“When you put that iron in your mouth, you run into problems.” Clora Bryant, a trumpet player who broke barriers in jazz, was raised a Baptist and taught that anything with a backbeat was likely “the devil’s music,” But even on the North Texas prairie where she grew up, the siren sounds of jazz found …

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From 1938 to 1946, The International Sweethearts of Rhythm graced the stage as the first racially integrated all-female jazz band to tour nationally. Their popularity came during World War II, when many male jazz artists were serving overseas, leaving an opportunity for women to shine their talents at home. Over time, the group attracted some …

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Oppressors hate jazz. Whether in the U.S. or abroad, jazz has always made the right enemies. The Soviets and Castro tried to stomp it out. Hitler was no fan, and you don’t hear much about a Chinese jazz scene. Jazz requires, promotes, and symbolizes a kind of democracy, an exchange of ideas that dictators can’t …

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It’s 2021, and jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron is inducted posthumously into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his “early influence” on rap. Scott-Heron bristled at the “Father of Rap” distinction, saying, “I don’t know if I can take the blame for rap music. I listen to the jazz station.”  An artistic polymath, Scott-Heron …

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It’s 1937, and June Richmond steps to the microphone for Jimmy Dorsey’s big band. Doing so, she makes history as the first Black singer in an all-white orchestra. Richman caught the attention of Dorsey and Bing Crosby during a set at the Los Angeles Cotton Club. They invited her to their table, made Richmond an …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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