Jazz extraordinaire  Dave Young coming to El Paso!!

 

“To my way of thinking, Dave Young is one of the most talented bassists on the jazz scene. His harmonic sympatico and unerring sense of time have kept him in the foreground of the jazz picture.”  

 

 --Dr. Oscar Peterson

 

“...Flawless time, big buoyant tone and bold solo ideas...keen instincts and depth of musicality. The results of (his playing) are a testament to his ability to listen and adapt his concept of time from player to player.”
--Bill Milkowski, JAZZ TIMES

 

 

 

Toronto-based and Winnipeg-born multiple award-winning bassist and composer 

Dave Young, is, without a doubt, one of Canada’s most valuable and beloved musical exports. Whether he’s performing as part of a classical symphony, or as an integral member of an iconic jazz trio (with the likes of the late Oscar Peterson), or leading any of his dynamic ensembles, Dave remains a total musician, with artistic soul in abundance. He first began studying the guitar and violin at age ten, but a turn of events at his first gig (a University dance band) compelled him to pick up the bass. Equally comfortable in the worlds of orchestral classical music and jazz, Dave is a multiple threat. As a classical musician, he has been a member of The Edmonton Symphony, The Winnipeg Symphony and The Hamilton Philharmonic. As a jazz artist, he is a chameleon-like bassist, who often shines brightest in collaborative efforts with other musicians. Because of his technical skill, few bassists (jazz or otherwise) are able to dig in, swing hard and still render a lyrical arco solo as Dave can.

 

One of Dave Young’s most beloved gigs was a five year stint (1961-66) as a member of iconic jazz guitarist Lenny Breau’s quartet. Recently, Randy Bachman’s “Guitar Archives” label has released Bourbon Street – a LIVE recording of Dave and Lenny in duo format, digitally restored and originally recorded on a primitive reel to reel at Toronto’s late, lamented jazz venue. The list of musicians with whom Dave has shared the stage is a virtual “Who’s Who” of international jazz...including the late Oscar Peterson (with whom Dave had a thirty-five year musical relationship), Clark Terry, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Zoot Simms, Joe Williams, Oliver Jones, Kenny Burrell, Cedar Walton, Hank Jones, Nat Adderly, Peter Appleyard, Gary Burton, Barney Kessell, Ed Bickert, Ranee Lee, Marcus Belgrave, Don Thompson, Kenny Burrell and James Moody.

In recent years, Dave Young has released a number of excellent CDs as leader. The most recent CD, Mean What You Say was released in November 2009. The JUNO winning Fables and Dreams with co-leader Phil Dwyer (Justin Time Records); We Three with Phil Dwyer and Michele Lambert (torontosound.com) and Two by Two – Volumes 1 & 2 (1995 & 96) which featured Dave in duet performances with jazz legends Oscar Peterson, Cedar Walton, John Hicks, Mulgrew Miller, Tommy Flanagan, Ellis Marsalis, Barry Harris, Kenny Barron, Renee Rosnes, Cyrus Chestnut and Oliver Jones and the hit recordings Tale of the Fingers with Special Guest Cedar Walton (Justin Time), and the excellent quintet album, Mainly Mingus (Justin Time), which features Dave’s re-imaginings of the music of Charles Mingus and Horace Silver.

In addition to club appearances, touring, recording and concert/festival performance work, Dave is also a dedicated jazz educator, having taught at numerous music seminars and jazz clinics, as well as being an ongoing member of the Faculty of Music at The University of Toronto. In the classical milieu, Dave regularly tours with clarinettist James Campbell and pianist Gene Di Novi in a successful programme of “Classical Fusion”. He also stretches both his classical and jazz chops at the annual “Festival of the Sound” in Perry Sound, Ontario, where he has been an integral part of this two-week eclectic musical event for some years.

Dave Young was recently named as a member to The Order of Canada – our country’s highest and most prestigious civilian honour. He was installed for his huge international contribution to the music world and to Canada. Dave Young is also the winner (several times over) of the prestigious National Jazz Award “Bassist of the Year”. In 2009, in Atlanta Georgia, Dave performed as part of a 16-piece orchestra accompanying award-winning choreographer Twyla Tharp’s latest Broadway-bound dance work: “Come Fly With Me” – The Music of Frank Sinatra.

