Listening Party 09 at Baby's On Fire was a great night of music in a cozy environment.  Guest presenter David Koslowski brought an amazing selection of Sonny Stitt tunes for everyone to enjoy. You can listen to a close approximation of our evening on our YouTube page.  Or scroll down below to find a playlist and photos from the event.  

This listening party was held at Jordan Faye Contemporary and featured vinyl recordings of Herb Alpert's music from the '60s through the '80s, all from the collection of guest presenter Wayne Collins.  We learned about the connection between Alpert's music and hip-hop, as many of his tracks have been sampled by hip-hop artists.  The playlist is below and can also be found on our YouTube page.  Scroll down to also see some photos from the event! 

This listening party was held at the incredible Normal's Books and Records and was led by guest presenter Dylan Kinnett, though he was nowhere to be found for the party.  In his place, a being from another time, or place perhaps, presented in his stead.  Tracks from different parts of Sun Ra's career were played, good stories about seeing Sun Ra in person were shared, and we even had the pleasure of listening to a live reading of some of Sun Ra's poetry over top of one of his songs.  You can find the playlist from the event below or on our YouTube page. 

This listening party took place at Spacecamp gallery in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District.  Our guest presenter Don Palmer brought an incredible swath of records from his own collection and shared his stories of meeting Ornette Coleman. Attendees got to see a bit of the documentary about Coleman, Made in America, and even leaf through the printed program from his funeral, also part of Don Palmer's personal collection.  You can find the playlist from the event below or on our YouTube page. 

This was our first listening party at Baby's On Fire—part coffee shop, part awesome record store.  Our guest presenter Bob Jacobson educated us about the rich history of jazz pianists from Baltimore through the music of Ellis Larkins, Albert Dailey, and Jessica Williams.  Larkins was the first African American student admitted to the Peabody Institute, Jessica Williams is the only transgender jazz pianist we know of, and Albert Dailey was a Morgan State graduate that went on to play with Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon and Sarah Vaughan. You can find the playlist from the event below or on our YouTube page. And check out our photos from the event below too.

Our fourth listening party focused exclusively on important women artists from the blues genre.  Though we had featured tracks from other women artists in previous listening parties (Esperanza Spalding, Vi Redd, Shirley Scott) this party was a great primer for those who have only been spoon-fed the male-dominated history of blues.  Guest presenter Becca Mark called upon many a friend's record collection and assembled an impressive mix of tracks for us to dig into. You can find the playlist below or on our YouTube page.  But before you find the playlist, scroll down and check out the three alternate flyer images created for us by designer Ariel Cowen.  

Our third listening party featured the music of Charles Mingus, with an extra surprise track by Esperanza Spalding.  She, like Mingus, is doing great things on the jazz bass!  Guest presenter Tony Venne dug through his record collection and brought some gems, including the fun and funky Cumbia and Jazz Fusion, a track so long we just decided to play a few minutes of, until everyone just stuck around to its conclusion!  You can find the playlist from the event below or on our YouTube page. 

This listening party featured the music of Hank Mobley, who was an impressive sax player on his own, and was a part of the original Jazz Messengers group with Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Kenny Dorham and Doug Watkins.  We also heard from sax player Vi Redd, who almost abandoned jazz for a career in social work.  Special thanks to Jordan Faye Contemporary for the donated space.  You can find the playlist from the event below or on our YouTube page. 

Our first ever listening party was a hit!  The crowd that squeezed into the small back gallery of Jordan Faye Contemporary proved that the beat of jazz is still thumping strong in people's hearts.  The sweet organ sounds of Jimmy Smith kicked off our event series, with a little help from fellow organist Shirley Scott. You can find the playlist below or on our YouTube page.