Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
In Memoriam: Al Foster, 1943–2025
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
Protesters march June 6 in Washington, D.C., following the police killing of George Floyd.
(Photo: John Murph)Closer to home for the jazz community, the newly formed Jazz Coalition partnered with The Blacksmiths (a coalition of artists, curators, producers and organizers), the Intersectional Voices Collective and The Wide Awakes to present “Juneteenth Jubilee,” a June 19 celebration in Harlem to heighten awareness of the Black queer and transgender communities, which also contend with racialized disparities and violence.
While Blackout Tuesday helped to spotlight significant systemic imbalances within the jazz community, it’s difficult to find published studies examining current issues in the music. Works like Zola Philipp’s scholarly paper “The Social Effects of Jazz” and Gerald Horne’s book Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music have explored the history of financial exploitation of Black jazz artists. But questions about disparities in wealth and hiring practices, the ownership of jazz labels, jazz media outlets, venues, and nonprofit institutions and access to education have yet to be studied in such depth.
“Historically, who owns a lot of music publishing and whose songs were they? Let’s just start there,” said Katea Stitt, program director at WPFW—Washington, D.C.’s Pacifica Foundation radio station. The daughter of late saxophonist Sonny Stitt, she also said she participated in recent protests in the capital. “Who owned the clubs? And who played inside the clubs?” she asked.
Vocalist and activist Myers recently published a book, White People Talking to White People: Broaching the Topic of Race with your White Friends, as a guide for how individuals can address systemic racism within their own homes and businesses. He, too, cited glaring racial discrimination in jazz performance spaces and the education system.
“If we do not force white people in jazz to start examining their own fragility and privilege that we as Black people have tolerated and tiptoed around for as long as we’ve been in this genre, the systemic racism within jazz will continue,” he said.
“A lot of jazz musicians are afraid to speak up about it, because they’re afraid they are going to lose some of their audience,” Myers continued. “They know their audience is a lot of white people—older white [people] at that. We as jazz musicians can no longer be in a position of playing it safe. In this moment, where do you stand? I push everyone within the jazz community to make a stand and put our own individual equity in jeopardy in the fight against racial injustices, including those within the jazz industry.” DB
Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
“Branford’s playing has steadily improved,” says younger brother Wynton Marsalis. “He’s just gotten more and more serious.”
May 20, 2025 11:58 AM
Branford Marsalis was on the road again. Coffee cup in hand, the saxophonist — sporting a gray hoodie and a look of…
“What did I want more of when I was this age?” Sasha Berliner asks when she’s in her teaching mode.
May 13, 2025 12:39 PM
Part of the jazz vibraphone conversation since her late teens, Sasha Berliner has long come across as a fully formed…
Roscoe Mitchell will receive a Lifetime Achievement award at this year’s Vision Festival.
May 27, 2025 6:21 PM
Arts for Art has announced the full lineup for the 2025 Vision Festival, which will run June 2–7 at Roulette…
Benny Benack III and his quartet took the Midwest Jazz Collective’s route for a test run this spring.
Jun 3, 2025 10:31 AM
The time and labor required to tour is, for many musicians, daunting at best and prohibitive at worst. It’s hardly…
