July Magazine
July 2020
-Notes-
Call For Artists Jazz: The Second Century
– Earshot Announcement-
Earshot Jazz’s Statement on Anti-Racist Work
– Community Conversations –
Earshot Jazz: Invitation to a Conversation on Race, The Protest, and the Music
– Roots-
Segregation in Seattle Jazz Unions
– Anti-Racism Work –
Racial Equity, Social Justice & Black-Led Organizations, Resource Lists, Book Lists, & More
-Profile –
Masthead
July 2020
Volume 36, No. 07
Executive Director
John Gilbreath
Managing Director
Karen Caropepe
Programs Manager
Tara Peters
Development Manager
Errin Patton
Marketing & Development Asssociate
Lucienne Aggarwal
Editors
Lucienne Aggarwal & Tara Peters
Contributing Writers/Artists
Paul de Barros
Paul r. Harding
Calendar Editors
Carol Levin
Jane Emerson
Tara Peters
Photography
Daniel Sheehan
Layout
Tara Peters
Karen Caropepe
Distribution
Karen Caropepe
Dan Dubie
Earshot Jazz volunteers
Send Calendar Information to:
Add a gig to the calendar online or send us an email.
Board of Directors
Danielle Leigh (President)
Chris Icasiano (Vice President)
Chris Nutter (Secretary)
Sheila Hughes (Treasurer)
Augusto Cardoso
John W. Comerford
Maurice James
Kenneth W. Masters
Gail Pettis
Ruby Smith Love
Diane Wah
Emeritus Board Members
Clarence Acox
Sue Coliton
Taina Honkalehto
Hideo Makihara
Kenneth W. Masters
Peter Monaghan
Lola Pedrini
Paul Toliver
Cuong Vu
Founded in 1984 by Paul de Barros, Gary Bannister, and Allen Youngblood.
Earshot Jazz is published monthly by Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle.
Subscription (with membership): $35
3417 Fremont Ave N, #221
Seattle, WA 98103
phone / (206) 547-6763
Earshot Jazz ISSN 1077-0984
Printed by Yakima Herald-Republic
© 2020 Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle
Letter From The Director
Black Lives Matter
These are incredible times. I believe they’re historic times. James Baldwin said, “We’ve been locked inside a history of racism that we did not originally create.” Comfort and denial have not helped non-Black folks change that history; but the alarms are loud and clear now, and comfort is barely an expectation. Good. It’s past time to stay awake. As Earshot Jazz takes a stand against the intrinsic racism that has oppressed, brutalized, and murdered Black Americans for centuries, we also pledge to mistrust the consciousness that has allowed us to rest too easily, for too long. Please see our statement to our commitment to antiracism work on page 6.
As an organization that was founded and has worked to celebrate jazz as a Black-American cultural treasure, it has been perhaps too convenient for us to claim high ground in the constant racial inequities that undergird the structure of everyday life. Remarkably, as with all white privilege, our toooften high-minded resolve has shuttered our view of the lives and everyday experiences outside of our own worldview. We have to be ready to unlearn the confidence we’ve been compelled to project. We’ll need your help.
Jazz has been on the vanguard of both suffering and liberation in this country. It’s an artform that thrives on change. Jazz brought integration to the bandstand and airwaves years ago, but now carries the racial tension of white appropriation (for more on Seattle’s history of segregated musicians’ unions, see page 10). Jazz is many things; never confined by its own history. It is the sound of surprise and food for the soul; more work in progress.
We pledge to open our ears to Black voices, to open our eyes to inequity, open our stages to the breadth of Black expression, open our mouths against racism, open our doors to Black employees and advisors, and to open our hearts to the dignity of all Black Lives. Please join us.
—John Gilbreath, Executive Director