(click image for show information)

 

Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck Dead at 91

 

Dave Brubeck, a jazz musician who attained pop-star acclaim with recordings such as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," died Wednesday morning at Norwalk Hospital, in Norwalk, Conn., said his longtime manager-producer-conductor Russell Gloyd.

Brubeck was one day short of his 92nd birthday. He died of heart failure, en route to "a regular treatment with his cardiologist,” said Gloyd.

Throughout his career, Brubeck defied conventions long imposed on jazz musicians. The tricky meters he played in “Take Five” and other works transcended standard conceptions of swing rhythm.

 

The extended choral/symphonic works he penned and performed around the world took him well outside the accepted boundaries of jazz. And the concerts he brought to colleges across the country in the 1950s shattered the then-long-held notion that jazz had no place in academia.

As a pianist, he applied the classical influences of his teacher, the French master Darius Milhaud, to jazz, playing with an elegance of tone and phrase that supposedly were the antithesis of the American sound.

As a humanist, he was at the forefront of integration, playing black jazz clubs throughout the deep South in the ’50s, a point of pride for him.

"For as long as I’ve been playing jazz, people have been trying to pigeonhole me,” he once told the Tribune.

"Frankly, labels bore me."

He is survived by his wife, Iola; four sons and a daughter; grandsons and a great granddaughter.

Article by the Chicago Tribune-

epjazzexchange.com makes history!!

 

On Tuesday around noon time if you were walking the streets of downtown EL Paso, TX chances are you may have heard an echo trhough the busy streets and sidewalks. If you got closer to the corner of Mills Ave and Stanton st you would have encountered something that hasnt happened on the sidewalks of El Paso since the 1940's or 50's... Live jazz!!! The El Paso Jazz Exchange brought a little bit of sound enjoyment to the hard working employees of the downtown area for about an hour and a half. Live Jazz without a single cost to anyone... just pure enjoyment and for the love of the music! Click the video below to check out the highlights! (Video courtesy of the El Paso Times).

 

Lenny McBrowne: Eastern Lights

 

 

Jazz in 1959 and 1960 was so crowded with extraordinary talent that you can still spend years discovering albums and artists from these years who are completely new to you. It's like looking for fossils in Utah. Move the sand with your foot, and you're likely to uncover a dinosaur bone. One hidden-gem album from these magnificent years is Lenny McBrowne's Eastern Lights.

Recorded in 1960 for Riverside, the album featured Don Sleet (tp) [pictured], Daniel Jackson (ts) Terry Trotter (p) Jimmy Bond (b) and Lenny McBrowne (d). The pure delight of this tight-knit quintet is rooted in the upbeat and melodic originals by Daniel Jackson and the tasteful playing of soloists Sleet, Jackson, Trotter and McBrowne. 

McBrowne had a delicate touch on the drums and recorded with Billie Holiday, Tony Scott and Bill Evans, Paul Bley, Fred Katz, Harold Land and Sonny Stitt before forming this quintet. It's puzzling that this fine group recorded only two albums (the other was Lenny McBrowne and the Four Souls for Pacific Jazz in the fall of 1959). These were McBrowne's only leadership sessions, and his last known recording came in 1976.

What's special about Eastern Lights is that the music sounds like a West Coast group's interpretation of hard bop. There's a sunny optimism here without an over-saturation of drums or extended solos. At the same time, there isn't a West Coast cliche to be found. All of the horn lines are smartly framed and the soloists retain a tight grip on intensity. [Pictured: Daniel Jackson]

Interestingly, four of the five musicians were from the West Coast (Bond was from Philadelphia), and all but one of the compositions were by tenor saxophonist Daniel Jackson, a brilliant composer whose name is little-known today. Jackson's harmonic touch was perhaps closest to Elmo Hope's.

