by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Another Music Monday is upon us, and I hope this missive finds you all smiling and well. Many of us were saddened by the news of Cassandra Wilson’s passing on September 1. With her low, smoky, and intimate vocal style rooted in her Mississippi heritage, Wilson was a transformative figure in jazz who broke traditional genre boundaries by fusing jazz with blues, folk, and country music—though, like many artists, she rejected strict labels.

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday, you all. Hope that first weekend of August treated you well. After watching the amazing documentary, Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It, I was inspired to create this playlist. Directed by Paris Barclay and co-written by Cheo Hodari Coker…

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday, you all. It’s your friend selector, Marlon, back again with a collection of turns for your musical enjoyment. I’ll keep it short and sweet. While it’s past both Juneteenth and Independence Day, it is still summertime and BBQ weather. I have assembled a…

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday! It’s your groove pathfinder, Marlon, back with another musical offering. While reggae and dancehall are well-known when it comes to Jamaican music, not everyone may be in tune with its more electronically-minded cousin, dub reggae, and the sound system culture that accompanies it.

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend for folks. Last week was the 93rd anniversary of James Brown’s birth. I realized that I have never done a playlist devoted solely to the music of The Godfather of Soul, The Hardest Working Man In Show Business, Mr.

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Back in February, Gorillaz shared a new eight-minute short film titled The Mountain, The Moon Cave & The Sad God. The beautiful hand-drawn animated film follows the adventures of the fictional band members Noodle, Murdoc, 2-D and Russel as they journey across India, in connection with the release of their new album, …

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Women’s History Month! Welcome to another Music Monday at GBN. Your monthly groove wrangler is back with a new collection for your musical pleasure. When discussing Jamaica’s greatest reggae producers, names like Lee “Scratch” Perry, Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, King Tubby, Bunny Lee…

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Founder and Editor-in-Chief Sick and tired of having to constantly read racist commentary in the mainstream press of the United States, free Black Americans Rev. Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm started their own paper – Freedom’s Journal. First published on March 16, 1827 in New York City -- the same year New York State abolished slavery - the four-page weekly was the first Black-owned newspaper of record in the United States.

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Founder and Editor-in-Chief You’ve likely heard of Jack Johnson, the first Black world heavyweight champion boxer and Jesse Owens, the first Black world champion sprinter. But have you ever heard of Marshall “Major” Taylor, the first Black world champion of cycling? Taylor not only was the first African-American world champion in cycling, he might have been the first internationally known sports celebrity ever.

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Editor-in-Chief On President’s Day, we are honoring someone who was all too familiar with the United States’ first president George Washington — her name was Ona “Oney” Judge. Judge knew there was no time like dinnertime to make her escape. Enslaved by President George Washington and his wife, Martha, in 1796 Judge secretly booked passage on a boat and left the nation’s then capital, Philadelphia, as the Washingtons ate their supper, determined not to return to their plantation in…

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.socialSpotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday! It’s your monthly Rhythm Broker, Marlon West, back with another sonic adventure. On this post-Valentine’s and President’s Day Monday, I have been thinking about the legendary musical seeker, John Coltrane. For my second Black History Month offering, I am pleased to share “

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Editor-in-Chief On March 6, 1857, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney oversaw a 7-2 vote against enslaved spouses Dred Scott and Harriet Scott, who had bravely and rightfully petitioned the Court for their freedom. As agreed to in the Missouri Compromise, if enslaved people worked and lived in free states with or for their owners, this gave the enslaved persons the right to be free.

On a January evening in 1988, Doug Williams became first Black quarterback in the National Football League to both start and win a Super Bowl. Williams’ performance leading the Washington Redskins (now Commanders) in Super Bowl XXII remains one of the most significant moments in sports history, a triumph that resonated far beyond the gridiron. Born August 9, 1955, in Zachary, Louisiana, Williams grew up in an era when the very idea of a Black quarterback leading an NFL team seemed impossible.

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Founder and Editor-in-Chief Growing up in 1920s New York, Mabel Fairbanks dreamed of becoming a champion figure skater, but was denied entry to ice rinks due to segregation. She learned how to skate in part by eavesdropping on white skating instructors until her local rink manager finally admitted her. Unable to try out for the…

Nicknames in the Old West had to be earned, not given. “Stagecoach Mary” was no exception. In 1895, “Stagecoach Mary” Fields became the first Black woman contracted by the postal service to deliver the U.S. mail. With her guns and tough demeanor, Fields unfailingly protected her stagecoach and her mail route from wolves and bandits alike. Born enslaved in Tennessee in the early 1830s, once Fields was emancipated at the the end of the Civil War, she traveled around working odd jobs until she eventually made her way to a convent in Toledo, Ohio, working as a groundskeeper and game hunter, and eventually moved to Cascade, Montana and did the same at a different convent.

