January 6, 2008 Lou is Coming
Lou Donaldson, the great alto sax player, hails from Badin, North Carolina. He's coming to play at Duke University on Jan. 19th as part of the Duke Performance Series. He'll be playing with Dr. Lonnie Smith's Trio. Besides Lou Donaldson, they will be joined by David 'Fathead' Newman, and Houston Person. It promises to be quite an evening - don't miss!

The Saturday, Jan. 19th performance kicks off a series, called Soul Power - From Gospel to the Godfather with lots of stars coming to town.

Since I only recently came to realize that Lou Donaldson was from Badin, NC, I decided to feature him this evening. I interspersed his music with some of the great musicians he played with over his lifetime. He played with the best.

Playlist -

• Nina Simone (b. Tryon, NC); Anthology CD; I Wish I Knew How It Felt to be Free
• Jimmy Smith & Lou Donaldson (Badin, NC); Jimmy Smith - The Very Best CD; All Day Long
• Lou Donaldson (b. Badin, NC); The Natural Soul CD; Funky Mama
• Thelonious Monk & Lou Donaldson & Max Roach (b. New Land, NC); The Best of Thelonius Monk CD; Skippy
• Lou Donaldson; Blues Walk CD; What Will I Tell My Heart
• Lou Donaldson; Natural Soul CD; Nice and Greasy
• Lou Donaldson; Lush Life CD; Star Dust
• Lou Donaldson; The Natural Soul CD; People Will Say We're in Love
• Lou Donaldson; Lush Life CD; It Might As Well Be Spring
• Lou Donaldson; Blues Walk CD; Move
• Frankie Alexander (lives Durham, NC); Mad About the Words CD; Teach Me Tonight
• Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Ella & Louis Again CD; Willow Weep for Me
• Jimmy Scott & Grady Tate on drums (b. Durham, NC); All the Way CD; Someone to Watch Over Me
• Ernestine Anderson; Hello Like Before CD; Send in the Clowns
• Nina Simone (b. Tryon, NC); Jazz Masters 17 CD; Wild is the Wind
• Nina Simone; Sugar in My Bowl CD; I Shall Be Released
• Billy Taylor (b. Greenville, NC); Music Keeps Us Young CD; I Wish I Knew How it Felt To Be Free

My son, Will Okun, who teaches on the westside of Chicago is continuing to post blogs for the NY Times for Nicholas Kristof, while he is on a book leave. Will's latest posts were on his students making personal and global New Year's resolutions and another post on how his students are very limited in what they can and will read. To see Will's photography of his students and life on the westside of Chicago, go to http://wjzo.com. On his website, you can see his best photographs from the last ten years.