{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Mobile's Best-Kept Secret Is 143 Years Old \u2014 And It's Just Getting Started","description":" Something genuinely exciting is happening in Mobile \u2014 one of the city's most treasured cultural institutions, the 143-year-old Excelsior Band, is on the verge of a remarkable renaissance. Led by Hosea London, this legendary walking jazz band \u2014 founded in 1883 by Creole firemen who played instruments between calls \u2014 is preparing to establish a permanent home at the historic Ace Theater on Davis Avenue, a beautifully symbolic resurrection of both a band and a neighborhood. Developer John Ruzic and his firm Porch Light are restoring the 1943 segregation-era theater into a jazz performance venue and education studio that will train the next generation of Mobile musicians, feeding young talent directly into the Excelsior Band's living, unwritten, tradition-to-tradition legacy. The vision is breathtaking: a place where Mobile's extraordinary musical heritage \u2014 a city that has quietly produced world-class talent for over a century \u2014 is finally given the spotlight it deserves.  Top Four Points:  143 years of living tradition \u2014 The Excelsior Band has no playlist, no rehearsals, and no written music; everything is passed down person to person, making it one of the most authentic oral jazz traditions in America The Ace Theater revival \u2014 The historic Davis Avenue theater, built in 1943 to serve Black audiences during segregation, is being restored by Porch Light Development as a permanent home and performance venue for the band A jazz studio for young Mobilians \u2014 A new jazz education studio connected to the Ace Theater will expose local youth to professional music careers \u2014 not just performing, but composing, engineering, and producing Mobile's musical legacy is staggering \u2014 The city has produced nationally and internationally recognized jazz artists for generations, and this project aims to tell that story proudly to a new audience  ","author_name":"What's Working with Cam Marston","author_url":"http:\/\/www.whatsworkingcam.com","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/40512690\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/88AA3C\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/item\/40512690"}