← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
NYC Winter Jazzfest and a Tribute to The East
00:29:27
We preview the upcoming Winter Jazzfest celebration of The East, an historic Brooklyn Black cultural center.
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- [00:00]
Michaels Party Shop Announcer
Attention party people. You're officially invited to the party Shop at Michael's where you'll find hundreds of new items starting at $0.99 with an expanded selection of party wear, balloons with helium included on select styles, decorations and more. Michaels is your one stop shop for celebrating everything from birthdays to bachelorette parties and baby showers to golden anniversaries. Visit Michaels store or michaels.com today to supply your next party.
- [00:27]
Casual Speaker / Nephew
I'm going to put you on nephew.
- [00:29]
Alison Stewart
All right, unc, welcome to McDonald's. Can I take your order?
- [00:31]
Casual Speaker / Nephew
Ms. Been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps.
- [00:36]
Basir Amchawi
What's a snack wrap?
- [00:37]
Casual Speaker / Nephew
It's the return of something great.
- [00:39]
Marcus J. Moore
Snack wrap is back.
- [00:43]
Basir Amchawi
For 140 years, MultiCare has been in.
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Winter Jazz Fest Announcer
Washington prioritizing long term solutions, partnering with local communities and expanding access to care. Together, we're building a healthier future.
- [00:55]
Nordstrom Rack Announcer
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- [01:04]
Alison Stewart
Why do I rack all the dresses?
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Michaels Party Shop Announcer
Because fall equals sweaters?
- [01:09]
Alison Stewart
Because I always find something amazing.
- [01:11]
Nordstrom Rack Announcer
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- [01:35]
Alison Stewart
This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in soho. Thank you for sharing part of your day with us. NYC Winter Jazz Fest begins today with some of the most venerated and exciting names performing all across the city over the next nine days. The fest recently held a pre kickoff screening of of the documentary the Sun Rises in the east about the historic black Brooklyn Cultural Center, a film we covered here on all of it when it came out in 2022. If you want to go back and listen to that conversation this Sunday, the festival will follow it up with a tribute concert called A Night at the east. With a lineup that includes vets like Gary Bartz, David Murray and Billy Hart, plus later generation artists like Moore, Mother and one of my next guests. Hear with me now in Studio 5, standing behind the bass is Luke Stewart, new no relation that I know of yet. Well, we'll find out. We'll talk about it later. Hi Luke.
- [02:24]
Luke Stewart
Hey.
- [02:25]
Alison Stewart
Here alongside the duo Achilles Navarro and Shiseira Holmes on trumpet and drums. Hello y'.
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Chisera Holmes
All.
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Alison Stewart
They are members of the music collective Irreversible Entanglement. Sitting across from me now is Marcus J. Moore, co curator of this Saturday's Concert, a frequent flyer on this show. Thank you for coming to the studio.
- [02:43]
Marcus J. Moore
Thanks for having me back.
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Alison Stewart
As well as Basir Amchawi, a WBAI radio host and the former editor of the East's in House magazine called Black News, Basir will be a panelist at a talk this Saturday titled Live at east, the Meaningful Music of a Brooklyn Community. It is very nice to meet you.
- [03:00]
Basir Amchawi
Nice to meet you as well.
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Alison Stewart
So, Marcus, there are a few different events focused around the east at this year's VAT Jazz Fest. As we mentioned, the East, a major cultural center operated 1969 to the mid-80s. How and why did the east become somewhat of a focal point for this year's Jazz Fest?
- [03:17]
Marcus J. Moore
Well, I'm definitely gonna defer to the actual east community. I'll defer to Basir. But for. For me, I come from a musical background, as you know, so I cover a lot of jazz and experimental music for the New York Times and elsewhere. And even before that, I was listening to a lot of jazz records growing up in the D.C. area. And I noticed that my favorite records were the ones that said recorded Live at the East. And so it just sort of piqued my curiosity to see exactly what the sound was coming out of this institution. And then when I moved up here about seven years ago, I found myself making friends with people who either were directly from the community or they were kids of the community, you know, of the east community. So, honestly, you know, not to oversimplify it, but a lot of my ideas, and this one, too, came about from me just walking around playing in 2 Ma's record on headphones. And I was like, huh, that's kind of interesting. It'd be kind of. First of all, these records really need reissues. Secondly, I just, again, not to sound too hokey, but I just like celebrating people and things. And so I reached out to Winter Jazz Fest and was like, hey, I got this crazy idea. Let's put a band together and reimagine some music. We're not trying to repaint the Mona Lisa or anything, but we just want to use those records as a springboard towards something different.
