Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Mother Africa: Celebrating African Jazz at Lincoln Center
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Mother Africa: Celebrating African Jazz at Lincoln Center
Seton Hawkins
Seton Hawkins is the Director of Public Programs and Education Resources at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He leads the organization's Swing University teaching initiative. In addition, he has worked as a producer, manager, publicist, radio DJ, and advocate in jazz for more than a decade. He has written extensively for Hot House Jazz and for AllAboutJazz.com, with a particular emphasis on the jazz scene of South Africa. Outside of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Seton is a radio host for SiriusXM's Real Jazz Channel (hosting a weekly South African Jazz series); a professor at the Julliard School; and is the curator of the AfricArise South African Jazz record series for Ropeadope Records. He received his MBA from Babson College and his BA in Music from Columbia University.
Marcus Printup
Marcus attended Georgia State University, then transferred to the University of North Florida on a music scholarship. It was during his studies at UNF that he competed and won the prestigious International Trumpet Guild Jazz Trumpet Competition.
In 1991, Mr. Printup's life would change when he met his mentor and friend-to-be, the incomparable pianist Marcus Roberts. Mr. Roberts introduced him to world renowned trumpeter, Wynton Marsalis which in time led to the invitation to join the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra in 1993. Since then, Marcus has established and held third chair in the trumpet section and contributes regularly to the orchestra as an arranger and composer.
Among many others, Mr. Printup has performed/recorded with Betty Carter (an inductee into Ms. Carter's first Jazz Ahead class in 1994), Dianne Reeves, Eric Reed, Cyrus Chestnut, Wycliffe Gordon, and Marcus Roberts.
Mr. Printup has led multiple recordings on several major record jazz labels.
Mother Africa, Jazz at Lincoln Center
This episode explores the opening of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2025–26 season with Afro!, a new composition by Wynton Marsalis. Performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Marsalis directing, the work celebrates jazz’s deep ties to African music and features special guests vocalist Shenel Johns and percussionist Weedie Braimah.
As part of our conversation with Seton Hawkins, we highlight three South African jazz standards that will be featured in the performance and in this episode:
Kippie Moeketsi – Scullery Department: A hard-swinging, bebop-rooted tune that captures the energy of Johannesburg’s 1950s jazz scene. An alto saxophonist central to the 1950s Johannesburg jazz scene and often dubbed the “Charlie Parker of South Africa.”
Winston Mankunku Ngozi – Yakhal’ Inkomo: Recorded in 1968, this tenor sax masterpiece became one of the most iconic South African jazz albums. Its title, meaning “the bellowing bull,” captures both deep personal expression and the wider struggle under apartheid.
Feya Faku – Elegy for Bheki Mseleku: A leading trumpeter and composer of the modern era, Faku wrote this moving tribute to pianist Bheki Mseleku, one of South Africa’s most innovative and spiritual jazz voices.
Together, these works connect South Africa’s jazz legacy with Marsalis’s new composition, underscoring how the story of jazz is inseparable from its African roots.
Gerald Kent
We’re excited to welcome Gerald Kent as the producer and editor of The Short Fuse. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Gerald is a talented musician and audio engineer who has been releasing his own music independently since 2021. Alongside his artistry, he’s built up experience working with multiple clients in the podcasting space, from editing to full-scale production. We’re thrilled to have Gerald on board and look forward to the journey ahead with him.
Elizabeth Howard, Producer and Host of the Short Fuse Podcast
Elizabeth Howard is the producer and host of the Short Fuse Podcast, conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others whose art reveals our communities through their lens and stirs us to seek change. Her articles related to communication and marketing have appeared in European Communications, Investor Relations, Law Firm Marketing & Profit Report, Communication World, The Strategist, and the New York Law Journal, among others. Her books include Queen Anne’s Lace and Wild Blackberry Pie, (Thornwillow Press, 2011), A Day with Bonefish Joe (David Godine, 2015) and Ned O’Gorman: A Glance Back (Easton Studio Press, 2016). She leads reading groups at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York. @elizh24 on Instagram
The Arts Fuse
The Arts Fuse was established in June, 2007 as a curated, independent online arts magazine dedicated to publishing in-depth criticism, along with high quality previews, interviews, and commentaries. The publication’s over 70 freelance critics (many of them with decades of experience) cover dance, film, food, literature, music, television, theater, video games, and visual arts. There is a robust readership for arts coverage that believes that culture matters.
The goal of The Arts Fuse is to treat the arts seriously, to write about them in the same way that other publications cover politics, sports, and business — with professionalism, thoughtfulness, and considerable attitude. The magazine’s motto, from Jonathan Swift, sums up our editorial stance: “Use the point of your pen … not the feather.”
The Arts Fuse has published over 10, 000 articles and receives 80,000+ visits a month. This year the magazine is celebrating its 18th birthday - a milestone for a small, independent magazine dedicated to covering the arts.
Assist Arts Fuse in its mission: keep arts and culture hale and hearty through dialogue, and not just marketing.
Serious criticism, by talking about the strengths, weaknesses, and contributions of the arts, plays an indispensable role in the cultural ecology. Smaller, newer organizations need a response. When they are ignored as they are by the mainstream media, they fail to gain an audience. And without an audience, they fold, further weakening the entire ecosystem.
SUBSCRIBE to the weekly e-newsletter
LIKE The Arts Fuse on Facebook, FOLLOW on Twitter
HELP The Arts Fuse thrive by providing underwriting for the magazine. Even better — make a tax deductible donation.
