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North Carolina is known for having a musical tradition steeped in old-time music, a form of North American folk music, with roots in the folk musics of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. In fact, slave musicians in North Carolina and throughout the nation were often responsible for providing dance music for both white and African American social gatherings.
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By Tom Hanchett, historian Levine Museum of the New South
In the late 1930s this quartet burst onto the national scene, thanks to records made in Charlotte, and introduced the hot sound of swing to acapella gospel. The Gates started singing as teenagers in Virginia, then moved to Charlotte to perform live on WBT radio. WBT’s strong array of talent drew field recording teams from major record labels, including
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By Tom Hanchett
Today J.H. Gunn is barely remembered as the long-ago principal of J.H. Gunn School off Albemarle Road on Charlotte’s east side. But 80 years ago this African American leader was known throughout the eastern U.S. as a recording and touring musician at the helm of Jimmie Gunn and His Orchestra.
J. H. Gunn and His Orchestra . . . and school.
Drive out Harrisburg Road, just off busy Albemarle Road on
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Stephanie Glover, aka Gezee Rose, is a local event planner and online magazine owner. Her site – http://meetthefresh.com – is not the typical celebrity gossip website. “The site is all about showing how everyday people interpret what’s fresh and relevant to their lives. We focus on on topics ranging from fashion to lifestyle to relationships.”
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Thelonious Monk is considered one of the giants in American music. He is the second most recorded jazz composer and regarded as the founder of bebop, style of jazz characterized by fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and melody.
John Coltrane is one of the best American jazz saxophonist and composers. He helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz, a style not defined
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By Tom Hanchett (Historian, Levine Museum of the New South)
Charlotte’s Excelsior Club is a longtime music landmark in this region. It is the last survivor of a string of shops and music clubs known as “The End” for its location at the end of the Trade Street-Beatties Ford Road streetcar line. The club was started in the 1940s by Jimmy McKee, who remodeled a existing house in a the glorious new Art Moderne style. African Americans were
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As I watched the Dirty South edition of HipHop Honors last week, I was saddened because there wasn’t a North Carolina segment of the show. I tweeted the question, “where are the NC rappers?” It received a chuckle or two from a few friends and followers, but I really wanted to know, and according to an article I found on Wikipedia, it does. North Carolina’s hip hop scene is vibrant and very relevant.
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Word on the street is Sunshine Anderson is back in the lab working on an album. The Winston-Salem born, Charlotte native is best known for her hit, “Heard It All Before.”
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eLZhi, no explanation needed. One of hip hop’s greatest emcee’s took the time out to speak with me.
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Eboni Lewis, known to those who grew up in Charlotte as Eboni Wallace, was voted Most Likely To Succeed when she graduated from high school. Her classmates figured that was the highest honor they could give to West Charlotte’s 1994 student body president. And while she didn’t choose a career as Oprah (that was the word back in the day) she did turn out to be quite the socialite. She’s a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Smart
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