- [04:37]
Alison Stewart
I don't think it's hokey. I think it's kind of beautiful.
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Marcus J. Moore
I know, you know, I struggle with that sometimes.
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Alison Stewart
Basir, how did you get involved with the East? Tell us a little bit about your history.
- [04:47]
Basir Amchawi
Well, I've been an activist all of my life. I mean, really, I guess since teenage years, having been at some important events that took place in places like Harlem. I was born and Raised in the Bronx and ended up going to New York University. You know. You know, it's interesting a lot of ways interesting in terms of that. And, well, there I was able to go ahead and sample the music that Marcus is talking about that I was able to see. Go to places like Slugs in the Vanguard. 8th street in those particular days was a focal point where you could go ahead and do so many different things. There were record stores and restaurants and recording studios right there. And, well, you go to 8th street now, it looks a little bit different, to say the least. Anyway, 1969, I moved to. I got married and I moved to Brooklyn. And I was in Fort Greene, not that far away from 10 Claver Place. I knew some of the people there, and my first. Well, I went and attended. But then actually, in terms of my involvement, I actually performed at the East. I had a poetry group called Words of Power. And one of the things that happens in terms of the east on the weekend is that there would be a major group, then there would be a poet or, you know, some other kind of group, you know, singers, et cetera, and then there would be the next set of the group. And my poetry group actually performed, you know, as we did that, there was the beginnings. This would have been probably 1969, 1970. There were the beginnings of a real community. And myself, my wife and my child, young child, at that particular time, we decided that we wanted to be part of that particular community. And now, of course, the east is legendary. I was involved in so many different levels. First from just being enthralled by the experience of having been there, and then actually committing myself to actually be a part of the institution and attempting to try to make the institution more relevant to the community, to be more engaged, to move us not so much in terms of being inside 10 Claver Place, but to take that atmosphere and move it outside to the community. And, well, we did that in so many different kinds of ways. One way, of course, was culture. The east was said to be a educational and cultural center for people of African descent. And we intended to go ahead and do that in so many different kinds of ways. There was, of course, our school, Uhurusasa, which was the largest independent black school in the country at that particular time. Then, of course, there were the weekend sets, the culture, because Jitu Weusi, the founder of the east, saw that it was really important to try to take not only culture to support what we were doing in terms of the educational aspect, but these things, of course, you couldn't really Separate them. They were literally the same. So one of the things that Jeetu, in terms of his vision, was we needed to do things, to go ahead and make money, to actually support the other things that we were doing. And, of course, the weekend sets were. Were one way to do that, to bring the best and brightest musicians into the neighborhood, into the hood, you know. Right. 10 Claver Place, between Putnam and Jefferson Avenue.
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Alison Stewart
I'm gonna dive in here, since you mentioned musicians, and bring our musicians into the conversation. So, Luke, when you think about the east, what does it represent to you?
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Luke Stewart
Well, the concert that's been assembled for A Night at the east this weekend, all of us, we really. Aside from the. Of course, the elders who were part of the east, who performed at the east, who frequented the east, all of us have been influenced by that cultural.
- [09:21]
Achilles Navarro
Movement that the east was fermenting, that the east was a part of. We all have deep influences and deep development in these kinds of spaces. And I believe that part of our artistry is also in engaging with these cultural institutions that are important for organizing around the music, for the upliftment, spiritually, intellectually, socially, and politically, of course, as well and economically for the betterment of the community. So each of us as musicians and as artists and poets, we all represent our own histories, and we bring that through with the music, with the strong influence from institutions like the East.
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Winter Jazz Fest Announcer
I think y' all are going to perform for us. What are we going to hear?
