Alex Ariff

2 weeks ago | wrti.org | Alex Ariff

When the faculty members of the Jazz Studies program at Temple University walk out onto a stage, they’re not just representing Owl Nation. They’re carrying on a lineage. Collectively, their shared experience extends as far back as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, through the “Queen of Organ,” Shirley Scott, and on to Terence Blanchard and Branford Marsalis.

Oct 3, 2024 | wrti.org | Alex Ariff

We love to celebrate our own here at WRTI. Just last year Bob Craig celebrated 60 years in broadcasting, and the year prior we honored Kevin Gordon’s 50 years in radio. But, J. Michael Harrison presents an unique and more intimate case: 30 years at WRTI. And since 1994, he’s kept his finger on the pulse of jazz in Philly and beyond.

Sep 3, 2024 | boisestatepublicradio.org | Alex Ariff |David Roll

Sarah Hanahan is a young alto saxophonist who has always been sure of her connection to the instrument. “I remember playing it for the first time,” she says. “I never squeaked and squawked on it. I always had a sound; I always had a tone. I was a kid, but I found it right away.”Hanahan developed that sound with some help from her dad, a drummer who passed down his passion for music. She’d tag along to his gigs and practice sessions, quietly absorbing the richness of the pit orchestra.

Feb 26, 2024 | npr.org | Alex Ariff |Josh Jackson

WRTI YouTube In 1947, a teenaged Goldwire McLendon took the train alone from Jacksonville, where he was a tenor in a gospel quartet, up to Philadelphia. There he met his wife, Ruth Byrd, a seamstress and mezzo soprano, at church. Ruth later co-founded The Savettes Choral Ensemble, a women-led singing group and savings club for home purchases and other self-reliance needs within the local spiritual community.

Aug 15, 2023 | wrti.org | Alex Ariff

Join us on Sunday, Aug. 20 at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1 and Monday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2 as The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert brings you a celestial odyssey by way of a rarely performed jazz suite and an iconic fanfare. Charlotte Blake Alston narrates this episode as our special guest host. When Richard Strauss wrote his tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra in 1896, he could hardly have grasped what power it would come to hold on global consciousness.