Black Excellence: Jon Batiste
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/04/nx-s1-5191477/jon-batiste-lara-downs-interview
Jon Batiste traces the blues back to Beethoven and beyond
Black Excellence: Tony D. Hansberry
Tony D. Hansberry, II was a 9th grader at Carnell Cookman School of Medical Arts in Jacksonville, Florida when he invented a project that allows him to “reduce the time it takes to perform hysterectomies.”
Black Excellence: Zaytoven
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/26/698086054/zaytoven-tiny-desk-concert
The Lord works in mysterious ways. It might sound cliché, but there’s really no better way to describe the circumstances that led to prolific producer Zaytoven’s impromptu Tiny Desk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaytoven
Xavier Lamar Dotson (born January 12, 1980), known professionally as Zaytoven, is an American record producer from Atlanta, Georgia.[1][2][3][non-primary source needed] He has released collaborative projects with artists including Gucci Mane, Usher, Future, Young Dolph, Migos, Lecrae, Lil Yachty, Chief Keef, Young Scooter, B.o.B, Boosie Badazz, Waka Flocka Flame, 21 Savage, Deitrick Haddon and La Fève.[4]
Black Excellence: Jadé Fadojutimi
https://jadefadojutimi.com/about
Jadé Fadojutimi is a composer of colour, space and environments. Movement informs her artistic practice, enabling her paintings to be conducted through the orchestrating of her studio space.
Black Excellence: Booker T. Jones
https://www.npr.org/2011/05/02/135840639/booker-t-jones-tiny-desk-concert
I’m pretty sure this is the coolest thing we’ve ever done behind the Tiny Desk. There was a bit of furniture-moving and finagling, but when all the heavy lifting was done, there it was: A Hammond B3 organ and its sturdy wooden Leslie speaker cabinet sat waiting for its star performer, Booker T. Jones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Jones
Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr.[1] (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.’s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, earning him a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement.[2]
Black Excellence: Mohamed Adow
https://www.powershiftafrica.org/who-we-are#leadership
Mohamed Adow is the Founder and Director of Power Shift Africa, which he formed in 2018 to mobilize climate action in Africa and shift climate and energy policies to zero carbon.