And I Still Rise

Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946) were a husband and wife songwriting-production team and recording artists. They met at Harlem's White Rock Baptist Church in 1964. After having recorded unsuccessfully as a duo, they joined an aspiring solo artist and former member of the Ikettes, Joshie Jo Armstead, at the Scepter/Wand label, where their compositions were recorded by Ronnie Milsap ("Never Had It So Good"), Maxine Brown ("One Step At A Time"), as well as the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson. The duo was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. Ashford and Simpson were also recipients of The Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Award in 1999, and ASCAP's highest honor, the Founder's Award, which they received in 1996.

No doubt you’ve seen it by now: That viral video of a woman onstage in a bright purple dress, playing one absolute scorcher of a slide guitar solo. That’s Joanna Connor in her home turf of Chicago, with the firepower she delivers to local crowds on a nightly basis.

Battered, bruised and under arrest, Harvey Miller (Luke Treadaway) sits in a police interview room facing interrogation. Clutching a stack of eyewitness statements, Detective Inspector West (Timothy Spall) has no doubt in Harvey's part in a foiled robbery, and his subsequent attempted murder of local businessman Steven Roper. Denying everything, Harvey agrees to tell his version of events in full. We take in his release from prison a month earlier, and the malevolent, unjust act that put him in there. We see his emotional reunion with his sibling-like best friends, and the immovable loyalty they have for one another…..

2013 release from the veteran Jazz outfit. "A Rise In The Road" is indeed an appropriate title for a time-honored ensemble that has never been fearful of facing newer musical horizons, not to mention the myriad challenges of life itself. Produced by Ferrante, Mintzer and Kennedy, "A Rise In The Road" stands shoulder-to-shoulder with their 21 previous efforts.