The Influence of Jazz in the Civil Rights Movement

Featuring:

Louis Armstrong, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, John Coltrane, and Archie Shepp

The Influence of Jazz in the Civil Rights Movement

Dizzy Gillespie

Charles Mingus

Brought to you by:

Oliver Houser, Kristina Navrazhina, Nadera Rahman, and Bleron Samarxhiu

Max Roach

Trumpeter, Bandleader, Composer

"Protest" (1961)

Bassist, Bandleader, Composer

• 1964 Presidential Campaign
• Duke Ellington = Minister of State
• Max Roach= Minister of Defense
• Charles Mingus = Minister of Peace
• Miles Davis = Director of the CIA
• Anybody coulda made a better President than the ones we had in those times, dilly-dallying about protecting blacks in their exercise of their civil rights and carrying on secret wars against people around the world

• Outspoken activist with a confrontational temperament.
• Used music to communicate his thoughts on social injustice.
• Little Rock, Arkansas (1957) - "Fables of Faubus"
• Through his music, he conveyed black pride and raised important racial issues.
• "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" (1960),
• “Eclipse" (1960), “Meditations on Integration" (1964), “Pithecanthropus Erectus" (1957), “Prayer for Passive Resistance" (1960), and the album, Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963), “Haitian Fight Song” (1957),

Drummer, Composer

We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite

• Roach and Oscar J. Brown
• Debuted: benefit for the Congress of Racial Equality on January 15th, 1961
• Slavery to Emancipation Day to the then-modern-day civil rights struggle for African American equality
• Blues, improvisation, screaming

"Haitian Fight Song" (1957)

Duke Ellington

Pianist, Composer, Bandleader

"Jazz speaks for life.

• Accused of not contributing to civil rights, but was more of a roundabout activist
• "Social protest in the music" - captures African American experience
• His success commands respect; first African American to be hailed as serious artistic figure without black stereotypes

Music as a Force

John Coltrane

Jazz musicians used their celebrity and their music as a force of positive influence to advocate for civil rights by combatting racism and championing Black Nationalism, thereby reinforcing jazz's role in the civil rights movement.

Saxophonist, Composer

"Alabama" (1963)

• Black nationalism during Civil Rights Movement

• Master of technique with the tenor and soprano saxophone

• He did not directly state he was a political activist

• MLKJ-inspired songs and album - “Reverend King,” “Backs against the Wall,” Cosmic Music (1968)

• “Alabama” (1963) - respone to the Church Bombings in Birmingham, Alabama

• Patron saint of the regressive movement for blacks in the Civil Rights era

• Had significant interests in African roots and Eastern cultures

• Song titles reflect his interests in non-white cultures -- “Afro-Blue,” “Dahomey Dance,” “India,” “Africa,” etc.

• His conversion was appealing to many participants of this movement and provided a foundation

The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Berlin Festival, 1964

Archie Shepp

Louis Armstrong

Trumpeter, Singer

Benny Goodman

• Not an outspoken activist, but used minstrelsy image as a resistance approach to racism.
• "(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue" (1929). He sings, "My only sin is in my skin."
• Used impassioned performance techniques to invalidate deriding lyrics in films, "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal" and "When It's Sleepy Time Down South."
• Little Rock, Arksansas, 1957 - "It's getting almost so bad a colored man hasn't got any country." This was the first time Armstrong made a public statement about racial politics. Soon after, he cancelled U.S.-sponsored government tour to Russia out of frustration at his country.

Saxophonist

Clarinetist, Bandleader

• John Coltrane was a mentor to Archie Shepp, another "angry-rhino" saxophonist

• Shepp was as an outspoken supporter of the black regressive movement, believing that “the Negro musician is a reflection of Negro people as a social and cultural phenomenon”

• His songs were inspired by the 1960s struggle for social reform

• He believed that jazz is black music and produced for every black person in America.
• He sought to eliminate white [racist] impurities from society

“Rufus [Swung His Face at Last to the Wind, Then His Neck Snapped]” (1965)

• Recruited black pianist Teddy Wilson in '36, marks first integrated jazz band. Major step in integration.
• Later adds Lionel Hampton (vibraphone) and Charlie Christian (elec guitar)
• Desegregation almost universally accepted in music community
• Carnegie Hall performance in '38 is one of the first integrated public concerts
• Really turned out to be a "good man"

Thank you!