In addition to Jackson's smoky blowing is the ever-tasteful and crisp trumpet work of Don Sleet, who died way too young.

Also a delight is pianist Terry Trotter, whose playing is gentle-handed and on time. Dig his gorgeous solo on Like Someone in Love. In later years, Trotter became a studio musician and wrote the Everybody Loves Raymond theme.

Bond went on to become a Wrecking Crew bassist. As for McBrowne, catch his solo on I Don't Know the Melody.

 

 

JazzWax tracks: Both Lenny McBrowne and the Four Souls and Eastern Lights are available on one CD—Lenny McBrowne: Complete Recordings (Fresh Sound).

 

 

JazzWax clip: Here's Lenny McBrowne and the Four Souls on playing Dearly Beloved from the Pacific Jazz release, featuring the same group, except Herbie Lewis is on bass, and Elmo Hope arranged this one...

 

 

 

 

 

Norah Jones'  "Little Broken Hearts"

 

Norah Jones is set to release a new album this spring titled Little Broken Hearts (Blue Note/EMI), a collaboration with producer/musician Danger Mouse. The two first worked together when Danger Mouse called upon Jones to contribute vocals to his 2011 album ROME. Their connection proved deep enough that they decided to collaborate on Jones’ fifth studio album, which features original songs co-written by the pair.

It was Jones’ voice that caught the attention of Danger Mouse as he began to conceptualize ROME, his homage to classic Italian film score music. He already had Jack White in mind for the male role, and he and his collaborator, Daniele Luppi, realized that Jones’ voice would give the project the balance it needed. Jones contributed three standout songs to ROME. Around the same time, she and Danger Mouse began working on some of the material that would eventually become Little Broken Hearts.

The duo reconvened in Danger Mouse’s Los Angeles studio this past fall to finish what they had begun. The songs were all built from the ground up in the studio, with Jones and Danger Mouse sharing all the songwriting credits and performing the majority of the instrumental parts: Jones on piano, keyboards, bass and guitar; and Danger Mouse contributing drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and string arrangements.

Jones will tour extensively in 2012, performing at various venues in the United States and abroad. On June 29, Jones will perform at the Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater in Rochester, New York. On August 10, the nine-time Grammy-winning singer will return to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. More dates will be announced in the coming months.

 

 

 

Local jazz, blues icon Art Lewis, 75, dies

 

Jazz and blues player Art Lewis died this afternoon at a Houston hospital, friends said. He was 75.

Lewis was an icon in El Paso music circles, though he in recent years he was living in Houston.

Hector Montes said Lewis had recently been in ill health. Montes was a longtime friend of Lewis and helped promote the local jazz and blues legend's annual birthday parties.

"There were years when if you wanted to see jazz and blues in El Paso, you went to see Art Lewis. He was the man," Montes said, holding back tears.

"He was a great man in addition to being a great musician. He was a philosopher and a humanitarian. He was just a great friend. He was one of my best friends," Montes said.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 546-6102.

 

Jazz Artist Sam Rivers Deat at 88

Played with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock

 

 

Sam Rivers, a widely respected jazz saxophonist and composer who played with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and many other giants, died Monday in Orlando, Fla. The cause of death was pneumonia; he was 88.

Born in Oklahoma, Rivers studied at the Boston Conservatory before beginning his career during the bebop era, when he performed with Quincy Jones and other fellow newcomers. Rivers recruited 13-year-old drummer Tony Williams, who went on to a significant career with Miles Davis. Rivers himself joined Davis' band in 1964, appearing on the album Miles in Tokyo. He left after a brief stint, replaced by Wayne Shorter. Rivers, who played tenor and soprano saxophone, flute and bass clarinet, went on to record several free-jazz albums under his own name for Blue Note.

During the 1970s Rivers and his wife, Beatrice, opened their New York loft, Studio Rivbea, to free-jazz performances, creating one of the most vibrant spaces on the "loft jazz" scene. Later in life, Rivers toured with Dizzy Gillespie's band and worked with musicians employed by the Walt Disney Company in Orlando.

