WCLK Jazz 91.9 FM Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Lil John

This year, Clark Atlanta University’s radio station, WCLK Jazz 91.9 FM, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. On May 24 at Symphony Hall, the Atlanta Jazz Festival presents WCLK At 50 with Lil John Roberts with an Atlanta All-Star Band – and such an occasion doesn’t deserve the usual “one-two.”

The event is co-produced by Roberts and WCLK hosts Jamal Ahmad and Ray Cornelius, and WCLK At 50’s 90-minute set list will cover the 1930s and the classic jazz era (“Maiden Voyage” written by Herbie Hancock, “Take 5” by Dave Brubeck) until today.

Musicians accompanying Roberts include Phil Davis, Miguel Gaetán, Melvin “I Am Khemestry” Fowler and Saunders Sermons, with guest artists including Kathleen Bertrand, Rhonda Thomas, Julie Dexter, Tony Hightower and Alexandra Jackson, as well as That of the butterfly Jon Goode as narrator.

Roberts may not be a household name, but this “musician’s musician” has performed with Stevie Wonder, George Benson, Prince, Elton John, Janet Jackson and many others. He was born and raised in West Philadelphia, but let’s count down the ways Lil John Roberts has made Atlanta proud over the years.

Drum roll please…

Here’s a look at Roberts’ remarkable career as a writer, producer, teacher and, primarily, drummer, by the numbers:

19144

Not only was this East Point resident born and raised in the same West Philadelphia zip code that the Fresh Prince rapped in his sitcom theme song, but he actually performed with Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (now better known as Will Smith) on the 1994 American Music Awards. Like Smith, Roberts attended Overbrook High School and remembers when the future Grammy Award and Oscar winner would come back to school, “driving around in his Trans Am (sports car).”

April 10, 1974

WCLK Jazz 91.9 FM began broadcasting from Clark Atlanta University. Decades would pass before listeners heard Roberts on the dial. (But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.)

Club 112

As Roberts recalls, one evening while playing at the Cheshire Bridge Road Lounge (Diamonds and Pearls), carved out of the famous shopping center engulfing the 112, “I met two people who had an incredible impact about my life – Jason Orr and Ken Batie. Orr is perhaps best known as the founder of the unique arts festival FunkJazz Kafe, while Batie was the co-host of the popular WCLK show “Hot Ice.” It was Batie who welcomed Roberts onto the airwaves, while the traveling musician became a friend and frequent occupant of Orr’s couch.

91.9

“What I love about CLK is not only the love they showed me from the beginning, but when I first heard it, it sounded free. It was like Philadelphia, it was like welcoming me here.

64 Third Street.

In the mid-to-late ’90s, the squat behind Varsity was the center of Atlanta’s live R&B, hip-hop, soul, spoken word and funk scene. Yin Yang Cafe hosted Erykah Badu during her debut and served as the stomping ground for local favorites India Arie, Donnie and Joi. Lil John & The Chronicle was the house band for a lot of it.

Sixteen years

When you’re that age playing with Christian McBride and Joey DeFrancesco in Wynton Marsalis’ Duke Ellington Orchestra, yes, Roberts was naturally touted as a child prodigy. He received a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in 1991. In 2021, John was hired as a professor there.

The Top 3 Reasons He Moved Here (and Stayed) »

“First, culture,” Roberts said. “Black people always seemed to do well here…It also really felt like it supported entrepreneurship.” There are many creative and innovative people who have succeeded from scratch.

“And to be honest, this town has some beautiful women. There are beautiful women in Atlanta. I remember when I first came here it seemed like everywhere I looked there was a pretty black woman. And I had been everywhere – the east coast, the west coast. Nothing to do with Atlanta.

Two decades

That’s how long he accompanied pop superstar Janet Jackson; on the Janet Tour, the Velvet Rope Tour, the Rock Witchu Tour, the Unbreakable World Tour and his State of the World Tour. (And he was barely twenty – 23 – when it started.)

That time, he and Atlanta rapper Lil Jon were together at State Farm Arena.

“It was so funny, we were at the Dave Chappelle show,” Roberts said. “And on the sign, they had it written as mine, not his.” (For clarity, Lil Jon is short for Jonathan Smith, his first name. John Roberts has been called Lil Jon since he was a child, as he is a junior.)

“So I’m pretty sure my name was Lil John first,” Roberts laughed. “I don’t even introduce myself that way… When you hit 50, you shouldn’t be ‘Lil’ anymore. Just “John” is good.

With a professional resume like his, Great qualifies as well.

This story comes to Rough Draft Atlanta through a reporting partnership with GPB News, a nonprofit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.