Anderson@Large

OutBeat Brought LGBT Jazz Musicians Out of the Shadows

Billy Strayhorn was a teenager when he composed “Life is Lonely,” later renamed “Lush Life.” One can easily imagine that life was indeed lonely for a black gay male in Pittsburgh, circa the 1930s.

Strayhorn went on to become Duke Ellington’s shadow. The recent OutBeat: America’s First Queer Jazz Festival brought LGBT jazz musicians out of the shadows. Organized by the William Way LGBT Community Center, the four-day event featured panel discussions and performances by LGBT artists, including Dena Underwood, Fred Hersch, Andy Bey, Mike McGinnis, Patricia Barber, Bill Stewart and Terri Lyne Carrington.

Strayhorn composed Ellington’s theme song, “Take the ‘A’ Train.”

 

The “A” train was my subway line. Strayhorn’s composition has loomed large in my imagination since I was child.

So I was particularly looking forward to its re-imaginings at the “Tribute to Billy Strayhorn,” presented in collaboration with the Philadelphia Jazz Project.

I was not disappointed. It was an awesome evening. For me, the highlight was spoken word artist Lamont Dixon’s “Encore for Strayhorn.”

Strayhorn died on May 31, 1967. At his funeral, Ellington said this about his friend and collaborator

He demanded freedom of expression and lived in what we consider the most important and moral of freedoms: freedom from hate, unconditionally; Freedom from self-pity (even through all the pain and bad news); freedom from fear of possibly doing something that might possibly help another more than it might himself and freedom from the kind of pride that might make a man think that he was better than his brother or his neighbor.

It was a fitting that Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All be Free” was performed at the Strayhorn tribute.

Christopher Bartlett, executive director of William Way, told Philadelphia Magazine:

It was a historic weekend. We had all of the great living LGBT jazz greats in the city, and a lot of allies who came because they wanted to participate in this history-making moment. It was one great concert after another. Everyone said we need to do it again, that we need to continue to explore the story.

Bartlett was asked whether there’ll be a second OutBeat:

Our initial thought is that we’ll do it every two years. We’re very excited to do it again and continue this conversation. It’s revealed the great energy of today's LGBT jazz performers, and opens doors for a whole new generation of jazz performers who are eager to continue the work of the people we saw this weekend.

Jazz paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement. OutBeat can play a similar role for the LGBT community. While out of the shadows, the community still isn’t free from hate crimes and homophobia.

Moaning and Groaning

It’s “CBC Week” – the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference.

I’ve attended at least half of the conferences dating back to, well, never mind when I started going.

There’s a mash-up of workshops and braintrust meetings from the “Art of Social Entrepreneurship” to “Working Families Fight Back.” To be sure, some folks will be moaning and groaning about the lack of follow-up. It somehow escapes them that the follow-through starts with the person in the mirror.

As a blogger who focuses on the intersection of popular culture, public policy and civic engagement, I’m particularly looking forward to the Congressional Black Caucus Spouses 18th Annual Celebration of Leadership in the Fine Arts. The honorees include Bill Withers.

A. Shuanise Washington, the president and CEO of the CBCF, said in a statement:

Any discussion about African-American history and culture must include African-American artists. Through the Celebration of Leadership in the Fine Arts, the CBCF and the CBC Spouses pay homage to those whose creative bodies of work convey the rich and diverse African-American experience.

About Bill Withers:

Bill Withers is a legendary singer-songwriter with a music career that spans more than four decades. Between the 1970s and 1980s, he won “Song of the Year” Grammys for “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Just the Two of Us” and “Lean on Me.” His songs have been covered by numerous artists across various genres of music, including Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, Michael Bolton, John Legend and Jill Scott. In 2005, Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

I can’t pick a favorite Bill Withers’ song because there’s one for whatever mood I’m in. That said, some of my favorite lyrics are from “Moaning and Groaning”: “If she ain’t the best in the world, she’s good as the goodest one.”

Alabama

Fifty-one years ago today, the Ku Klux Klan exploded a bomb in Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church. The explosion killed four little girls.

The act of domestic terrorism further ignited the civil rights movement and boosted support for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It also moved John Coltrane to compose “Alabama.”

 

 

Coltrane’s quartet performed “Alabama” on the Jazz Casual television show.

Back to School

Philadelphia schools, broadly defined, opened today. The School District of Philadelphia told parents to “plan ahead for back to school.”

If the School District had planned ahead last year, perhaps 12-year-old Laporshia Massey would be alive. A sixth grade student at Bryant Elementary, Laporshia died three weeks into the school year after suffering an asthma attack at her school where there was no nurse on the premises.

More than 30 percent of children between the ages of 5 to 12 in West Philly have been diagnosed with asthma. So it was reasonable to expect a child would suffer an asthma attack or otherwise get sick while at school. Yet there was no plan to deal with medical emergencies.

Laporshia’s family is suing the school district. So they may get justice for Laporshia.

But today, tens of thousands are children are in buildings with no school nurse on duty. Where is the plan to prevent another child from dying?

Happy Labor Day