This year Atlanta Jazz Festival audiences will be greeted by the festival’s new voice, Carl Anthony. He’ll host the FREE festival in Piedmont Park over Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-27, 2024.
“Carl has been a friend and supporter of the Atlanta Jazz Festival for more than 30 years,” states Camille Russel Love, Executive Director of the City of Atlanta – Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. “His extensive experience as an on-air host and his wealth of knowledge about jazz make him the ideal person to be the voice of the Atlanta Jazz Festival. We look forward to officially welcoming him to the family this year in Piedmont Park.”
Music has always been a big part of Carl’s life. He grew up in a household filled with jazz and Broadway soundtracks. During the Sixties he was listening to music emerging from Detroit, Philadelphia, Muscle Shoals, New York, and London, much of it driven by romance and the counterculture that birthed protest songs influenced by the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement.
Carl’s career in the entertainment industry began by chance when he walked through the Virginia State College gym during his freshman year in 1970 and became a production assistant for the homecoming show featuring James Brown and The Delfonics. His next job was as an associate at a PR and ad agency in Washington, DC. There he worked on accounts including the Mark IV nightclub and learned concert and club production and promotion. A move to New York City saw him partnering with two friends to establish Turtle-Too Productions, and producing R&B concerts, showcases, and a Caribbean festival at venues including Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall, Beacon Theater, Studio 54, and Nassau Coliseum.
By the end of the decade, he ventured into broadcast media and landed his first job as an overnight deejay in upstate New York at WPNR 90.7 FM on the campus of Utica College. Shifting directions, he moved back to DC to work for Mayor Marion Barry in the city’s Department of Housing and Urban Development for nine years.
In the late 80’s Carl moved to Atlanta to be closer to family. This proved to be fortuitous as he was soon back on the air as a host at the #1 jazz station, WCLK 91.9 FM. Within a year he became the nighttime host of “Serenade To The City.” During his nearly quarter century tenure, beginning in 1989, his most notable achievements were creating and voicing the weekly jazz calendar, “Atlanta’s Live Jazz” from 2005 to 2012; emceeing the Atlanta Jazz Festival’s Youth Jazz Band Competition from 2003 to 2013; producing successful fundraisers for the station; interviewing numerous musicians, actors, and authors; and hosting concerts at every major venue in Atlanta.
As an educator, he moderated “Jazz In The Classroom,” a WCLK initiative that brought music professionals into Atlanta middle schools to teach master classes by sharing knowledge and real-life experiences, coupled with musical instruction and jam sessions. He volunteered annually to speak to middle school students about a career in the broadcast industry during “Career Day,” and mentored college students in the Mass Media Department. He conducted jazz workshops at the 2009 National Black Arts Festival, for whom he also hosted a weekly jazz program, Notorious Jazz.
In 2011 Carl created the Notorious Jazz website which is dedicated to preserving the genius and rich history of jazz. His daily profiles are shared widely across social media and have reached more than 85,000 followers in 48 countries.
He moved to Miami in 2013 and began booking jazz combos for private events. In 2020 he collaborated with Hammonds House Museum during the Covid~19 pandemic and created Conversations About Jazz and Other Distractions, a series of 27 shows featuring 60 musicians, vocalists, managers, and more to engage a homebound audience of jazz and art enthusiasts. Carl’s latest venture, the i am project, is a non-profit that promotes jazz related endeavors.
Atlanta Jazz Festival Social Media: Stay connected, get the latest festival news, and join the conversation on Facebook: AtlantaJazzFestival; X: AtlantaJazzFest and Instagram: Atlanta Jazz Festival.
The 47th Annual Atlanta Jazz Festival is presented by the City of Atlanta – Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. The mission of the Atlanta Jazz Festival is to educate and entertain a diverse audience of jazz fans and to nurture the next generation of jazz musicians. The festival is funded through corporate sponsorships and by Atlanta Jazz Festival Inc, a 501(c)(3) cultural, non-profit organization. For more information about this year’s festival including the VIP Experience, and the WCLK AT 50 and Late-Night Jazz concerts, visit the website at atljazzfest.com.
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