It's a little hard to get a handle on exactly how many albums Ella Jenkins has released for the Smithsonian Folkways label. I've seen 28 mentioned; her Wikipedia discography suggests 30, if you include 2004's cELLAbration!. Really, the last proper Ella Jenkins album -- Sharing Cultures with Ella Jenkins was released in 2003, and I think we can agree than 7 years is too long to hear from her.
But we don't have much longer to wait, as Smithsonian Folkways confirms it is indeed releasing a new Ella Jenkins album of, yes, newly recorded material. It's recorded, but the other stuff (art design, etc.) is yet to be finished. And so it'll probably take a little while longer, but between this and that new Pete Seeger album, 2010 is looking to be a very good year for the oldest of old school artists. Count me in that camp.
(Photo courtesy Adventures in Rhythm)
