Earlier this year, at the new Howard Theatre (refurbished/redesigned at the same historic location into more of a cabaret configuration) hosted a day long program examining its history for an invited audience largely consisting of school children and seniors. This writer was engaged to give a short talk on the Howard Theatre’s rich history of jazz, with vocalist Angela Stribling on hand to sing at tasteful interludes and illustrate the great singers’ importance in that history. So take this abbreviated stroll through the incredible history of jazz at the Howard Theatre, one of the pillars of the storied “Chittlin’ Circuit” venues that were many a great black artist’s salvation during segregation.

JAZZ AT THE HOWARD THEATRE

The historic Howard Theatre as it looked back in the day…

Look around you – imagine that you’re sitting in a classic 1200-seat theatre with a show stage and a big movie screen. Now imagine that you’re going to school in this neighborhood, passing this big, shiny theater at 7th & T every day; watching people lining up on the sidewalk for the next show, or strolling out of the classic Howard Theatre in droves after happily spending their well-earned money on a great show. Now imagine yourself, a student on your way to school, with happy thoughts in your daydreaming mind about how you and your boys or your girls – or maybe both – are gonna spend your Saturday afternoon at the matinee in this great, big movie theater! That’s a pleasant daydream, isn’t it?

But there’s another reality at work here as well, because although for some young people such a thing might seem like something you only read about in a book, the fact is this same Howard Theatre was the very first legitimate theater IN THIS COUNTRY that was open to African Americans!!! Think about that for a minute… there was no grand downtown movie house, much less a 10 screen multiplex at the mall… This – the Howard Theatre – was IT, this was the only place in town where black folks could experience movies and shows! Now let’s daydream back to that time long ago when school kids passed this Howard Theatre eagerly awaiting that Saturday matinee when mom, dad, big brother, big sister took you, or maybe you went with your pals – your crew – to see the shows. You walked up to the ticket window and plunked down your 40 cents. (Yes, I said 40 cents!!!) And by shows, I’m talking about a real all-day experience… where they dim the lights as the latest cartoon features pop up on the screen, followed by a feature film – maybe some jive Tarzan movie, or the Lone Ranger, or maybe some Shirley Temple movie with the great Bill “Bojangles” Robinson doing some impossible dance.

THEN… the screen rolls up and the band hits the stage. In the earliest days of the Howard Theatre, a lot of that music would be played by the greatest, the hottest jazz bands and singers in the country. I’m talking about Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton, Jimmie Lunceford… and of course Washington, DC’s own Duke Ellington.

Our daydream continues: the band would play their hot, happy music and you’d be literally dancing in your seat! Stick around, that same fantastic dancing man you just saw on the screen entertaining little Shirley Temple, the great Bill “Bojangles” Robinson is coming to life on the Howard Theatre stage, right before your very eyes, right after Duke’s band plays! And all of that for 40 cents! But wait, the show ain’t over yet, here comes that beautiful lady with the gardenia in her hair – Billie Holiday, the one they call Lady Day – she’s up next to sing some of her songs; or maybe its Ella Fitzgerald herself – yeah, the same lady who as an inexperienced youngster won the Howard Theatre amateur contest.

Then, after the singer sang her songs, the show must be over, right? No, here comes a comedian, maybe its Moms Mabley or Redd Foxx, to get folks from dancing in the aisles to howling with laughter in their seats.

The curtain comes down, the show is over, and its time to leave, right? No, that 40 cents got you in the place, so maybe you decide to stay for the next show, or if the adults are coming in because night has fallen, maybe you sneak up to the balcony… That was the Howard Theatre folks, a place where your entertainment dollar sure went a long way.

What about the history of jazz music at the Howard Theatre? Before R&B, before Motown, before James Brown, before Chuck Brown brought go-go to the palace at 7th & T Streets, jazz music was king at the Howard Theatre. The Howard Theatre built its reputation on Jazz music. Ever heard of James Reese Europe’s Clef Club Orchestra? The year the Howard Theatre opened, in 1910, James Reese Europe’s famous Clef Club Orchestra was one of the headliners. That same year James Reese Europe, who was born in Mobile, AL and grew up in DC, had organized the Clef Club as a society for African Americans in the music industry, the very first musicians union for black artists. In 1912 the Clef Club Orchestra was the first band to play a kind of early or proto-jazz – at the famed Carnegie Hall, which at that time was the most important concert hall in America. This was a very important event in jazz history because it was the first time a jazz-like music had been performed on a major concert hall stage.

James Reese Europe later became a lieutenant in the Army and during World War l, in 1918, he took an all-black military band – from the regiment known as the Harlem Hellfighters – to France; they became the first band to play early jazz sounds in Europe. They played all over France for American and British soldiers as well as for French civilians. Unfortunately James Reese Europe came to a premature and tragic end. In 1919 one of his drummers got so mad at Europe scolding him for bad behavior that he lunged at Europe with a pen knife, plunging that knife in Europe’s neck and leaving a wound so bad that Europe died during the night. But besides his other pioneering efforts, James Reese Europe’s Clef Club Orchestra was one of the first jazz bands to play the Howard Theatre when it opened in 1910, playing songs like this.

