In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons

You may know the names Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins; all giants of the jazz world. But you may not know the name Rudy Van Gelder. He didn’t play the music -- he recorded it, from a small studio built in his parent’s living room in Hackensack, New Jersey. It wasn’t until 1959, when Van Gelder had already engineered some of the greatest records in jazz history, that he was able to make it a full time gig and purchase his own home a few miles away in Englewood Cliffs. An interviewer in 2012 asked him to describe his style. He said, “To get electronics to accurately capture the human spirit.” Van Gelder's goal was to make the records he engineered sound “as warm and as realistic as possible.” The thousands of records he engineered have had a huge cultural impact. If you look on the back of a jazz album from the 50’s or 60’s, chances are good you’ll see the name Rudy Van Gelder.  Mr. Van Gelder died in his home/studio yesterday at the age of 91.

The remake of the classic Ben Hur isn’t seeing a good return on investment. The remake of Ghostbusters was met with tepid response. But not all new versions of movies are a waste of time at the theater. Some actually give the original a nice update. NPR’s Monkey See blog host Linda Holmes joins us to share some of her favorite and least favorite remakes.  We take your calls about best and worst at 312-923-9239.

The National Education Association recommends no more than 10 minutes of homework per grade level.  Often though, teachers fly in the face of the research by assigning much heavier loads, especially for middle and high school students. Morning Shift talks to homework expert Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, about the best practices when it comes to length and type of homework. We also open the phones for questions and personal stories from listeners.

Over 2 million people around the nation experience homelessness annually. While most major cities have preventive centers that offer temporary financial assistance to eligible families and individuals, the lack of state funding has jeopardized the future of these programs. Now, a new study published in the Journal of Science proves that Chicago homeless prevention programs worked by decreasing the likelihood of families entering shelters by 76 percent when funding was available for them.  Morning Shift talks with the co-author the study, James Sullivan, about his findings. Plus, Noreen Russo, the Director of Catholic Charities’ Homeless Prevention Call Center, joins us to discuss the ground-level effects of decreased state funding.

Guitarist Jeff Parker can be heard on dozens and dozens of albums. But he doesn’t often record under his own name.  Parker’s been called a “musician’s musician”, and he easily straddles the worlds of jazz, rock, improvisation and more, refusing to be labeled or put into a box.  The long-time Chicagoan moved to L.A. in 2014, and while unpacking at his new home, rediscovered some beats and ideas he’d set aside years before. Those fragments became the basis for his latest release New Breed.  Jeff Parker joins us to talk about the work, and his new life on the west coast.

When Lori Lightfoot took over as the president of the Chicago Police Board a little over a year ago, the body was facing scrutiny over its track record on finding police officers culpable for abuse of power. However, as a Chicago Sun-Times report found earlier this week, the board has gotten tougher on officers during her watch. Morning Shift talks to Lori Lightfoot about keeping police accountable in Chicago.

The Chicago Board of Education meets Wednesday, and as is often the case they’ll be met by protesters out front. Teachers are going into a second school year without a new contract and have already voted to authorize a strike should it come to that. But the Board is expected to vote on a budget with 700 fewer teachers and $31 million more in undetermined labor savings. WBEZ education reporter Becky Vevea previews the big issues on the table.

While some Chicago neighborhoods haven’t yet recovered from the housing crisis, a group in one part has turned the problem of foreclosures into an opportunity. On the Northwest side an initiative known as ROOTS - that’s an acronym for Renters Organizing Ourselves to Stay - has taken 19 foreclosed properties and made them into permanent affordable housing for longtime residents who were at risk of being priced out of rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. 

Musical remakes often produce results that range from the horrible to the hilarious Think Michael Bolton’s “Sittin’ On The Dock of The Bay” or Brittany Spears’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” But every once in a while, a remake is actually better than the original. That’s the territory Ayana Contreras will be mining on our next edition of Reclaimed Soul.

During its three-year run, Chappelle’s Show featured some of the funniest, quotable sketches, including a well-known line about Rick James. After the show ended, co-creator Neal Brennan took his comedy to the stand-up stage, releasing his special Women and Black Dudes in 2014. Now Brennan is out with a new show that features three mics on stage, taking on very different topics for each mic. He performs it Friday at Thalia Hall, and he stops by Morning Shift to tell us why comedians can't have an off day, and how the new show was born.