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Luke Stewart
We're going to hear a song called.
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Alison Stewart
You look like you were deciding on the moment, man.
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Luke Stewart
We're going to hear a song called Est.
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Winter Jazz Fest Announcer
Luke gets himself situated. We're about to hear members of the musical collective Irreversible Entanglements.
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Chisera Holmes
Sa It. It's Sam It. Sam. Sa.
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Alison Stewart
That was members of the musical collective Irreversible Entanglements. We had Achilles Navarro on trumpet, Chisera Holmes on drums, and Luke Stewart on bass. We're having a conversation total and total about NYC Winter Jazz Fest, which runs from January 10th to the 18th. There will be a concert this Sunday dedicated to the memory of A Night at the East. Of course, the east is that amazing collective that we have been talking about. My guests are Marcus J. Moore, as well as Basir a.m. chawi, former editor of Black News, the East Monthly magazine, and a WBAI radio host. When you were thinking about putting together this concert, Marcus, what were some of the touchstones for you, the guideposts, things that you kept thinking about? I want to make sure this concert has this.
- [18:39]
Marcus J. Moore
Yeah, I just. I think Ultimately, I just wanted to make sure that the show, the music, had everything that people don't necessarily know about, if that makes sense. So anytime I. Anytime I write about something or whether I'm putting something like this together, always like to give people something they probably didn't know that they needed until they got it. And so I've been blessed enough to having to get to know, like, a lot. All of the band members pretty much are people who I've covered, who I've gotten to know. I've seen them at different events around the city. And so I'm thankful that when I reached out to everybody, everybody was like, oh, yeah, sure, absolutely. This sounds great. So I say all that to say in putting this concert together. I just wanted to make sure that it's. It represents the institution as best as possible. So now, what I will admit, though, like, when I was putting it together simply from a musical standpoint, I was just thinking about, like I said in my previous answer, about, like, a. Live. Live at the east, you know, replicating those records. But what I learned from Basir is that it's much more than that. It's music, it's education. It was a moment in time. And so what I want to do with this show, also with Night at the east, is just honestly create a moment in time. You know, I want it to be where when people come to the show, they're inspired to either, you know, pick up that instrument that maybe they had sitting in the back of their closet, or, you know, maybe some of the band members will split off and do their own thing, you know, or some kid who goes to NYU is like, oh, that's interesting. I want to do the same thing. So I think more than anything else, I just. I just want it to be inspirational for people who are going to attend.
- [20:26]
Basir Amchawi
I think that one of the things that was so special about the weekend sets at the east was the atmosphere. So when you hear Pharaoh Live at the east, you hear the crowd, and it was a symbiotic relationship. It wasn't a situation in which just. Well, it was the audience that sat passively by. They were part of the performance. And I think that's one of the things that comes out in an album like Pharaoh Alive at the east, the juju album that was recorded there, and the Al Kabo Land album, of course, by Brother Mtume. Now, the interesting thing about Pharaoh Alive at the east is it wasn't recorded at the East East. That what they did is they actually exported the audience to another location. But of course, they attempted to try to create the atmosphere. And I think that the music speaks for itself.
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Winter Jazz Fest Announcer
You're going to participate, Basir, in this panel on Saturday. I believe it is. Yeah. Saturday Live at the East. The meaningful music of a Brooklyn community. What is something that you've always wanted to either correct or clear up about the east that you've never really gotten the chance to? I mean, there's so much mythology around it.
