Jazz News: Next Jazz Legacy Cohort, Miles. the play, Composer Ann Ronell
This is Jazz News, a look at what’s news in jazz, music, and the arts.
Perfectly timed for Women’s History Month, the fifth Next Jazz Legacy Cohort has been announced by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice.
Here are the names to watch in the years ahead: saxophonist Alden Hellmuth, trumpeter Allison Phillips, bassist Destiny “Lé Queen” Diggs, bassist Devon Gates, and trombonist Siya Charles, all from Brooklyn; drummer Lily Finnegan from Chicago, and pianist Sequoia “REDWOOD” Snyder from Washington, D.C.
They are all composers as well, and they will be paired with creative mentors like Dianne Reeves, Marilyn Crispell, Aneesa Strings, Andrew Cyrille, Cecile McLorin Salvant, and others, and they each get band apprenticeships with names like Ingrid Jensen, Allison Miller, Jason Moran, and others. (SOURCE: New Music USA / Newsroom Announcement)
“Miles.” The play just finished a one-month run at London’s Southwark Playhouse, starring Benjamin Akintuyosi as the legend, a spirit, a counselor to a younger musician crying out for answers. Jay Phelps plays the acolyte, and Phelps played the trumpet in the production as well.
The work sold out its run at the Edinburgh Fringe 2025. Kevin Le Gendre’s review at the U.K.-based Jazzwise.com describes the interplay between spirit Miles and young Jay, tackling racism, record industry cynicism, African retentions in black American music, and creative soul searching. Le Gendre called it a “powerful portrayal of a 20th-century trailblazer that the 21st century still has in its sights.” (SOURCE: Jazzwise / Miles, the play brings the life & music of the trumpet icon)
One more women’s history note, from the newsletter of the Jazz Education Network. Ann Ronell. Ring a bell anybody? She was one of the songwriters in the 30s and 40s that was recognized for composing music and lyrics. She co-wrote “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf” in 1933 for the Disney short film “Three Little Pigs.” The year before, she wrote “Willow Weep for Me,” and dedicated it to her friend George Gershwin. (They had been friends since her college days, and he suggested she change her professional name from Rosenblatt to Ronell.)
The Jazz Education Network article breaks down Ronell’s use of descending octaves to help depict the droopy willow tree, and convey the song’s theme of grief and hope. “Willow Weep for Me” is the 13th most performed standard at Jazz Standards / Willow Weep for Me.
Ann Ronell was the first woman to write music and lyrics for a Broadway show, “Count Me In” in 1942, and her theme song for “The Story of G.I. Joe” was the first to run over credits in a Hollywood drama. (Access to the JEN newsletter at: JEN)
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