“I just couldn’t get away from the music!” – Keanna Faircloth
Keanna Faircloth
KEANNA FAIRCLOTH – a native Washingtonian and Howard University alumna, is the host of “Tuesday Evening Jazz” on WPFW 89.3 FM. During her May 13, 2017 interview for the Washington DC Jazz Oral History Project, she discussed, among other things, her music-loving parents and her early exposure to the performing arts.
*This following passage is an excerpt from the full interview.
“I am Keanna Faircloth, and I am an on-air programmer and host of “Tuesday Evening Jazz” at WPFW 89.3 FM. I started there in August of 2003, so it will be 14 years in August [2017]. I started working, actually, for WKYS 93.9 FM when I was in high school . . . But my first opportunity hosting my own program was with WPFW. It was absolutely the mission –“Jazz and Justice” / the music and the message–and especially Jazz [that attracted me to WPFW].”
“I grew up in DC, born and raised here. I was kind of an odd kid, I guess. I loved Jazz from a very young age. My parents actually exposed me to Jazz when I was very young, and I would find myself being the only kid in the Jazz club– at Blues Alley with my parents– watching different groups. I came to love the music.”
“I grew up playing piano myself. When I found out about WPFW, it was like something led me to walk to the station from Howard one day. I was a student at Howard University, a sophomore at the time. I just simply wanted to inquire about an internship, so I walked I don’t know how many blocks from Howard to WPFW, when they were located on Champlain Street in Adams Morgan . . .”
“I went up there, and the first person I met was Yolanda Turner, who was the Music Director at the time. She was kind enough to say, “Yeah, we can make a space for you, if you just come and volunteer your time.” And the rest is history.”
“One day, I was there interning–doing the Jazz Calendar, which was one of my assignments– and the host for the “Midday Jazz” program that Tuesday was not able to come in for some reason, and they didn’t have anybody to host the show. Just like that, she was like, “Well, do you want to fill in?” (Laughter] I reluctantly said yes, but I must have done an okay job . . . I ended up hosting “Midday Jazz” for about nine years after that.”
“. . . I love Jazz, and I wanted to help the station in some way, not necessarily with the goal of hosting a show. I don’t know if it was a God thing or what. The opportunity presented itself very suddenly, as I mentioned, and I just found myself falling in love with the station, sticking around, 14 years later . . .”
“I went to Howard. I was a Music History major, and I minored in Classical Piano. I was, at one point, a musician. I still teach piano to children. I also sang; I was a member of one of the Jazz choirs at Howard, SaaSy [a women’s Jazz vocal group] . . . After graduation, I sang a little bit with Afro Blue, which is the Jazz vocal ensemble. I love music and I am musically-inclined myself.”
“[My parents] are lovers of music and always exposed me to music and the arts. I grew up participating in choirs. I sang with the Children’s Gospel Choir of America. I did two tours of Europe as a child, where I sang and also played piano. I danced with the DC Youth Ensemble, and studied piano, mostly under the tutelage of a woman named Claretta Carroll, out in Temple Hills, Maryland.”
“I went to [Benjamin] Banneker High School. I wanted to go to Duke Ellington [School of the Arts]. I auditioned, I got in, but my mom said, “Well, I think you should focus more on the academics.” So the decision was made to go to Banneker, which I don’t regret, but I continued to study piano on the side. I just couldn’t get away from the music. Upon graduating from Banneker, I did get a scholarship to Howard for Music, so I did get back into it, eventually.”
Interview Date: May 13, 2017
All Interviews Conducted, Recorded, and Reviewed by
Dr. Regennia N. Williams
Life Member, Oral History Association
Founder and Director, The RASHAD Center, Inc.
For more information, please visit: https://rashadcenter.wordpress.com/.
*Photograph Courtesy of Keanna Faircloth.
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