Black Music Month: Ruth Naomi Floyd

In this episode, Ruth Naomi Floyd takes a seat at the table with Ekemini. Ruth has been at the forefront of creating vocal jazz settings that express Christian theology for over 20 years. A vocalist and composer on the international music scene, Ruth has dedicated a discography of five compact discs explicitly dedicated to a sacred jazz expression. Blessed with a soaring mezzo-soprano voice, critics have praised Ruth’s discography for its distinctive sound of progressive ensemble jazz that is seamlessly blended with explicit Biblical messages of unwavering faith in God. Ruth leads her own multi-faceted ensemble and her music consists primarily of original compositions. A committed music educator, Ruth is Director of Jazz Studies at Cairn University, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Ruth conducts several vocal clinics as well as lectures on the history and celebration of African American Spirituals, the Blues, Jazz and African American Gospel Music. Ruth is also an award winning fine art photographer specializing in black and white portrait images. Ruth uses silver based films with 35 mm and 4x5 inch view cameras to capture her images. She uses traditional wet darkroom technology as well as digital printing on archival papers to produce her final images. Ruth has received awards, prizes and grants for her photographic images and her work is included in permanent and private collections. Ruth’s photographic images have been published in and on the covers of magazines, brochures and music compact discs. Ruth is represented by White Stone Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ruth is passionate about the intersection of the arts with culture and community. She has shared her knowledge of art and culture in universities, seminaries, art centers and performance spaces around the world. She has participated in cultural art exchanges in Great Britain, Spain, Hungary, France, Poland, Africa and Asia. Ruth’s work has been published in periodicals and articles and has contributed a chapter in two books, “It Was Good: Making Music to The Glory of God” edited by Ned Bustard, Square Halo Books, 2013 and “The Problem of Good” edited by D. Marion Clark, R&R Publishing, 2014. Ruth’s latest body of work, “The Frederick Douglass Jazz Works,” is for jazz septet and is comprised of original compositions based on Douglass’ speeches and writings. Since its debut in October 2017 at Cairn University, this body of work has been performed in New York, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom. Ruth continues to make the city of Philadelphia her home where for over twenty-five years she has been devoted and active in providing compassionate care and spiritual support to people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS in United States and Africa and also serves the transgender community. Pull up a chair and have a seat at the table with us! Hosts: Michelle Higgins (twitter.com/AfroRising) Christina Edmondson (twitter.com/DrCEdmondson) Ekemini Uwan (twitter.com/sista_theology) Producer: Joshua Heath (twitter.com/J_DotMusic4) Executive Producer: Beau York (twitter.com/TheRealBeauYork) Special Thanks To: The Witness: A Black Christian Collective - www.TheWitnessBCC.com (twitter.com/TheWitnessBCC) Podastery - www.podastery.com (twitter.com/Podastery)