A Smooth Highlight ~ (Angie Stone)
Angie was a member of the R&B group Vertical Hold. By the end of the 1990s, she pursued a solo career as Angie Stone and signed with Arista Records to release her debut solo album Black Diamond (1999). The album received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spawned the single "No More Rain (In This Cloud)". Afterwards, she co-wrote D'Angelo's album Voodoo (2000), and released her second album, Mahogany Soul (2001), under J Records, which spawned the hit single "Wish I Didn't Miss You". It was followed by Stone Love (2004) and The Art of Love & War (2007), the latter becoming her first and only number-one album on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart
Stone ventured into acting in the 2000s, making her film debut in the 2002 comedy film The Hot Chick, and her stage debut in 2003, in the role of Big Mama Morton in the Broadway musical Chicago. She then went on to appear in supporting roles in films and television series.
We lost Angie on March 1, 2025, from injuries sustained in a car crash. Angie Stone was actively performing and had several projects in motion. She will be deeply missed.
A Smooth Focus ~ (John Coltrane)
John William Coltrane was an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader who is considered one of the most influential figures in jazz and 20th century music. Coltrane was a hard bop player who became a leader in 1957 and gained recognition for his work with Miles Davis from 1955-1960. He formed his own quartet in 1960 and quickly developed a devoted following.
During the later part of 1957, Coltrane worked with Thelonious Monk at New York's Five Spot Cafe, and played in Monk's quartet (July-December 1957), but, owing to contractual conflicts, took part in only one official studio recording session with this group. Coltrane recorded many sessions for Prestige under his own name at this time, but Monk refused to record for his old label. A private recording made by Juanita Naima Coltrane of a 1958 reunion of the group was issued by Blue Note Records as Live at the Five Spot-Discovery! in 1993. A high quality tape of a concert given by this quartet in November 1957 was found later, and was released by Blue Note in 2005. Recorded by Voice of America, the performances confirm the group's reputation, and the resulting album, Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall, is very highly rated.
Jazz critic Ira Gitler coined the term "sheets of sound" to describe the style Coltrane developed with Monk and was perfecting in Davis's group, now a sextet. His playing was compressed, with rapid runs cascading in very many notes per minute. Coltrane recalled: "I found that there were a certain number of chord progressions to play in a given time, and sometimes what I played didn't work out in eighth notes, sixteenth notes, or triplets. I had to put the notes in uneven groups like fives and sevens in order to get them all in.