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Joi fuses Atlanta music genres at Instru Mental pop-up show

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Photo by Carlos Bell
Photo by Carlos Bell

“It’s so time for Atlanta to get into the groove of a cross-section” of music, says soul-rock powerhouse Joi. She would know — she’s pretty much the embodiment of it. And if seeing her perform live for free wasn’t enough, Joi is the magnet drawing artists from across the Atlanta music scene to jam with her tonight at the Music Room.

Instru Mental is a pop-up music show that brings together diverse musicians. The inaugural event features Grammy Award-nominated soul singer Anthony David, Music in the Park founder and Grammy-winning saxophonist Kebbi Williams, rock-leaning guitarist Ricky Fontaine, wicked soul performer Rahbi Raw, all-female rock trio KrystalMeth featuring Thunda Snatcha, eclectic and always dapper MC Jack Preston of the Dojo Collective, house vocalist Miranda Nicole, Richelle AKA Cornbread and other guests — with Joi as the centerpiece of the jam.

“It’s a celebration of various cross-sections of Atlanta’s art collective,” she says.

Joi says she hopes the artists will take a cue from her February performance in Atlanta and do a live remix of their own songs. Instead of a full band, she and her cohorts will be backed by Thunda Snatcha and DJs Princess Cut, Durrty Martinez and Xavier Black.

Maurice Garland will host, kicking things off with a brief Q&A with Joi.

Joi says she’ll likely be heading straight from the airport — she left Atlanta for Los Angeles about two years ago — to the Music Room, site unseen.

She wanted to leverage her ability to pull together artists of all kinds while in town for a hosting gig at ONE Music Fest. Her aim is to connect and build a supportive atmosphere for a wide range of artists. Culture creator and longtime retailer Chilly O was happy to help — landing the Edgewood Avenue venue in just a day or so after Joi pitched the idea.

This is a don’t-miss show that stands to be a template for future events, provided the audience demand is there. Joi is positive it will be. The response so far has been “overwhelmingly beautiful,” she says. Again, she would know. She’s pretty much the embodiment of it.

WCLK-FM changes format, replaces ‘S.O.U.L.’ with smooth jazz in ‘survival’ move

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OTL-Jamal Ahmad

WCLK-FM (91.9) adjusted the formatting of just about all of its shows starting Monday, Aug. 26, in an effort to save the station, according to assistant general manager Tammy Nobles. The most painful of these adjustments is to Jamal Ahmad’s “S.O.U.L. of Jazz” show. It seems the soul has been sucked out of the 2-6 p.m. weekday time slot and replaced with smooth jazz.

Ahmad has consistently offered quality soul music to WCLK listeners and beyond. He’s known for playing rare grooves — you probably know the hip-hop track featuring a sample from one of these gems — and breaking new music from local and international artists.

His show provided a welcome reprieve from the nationally syndicated talk fests occasionally interrupted by your uncle’s favorite song from back in the day, or your little niece’s latest R&B infatuation.

Ahmad was voted Best Drive Time DJ by Creative Loafing for a couple of years, and his show on WCLK was one of the legs upon which the table of Atlanta’s music scene has been built — the others being our venues, retail outlets such as Moods Music, and the people (both artists and patrons).

Nobles acknowledged Ahmad’s strong following, but insisted that the Arbitron ratings for his show — and the overall decrease in station listenership — justified a change. She said that focus groups were conducted, including a 900-song survey with many tunes and artists listeners said they weren’t familiar with.

In short, the station needs more money. Over the past year, the station went from having two fund drives to three, but still fell short of its fundraising goals. This is amid less support from the Clark Atlanta University, the station’s primary source of funding and where it is housed. In 2012, the station pulled in $250,000 less from CAU than it did in 2011, according to its 2012 financial statement.

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