NO REGRETS: THE MUSIC AND SPIRIT OF BILLIE HOLIDAY
is an in-depth audio podcast series exploring Holiday's musical genius and legacy. Presented in 13 hour-long episodes, No Regrets examines the musician's early life, the evolution of her singing style and how her haunting rendition of "Strange Fruit" played a vital role in the birth of the Civil Rights movement that changed her life.
The focus throughout will be on Holiday's singular musical artistry, her independent spirit, how her unique approach to her music became one of the strongest influences in the evolution of jazz, and how she continues to influence performers today.
No Regrets is produced by public radio veteran Steve Robinson who has been creating, producing and developing radio programming for over 50 years.
It is written by renowned jazz journalist Willard Jenkins (Down Beat, Jazz Times, Inside Arts, All About Jazz).
The script is culled from years of Linda Kuehl’s interview footage along with new interviews with Angela Davis, Cassandra Wilson, Beth Roars and more.
MEET THE WRITER AND PRODUCER
WILLARD
JENKINS
WRITER
Willard Jenkins is a journalist, broadcaster, festivals & concerts artistic director, author and originator of Jazzology, the bi-weekly jazz quiz show produced by Savage Content. He is a contributor to several books, including the highly acclaimed book DC Jazz (Georgetown University Press), and David Baker A Legacy in Music (Indiana University Press).
He collaborated with NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston on his as-told-to autobiography African Rhythms (Duke University Press). He is editor of the forthcoming compilation of interviews Ain't But a Few of Us (Duke University Press). As an artistic-director/curator he has produced concerts and festivals, including currently for the DC Jazz Festival, and Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and formerly Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland among others.
Willard Jenkins is the writer for the forthcoming, multi-part audio documentary series "No Regrets". His weekly radio show Ancient/Future Radio can be heard over WPFW in Washington, DC.
Steve began his 50-year career in public radio at WBUR, the Boston University radio station, where he hosted a daily classical music program, was the station’s first fundraising director and created a Saturday morning live call-in program about audio components called Shoptalk which became the model for Cartalk.
After WBUR, Steve helped start Vermont Public Radio and WBGO, New York’s Jazz station. In 1990 he became the first manager of the newly formed statewide Nebraska Public Radio Network.
In 2000, Steve became the manager of WFMT in Chicago. Among many other programs, he created the daily program, Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin; Introductions, a weekly program highlighting pre-college musicians; produced and anchored a live broadcast from Durban, South Africa of the world premiere of Princess Magogo, the first South African indigenous opera and the first opera with a libretto in Zulu ; and produced a live broadcast from Salzburg on the occasion of Mozart’s 250th birthday.
In 2015, Steve produced the first-ever cross cultural classical music radio exchange between China and the West.
In 2016, Steve formed a production company that is producing classical music audio and video programs. His company recently completed a 13-hour documentary called, “No Regrets: the Music and Spirit of Billie Holiday.”