View all episodes
By The Short Fuse
4.9
1111 ratings
Seton Hawkins
Seton Hawkins is the Director of Public Programs and Education Resources at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He leads the organization's Swing University teaching initiative. In addition, he has worked as a producer, manager, publicist, radio DJ, and advocate in jazz for more than a decade. He has written extensively for Hot House Jazz and for AllAboutJazz.com, with a particular emphasis on the jazz scene of South Africa. Outside of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Seton is a radio host for SiriusXM's Real Jazz Channel (hosting a weekly South African Jazz series); a professor at the Julliard School; and is the curator of the AfricArise South African Jazz record series for Ropeadope Records. He received his MBA from Babson College and his BA in Music from Columbia University.
Marcus Printup
Marcus attended Georgia State University, then transferred to the University of North Florida on a music scholarship. It was during his studies at UNF that he competed and won the prestigious International Trumpet Guild Jazz Trumpet Competition.
In 1991, Mr. Printup's life would change when he met his mentor and friend-to-be, the incomparable pianist Marcus Roberts. Mr. Roberts introduced him to world renowned trumpeter, Wynton Marsalis which in time led to the invitation to join the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra in 1993. Since then, Marcus has established and held third chair in the trumpet section and contributes regularly to the orchestra as an arranger and composer.
Among many others, Mr. Printup has performed/recorded with Betty Carter (an inductee into Ms. Carter's first Jazz Ahead class in 1994), Dianne Reeves, Eric Reed, Cyrus Chestnut, Wycliffe Gordon, and Marcus Roberts.
Mr. Printup has led multiple recordings on several major record jazz labels.
Mother Africa, Jazz at Lincoln Center
This episode explores the opening of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2025–26 season with Afro!, a new composition by Wynton Marsalis. Performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Marsalis directing, the work celebrates jazz’s deep ties to African music and features special guests vocalist Shenel Johns and percussionist Weedie Braimah.
As part of our conversation with Seton Hawkins, we highlight three South African jazz standards that will be featured in the performance and in this episode:
Kippie Moeketsi – Scullery Department: A hard-swinging, bebop-rooted tune that captures the energy of Johannesburg’s 1950s jazz scene. An alto saxophonist central to the 1950s Johannesburg jazz scene and often dubbed the “Charlie Parker of South Africa.”
Winston Mankunku Ngozi – Yakhal’ Inkomo: Recorded in 1968, this tenor sax masterpiece became one of the most iconic South African jazz albums. Its title, meaning “the bellowing bull,” captures both deep personal expression and the wider struggle under apartheid.
Feya Faku – Elegy for Bheki Mseleku: A leading trumpeter and composer of the modern era, Faku wrote this moving tribute to pianist Bheki Mseleku, one of South Africa’s most innovative and spiritual jazz voices.
Together, these works connect South Africa’s jazz legacy with Marsalis’s new composition, underscoring how the story of jazz is inseparable from its African roots.
Gerald Kent
We’re excited to welcome Gerald Kent as the producer and editor of The Short Fuse. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Gerald is a talented musician and audio engineer who has been releasing his own music independently since 2021. Alongside his artistry, he’s built up experience working with multiple clients in the podcasting space, from editing to full-scale production. We’re thrilled to have Gerald on board and look forward to the journey ahead with him.
Elizabeth Howard, Producer and Host of the Short Fuse Podcast
Elizabeth Howard is the producer and host of the Short Fuse Podcast, conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others whose art reveals our communities through their lens and stirs us to seek change. Her articles related to communication and marketing have appeared in European Communications, Investor Relations, Law Firm Marketing & Profit Report, Communication World, The Strategist, and the New York Law Journal, among others. Her books include Queen Anne’s Lace and Wild Blackberry Pie, (Thornwillow Press, 2011), A Day with Bonefish Joe (David Godine, 2015) and Ned O’Gorman: A Glance Back (Easton Studio Press, 2016). She leads reading groups at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York. @elizh24 on Instagram
The Arts Fuse
The Arts Fuse was established in June, 2007 as a curated, independent online arts magazine dedicated to publishing in-depth criticism, along with high quality previews, interviews, and commentaries. The publication’s over 70 freelance critics (many of them with decades of experience) cover dance, film, food, literature, music, television, theater, video games, and visual arts. There is a robust readership for arts coverage that believes that culture matters.
The goal of The Arts Fuse is to treat the arts seriously, to write about them in the same way that other publications cover politics, sports, and business — with professionalism, thoughtfulness, and considerable attitude. The magazine’s motto, from Jonathan Swift, sums up our editorial stance: “Use the point of your pen … not the feather.”
The Arts Fuse has published over 10, 000 articles and receives 80,000+ visits a month. This year the magazine is celebrating its 18th birthday - a milestone for a small, independent magazine dedicated to covering the arts.
Assist Arts Fuse in its mission: keep arts and culture hale and hearty through dialogue, and not just marketing.
Serious criticism, by talking about the strengths, weaknesses, and contributions of the arts, plays an indispensable role in the cultural ecology. Smaller, newer organizations need a response. When they are ignored as they are by the mainstream media, they fail to gain an audience. And without an audience, they fold, further weakening the entire ecosystem.
SUBSCRIBE to the weekly e-newsletter
LIKE The Arts Fuse on Facebook, FOLLOW on Twitter
HELP The Arts Fuse thrive by providing underwriting for the magazine. Even better — make a tax deductible donation.