Education Articles
By Bernie Brink Jazz is often referred to as “the original American art form” because much of its development was geographically confined. But in many ways, jazz is truly a global music, drawing from many sounds and cultures across the world. In observing Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th – October 15th, it’s not an...
By Bernie Brink Every August begins the slow decline of summer and, for many, marks the return to school. This summer, go “back to school” with a quintessential jazz album, School Days by bassist Stanley Clarke. First released in 1976, School Days appeared at the height of the jazz fusion movement amongst a cadre of...
By Bernie Brink This month marks the 70th anniversary of one of the nation’s most-esteemed and longest-running jazz events, the Newport Jazz Festival. Though it has operated in different locations and under different guises throughout its storied history, it has presented top-flight jazz every summer since 1954. Its reputation for premiere jazz performances also makes...
By Bernie Brink In the early part of the 20th century, and especially through the 1930s and ‘40s, jazz and swing were America’s popular music, culturally ensconced in the same way acts like Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar are today. While mainline jazz is no longer mainstream, the tenets of today’s popular music was first...
By Bernie Brink In May of 1912, bandleader James Reese Europe and his Clef Club Orchestra made history in becoming the first Black ensemble to appear at the famed Carnegie Hall, presenting a program of ragtime and proto-jazz. This momentous performance brought Black American music to Carnegie Hall more than a decade before Paul Whiteman’s...
By Bernie Brink In the 21st century, April has become recognized as Jazz Appreciation Month (initiated by the Smithsonian and the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation in 2001) and host of International Jazz Day (established by UNESCO and its Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue, Herbie Hancock), observed each year on April 30th. While these distinctions are obvious...
In March, we look forward to celebrating the great ladies of jazz during Women’s History Month, an opportunity to highlight the contributions of leagues of women in the historically male-dominated field of jazz. One of those figures is pianist Hazel Scott, a pioneering musician, entertainer, and activist. In jazz circles, Hazel Scott is best remembered...
By Bernie Brink We look forward to February each year to commemorate Black History Month. In recognizing the innumerable contributions of black Americans to American and global culture, it’s a formal opportunity to celebrate the “Great American Art Form” of jazz. But jazz itself – and virtually all forms of contemporary, popular music –...
This month, we celebrate the centenary of a jazz luminary and pioneering drummer, Max Roach. Born this month in 1924, Roach enjoyed a career spanning nearly six decades, collaborating with virtually all of the greatest jazz figures of the twentieth century. He performed and recorded with Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie,...
By Bernie Brink The holiday season is a harbinger of many gifts. But on Christmas Eve in 1964, the world was bestowed an especially auspicious and enduring gift when Wayne Shorter stepped into the studio to record his third studio album for Blue Note Records, Speak No Evil. As children slept and visions of sugar...