Author's posts
Soundtrack to the Struggle: Ella Arrested
It’s 1955, and Ella Fitzgerald and her band take a break between sets at the Houston Music Hall. In her dressing room, Ella and her assistant, Georgiana Henry, chat and drink coffee, while over in the corner, Dizzy Gillespie and Illinois Jacquet shoot a quick game of craps. The door suddenly bursts open and five …
Talking Pictures 2-26-25
“The Monkey” (2025) and “Captain America: Brave New World” (2025) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Scott Chrisman.
Soundtrack to the Struggle: Charlie Haden
It’s 1968, and the Democratic National Convention erupts into violence. Rejection of a plankcondemning the Vietnam War sparks protests on the streets of Chicago. Bassist Charlie Haden,a vehement critic of the war, watches it all unfold. He is angry and disgusted, and he decidethat he must take action. Haden forms the Liberation Music Orchestra, an …
Soundtrack to the Struggle: Harold Bradley, Jr.
Harold Bradley, Jr. was born two weeks before the Wall Street Crash. Times were tough, especially forBlacks in Chicago, but Harold found opportunities to learn and grow. Introduced by his mother, hetalked jazz with Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, and studied art with legendary illustrator E. SimmsCampbell. Harold loved music. He was a gifted painter. …
Soundtrack to the Struggle: Sun City
It’s 1985, and guitarist and activist Little Steven Van Zandt forms a supergroup to protestapartheid in South Africa. That country’s system of white minority rule and institutionalizedracial segregation was in place for nearly 50 years. Despite world-wide condemnation,embargos, and diplomatic isolation, the South African regime held firm. Van Zandt believed thisstubbornness led to apathy among …
Soundtrack to the Struggle: Harlem Renaissance
It’s 1920, and the Jazz Age has begun. First sprouting in New Orleans, jazz music quickly spread as thousands of African Americans migrated from the Deep South to new opportunities in the North. Jazz found fertile ground in Harlem, where it became an integral element in the new social, cultural, and artistic movement taking root. …
Soundtrack to the Struggle: Gary Bartz
It’s 1970, and saxophonist Gary Bartz forms his Ntu Troop. Named for the Bantu word for“unity,” this new group extended Bartz’s pioneering “soul-jazz.” Its music was a new kind offusion that melded hard bop, soul, funk, free jazz, and Afro-Cuban folk polyrhythms. Itsmessage was staunchly pro-African and anti-war. Bartz saw a direct connection between the …
Talking Pictures 2-19-25
“Dexter: Original Sin” (2024 Paramount+) and “Shrinking” (2023 Apple TV) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Monica Schmidt.