 

 

JANUARY 20

By MSNBC

 

Singer Etta James dies at 73

 

 

Etta James' performance of the enduring classic "At Last" was the embodiment of refined soul: Angelic-sounding strings harkened the arrival of her passionate yet measured vocals as she sang tenderly about a love finally realized after a long and patient wait.

In real life, little about James was as genteel as that song. The platinum blonde's first hit was a saucy R&B number about sex, and she was known as a hell-raiser who had tempestuous relationships with her family, her men and the music industry. Then she spent years battling a drug addiction that she admitted sapped away at her great talents.

The 73-year-old died on Friday at Riverside Community Hospital, with her husband and sons at her side, De Leon said.

 

"It's a tremendous loss for her fans around the world," he said. "She'll be missed. A great American singer. Her music defied category."

 

 

She had been hospitalized earlier in the year. although she had returned home on Jan. 5. James had been ill for some time.

James' spirit could not be contained — perhaps that's what made her so magnetic in music; it is surely what made her so dynamic as one of R&B, blues and rock 'n' roll's underrated legends.

"The bad girls ... had the look that I liked," she wrote in her 1995 autobiography, "Rage to Survive." "I wanted to be rare, I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to be exotic as a Cotton Club chorus girl, and I wanted to be obvious as the most flamboyant hooker on the street. I just wanted to be."

"It's a tremendous loss for her fans around the world," he said. "She'll be missed. A great American singer. Her music defied category."

 

 

 

Despite the reputation she cultivated, she would always be remembered best for "At Last." The jazz-inflected rendition wasn't the original, but it would become the most famous and the song that would define her as a legendary singer. Over the decades, brides used it as their song down the aisle and car companies to hawk their wares, and it filtered from one generation to the next through its inclusion in movies like "American Pie." Perhaps most famously, President Obama and the first lady danced to a version at his inauguration ball.

 

 The tender, sweet song belied the turmoil in her personal life. James — born Jamesette Hawkins — was born in Los Angeles to a mother whom she described as a scam artist, a substance abuser and a fleeting presence during her youth. She never knew her father, although she was told and had believed, that he was the famous billiards player Minnesota Fats. He neither confirmed nor denied it: when they met, he simply told her: "I don't remember everything. I wish I did, but I don't."

She was raised by Lula and Jesse Rogers, who owned the rooming house where her mother once lived in. The pair brought up James in the Christian faith, and as a young girl, her voice stood out in the church choir. James landed the solos in the choir and became so well known, she said that Hollywood stars would come to see her perform.

 

But she wouldn't stay a gospel singer for long. Rhythm and blues lured her away from the church, and she found herself drawn to the grittiness of the music. "My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy," she recalled in her book.

She was doing just that when bandleader Johnny Otis found her singing on San Francisco street corners with some girlfriends in the early 1950s.

"At the time, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters had a hit with 'Work With Me, Annie,' and we decided to do an answer. We didn't think we would get in show business, we were just running around making up answers to songs," James told The Associated Press in 1987.

And so they replied with the song, "Roll With Me, Henry."

 

 

When Otis heard it, he told James to get her mother's permission to accompany him to Los Angeles to make a recording. Instead, the 15-year-old singer forged her mother's name on a note claiming she was 18.

"At that time, you weren't allowed to say 'roll' because it was considered vulgar. So when Georgia Gibbs did her version, she renamed it 'Dance With Me, Henry' and it went to No. 1 on the pop charts," the singer recalled. The Gibbs song was one of several in the early rock era when white singers got hits by covering songs by black artists, often with sanitized lyrics.

After her 1955 debut, James toured with Otis' revue, sometimes earning only $10 a night. In 1959, she signed with Chicago's legendary Chess label, began cranking out the hits and going on tours with performers such as Bobby Vinton, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Everly Brothers.

"We would travel on four buses to all the big auditoriums. And we had a lot of fun," she recalled in 1987.

James recorded a string of hits in the late 1950s and '60s including "Trust In Me," "Something's Got a Hold On Me," "Sunday Kind of Love," "All I Could Do Was Cry," and of course, "At Last."

