mainheader

Ancient Future
Ancient Future feat. Matthew Montfort - Purple Spirits (2026) "There are tribute albums, and then there are projects like Purple Spirits, which feels less like a simple salute and more like a deep musical conversation across genres, generations, and traditions. Dropping April 10, 2026 via Ancient-Future.Com Records, the new release from Ancient Future and Matthew Montfort gathers a set of tributes to artists with whom the group shares both direct history and spiritual kinship... For Dead-adjacent and jam-minded listeners, there are a few especially intriguing touchpoints here. Tousling together improvisation, global instrumentation, and reverence for musical ancestors, Purple Spirits includes Toussaint-like musical lineage thinking and even a thread connecting back to Jerry Garcia through Toussaint’s “Hi Lee Hi” tribute mention in the broader release context of the artists Ancient Future honors. More directly, it’s a project built on risk, mood, and texture rather than rigid genre boundaries — exactly the kind of thing adventurous ears tend to appreciate." gratefulweb.com


Links: Website, Facebook, Reverbnation and DC Bebop page.

MUSIC CD ARCHIVE: ONECD

Eddie Harris
Eddie Harris - High Voltage (1969)  "The album works both for "serious" listeners (the types who say "Music is the space between the notes, man") or casual listeners alike and is both conventionally listeranble and ever-so-slightly experimental. It received critical acclaim and helped to solidify Harris's reputation as a leading figure in jazz fusion. High Voltage is regarded as a classic album in Harris's discography and in the realm of jazz fusion, demonstrating his pioneering approach to blending genres and pushing the boundaries of traditional jazz music. Though not as rockin' as Miles Davis’s 1969 album "In a Silent Way," it still hits a lot of right notes, in a good way, and The Allmusic review calls it "Fascinating music, and a jazz radio staple in its time""

Links:   Wikipedia, Discography, Website, YouTube.

MUSIC CD ARCHIVE: DOUBLECD

Helen Sung
Helen Sung - Quartet+ (2021) "All throughout Quartet+, there is a clarity in Helen Sung’s role as a bandleader. Whether it be through her own compositions or those of Marian McPartland, Geri Allen or Carla Bley, Sung is directing her musical vision in what she’s looking for with her group alongside the Harlem Quintet as that added element that is the plus sign in the album’s title. She couldn’t be any clearer there, either... In Helen Sung’s venture of melding a classical string quartet with her jazz quartet, she finds exactly the balance she sought: the perfect lively combination of the improvisational form with the structure of the strings to find a different sort of dynamism. Of course, this kind of combination isn’t anything new with this sort of instrumentation, but Sung finds a way in her collection of compositions, both her own originals and those of other female composers she’s celebrating. It all so clearly works together." ~ downbeat.com

Website, Discography, Facebook and YouTube.

Helen Sung - Anthem For A New Day (2014) "There's a bit of the iconoclast in pianist Helen Sung. Her musical journey began in the classical world, and didn't take its rebellious tangent into jazz until her college years, after a chance encounter with a Harry Connick, Jr. concert, in a "bang on the piano" solo interlude. And then there was pianist Tommy Flanagan's solo on saxophonist Charlie Parker "Confirmation," and Sung was jazz bitten, in the best way. Anthem for a New Day, Sung's sixth album""her first on Concord Records""represents a full blossoming of Sung's talents""as a pianist, band leader, arranger and writer." ~ DAN MCCLENAGHAN - AllAboutJazz.com


Music Arts session - Concert, Station, PBS, NPR and other live mini concert sessions and interviews.

Dave Stryker performs "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" on WBGO
Dave Stryker - Guitar, Stefon Harris - Vibraphone, Jared Gold - Organ, McClenty Hunter - Drums, Mayra Casales - Percussion

Dave Stryker - Eight Track III (2019) "Guitarist Dave Stryker keeps playing a winning hand in his revamping 60s and 70s hits with a team of Stefon Harris/vib, Jared Gold/org, McClenty Hunter/dr and Mayra Casales/perc. It’s not necessary, but it helps, to know the original hits to appreciate how Stryker and company capture the essence of each piece, making you feel you’re listening to some long tracks on fm radio." Jazz Weekly

Links: Website, Wikipedia, Amazon Music, YouTube

BOOK RACK: FEATURED BOOK

Robert Graves - The Golden Fleece (1944), "long with I, Claudius, The Golden Fleece is considered one of Robert Graves’s most exciting and transporting historical novels. The Golden Fleece was at one time the most sacred religious object of the ancient Greeks, and had been sent away as the result of a power struggle between the Greeks and earlier inhabitants of the Greek peninsula. In this the original quest narrative, Jason leads a voyage of heroes, including his friend Hercules and many others, in his ship the Argo, to recapture the sacred Golden Fleece and bring it home. To do so he must travel across the whole of the ancient world, perform impossible tasks, and undergo betrayals and tragedies beyond comprehension or human endurance."   sevenstories.com and Kobo Books

BOOK RACK: FEATURED SERIES

ROGER ZELAZNY - Chronicles of Amber "The Chronicles of Amber is a series of fantasy novels by American writer Roger Zelazny. The main series consists of two story arcs, each five novels in length. Additionally, there are a number of Amber short stories and other works. Four additional prequel books, authorized by the Zelazny estate following his death, were authored by John Gregory Betancourt. "     Wikipedia,   Books: Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, The Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos, Trumps of Doom, Blood of Amber, Sign of Chaos, Knight of Shadows, Prince of Chaos.   Amazon Books

MOVIES: FEATURED MOVIE

Citizen Kane (1941)

"It is one of the miracles of cinema that in 1941 a first-time director; a cynical, hard-drinking writer; an innovative cinematographer, and a group of New York stage and radio actors were given the keys to a studio and total control, and made a masterpiece. “Citizen Kane” is more than a great movie; it is a gathering of all the lessons of the emerging era of sound, just as “Birth of a Nation” assembled everything learned at the summit of the silent era, and “2001” pointed the way beyond narrative. These peaks stand above all the others."    RogerEbert.com  

Link: Citizen Kane (1941) - Buy/Rent Watch online

CUISINE: FEATURED RESTAURANT

Cabo Fish Taco Baja Seagrill, located at 3201 North Davidson Street,
Charlotte, NC 28205.  "Cabo Fish Taco is the combination of concepts from three completely different people, who share the same idea of what makes a restaurant great. Unlike most Baja styled


restaurants, Cabo combines coastal Mexican cuisine with a unique healthy California feel. The food and atmosphere of Cabo is an impeccable infusion of very different styles."   Website: Cabo Fish Taco Baja Seagrill.

*The most recent featured musicians and play lists from the five Music listings on DC Bebop.   A musician listed on a DC Bebop page with an intro, is featured for 10 days with one of their songs.  Included in the play list are songs by nine other musicians in a table on DC Bebop. The songs are linked to a page (MySpace, Reverbnation, YouTube or where ever the song can be heard). The play list is not a top 10 list. It features songs I liked and think perhaps others might appreciate the music as well.

Top of Page