Soul Force Podcast

The Soul Force Podcast celebrates the profound impact of radical love, exploring the intersection of art and nonviolence. Hosted by Paul Livingstone and members of the Soul Force Project, each episode delves into historical and contemporary connections between creativity and transformative action. Our diverse guests, comprising scholars, clergy, activists, musicians, artists, and writers, are catalysts for positive change worldwide.

This is part two of this fascinating interview with master improvisor, composer, educator and legendary cornetist Bobby Bradford, Now 90 years old, Bobby unpacks more stories and first hand experiences on the cutting edge jazz history from the perspectives of the musicians themselves. 

Bobby discusses the history of the evolving consciousness of the black man as a free artist and the evolution of the Black American voice of freedom through the art of Jazz music. We go deeper into the innovative collaborative music that Bobby made with Ornette Coleman and master clarinetist and composer John Carter in Los Angeles.

Bobby Bradford, pt. 2

Master improvisor, composer, educator and legendary cornetist Bobby Bradford now 90 years old unpacks his stories and first hand experiences on the arc of jazz history from the perspectives of the musicians themselves. 

In part one, Bobby discusses his early days, and the evolving artistic identity of the new black man and early impact of Ornette Coleman and John Carter also from Texas who he later worked with in Los Angeles. Bradford expands on the new directions of the music as linked to the historical expansion of jazz music from it's beginnings in New Orleans. He provides a cogent peak into the philosophy, psychology and social context which produced some of the most innovative music of the 20th century. 

Bobby relates his own work to the legacies of Armstrong, Parker, Coleman and Coltrane as a conscious evolution of the Black American voice of freedom and art of Jazz music.

Bobby Bradford, pt. 1

Reverend James Lawson, Pt. 2

Enjoy these enlightening interviews with a living legend of American history and architect of the nonviolent movement in America.  Reverend James Lawson at age 93 sharp as a tack, breaks down his personal experience,  American history and contemporary outlook on issues ranging from plantation capitalism, the persistence of poverty and the American obsession with guns.  Lawson shows how love in its most courageous expression, creates necessary conflict when addressing injustice.

Part Two is a continuation of a fascinating conversation unpacking Lawson's lived history of change making with a perspective that brings us up to 10 years of Black Lives Matter. Lawson compels us to consider our history and its meaning today in continuing the struggle for fulfilling our commitment to the truth of the Declaration of Independence.

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