Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival goes to roots, future, justice

My column in City Arts highlights the 40-event Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival, taking place throughout April “from Flatbush up Fulton Avenue through the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Ocean Hill to Bushwick . . . the area that gave birth to Max Roach and Randy Weston some 80 years ago.” It’s booked with lesser-known yet highly active African-American jazz musicians; on Saturday I talk about “Where is Jazz Going?” at Medgar Evers College (2 to 6 pm) in distinguished company.

This presentation will be the initial program of the College’s Jazz and Justice project, a “seminar/forum discussing the past and future of Jazz/African-American classical music in America and the world.” Moderator: Basir Mchawi, producer of “Education at the Crossroads,” WBAI-99.5 FM Radio (Thurs. 7 p.m.) and Chairperson of the International African Arts Festival; panelists:

Rudi Mwongozi– CBJC member ,Jazz pianist, from Oakland California, innovator
Donald Sangster– Chairperson, Andy Kirk Research Foundation, Jazz Historian
Joanne Cheatham– Publisher, Pure Jazz Magazine
Delridge Hunter– Prof. of History, Medgar Evers College,CUNY
Grace Metivier– Chairperson, Wynton Kelly Jazz Foundation

Re Jazz and Justice:

The mission is to serve as an integral part of the college and to tie the college’s life long intellectual tradition of music and performing arts to the life blood of the Central Brooklyn surrounding communities. Medgar Evers College was created by needs of the community of Brooklyn. Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium was created to serve the musical needs of the community. A partnership between Medgar Evers College / The Dubois- Bunche Center, and Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium would combine two organizations devoted to severing the Brooklyn community. The project will explore social Justice Issues and their relationship to African-American music and culture.

This may seem like a tall order — and it is. Come hear what’s said:

Medgar Evers College

Mary Pickett Lecture Hall

New School of Business

1637 Bedford Ave. (the NE corner of Crown St)

Admission: Free

Live music to follow discussion.

For Information: CBJC: 718-773-2252

Dubois Bunche Center: 718-270-5062

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