Greg Thomas

Jazz, an art form given birth in the United States by descendents of the formerly enslaved, has a complicated relationship with race. Although race, as a popular idea, has no basis in biology, many people mentally adhere to the idea of dividing groups of people based on “race” as opposed to understanding how groups of people evolve (or regress) via culture, so very real social dynamics and results exist based on the belief in race…

Jazz, an art form given birth in the United States by descendents of the formerly enslaved, has a complicated relationship with race. Although race, as a popular idea, has no basis in biology, many people mentally adhere to the idea of dividing groups of people based on “race” as opposed to understanding how groups of people evolve (or regress) via culture, so very real social dynamics and results exist based on the belief in race…

When I began this Race and Jazz series several months ago, I knew the topics I wanted to touch upon, and the general culture vs. race point-of-view I intended to pursue. With those chord changes (topics) and that melodic perspective (pro-culture, anti-race) in mind and at play, I figured I’d proceed with the rest by ear. As it turned out, the most recent column featured an interview with premier jazz critic and book author Gary Giddins, in which he discussed disparities in the recognition and acclaim attained by certain black American jazz critics/journalists compared to some so-called “white” jazz critics/journalists over the past generation of jazz criticism…

In the first essay for the Race and Jazz column, I gave a first-person account of how my love and appreciation of certain “white” saxophonists served to safeguard me from the temptation of racism back in college during the early-to-mid-’80s. My second essay privileged culture over race, and told the story of how attorney and constitutional law professor Charles L. Black’s love of m: Louis Armstrong’s genius from the early ’30s gave him a way out of the morass of Southern racism, a better appreciation for the culture he shared with Southern black folks, and a foundation for his legal brief in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case…

He’s been president of the Juilliard School, the most prestigious performing arts institution in America, since 1984. Also an accomplished bassoonist, Dr. Joseph Polisi has performed as both soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, as well as at The Juilliard School, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall…