Bobbi I. Booker
Jazz HostBobbi I. Booker is an award-winning Philadelphia-based, multi-media journalist and radio personality whose velvety voice has been a mainstay in the Delaware Valley for over two decades. In 1981, Bobbi launched her professional broadcast career with WRTI as a news reporter, and in 1999 was named co-host of Ovations.
She is the managing editor of PlanPhilly at WHYY News, developing news coverage of urban design, development, policy, and city planning in Philadelphia. In 2019, she became the first Black woman to serve as president of The Pen & Pencil Club, one of the nation's oldest press clubs.
Ms. Booker has completed two prestigious National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) fellowships at the Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism (2005) and Arts Journalism Institute for Dance Criticism at the American Dance Festival at Duke University (2008).
Bobbi can be heard on Spirit Soul Music, every Sunday from 6 to 9 a.m. and on Jazz Through the Night, weeknights from 12 midnight to 6 a.m.
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Alto saxophonist Bobby Zankel recently talked with WRTI's Bobbi Booker about the deep influence of John Coltrane, ahead of a tribute concert celebrating that titan's 98th birthday at Solar Myth. -
We asked our jazz hosts to give us their five favorite tracks of 2023, for WRTI's Hot Fives. Here are picks for Bobbi Booker, host of Spirit Soul Music and Jazz Through the Night. -
The latest installment of Sankofa Sounds, our series of live performance videos curated by J. Michael Harrison for Black History Month, features Shakoor Hakeem and the Aùra Trio. -
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A compilation of popular holiday tracks from across Louis Armstrong's recording career, 'Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule' is his highest-charting album since Hello Dolly in 1964. -
Swing pianist Beryl Booker (1922 -1978) should have become a household name. But despite an early career highlighted by many recordings and gigs with top jazz talent, her star fell without gaining the recognition she deserved. Here's her story. -
Kendrah Butler-Waters' love for jazz, composition, arranging, and performative musicality shines throughout her debut solo album, Faith Walk."I always say that [this album] was a labor of love because it took me a really long time to release it," Kendrah said as she wrapped up a day with students. "I recorded Faith Walk three years ago when I was pregnant with my first son." -
Vibraphonist Khan Jamal, who combined jazz-funk, post-bop, and a spirit-seeking philosophy, died on Monday at Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia. He was 75. -
Benjamin Bynum Sr., a prominent nightclub owner who served as a link between the entertainment and political worlds of Philadelphia, died of a brief illness on October 19th at the age of 98. -
He appeared on more than 200 albums and toured the world playing with some of the greatest jazz, pop, R&B, and soul artists of our era.
