By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — A favorite of Middle Tennessee and Music City jazz fans returns to Rudy’s Friday night. Saxophonist and bass clarinetist Don Aliquo is both an outstanding soloist and busy bandleader, as well as an in-demand educator. He’s currently a fulltime professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies at Middle Tennessee State University and a Selmer and Vandoren artist in terms of instrumentation and products. He’s released six albums over the years, and also contributed to several others as a sideman. But this week he’s be leading a quartet whose personnel includes pianist Jody Nardone, bassist John…
Author: Ron Wynn
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — One of the nation’s top vocalists returns to the Nashville Jazz Workshop’s Jazz Cave August 5. Veteran West Coast vocalist Gary Brumburgh will be performing tunes from his latest project “BeatleJazz: The Later Years 1865-1970.” Brumburgh has spent decades working in every end of the Los Angeles entertainment industry, but since the early 2000s has specialized in jazz. The father/son duo of pianists Terry and Jamieson Trotter provided the musical backing for his first jazz CD “Moonlight.” That LP remained on the Jazz Week charts more than five months. Another area that Brumburgh…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The ongoing writers and actors strikes have essentially shut down Hollywood production for scripted television shows and films other than a handful of independents. With little to watch on the broadcast networks except reruns, MTV has taken advantage of this lull to enjoy some of its biggest audiences and highest ratings in several years. According to the Shadow and Act website, Black-oriented reality shows have helped turned Tuesday night into a highly profitable one for the new network. “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” and “Caught in the Act: Unfaithful” have brought MTV its highest…
Auto racing has never been the most diverse sport, either NASCAR, IndyCar or Formula One. The prohibitive costs of the vehicles, the difficulty in getting corporate sponsorship and the historical lack of access to training facilities and experience have all been part of the reasons so few Blacks and other people of color have participated in the sport. But now there has been increased Black involvement in NASCAR at the ownership level. The most successful has been the team owned by former NBA and University of North Carolina star Brad Daugherty. He’s been a team owner since 1988 and is…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The Vanderbilt Commodores open their 2023 football schedule with two home games and will play six games in Nashville including contests against defending national champion Georgia and Auburn. The season begins with two games they clearly need to win in order to both get the season off to a good start and help in pursuit of a bowl bid. The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Alabama A&M Bulldogs are their first two opponents. Both are night games with the opener set for 6:30 pm central and the second for 6 pm. These games are on…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Grammy-nominated pianist, songwriter, producer and bandleader Victor Wainwright is happiest and at his best when on tour, something he particularly missed when the COVID-19 pandemic essentially shut down live music across much of the nation just as his most recent LP “Memphis Loud” was released. So this latest tour for Wainwright and his outstanding band The Train, which comes to Nashville Wednesday night, has a special a meaning for the powerhouse artist. “We kind of got caught in the squeeze with our last LP,” Wainwright said during a phone interview this week with the…
The Tennessee State University Tigers face some tough issues ahead as a new football season approaches. Head coach Eddie George begins his third season and will open the year on national television as the Tigers go to South Bend for their opener against Notre Dame Sept. 2. Many on the Notre Dame side questioned why they would even invite the school, given the mismatches in school size and roster quality. But the game raises a point. TSU wants to elevate its position within the NCAA hierarchy. Football by far is the greatest revenue creator for Power 5 Conferences. TSU has…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The Tennessee Volunteers didn’t get the ultimate penalties of a bowl ban or program suspension, but they received some of the stiffest penalties possible from the NCAA for recruiting violations. The announcement was made last week. The NCAA is vacating all 11 wins from the 2019 and 2020 seasons accumulated during the tenure of Jeremy Pruitt. The school was hit with a record $8 million fine. They were also placed on five years probation and also have scholarships reduced by 28 players. An ESPN report says the NCAA deemed that UT used 16 ineligible…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — There will be fewer Black performers honored at the 2023 Emmy Awards. The full list of nominees, which was read last week, does contain some prominent Black artists. It just isn’t in bulk like last season. The biggest names earning nominations included Dominique Fishback, Tyler James Williams and Quinta Brunson. Fishback was nominated in the category Lead Actress on a Limited Anthology Series or Movie for her work in Donald Glover’s “Swarm.” Brunson received two nominations, one as the lead actress of a category for her work on “Abbott Elementary. “ The second is…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Building an audience and expanding a fan base remains an ongoing task for most musicians, and even more so for those working in styles outside the pop or Top 40 worlds. Jazz, blues and classic pop vocalist Brauninger McDaniel has steadily attracted more fans throughout middle Tennessee with her bright, melodically striking brand of 21st century jazz flavored vocals. McDaniel has played several different area venues, and this week she will be appearing Thursday and Saturday at the Doubletree Hotel by the airport. McDaniel has also expanded her profile by having a couple of…