Needle Drop Record

Author Ralph Ellison once wrote, “...because jazz finds its very life in an endless improvisation upon traditional materials, the jazzman must lose his identity even as he finds it.”

Lauryn Hill once said, "As artists, we have an opportunity to help the public evolve, raise consciousness and awareness, teach, heal, enlighten, and inspire in ways the democratic process may not be able to touch. So we keep it moving." This week's Needle Drop Record absolutely did all of that.

United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor once said, “The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever.” And what a fire hers is. This week's Needle Drop Record comes from a Latina artist who burns just as brightly.

Conductor Leonard Slatkin once said, "In some ways, I believe music is the more convincing communicator of ideas than words." I'm Kelly McCartney and this week's Needle Drop Record absolutely needs no words.

Nina Simone once said, “Jazz is not just music, it's a way of life, it's a way of being, a way of thinking.” And more than one person has said the same about hip-hop which is surely one of the primary reasons they go so well together.

Eddie Palmieri once said, “There are a lot of young musicians out there performing what they think is Latin jazz but instead is jazz Latin. And there's a difference... My mission is to keep [Latin jazz] alive.”

Miriam Makeba once said, "African music, though very old, is always being rediscovered in the West." This week's Needle Drop Record by Fatoumata Diawara certainly fits that bill for me. And I'm guessing it will for you, too.

Tina Turner once said, “Sometimes you have to let everything go - purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything - whatever is bringing you down - get rid of it. Because you will find that when you are free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”