Home Rule Music Festival – we knew we could not leave it as a one-off, one-issue publication. The work we did in pushing D.C. music history, vinyl culture and creative musicians to the forefront felt like necessary work, especially as more of that history is forgotten or destroyed by gentrification; AND there is a great resurgent interest in the music of D.C. thanks to reissue labels and the current vinyl culture. We worked over the last several months to dive into these topics more and flesh out these areas of interest more for this issue. The thread of legacy records prominently comes up in three pieces in this issue. Our feature story focuses on saxophonist and bandleader Idris Ackamoor, a Chicago-born, now Bay Area-based artistic polymath who led a pioneering Afrocentric, free jazz group out of Yellow Springs, Ohio – the Pyramids – in the early 1970s. The group’s first three albums are being celebrated now by Strut Records in a box set, Aomawa: The 1970s Recordings, made as part of the label’s celebration of Ackamoor’s catalog.

The Pyramids’ and Idris’ story of being ahead of time, unacknowledged by the jazz hierarchy, relates very much to the stories we tell about D.C. jazz artists, especially those captured on the Black Fire label. In fact, Jimmy Gray included advertising about The Pyramids in the second issue of his own Black Fire Magazine. Tommy Gartman talked to Wes Felton, son of the great D.C. pianist Hilton Felton, about the renewed interest in his father’s work and his own part in channeling that artistic legacy. The third pillar in this issue’s focus on artistic legacies comes from the brilliant writer and curator

2023 Sponsors Production Partners

Community Sponsors

Capital Bop

Ameriprise Financial

Home Rule Music & Film

Mayor’s Office for Community Affairs

Sponsors

Washington Commanders

The Parks at Walter Reed

Rock Creek Conservancy

ANXO

Don’t Mute DC

HR Records

DC Maven

International Order of Odd Fellows - Lodge #10

DC Music Summit

DC Office of Lottery & Gaming

Ward 4 Mutual Aid

DC Office of Film, Cable, Television, Media & Entertainment

Art of Living

(OCFTME)

Department of Energy & The Environment

Eaton DC

Chase Bank

Songbyrd Music House

Media Partners

Black Cat DC

WPFW – 89.3 FM

DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities

Takoma Radio

Destination DC

Radio One

Mag.Zine Sponsors

Washington Informer

Tranquil Treasures Green Cloud MITA Cafe

Marcus J. Moore – a proud son of Prince George’s County – who is letting us reproduce entries from his sharp, insightful newsletter “The Liner Notes” (for the first time in print). In this entry, “Stop Erasing Women from Free Jazz History,” Moore looks at the recent reconsiderations and celebrations of

Blake Dickson Commercial Real Estate Abram Mamet Upper Georgia Avenue Main Street

free jazz and asks where are the myriads tributes, accolades and think pieces for women like June Tyson, Linda Sharrock and Margo Ackamoor like there are for their male contemporaries. We also dive into the recent and longer histories of live, public music festivals with a trio of fantastic pieces by historian Briana Thomas and writers Majeedah Johnson and Leon Spinner. Thomas, a historian of the U Street neighborhood, takes us through the history of Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park as a space for music in the city, from its origins through CapitalBop’s second iteration of NEXTFest (which Spinner recaps) – as part of a regular series we will do every issue focusing on different legendary concert venues in the D.C. area. Johnson provides a splendid recap of the 18th annual D.C. Jazz Festival and looks at the legacy of Lou Stovall’s work as an artist who helped visually capture the mood of D.C. jazz in the 1970s. We also take a dive into the history of one of our headliners – E.U. – with an interview frontman Sugar Bear did with Dr. Bryan Jenkins for E.U.’s 50th anniversary and the first Home Rule Festival last year.

Dig in and stay curious,

Jackson Sinnenberg 04

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Friday 6/16

ARTIST LINEUP

Kassa Overall Foots X Coles DJ Underdog

HR Fest Launch

After party

Saturday 6/17 Brian Jackson E.U. featuring Sugar Bear Kahil El’Zabar Doug Carn with the Home rule band Mark Meadows and The Movement The Experience Band & Show DJ Aquarian Saturday 6/24 Hamid Drake’s Turiya Hear in Now Jamal R. Moore

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Home Rule Music Festival

HR Fest Closing Night

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ISSUE 002

Honoring The Spirit of Creativity: A Review of the 2022 D.C. Jazz Festival

By Majeedah Johnson Christian McBride Insight Straight performs at the 2022 DC Jazz Festival Photo Credit: Jati Lindsay

THE D.C. JAZZ FESTIVAL, HELD THIS PAST LABOR DAY WEEKEND, DELIVERED A REMARKABLE LINEUP OF LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND ENGAGING ACTIVITIES FOR FESTIVAL GOERS.

For its 18th year, the festival continued a legacy of honoring the spirit of creativity across multiple generations of innovators and visionaries; featuring some of the genre’s heavy hitters and esteemed newcomers. The return to in-person festival events – after two years of virtual offerings due to COVID-19 – attracted record-breaking numbers of attendance. The Wharf, where many of the events were held, offered a picturesque backdrop of activity on the marina and nearby restaurants and retail shops for a family-friendly weekend. From music performances to historical documentaries and ‘Meet the Artist’ sessions, the D.C. JazzFest provided for a weekend of community-building, artistic expression, and passion.

The festival’s programs opened to a well-paced momentum of compelling events throughout the five days of gatherings. For its opening night at the notable Howard Theater, world-renowned and GRAMMY-award winning singer Kurt Elling performed heartfelt tunes; and Washingtonian juggernaut Christie Dashiell opened the concert, dazzling attendees with her captivating vocal performance.

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On Friday, September 2, Diane Reeves and Orrin Ev-

sages” - featuring Steve Wilson, Chris Potter, Ron Blake,

ans’ Captain Black Band performed to a sold-out audience

Thomas Enhco, Scott Colley, and EJ Strickland - Marc

at The Arena Stage. Regina Carter’s Gone in a Phrase of

Cary Trio, Dan Wilson Quartet, Donvonte McCoy, and Vox

Air and a concert by the same name was also featured

Sambou. Magnificent tunes from the Mambo Legends Or-

at the Arena Stage. The piece examines the loss of com-

chestra, led by John ‘Dandy’ Rodriguez, ignited the crowd

munity and businesses across the country, especially felt

to their feet with many attendees showing off their best

in communities with Black and brown people and fellow

dance moves. As former musicians of the Tito Puente Or-

neighbors who were disenfranchised. The post-panel dis-

chestra, the cohesiveness of these jazz masters rendered

cussion, led by Kymone Freeman, Co-Founder of We ACT

spirited tunes which were steeped in the history of mambo.

Radio, further engaged audience members on the impact of urban renewal.

On Sunday afternoon, among the crowd favorites,

Electrifying live performances at The Wharf on Satur-

Christian McBride & Inside Straight performed a series of

day, September 3rd included those from: Cindy Blackman

conversational jazz compositions featuring masterful solos

Santana, The Baylor Project, Chien Chien Lu, The Larnell

from Peter Martin (piano), Steve Wilson (alto and soprano

Lew Band featuring Joy Lapps, Giveton Gelin Quintet, and

sax), Carl Allen (drums) and bandstand leader and bassist

Heidi Martin Ensemble. On Sunday, September 4, festival

McBride as well as Baltimore’s own Warren Wolf on vibra-

goers enjoyed live sets by Emmet Cohen Trio, Dayramir

phone.

Gonzalez & Habana enTRANCE, Patrick Zimmerli’s “Mes09