An Experience of Baltimore: Keller Remington and “Hittin’ with the Youngins”
[Photo by Liz Fixsen. Left to right: Rocky Shapiro, Rayah Thomas, Keller Remington, Tim Green, Jake Askarinam]
Since fall of 2024, An die MusiK, one of Baltimore’s premiere jazz venues, has been collaborating with the jazz studies program at Peabody Institute with a series called “Hittin’ with the Youngins,” a spin-off of the Jazz Composers Forum initiated by Peabody’s director of jazz studies Sean Jones. The series features some notable member of the Peabody jazz faculty performing with a group of Peabody jazz students playing the compositions of one of the students. Faculty performers have included Warren Wolf, Sean Jones, Allison Miller, Tedd Baker, and Charenee Wade. “Hittin’ With The Youngin’s” gives the young musicians a showcase for their compositional techniques and collaborations.
I attended the concert on April 24th, 2025, which featured as faculty artist alto saxophonist Tim Green playing with student bandleader, trumpeter and composer Keller Remington. Band members included Rockwell Shapiro (piano), Rayah Thomas (bass) and Jake Askarinam (drums).
The first tune, a nod to tradition, was “Tariff,” written by trumpeter Thad Jones, who was renowned for his innovative arrangements, creativity, technical prowess, and emotional depth. The band gave a commendable rendition of this lively, busy swing tune that opened with a bright trumpet fanfare. (Not a tune that would correspond to the consternation and chaos brought on by recent imposition of tariffs by the White House).
The next set of tunes reflects Remington’s experience of living in Baltimore (he hails from Las Vegas, Nevada). The first, titled “R Long” was composed, as he explained, as a nod to the ubiquitous but anonymous graffiti found all around Baltimore, subject of a January 2024 article in the Baltimore Banner. The piano gave a pensive introduction followed by an almost elegiac head by the trumpet and sax. Solos by sax and then trumpet raised the intensity before the piano took over with an edgy, evocative solo punctuated by the steady beat of the bass drums; then the piano riffed behind the drum solo, finally bringing the piece quietly and gently to a close. Whoever R Long is, he/she would have been honored by this rich and sophisticated composition.
Immediately without a pause, the bass began a dirge-like drone to introduce the suite of music that Remington composed about redlining in Baltimore. “Black Butterfly” was inspired by a book of that title by Lawrence T. Brown, a look at how American cities can promote racial equity, end redlining, and reverse the damaging health- and wealth-related effects of segregation. Remington says that the drums are “soloing the whole time,” representing protests in Baltimore against redlining and segregation. The dirge-like drone on the bass “represents the North-South backbone” of the segregated city. Its somber, throbbing beat continued behind a softly tinkling piano as the sax and trumpet freely and feelingly floated above it, winding their way through the melody to create a feeling that was “hopeful but also tarnished.” After rising to a peak of intensity, the piece closes as it began, with the piano softly tinkling over the droning bass, suggesting the lingering effects of redlining and segregation.
The second part of the Baltimore suite was “Highway to Nowhere,” which, as Remington explained, “is named after the failed highway project of the 1970s which ripped apart historically Black neighborhoods in West Baltimore. The project was put to an end as protests stopped the construction; however, the damage had already been done.” This tense and anxious piece aptly conveyed the mood of those protests. Shapiro used repetitious chunky chords and angular melodic improvisation, while the trumpet seemed to question and complain in an ever-more frenetic duet with the drums. The tune morphed through several rhythms, before coming to its driving end.
The final tune was a Tim Green composition entitled “Divine Inspiration.” This tune began with a more relaxed feel, almost narrative in nature, with moments of sweetness from the sax over a lush piano accompaniment. Like the others, it built to a climax and yet preserved a hopeful and upbeat quality.
It’s very exciting to experience these new jazz compositions reflecting the life of Baltimore, adding to those created by Todd Marcus (On These Streets) and Carl Grubbs (Inner Harbor Suite) and others.
Every musician in the band gave an impressive performance to bring to life these complex and expressive compositions. Remington, who has won awards for his prowess as a performer and composer, is finishing his undergraduate studies at The Peabody Institute under the direction of The Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair, trumpeter, composer, and educator, Sean Jones. Since moving to Baltimore, Remington teaches and performs frequently around the DMV area, New York-New Jersey, and back in Las Vegas. He hopes to continue the rich culture and tradition of music through his own sound and community outreach in Baltimore and beyond.
Keller Remington is just one example of the talent coming out of the Peabody jazz program, and Baltimore will be looking forward to hearing more of that talent when “Hittin’ with the Youngins” resumes in fall, hosted by our dedicated jazz impresario, Henry Wong.
–By Liz Fixsen
Liz is a semi-professional jazz pianist and vocalist and a long-time jazz enthusiast. She writes for and edits the Baltimore Jazz Alliance newsletter and serves on the board of the BJA. She is often seen out and about in Baltimore’s great jazz venues.