Six Count

Six Count hosted its first listening session with a small group of musicians in January. Saxophonist Dexter Moses was the featured guest.

Larry Q. Draughn is a percussionist and educator based in Greensboro, North Carolina. You can catch Larry next this Friday, January 26, at the Sharp Nine Gallery in Durham. The drummer will perform a double trio at 7:30 p.m. with Lynn Grissett on trumpet, Jason Fourman on bass, Devin Fuller on drums, and two special guests. Get tickets. In addition to performing throughout the Triangle and beyond, Larry teaches at Brightwood Elementary School in Guilford County and directs the North Carolina Jazz Continuum Project.

Cicely Mitchell is the co-owner of Missy Lane’s Assembly Room, Downtown Durham’s newest venue dedicated to jazz and other Black American Music (BAM). Cicely spoke with Six Count during the venue’s opening weekend on January 14, 2024. She shares reactions from the inaugural evening headlined by vocalist Lois Deloatch, her vision for the space as a hub for art and community, and what guests can expect.

If you love jazz and live in the Triangle, you know Al Strong. The two-time Grammy-nominated trumpet player, composer, recording artist, mentor, and educator spoke with Six Count at Duke University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on October 4, 2023.

Happy One-Year Anniversary to the Six Count podcast in North Carolina! Since launching in fall 2022, we have: interviewed twenty-three musicians; partnered with an online jazz radio station based in North Carolina; upgraded our equipment; had our first interview with a live audience; and collaborated with blogger Peter Burke of Locavore Jazz to co-host an episode.

Joseph Silvers is the founder of the Hot Club of Raleigh, a jazz manouche band based in the City of Oaks. The group has performed at Watts & Ward and Young Hearts Distilling, among other establishments in the Triangle and beyond. On this episode, Joseph shares the story of when Jean-Jacques “Babik” Reinhardt, son of Django Reinhardt, performed with the Hot Club of North Carolina during a U.S. tour from France with the François Vola Group.

Saxophonist Aaron Hill spoke with Six Count before moving back to the West Coast this past August. Aaron accepted a position as an assistant professor at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. The musician will serve as director of big bands and applied saxophone in the university’s School of Music. On this episode, Aaron reflects on his many musical collaborations in the Triangle since moving to the area in 2007, including with pianist and bandleader Eric Hirsh; the Mint Julep Jazz Band (led by past Six Count guest Laura Windley); trumpeter, bandleader, and educator Jim Ketch; colleagues at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra, and many others. He also shares about the jazz scene in Hawaii, where he lived for nearly a decade.

Dexter Moses is a saxophonist, composer, and educator in Durham. On this episode, he shares about the life and legacy of the legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon (to whom he dedicated his August show at the Sharp 9 Gallery in Durham); how listening to a bootleg recording of saxophonist Don Byas and bassist Slam Stewart inspired his master’s thesis at NCCU, which argued that Byas should be named among the founding fathers of bebop alongside saxophonist Charlie Parker; and negotiating the complexities of performing historic swing music today as a Black musician within the context of race and racism in the United States.

Listen to the Six Count podcast on taintradio.org, a noncommercial venue for independent producers. The online jazz radio station based in North Carolina presents music and music-related programming 24/7. Six Count airs on Sundays at 6:00 p.m. and Fridays at 8:00 p.m. EST.

North Carolina native Kai Lance is a guitarist and educator based in Chapel Hill. Kai will perform with the Mark Tipton Trio at the Sharp 9 Gallery in Durham on Saturday, August 19. Mark is a trumpeter, composer, and educator. The musician is pursuing a DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he is a teaching fellow. Kai, also a student at the conservatory, shares about what to expect at the August show, as well as a never-going-to-be-the-same-again moment at a high school jazz camp in Louisville, Kentucky; his mentors from the Triangle’s jazz scene; and his aspirations as a musician.