Author's posts
Soundtrack to the Struggle – Malcolm X’s Influence on Jazz
The powerful oratory and evolving political views of civil rights leader Malcolm X deeply influenced jazz musicians in the 1960’s, including John Coltrane, who saw parallels between his own search for liberation and Malcolm X’s message. As a young man, Malcolm was famously passionate about music. In his autobiography, he boasts of how, as a …
Soundtrack to the Struggle – The BLM Suite, Cal Massey’s Magnum Opus
The 1950’s was a hopeful decade. People like Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. each successfully battled against segregation. Philadelphia’s bebop scene was blossoming. Cal Massey’s touring days were over, and he had started his own band with Albert Heath on drums, Jimmy Garrison on bass, “C” Clarence Sharpe on alto sax and …
Talking Pictures 2-18-26
“Iron Lung” ( 2026 Horror/Sci-fi) and “The Great Santini” (1979 Drama with Robert Duvall) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Ron Adkins.
Soundtrack to the Struggle – The Real Jazz Ambassadors
The Real Ambassadors was a vibrant mix of humor, social commentary and swinging music. And it couldn’t have existed if Dave Brubeck hadn’t taken over the world with Time Out, his epochal 1959 record with alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello — because The Real Ambassadors was a passion project and almost certainly a money …
Soundtrack to the Struggle – The Jazz Expatriates
It is one of the sad paradoxes in jazz history that for almost as long as this American music has existed, many of its foremost figures have chosen to live in exile. From Sidney Bechet in the 1920’s to Johnny Griffin in the 1980’s, these jazz expatriates acted out of a sense of imperative and …
Soundtrack to the Struggle – The Freedom Rider
Art Blakey’s The Freedom Rider is not only a testament to the symbiotic relationship between jazz and the civil rights movement. It’s a sonic rallying cry to stand and protest. Recorded in 1961 for Blue Note Records, this album is a rhythmic and sonic history lesson encapsulating an era fueled by the activism required to …
Soundtrack to the Struggle – The Wrong Place for the Right People
In the 1930s, Midtown Manhattan clubs were packed with the bourgeoisie, tuxes and evening gowns, tables and banquettes of rich white people drinking champagne, often entertained by Black performers borrowed from the Harlem music scene. It was putting on the ritz, it was dancing cheek to cheek. ‘Same-colored’ cheeks. It was the embodiment of the phrase ‘café society‘, …
Soundtrack to the Struggle – Southern Trees Bear “Strange Fruit”
In her short life, Billie Holiday performed with a type of genius that is still imitated by singers today. She was best known for sad songs about heartache and pain from losing love. One thing people don’t say about Billie Holiday was that she was a protest singer. While there was plenty to sing about, …