You may have heard of Black astronauts like Mae Jemison, Charles Bolden or Victor Glover, but do you know about the first African-American astronauts or what they contributed to NASA’s space program? Guion “Guy” Bluford, Ron McNair and Frederick Gregory were the first three African-Americans in space. They were also NASA classmates in its famous “Class of 1978”

Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson, one of the unsung champions of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, was the only woman to serve as Executive Secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was known for her verve and willingness to take on anything or anyone. Kwame Ture (fka Stokely Carmichael, one of the original SNCC Freedom Riders) once said of Ruby, “She was convinced that there was nothing that she could not do… she was a tower of strength.”

[*This year marks the 100th anniversary since Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the “Father of Black History” founded Negro History Week in February 1926. Fifty years after that, President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month. In 1986, Congress passed a law designating February as Black History Month across the U.S.] Robert Smalls was the first Black man elected to U.S.

"Nobody's free until EVERYBODY'S free"

A jazz-leaning playlist filled with "the kind of grooves that lovers of R&B, Soul, and Funk enjoy so much"

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday! I hope this missive finds you smiling and well. It’s your musical motorist back again with a new collection to enjoy today and all week long. Here’s over ten hours of duets and collaborations between artists of many styles.  From the rock and soul collabs of…

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday, you all. It’s your pal and selector, Marlon, back once more with a collection to brighten your month. We are into July and for my money, a particularly good time to enjoy some sweet reggae music. This "Fresh Reggae Tracks" playlist is devoted to new reggae.

Happy Music Monday, you all. And welcome to this second week of Black Music Month. Back in April, PBS dropped Independent Lens: We Want the Funk! Director Stanley Nelson and producer Nicole London’s documentary features the history, stars, themes and theory behind this most Blackest and inclusive style of music. Everyone can shake a tail feather on “The One”.

Born 100 years ago today as Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska and known primarily as Malcolm X,  El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz‎ was an African-American minister for the Nation of Islam and a human rights activist who rose to national and international prominence in the 1960s. He was a courageous advocate for the rights of Black Americans and Black people around the world, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against Black Americans, and was one of the greatest and most influential African American activists and intelletuals in U.S.

by Marlon West (Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social, Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday, you all. It’s your pal and musician marshal is back with another dose of fine tunes. After Fruitvale Station, Rocky spin-off/reboot Creed, Black Panther and its sequel, Wakanda Forever, Ryan Coogler has proven himself one of the most masterful filmmakers working today. Though Sinners, which arrived in theaters three weeks ago, is his first film not derived from real life or other properties.

by Marlon West (Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social, Spotify: marlonwest) Greetings! It’s your friend and selector, Marlon, again. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s joyous, crisply edited and well observed documentary about Sly Stone dropped in February on Hulu and Disney+. SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is a worthy follow-up to the Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul, and examines the life and lasting legacy of…

The House minority leader became the highest-ranking Democrat to demand the defense secretary be terminated, saying he was “unqualified” and a national security risk.

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Founder and Editor-in-Chief It’s commonly known if Aretha Franklin covered a song you wrote and/or recorded, it from her recording forward be known as her song. Otis Redding, composer and original performer of “Respect”, said as much at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967: “a girl took [‘Respect’] away from me, a friend of mine, this girl she just took this song.”

Born on this day in 1915, Rosetta Tharpe revolutionized the sound of electric guitar by using distortion with her unique phrasing & picking, inspiring Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Johnny Cash & Elvis Presley by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Editor-in-Chief Born in 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas to musical parents who also worked as cotton pickers, Tharpe was a musical prodigy who is reported to have picked up a guitar at four and began performing at age six with her mother, …

John Fulton and Anthony Mitchell were teenagers when they were coerced into giving false confessions in a 2003 murder in Chicago.

by Marlon West (Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social, Spotify: marlonwest) In 1945, Lionel Hampton spotted a five year-old boogying so hard during his concert in Los Angeles, that the legendary the …

by Marlon West (Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social, Spotify: marlonwest) In 1945, Lionel Hampton spotted a five year-old boogying so hard during his concert in Los Angeles, that the legendary the vibraphonist handed young Roy Ayers his first pair of mallets. Roy Ayers went on to establish himself as a pioneer of jazz-funk and soul. He was hugely influential on the neo-soul and hiphop movement.

As President Trump addresses Congress, organizers host a 24-hour livestream on what they call the negative impact of his polices.

Dr. Adam Banks flies from the Bay Area to Cleveland most weekends to teach. Black studies in a neighborhood cafe.

Dukes had been politically active up until her death

Raymond Santana was wrongly imprisoned. Now, he wants to join Yusef Salaam, also wrongfully accused in the rape of a Central Park jogger, on the City Council.

A growing number of Black consumers are collectively boycotting Target and other retailers that have recently reversed DEI programs following backlash from President Donald Trump and his conservative ...

by Marlon West (Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social, Spotify: marlonwest) Happy Music Monday, you all. I’m back a week late, if you are counting. I have been thinking about the life and career of the utterly original Jimmy Scott. His voice conveyed such vulnerability, and had such a haunting sound. Jimmy Scott’s life was filled with emotional and physical challenges.

Known for her assertive questioning style, Payne was one of three Black reporters in the White House Press Corps in the 1950s, and the first Black woman radio and TV commentator on a national network

And why this 19th-century self-emancipated abolitionist and women's rights activist remains relevant to this day