Clarence Acox photo courtesy of the artist
While Black history is year round, here are suggestions of a few more things we can do this month to be more intentional in engaging with ourselves and our community in thoughtful dialogue for Black lives, past, present, and future:
LISTEN:
We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite is an avant-garde jazz album and a vocal-instrumental suite on themes related to the Civil Rights Movement. Led by Max Roach, this iconic 1960 album prominently features Abbey Lincoln, Coleman Hawkins, Michael Olatunji, and Seattle’s Julian Priester.
READ:
Jackson Street After Hours: The Roots of Jazz in Seattle by Paul de Barros captures the Jackson Street jazz legacy through vintage photographs and 24 contemporary portraits based on extensive interviews with jazz musicians.
DISCUSS:
February 9, Town Hall Seattle, $10-50
In her new book, Be A Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World — and How You Can, Too, Ijeoma Oluo aims to show how people across America are working to create real positive change in our structures. Looking at many of our most powerful systems — like education, media, labor, health, housing, policing, and more — she highlights what people are doing to create change for intersectional racial equity. She also illustrates how readers can find their own entry points for change in these same areas or can bring some of this important work being done elsewhere to where they live. Tickets at townhallseattle.org.
ENGAGE:
Take the Seattle Green Book Self-Guided Tour, developed by Black & Tan Hall. This multimedia tour highlights Black-owned and Black-friendly businesses that operated along Seattle’s Jackson Street corridor between the 1920s and the 1960s. This vibrant avenue included the famous Black & Tan Club and other clubs from Seattle’s early jazz scene. Learn about local hotels, restaurants, clubs, and barbershops listed in the national Green Book guide for Black travelers and the entrepreneurs who established them, alongside historic preservation and restoration projects. Listen now at blackandtanhall.com/greenbooktour.
DONATE:
February 5, Jazz Alley, $109
Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley presents the Clarence Acox Celebration: An Arts for the Arts Gala in partnership with Onyx Fine Arts Collective. Proceeds from this inaugural event will supplement the funding of local student music programs endorsed by Clarence Acox, including Seattle JazzED, Garfield Jazz Foundation, and the SRJO Jazz Scholars. Individual donations are also accepted. Tickets at jazzalley.com.