 

 

"(Chess Records founder) Leonard Chess was the most aware of anyone. He went up and down the halls of Chess announcing, 'Etta's crossed over! Etta's crossed over!' I still didn't know exactly what that meant, except that maybe more white people were listening to me. The Chess brothers kept saying how I was their first soul singer, that I was taking their label out of the old Delta blues, out of rock and into the modern era. Soul was the new direction," she wrote in her autobiography. "But in my mind, I was singing old style, not new."

In 1967, she cut one of the most highly regarded soul albums of all time, "Tell Mama," an earthy fusion of rock and gospel music featuring blistering horn arrangements, funky rhythms and a churchy chorus. A song from the album, "Security," was a top 40 single in 1968.

 

Her professional success, however, was balanced against personal demons, namely a drug addiction.

"I was trying to be cool," she told the AP in 1995, explaining what had led her to try heroin.

"I hung out in Harlem and saw Miles Davis and all the jazz cats," she continued. "At one time, my heavy role models were all druggies. Billie Holiday sang so groovy. Is that because she's on drugs? It was in my mind as a young person. I probably thought I was a young Billie Holiday, doing whatever came with that."

She was addicted to the drug for years, beginning in 1960, and it led to a harrowing existence that included time behind bars. It sapped her singing abilities and her money, eventually, almost destroying her career.

It would take her at least two decades to beat her drug problem. Her husband, Artis Mills, even went to prison for years, taking full responsibility for drugs during an arrest even though James was culpable.

"My management was suffering. My career was in the toilet. People tried to help, but I was hell-bent on getting high," she wrote of her drug habit in 1980.

She finally quit the habit and managed herself for a while, calling up small clubs and asking them, "Have you ever heard of Etta James?" in order to get gigs. Eventually, she got regular bookings — even drawing Elizabeth Taylor as an audience member. In 1984, she was tapped to sing the national anthem at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and her career got the resurgent boost it needed, though she fought addiction again when she got hooked on painkillers in the late 1980s.

Drug addiction wasn't her only problem. She struggled with her weight, and often performed from a wheelchair as she got older and heavier. In the early 2000s, she had weight-loss surgery and shed some 200 pounds.

James performed well into her senior years, and it was "At Last" that kept bringing her the biggest ovations. The song was a perennial that never aged, and on Jan. 20, 2009, as crowds celebrated that — at last — an African-American had become president of the United States, the song played as the first couple danced.

But it was superstar Beyonce who serenaded the Obamas, not the legendary singer. Beyonce had portrayed James in "Cadillac Records," a big-screen retelling of Chess Records' heyday, and had started to claim "At Last" as her own.

An audio clip surfaced of James at a concert shortly after the inauguration, saying she couldn't stand the younger singer and that Beyonce had "no business singing my song." But she told the New York Daily News later that she was joking, even though she had been hurt that she did not get the chance to participate in the inauguration.

 

James did get her accolades over the years. She was inducted into the Rock Hall in 1993, captured a Grammy in 2003 for best contemporary blues album for "Let's Roll," one in 2004 for best traditional blues album for "Blues to the Bone" and one for best jazz vocal performance for 1994's "Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday." She was also awarded a special Grammy in 2003 for lifetime achievement and got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Her health went into decline, however, and by 2011, she was being cared for at home by a personal doctor.

She suffered from dementia, kidney problems and leukemia. Her husband and her two sons fought over control of her $1 million estate, though a deal was later struck keeping Mills as the conservator and capping the singer's expenses at $350,000. In December 2011, her physician announced that her leukemia was terminal, and asked for prayers for the singer.

In October 2011, it was announced that James was retiring from recording, and a final studio recording, "The Dreamer," was released, featuring the singer taking on classic songs, from Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Dreamer" to Guns N' Roses "Welcome To the Jungle" — still rocking, and a fitting end to her storied career.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JANUARY 19

By Steve Garduño

After 25 years and 18 studio albums, this Grammy-nominated powerhouse band continues to break new ground.