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Basir Amchawi
You know, the interesting thing is there's so much that's misspoken in regards to the East. The east is going to be. As there's more and more chatter about it, it's going to be like the Black Panther Party. Everybody was a member of the East. Everybody went to the East. Even though we know that that's not true, one of the interesting things is the missing pages of history. So you've got a situation like in the John Zwed biography of Sun Ra. Space is the place doesn't mention the east, doesn't mention the African Street Carnival where Sun Ra appeared outdoors at 10 Claver Place for free, where the community came and came out and appreciated what happened there. It doesn't mention, later on, the African Street Festival where Sun Ra was there all the time. And then as that institution, which is an outgrowth of the east, more often became the International African Arts Festival, that didn't mention it as well. It's not there. So one of the things that us. And again, it's interesting to be an elder. You know, when I came to the East, I was in my early 20s, and I'm not in my early 20s anymore. But we've got some work to do in regards to putting forward some of the real, real history. The film is a beginning. It's kind of an entry point for people wanting to understand. And I think that the G Wah family did a pretty decent job in regards to presenting some things. But of course, it's like the old series, the Naked city. There are 8 million stories of the Naked City. This has been one of them. The is one story. And we have to tell so many more stories. We began to do that. We had a 50th anniversary celebration a few years back, and we put out a document, a book, in which there are essays by many of the east family members which tell some of that particular story. And there's still a lot more work to do because we did a lot locally, nationally and internationally.
- [23:55]
Winter Jazz Fest Announcer
We're going to hear one more time from our musicians in the room. Our other musicians in the room, I should say. But Margaret, before I go, anything else you want to let people know about Winter Jazz Fest?
- [24:06]
Marcus J. Moore
You know, well, it's in. Winter Jazz Fest is in its 20th year. I would say if you can come out to the Max Rhodes show tonight, there are a bunch of different one off shows that are happening and you can't go wrong with the Manhattan Marathon or the Brooklyn Marathon nights.
- [24:21]
Alison Stewart
Okay, sounds good. So, Luke, you're back up. Oh, I see an electric guitar. It's all good. Come on down. All right, so you're gonna perform obviously, as part of this, this east tribute as well as. What else are you gonna do in the. On the Winter Jazz Fest?
- [24:36]
Luke Stewart
Well, alongside my brothers here, Aquiles Navarro and Chaser Holmes and Irreversible Entanglements, we're gonna be part of the Harvest time tribute to Pharaoh Sounders on Saturday the 13th. And we're also part of the Impulse Records showcase at New blue.
- [24:55]
Achilles Navarro
On the 15th. And they're also going to be opening the night as their duo for a night at the east, which is very. Also very appropriate. Achilles Navarro is a protege of the great Carlos Garnett, who was on the. Of course, a member of the east, musical director, from what I've heard. And Cesar Holmes comes from that community, another one of the children of that beautiful community in Brooklyn. So it all comes together very well for this night.
- [25:36]
Alison Stewart
All right, let me make sure I get all the information out. The panel talk where Basir Amchawi will be is Saturday the 13th at 4pm live at the the Meaningful music of a Brooklyn community. The concert is Sunday the 14th at 8pm a night at the East. The Wooder Jazz Fest goes on until the 18th. I think I got it all out for full disclosure. Y' all are gonna play us out. If we don't get the whole song, we're gonna record it and make sure it ends up on the podcast. And I think we're gonna ask you to stick around and do a third.
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Winter Jazz Fest Announcer
Song that we might play on Friday, if that's okay.
- [26:09]
Alison Stewart
All right. I'm just being transparent. My guest, Marcus J. Moore, Basirmchawi as well as Luke Stewart, Achilles Navarro and Chaser Holmes. You gonna play us out, Luke? What are we gonna hear?
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Luke Stewart
We're gonna hear. Hear.
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Chisera Holmes
Sa.
- [30:54]
Michaels Party Shop Announcer
Attention, party people. You're officially invited to the party shop at Michael's where you'll find hundreds of new Items starting at 99 cents with an expanded selection of party wear balloons with helium included on select styles, decorations and more. Michael's is your one stop shop for celebrating everything from birthdays to bachelorette parties and baby showers to golden anniversaries. Visit Michaels store or michaels.com today to supply your next party.
- [31:21]
Casual Speaker / Nephew
I'mma put you on, nephew.
- [31:22]
Marcus J. Moore
All right, unc.
- [31:23]
Alison Stewart
Welcome to McDonald's. Can I take your order, miss?
- [31:25]
Casual Speaker / Nephew
I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps.
- [31:30]
Basir Amchawi
What's a snack wrap?
- [31:31]
Casual Speaker / Nephew
It's the return of something great.
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Marcus J. Moore
Snack wrap is back.