To honor the greats, we must speak up
Jazz's history shows us we can't turn a blind eye and a silent tongue in times like these
New York City police were able to throttle and ruin Black musicians' careers via the cabaret card system. Those who lost their card for any reason could not perform in public in the city until the system was abolished in 1967.
I launched 8495Jazz six months ago as a kind of capstone project to more than 40 years in journalism. It was intended to be a labor of love, of passion for music and to highlight those who bring it to us.
It had been too long since I had covered music; nearly 90 percent of my career was spent covering the nuts and bolts of public policy and politics at all levels.
I learned the history of western political theory, and how to think issues through, from a very conservative professor who was elected to the U.S. Senate from North Carolina shortly after I left campus (and who helped me start my career by making sure I got a press pass to one of Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union addresses).
I counted among my regular sources over the years three Congressmen – all Republicans, with whom I had ongoing respectful professional relationships – dozens of state, local, and county politicians, and scores of public agency officials. In short, I knew how policy stuff worked and how it is supposed to work.
And when I started 8495Jazz, I wanted to keep politics out of it. I had done enough.
But I can’t. If one has any kind of public platform, no matter how modest, one must speak out now, especially if you know how things are supposed to work, and how they are being twisted and manipulated. Not only is it a disservice to the present, it’s also a disservice to the travails, unnecessary and patently unfair, of those who have gone before, especially in jazz.
Because jazz history is Miles Davis getting beaten bloody by a cop in front of the club he himself was headlining. Jazz history is the capricious system of cabaret cards New York City police used to throttle and ruin Black musicians’ careers. Jazz history is Billie Holiday putting it all on the line to sing “Strange Fruit” and paying a terrible price. Jazz history is Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie and Illinois Jacquet being arrested on trumped-up charges of gambling backstage when their real “crime” was to insist on playing to an integrated audience. Jazz history is Dave Brubeck, using the leverage he had as a white musician to bring attention to segregation laws in the South in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
And jazz history is also modern-day stories of abuse of power, as Chief Adjuah tells it on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. These musicians were, and are, often on the front lines of a system far too happy to leverage power for power’s sake.
So I owe it to my audience, small as it may be, to make the observations honed by four decades of writing about the world: We are in times in which a small cadre of people through sophistry and mendacity want to impose their will on all of us in disregard to democratic norms. We are in times not normal.
A sitting president of the United States who has been convicted on 34 felony counts by a jury of ordinary citizens is not normal. A sitting president who has been found civilly liable of sexual abuse is not normal. A sitting president who watched television while a small army of insurrectionists stormed the nation’s capitol building – and then, in virtually his first act in his second term, pardoned 1500 of them, who had also been charged, tried, and convicted through the accepted processes in the courts of law – is not normal. A sitting president who mentions “annexing” sovereign neighbors, and who tweets on social media that anyone “saving his country” breaks no laws is not normal. A sitting president whose top-level appointees demand those they supervise owe personal loyalty to his agenda and not the Constitution is not normal.
As someone who has been trained not to engage in hyperbole, I am watching the courts. Those who have been affected by the administration’s actions are filing suit after suit. Ironically enough, I take some solace that some of the early decisions have actually gone in the administration’s favor; what’s relevant is not that I agree or disagree with the decisions, but that the judges involved are indeed hewing to the law as they interpret it.
Within the framework of the law, the courts are pretty much all we have at the moment. Should the administration ignore court orders that go against its wishes, then we are in a whole ’nother pile of trouble. And then we all have to make decisions on how we proceed thereafter. And the stakes are enormous.
Most the musicians in my sphere are left–of-center. We don’t talk politics but we don’t have to. There is an understanding that artistic freedom and sense of community extend well beyond the stage. Music ideally draws people together, it cements our common bonds of humanity. When times are tough, most musicians, like most journalists, take it as their mission to comfort the afflicted.
The Trump administration has already tried to strongarm musicians and artists. Donald Trump purged the board of directors at the Kennedy Center and installed himself as chairman; as a result, artists are canceling shows and ticket sales are down by 50 percent. Applicants for grants from the National Endowment for the Arts have been given a list of ways they must not express themselves if they expect public funding.
But down here in the clubs and community centers of southern New England, the musicians are still performing as they always have. They are offering a sense of community and joy and solace. They offer a short respite from the never-ending assault on our sense of political stability and common cause. Now, maybe more than ever, they are a bastion of normality.
Go see a show. It will help.
And then speak your mind. Contact your elected representatives as often as you feel you need to. Be ready to protest – peacefully – if necessary. Your gut will tell you what to do and when, but speak you must. Speak truth to power.
