Letter from the Director

Black History is NOW! As we celebrate Black History Month, especially EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR this February, it’s important to consider the word John Gilbreath “history” in active terms. More than just a study of MANAGING DIRECTOR the past, history offers an opportunity to consider Karen Caropepe today’s realities in a larger arc with tomorrow’s MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE possibilities. It can be a call to action. Realizing Lucienne Aggarwal EARSHOT JAZZ EDITOR our own active role in history, we can more easily Lucienne Aggarwal understand our responsibility to it. And with a year EARSHOT JAZZ COPY EDITOR like 2020 still looming large in our rearview mirrors, Caitlin Carter the road ahead is equally clear. Black history is in CONTRIBUTING WRITERS front of us, not behind, and we all have work to do. John Gilbreath photo by Bill Uznay Paul de Barros, Ian Gwin, Rayna Mathis, Paul, Jazz music is a cultural treasure of Black America. Rauch, Jonathan Shipley CALENDAR EDITORS Simply put: no Black America, no jazz. Carol Levin and Jane Emerson And jazz has an equally fluid relationship to history. To consider jazz as some- PHOTOGRAPHY thing that has already happened does it a grave disservice. Jazz history is a living Daniel Sheehan history, and its deepest threads have always been about Black experience and L AYO U T Black innovation. Creative Black Music, Liberation Music, Black American Music Karen Caropepe (BAM), Black Arts, and what the Art Ensemble of Chicago advanced as “Great DISTRIBUTION Black Music” have inspired and powered the art form through the years, in spite Karen Caropepe, Dan Dubie & Earshot Jazz volunteers of cultural appropriation, white privilege, and the unbalanced power dynamics SEND CALENDAR INFORMATION TO: of the marketplace. [email protected] The Earshot Jazz organization is proud to have presented Seattle concerts by BOARD OF DIRECTORS many of the legends of the Black avant-garde. In its early years, with the artistic Chris Icasiano (President), Sheila Hughes (Vice President), Chris Nutter (Secretary), Augusto vision of co-founder Gary Bannister, Earshot stepped right in with concerts by Cardoso, John W. Comerford, Maurice James, Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, , , Bobby Hutcherson, Butch Danielle Leigh, Ruby Smith Love, Diane Wah Morris, James Blood Ulmer, Don Pullen, Jimmy McGriff, Horace Tapscott, An- EMERITUS BOARD MEMBERS drew Hill, , and the , among others. Clarence Acox, Sue Coliton, Taina Honkalehto, Hideo Makihara, Peter Monaghan, Kenneth W. Over the ensuing years, Earshot has offered Seattle stages to vanguard artists Masters, Lola Pedrini, Richard Thurston, Paul like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Ornette Coleman, William Parker, David S. Toliver, Cuong Vu Ware, Sam Rivers, Pharoah Sanders, Amina Claudine Myers, Dewey Redman, Founded in 1984 by Paul de Barros, Gary Steve Coleman, Billy Bang, Wayne Shorter, David Murray, Kahil El’Zabar, Carmen Bannister, and Allen Youngblood. Earshot Jazz is published monthly and is available online at Lundy, and Wadada Leo Smith. Earshot has presented artists close to the African earshot.org. diaspora, such as Abdullah Ibrahim, Randy Weston, Somi, Bheki Mseleku, Omar Subscription (with membership): $35 Sosa, and Hugh Masekela, as well as jazz poets Amiri Baraka, James McBride, 3417 Fremont Ave N, #221 , Paul Harding, and Kamau Daáood. Seattle, WA 98103 (206) 547-6763 Earshot continues its commitment to creative Black arts by presenting for- ward-looking artists of the movement, often for their first time in Seattle, like Earshot Jazz ISSN 1077-0984 Printed by Yakima Herald-Republic Jason Moran, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Darius Jones, Marquis Hill, Burnt ©2021 Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle Sugar, Nicole Mitchell, Matthew Shipp, Jazzmeia Horn, Joel Ross, Makaya McCraven, Brandee Younger, Ambrose Akinmusire, Craig Taborn, and many others. As always, we invite your suggestions and support. Now, more than ever. MISSION STATEMENT Finally, and I think bears repeating: Happy New Year! We have a long way to go, To ensure the legacy and progression to be sure, but it finally feels as if we’re unstuck, and at least inching it forward. of the art form, Earshot Jazz cultivates Congratulations! Let us know how we can help. a vibrant jazz community by engaging Be safe out there. audiences, celebrating artists, and supporting arts education. –JOHN GILBREATH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

2 EARSHOTJAZZ February 2021