YCCD – 2019 Black History Month

Black Migrations

Black Migration through Music

1 Introduction

As we celebrate Black History Month, we will stop and reflect on names such as, Harriet Tubman, Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Paul Roberson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcom X, Rosa Parks, Shirley Chisolm, Maxine Waters, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Former President Barack Obama and so many others for their historical contributions to America and the World, but just for a moment let us take a walk back in time as we acknowledge Woodland’s Community College Resolution 19-01 recognizing and honoring Black History Month with the theme: Black Migrations.

Black Migrations can be interpreted in so many different ways, one way is through music, music is universal and for Black Americans it is a form of storytelling. As we walk back in time let us visit with Black Americans whose name you might not be familiar with, nevertheless, their contributions to history have left an everlasting positive imprint on society. Here is Lake County Campus’s interpretation of Black Migrations as we celebrate Black History Month 2019.

The Lake County Campus Library of Woodland Community College hosts “Black Migrations: the Exhibit” commemorating the movement of music in America. Each of the 12 stations insideExhibit the library Information – located at 15880 Dam Rd Ext, Clearlake, CA 95422, on the second floor of building 100 – has a corresponding music video.The LakeBe sure County to access Campus the LibraryYouTube of playlistWoodland below Community as you enjoy each station. College hosts “Black Migrations: the Exhibit” commemorating the movement of music in America. Each of the 12 stations inside the library – located at 15880 Dam Rd Ext, Clearlake, CA 95422, on the second floor of building 100 – has a corresponding music video. Be sure to access the YouTube playlist below as you enjoy each station.

Listen to performances of the musicians as you move through the exhibit. Scan the QR Code or click the link below to access the YouTube playlist - https://bit.ly/2DlPU6g

3 Buddy Bolden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Bolden Our walk begins in New Orleans, LA 1905 with Buddy Bolden: Charles Joseph "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877 – November 4, 1931) was a cornetist who was regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of ragtime music, or "jass", which later came to be known as jazz.

Scott Joplin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Joplin

1910, New York City is home to Scott Joplin: Joplin was a composer and pianist who achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the “King of Ragtime”. During his brief career, he wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces was the "Maple Leaf Rag.”

4 Sidney Bechet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Bechet

Next stop, the roaring 1920’s and back in New Orleans, LA to meet Sidney Bechet who was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, beating trumpeter Louis Armstrong to the recording studio by several months. His erratic temperament hampered his career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim.

Jimmie Lunceford https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Lunceford

The 1930’s saw the Great Depression which, “was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. However, music to some was the guiding light to a greater hope in life, it was time to meet: Jimmy Lunceford: He was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era. He was famous for making music that made people dance and “swing.”

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Listeners all over America heard the music of Duke Ellington's Orchestra as it was broadcast live from The Cotton Club, the most famous of Harlem ballrooms throughout the 1920s and '30s.

Big Bands of the Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem, New York, spanning the 1920s & 1930s. The Harlem Renaissance was about giving a voice to the experiences of African Americans, and nothing gave expression to the African American experience better than jazz. Jazz was born out of the Black experience in America, basically fusing African and European musical traditions. Jazz evolved from slave work songs, spirituals (religious Black American folk songs), blues, brass band music, and ragtime. Jazz, more than any other music, has been intimately linked with legal and social equality for all, particularly African Americans.

Harlem was the place to hear the best big bands often led by and consisting entirely of African Americans, including those led by: Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Chick Webb. Some of the very first coast-to-coast radio broadcasts were from Harlem ballrooms.

6 Blanche Calloway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanche_Calloway

1940’s “The Big Band Era,” and time to meet, “Blanche Calloway,” she was an American jazz singer, composer, and bandleader. She was the older sister of Cab Calloway and was a successful singer before her brother. With a music career that spanned over fifty years, Calloway was the first woman to lead an all-male orchestra and performed alongside musicians such as Cozy Cole, Chick Webb, and her brother. Her performing style was described as flamboyant and a major influence on her brother's performance style. Clifford Brown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Brown 1950’s – Clifford Brown - was an American jazz trumpeter. He died at the age of 25 in a car accident, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings. He was also a composer of note: three of his compositions, "Sandu," "Joy Spring" and "Daahoud", have become jazz standards.

Brown won the Down Beat critics' poll for New Star of the Year in 1954; he was inducted into the Down Beat "Jazz Hall of Fame" in 1972 in the critics' poll. He influenced later jazz trumpeters such as Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, and Lee Morgan.

7 Elvin Jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvin_Jones

1960’s – Elvin Jones was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed an interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan. He served in the United States Army from 1946 to 1949 and subsequently played in a Detroit house band led by Billy Mitchell. He moved to New York City in 1955 and worked as a sideman for Charles Mingus, Teddy Charles, Bud Powell and Miles Davis.

Wayne Shorter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Shorter

1970’s – Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to wide prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he went on to join Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, and from there he co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report. He has recorded over 20 albums as a bandleader.

8 Kirk Whalum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Whalum

1980’s Kirk Whalum is an American jazz saxophonist and songwriter. He toured with Whitney Houston for more than seven years and soloed in her single "I Will Always Love You", the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. He was also featured on many Luther Vandross albums, most often playing on the singer's covers of older pop and R&B standards such as "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "I (Who Have Nothing)", and "Love Won't Let Me Wait".

Jason Moran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Moran_(musician)

1990’s – Jason Moran is an American jazz pianist, composer and educator, heavily involved in multimedia art and theatrical installations. Moran recorded first with Greg Osby and debuted as a band leader with the 1999 album Soundtrack to Human Motion. Since then, he has released eight other albums—with his trio The Bandwagon, solo or leading other ensembles—and appeared in about 30 albums as a sideman. He has garnered much critical acclaim and won a number of awards for his playing and compositional skills, which combine elements of post-bop and avant-garde jazz, blues, classical music, stride piano, and hip hop, among others.

9 Victor Wooten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Wooten

2000’s – Hello Millennium!! Finally, here is Victor Wooten – He is an American bass guitarist, record producer, educator, and recipient of five Grammy Awards. He has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988 and a member of the band SMV with two other bassists, Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller. Since 2017 he has played bass for the metal band Nitro.

Esperanza Spalding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanza_Spalding

Esperanza Spalding, the Portland, Oregon-born jazz singer, bassist, and cellist displayed prodigious talents from an early age playing violin with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. She burst onto America’s jazz music scene with the release of her debut album Junjo in 2006, receiving favorable reviews from the likes of the New York Times’ critic Ben Ratliff. Since then, Spalding has gone on to win multiple Grammys including Best New Artist of 2010—the first jazz musician to be awarded this title—and Best Jazz Vocal Album for 2012’s Radio Music Society.

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Celebrate Black Migrations with Lake County Campus

The artist above are storytellers. Generations of musicians have seen both happy and sad times. Music is a universal language and this instrumental migration is our way of saying “we thank you” to the men and women who have paved the way for the next generation of musical storytellers. Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College will continue to celebrate Black History Month for years to come.

Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College 15880 Dam Rd Extensions, Clearlake, CA 95422

Phone (707) 995-7900 Lcc.yccd.edu

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