DC Jazz with Busboys and Poets Books
Date and Time
Jun 24, 2018 6:00 pm
Location
Takoma
235 Carroll St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20012
Jun 24, 2018 6:00 pm
Takoma
"This book DC Jazz does a marvelous job of detailing some of the many attributes of the DC jazz scene and its incredible community of artists who have made such great contributions to this music as an indelible part of the African music continuum."—Randy Weston, NEA Jazz Master
Join authors and editors Lauren Sinclair, Maurice Jackson and Rusty Hassan for a conversation on the DC jazz scene throughout its history, including a portrait of the cultural hotbed of Seventh and U Streets, the role of jazz in desegregating the city, a portrait of the great Edward “Duke†Ellington’s time in DC, notable women in DC jazz, and the seminal contributions of the University of District of Columbia and Howard University.Â
The familiar history of jazz music in the United States begins with its birth in New Orleans, moves upstream along the Mississippi River to Chicago, and then by rail into New York, before exploding across the globe. However, the rich history of jazz in the nation’s capital is often overlooked. Some of the most important clubs in the jazz world have opened and closed their doors in Washington, DC, while some of its greatest players and promoters were born there like Duke Ellington, Chuck Brown and Charlie Byrd. Several DC institutions are imperative to the national support of this iconic American form of music, including Congress, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress and the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. A network of local schools, churches, informal associations, music venues and jazz clubs keeps the music alive today.
A Georgetown University Press co-publishing initiative with the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., the book includes over thirty museum-quality photographs and a guide to resources for learning more about DC jazz. The book is being published in part thanks to a grant from Furthermore, a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.
Maurice Jackson teaches History and African American Studies at Georgetown University and is the author of Let This Voice be Heard: Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism. He is a 2009 inductee into the Washington, DC Hall of Fame and was inaugural chair of the DC Commission of African American Affairs.
Lauren Sinclair is a professor at the School of Professional and Extended Studies at American University and is a violinist with the Howard University Symphony Orchestra.
Contributors include Bill Brower, Anna Harwell Celenza, Michael Fitzgerald, Rusty Hassan, John Edward Hasse, Judith A. Korey, E. Ethelbert Miller, Jason Moran, Willard Jenkins and Lauren Sinclair.