One week after releasing Kind of Blue, regarded as perhaps the finest jazz album of all time, Miles Davis was beaten bloody by New York City police.
See Tomorrow’s Jazz Stars Now, In Litchfield
Vita Muir and her staff at Litchfield Performing Arts have an uncanny knack for fostering the growth of talent at Litchfield Jazz Camp that goes on to global prominence.
Local fans will get the chance to scout out young performers who may be tomorrow’s stars Saturday. They’ll be competing at the finals of the organization’s talent search competition at the Litchfield Community Center, 421 Bantam Rd, Litchfield. Seventeen semi-finalists chosen from audition tapes will compete for scholarships to the camp’s 2025 sessions. Performances start at 2 pm.
The young musicians will be accompanied by a top-shelf professional trio, all touring and recording professionals and all on faculty at the camp; Conway Campbell on bass, Ian Carroll on drums, and Zaccai Curtis, who took home a Latin jazz Grammy last month, on piano. Competition judges are Albert Rivera, Don Braden, Vita, and the trio members. Winners will be announced in the late afternoon as soon as deliberations are completed.
The event is free but if you’re interested in going you should register early!
Out and About with 8495Jazz
To alleviate confusion, ticket prices quoted now mention service fees as included or as additional; if fees are not mentioned, there are none to our knowledge. Because fees differ according to ticket type, service fee amounts are not included here but are available on venue web sites.
These listings are a curated sampling of shows in the region. As an independent resource for jazz news, 8495Jazz does not receive any consideration, free tickets, or affiliate fees for these listings. Please confirm events are still happening directly with the venue.
8495Jazz Wild Card Gig of the Week
Park City Music Hall, Bridgeport CT
Funky Dawgz Brass Band Mardi Gras Extravaganza, Tue., March 4, 7 pm. ($15 advance, $20 day of show plus service fee).
Funky Dawgz, who were profiled earlier here in 8495Jazz, have origins at UConn, but their roots are pure Crescent City, and there’s no better day to go full NOLA than Fat Tuesday. Read more about Funky Dawgz right here!
8495Jazz Spur Of The Moment Gig TODAY
The Parlour, Providence, RI
Ben Shaw Quartet and First Sunday Jazz Jam, 6 pm, all ages show. $5 for jammers, $10 for audience.
Other Shows This Week
Arch Street Tavern, Hartford, CT
Booyah Mardi Gras Party, Wed., March 5, 9 pm. $10 plus service fee.
Hartford Public Library, Hartford, CT
Baby Grand Jazz, Leala Cyr Group (trumpet, vocals, combo) today, 3 pm. Free.
Palace Theater Poli Club, Waterbury, CT
Sally Terrell Quartet (vocals, combo), Friday, March 7, 7 and 9 pm. $40 including service fee.
VFW Post 399, Westport, CT
Sara Caswell and Ike Sturm (violin, bass), Thursday, March 6, 7:30 and 8:45 pm. Early show $20.76, $15.76 student/veteran. Late show $10.76.
Side Door, Old Lyme, CT
Tyreek McDole (vocals, combo), Fri., March 7 and Sat, March 8. $59.75 plus service fee, students $27.98 plus service fee.
Scullers, Boston, MA
Black Art Jazz Collective (combo), Sat., March 8, 7 pm, all ages show. $48.05 - $64.85 including service fee.
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Voices in Jazz, Jazz Big Band plus others, today, 3 pm. $15 adult plus service fee, $10 student/senior plus service fee.
URI Jazz Combos II, Tuesday, March 4, 7:30 pm. $15 adult plus service fee, $10 student/senior plus service fee.
Beahive Beacon, Beacon, NY
Ed Neumeister Quartet (trombone, combo), Saturday, March 8, 2 pm. Free.
Jams
Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
New Haven Jazz Underground jam, usually 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month: free admission
Saturday jazz jam most Saturdays, 4 pm. Free.
Blackeyed Sally’s, Hartford, CT
Jazz Wednesdays, featured set 7 pm, jam session afterward.
Carmine’s, East Hartford, CT
Paisley’s All Star Memorial Jam, 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7:30 pm. House band set followed by jam. Free.
Jazz Societies and Organizations (great info on events, festivals, and more)
Jazz Society of Fairfield County
Jazz Fridays at Three Sheets New Haven 1st/3rd Fridays from 6-9pm
Jazz Thursdays at The Cannon New Haven every other Thurs from 7-9pm.
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