 

Fans that have followed Russ Freeman and The Rippingtons for any stretch of time over the past quarter century know the versatile award winning and Grammy nominated guitarist/composer, and producer has long had a penchant for naming songs and albums after exotic places (Aruba, Kenya, Morocco, Weekend in Monaco, Sahara, etc).

In recent years, Freeman has noticed that The Rippingtons' fan base has increased exponentially, as the group's longtime admirers transfer their passion for the music to their children. Several Rippingtons albums have been inspired by Freeman's travels, and collectively, they have formed the life soundtrack for hundreds of thousands of contemporary jazz fans worldwide for a quarter century .

The titles of each hit Ripps album has often reflected Freeman's deep wanderlust, whether he had actually been to the places he wrote about or was just dreaming of them in musical terms. These include Kilimanjaro, Tourist in Paradise, Welcome to the St. James Club, Weekend In Monaco, Live in L.A., Sahara, Brave New World and Live Across America. In 2006, the band celebrated two decades of instrumental magic with The Rippingtons 20th Anniversary, a remarkable CD/DVD package that included a CD of all new Ripps music and a DVD featuring a colorful retrospective as well as exciting videos from over the years.

On their latest Peak Records album, Russ Freeman and The Rippingtons take their lucky fans on a trip of a lifetime to Cote D'Azur. Traveling with them is their trademark jazz cat, by artist Bill Mayer, who again graces the CD cover art. Next time out, who knows? Freeman's musical passport still has a lot of open space to be stamped, and the journey continues!

 

JANUARY 17

By Steve Garduño

 

 

The Wee Trio on the Road

 

 

About a year ago, a cadre of New Orleans’ finest musicians gathered to perform the music of David Bowie. Among those assembled was James Westfall, vibraphonist/composer and one-third of The Wee Trio. This idea of performing Bowie’s music coincided with the groundwork the Trio had laid for their third album. What followed was the recording and, on New Year’s day, the release of Ashes to Ashes: A David Bowie Intraspective (Bionic Records), an exploration into the eclectic icon’s music, and the band’s follow-up to their first two critically acclaimed albums, Capitol Diner Vol. 1, and Capitol Diner Vol. 2 Animal Style.

Ashes to Ashes is comprised of six tunes that span Bowie’s musical universe: “Battle For Britain” (from Earthling), “Queen Bitch” (from Hunky Dory), “The Man Who Sold the World” (from The Man Who Sold the World), “Ashes to Ashes” (from Scary Monsters), “1984” (from Diamond Dogs) and “Sunday” (from Heathen). On each, the Wee Trio—vibraphonist Westfall, bassist Dan Loomis and drummer Jared Schonig—manages to retain the spirit and energy of the original recordings while also demonstrating how nicely Bowie’s compositions transfer to the modern-jazz realm.

To support their new disc, The Wee Trio will commence their “Ashes to Ashes” tour in Stephenville, Texas, on January 18. Here’s the full itinerary:

January 18, Tarelton State University; Stephenville, Texas

January 19, University of North Texas; Denton, Texas

January 20, The Elephant Room; Austin, Texas

January 21, Cezanne’s; Houston, Texas

January 22, Snug Harbor; New Orleans, Louisiana

January 24, University of New Orleans; New Orleans, Louisiana

January 27 & 28, Jazz at the Bistro; St. Louis, Missouri

February 2, Nighttown; Cleveland, Ohio

February 3, The Green Mill; Chicago, Illinois

February 4, Becket’s; Osh Kosh, Wisconsin

February 8, Roberts Wesleyan University; Rochester, New York

February 9, Chris’ Jazz Café; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

February 11, The Lily Pad; Boston, Massachusetts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JANUARY 16

By Steve Garduño

 

 

     

On the Importance of Jazz

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Opening Address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival, WPFW News (Washington), [23 August 2002]

 

God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.

This is triumphant music.

Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.

Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.

And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.

*Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Opening Address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival*

 

 

From This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Sat Aug 24 13:30:19 2002
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 18:35:01 -0500 (CDT)
From: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Importance of Jazz
Organization: PACH
Article: 14405