Didn't say much, but said it all.

IRock JAZZ

Miles Davis 


The Prince of Darkness. His approach to music and genius as an innovator affected my music and life profoundly. It was a study in itself to learn indirectly from people who'd mastered a craft, or to be directly penetrated by their creative energies linked to the African spirituality coursing through the bloodlines. Those two things amongst other factors created bodies of work, and better musicians. I am a part of that 'guild'. My ability to honor the large number of influences, the traditions who informed me, the ancestors I am connected to, and the few masters I've personally built relationships with and the masters, like Miles Davis, whose life and times upon the Earth changed the psychology, the theology of cultures. Crucial to my creative processes is an important honoring ceremony done with my life, the way I live and play my music. This is an honoring of Miles Davis, but it extends to all others. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10.17.13




singers Robera Flack, Mick Jagger and Phyliss Hyman

Roberta Flack taught school here in Washington DC, and is well known from that generation. There is also a forgiving attitude from DC about her focus on musical integrity and her lack of fashion sense that taught people about priorities. In her time and before priorities and their placement was fundamental to how Black folks functioned in their lives. It was part of the dignity of Negroes, Colored folks and later Black Americans, who bore a hole into world cultures with a daring grasp upon cultural awareness. Style as we defined it came from the epicenter of one's creativity and reaction, or response to the culture challenges of living in the United States, and a global citizen which came more in vogue as access to the financial hub of the country became more than a dream.

There is a lot to discern from the older musicians, and singers, and a lot cast aside by newer musicians and artists without an historical grasp of their art forms. Different messages go out and into the winds, and we all know the winds they are a changing! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10.17.13