By Regennia N. Williams, PhD
With this week’s official launch of the Washington, DC, Jazz book, I found myself reminiscing about a research journey that began in May 2016, when my love for Duke Ellington’s liturgical jazz led me to the Newport News, Virginia home of Queen Esther Marrow.
Cover of the RASHAD’s Winter 2019 newsletter.
During that first of many interviews with artists whose narratives would support the writing of the book, Marrow recalled her audition with Ellington –with Billy Strayhorn accompanying her on piano, her 1965 performance with the Duke Ellington Orchestra during their first Sacred Concert, and her subseqent tours with the group.
I didn’t know it at the time of that first interview, but on November 29, 2016–the 101st anniversary of Billy Strayhorn’s birth, I would sign the agreement to produce a Washington, DC, Jazz book for Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series. Over the next two years, I was able to invite dozens of musicians, several photographers, and other individuals to contribute to and benefit from what became our collective research-writing-educational efforts.
I received my first author’s copies in the mail on February 2, 2019.
It was my great pleasure to serve as the co-author, humanities scholar, project director, and layout planner for Washington, DC, Jazz. Nevertheless, I breathed a sigh of relief when the Senior Editor at Arcadia wrote in December 2018 to say that we were “officially done!”
Thanks to everyone who attended the February 10, 2019, book launch at Busboys and Poets in Arlington, Virginia. I hope to see you at the next book discussion, talk, signing, or other public program in the DMV, Ohio, or some other beautiful place on the planet. Please visit this site often for program announcements.
Until then, please check out the special Washington, DC, Jazz issue of our newsletter at https://issuu.com/regennia.williams/docs/final_dc_jazz_newsletter__020719.
About Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director
Dr. Regennia N. Williams is the Founder and Executive Director of The RASHAD Center, Inc., a Maryland-based non-profit educational corporation.
Williams holds a PhD in Social History and Policy from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. A native Clevelander and a four-time alumna of Cleveland State University, information on RASHAD's “Praying Grounds, African American Faith Communities: A Documentary and Oral History” project is now available online at www.ClevelandMemory.org/pray/, a site that is maintained by CSU's Library Special Collections, home of the Praying Grounds manuscript collections. Praying Grounds was the primary inspiration for the launching of the Initiative for the Study of Religion and Spirituality in the History of Africa and the Diaspora (RASHAD) at CSU, and links to RASHAD's scholarly journal and newsletter are also available on the Praying Grounds site. On April 28, 2020, the RASHAD Center, Inc. became a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
In 2010, Dr. Williams was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Nigeria’s Obafemi Awolowo University, where she taught history and directed a RASHAD-related oral history project that focused on the role of religion in recent Nigerian social history. Other research-related travels have taken her to Canada, China, France, South Africa, and Austria.
In 2013, she conceived and produced “Come Sunday @ 70: The Place of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Jazz in World History and Culture, c. 1943-2013,” a project that included scholarly presentations and performing arts activities. From September 1993 until May 2015, she was a faculty member in the Department of History at Cleveland State University. She served as a Fulbright Specialist at South Africa's University of the Free State in the summer of 2019, and completed a short-term faculty residency at Howard University in the fall of 2019. She is based in Cleveland, Ohio.
As a public scholar, her current research projects focus on African American history and culture, especially as it relates to music, religion, and spirituality. She is a member of the Oral History Association, the Western Reserve Historical Society, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The RASHAD Center, Inc. 