All of the great big bands played the Howard. One band that was always popular at the Howard was the unique all-woman, multi-cultural band known as the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

Some of the great white bands also played at the Howard: Artie Shaw, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Louis Prima and others enjoyed Howard Theatre audiences; in fact the Howard was not a segregated theater; during its heyday folks estimated that sometimes a quarter of the audience would be white patrons who loved black music and entertainment. After the big bands the Howard Theatre became a home for modern jazz legends, like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and later Miles Davis and John Coltrane. The music that people like Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie were playing became known as modern jazz, or bebop. This was music that was not as simple to dance to as the big bands…

Besides these “modern” players, new generations of singers followed artists like the Billie Holidays, Billy Eckstines, and Ella Fitzgeralds onto the Howard Theater stage, including Dinah Washington and later Nancy Wilson. Nancy Wilson’s manager, John Levy, was one of the first African American artist managers. The great alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, who had played with Miles Davis and John Coltrane, first introduced John Levy to the young Nancy Wilson, newly arrived in New York from Chillicothe, Ohio. Besides Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley, John Levy was also the personal manager of two other artists who were popular in DC: Ramsey Lewis (who recorded his first big hit “In Crowd” right down U Street at the Bohemian Caverns) and singer-songwriter Oscar Brown Jr.

Here’s an example of how hip the shows were at the Howard, the kind of thing you just don’t see today. The show opens with a half-hour set by the Ramsey Lewis Trio, followed by a half-hour set by Cannonball Adderley, who then introduces Nancy Wilson. To end her set Nancy sang what was then a big hit song for her, the tune “Guess Who I Saw Today.” That’s basically a song about a woman who talks about how she spent her day, ending with her walking into a restaurant and spotting her husband with another woman. That tune famously ends with Nancy singing “Guess who I saw today… I saw YOU”…, delivered with maximum drama.

So on this John Levy show at the Howard, Nancy sings the tune, with its storytelling lyrics, and as she comes to the last words she strolls across the stage to an easy chair whose back is facing the audience. Someone is seated in that chair but the audience can’t see who it is. As she reaches the end of the tune and sings “Guess who I saw today? I saw… YOU”, the desk chair swings toward the audience and there’s Oscar Brown Jr. sitting in the chair; at which point Nancy passes the microphone to Oscar and Oscar begins his set with his hit tune “But I Was Cool.”

Let’s be clear about one thing: the Howard Theatre legend was built on jazz music, which flourished in this great theater.

THE RESTORED HOWARD THEATREf

We return to our ongoing series of dialogues, Ain’t But a Few of Us, Black music writers tell their story with a true scholar of the music, Tammy Kernodle. I first met Tammy years ago when she gave delivered a very thoughtful, informative talk on NEA Jazz Master Mary Lou Williams at an IAJE conference. Since then Ms. Kernodle has authored a definitive MLW biography, Soul to Soul. Currently a Professor of Musicology at Miami University (Ohio), Tammy matriculated at Virginia State University with a degree in Music and achieved her PhD at Ohio State in Music History. She has served as Scholar in Residence at the American Jazz Museum (Kansas City, MO) and has contributed to Musical Quarterly and the American Music Research Journal, as well as the anthology Women’s Voices Across Musical Worlds. Additionally she is an associate editor of the Encyclopedia of African American Music. She is a contributor to the recent, long overdue and quite comprehensive Black Music Journal published by the Center for Black Music Research on the subject of the too long neglected NEA Jazz Master Melba Liston and her considerable contributions.

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO WRITE ABOUT SERIOUS MUSIC IN THE FIRST PLACE?
I was student teaching in a school whose student population was 90% black, but the faculty/staff of color constituted only 2%. In trying to create lesson plans that went beyond the standard Western canon, I found that there was a small body of scholarship that focused on the development of African American music, but not much in the way of public school curriculum. I really wanted to do more than just show up and do the typical “Beethoven was Black” lecture. I wanted to expose them to not only African American concert composers, but also jazz musicians and other forms of popular culture. I was already investigating graduate programs and decided to delve deeper into what musicology was about. I applied and was accepted to a graduate program in the Midwest (I won’t call the name) and arrived to find that most of my peers were writing dissertations on the Renaissance. The resistance I experienced from some (not all) of my professors in studying and writing about the music of African Americans only inspired me to pursue it even further. I realized that the only reason why an educated, trained professor would stand in the front of a class of graduate students and say that “no American, no Black and no Woman has ever made any substantial contribution to music” was because 1) his training was limited and he had never been exposed to anything beyond the Western canon; 2) The body of literature that framed the canon or the central focus of most music history or music courses needed to be expanded. So I found my purpose in the attempts to suppress my passion for writing about and teaching black music (concert and popular). My writing has one purpose—to expand our understanding of the historical and musicological contexts that have been framed in and through the American experience. I want to write excluded and ignored artists into the canonic history we so precious defend and protect. I don’t write just to write or publish just for the sake of having another line on my resume. I’m very strategic and the subject matter must resonate with me. I grow through the writing I do.

WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED WRITING ABOUT MUSIC WERE YOU AWARE OF THE DEARTH OF AFRICAN AMERICANS WRITING ABOUT SERIOUS MUSIC?
Yes.

WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE THAT’S STILL SUCH A GLARING DISPARITY – WHERE YOU HAVE A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF BLACK MUSICIANS MAKING SERIOUS MUSIC BUT SO FEW BLACK MEDIA COMMENTATORS ON THE MUSIC?
This is a hard question. I think part of the problem is that you have diversely trained people out there writing about music and because our methodology approaches to analysis, and use of language is dictated by our training some get excluded from certain opportunities. I’m amazed at how sometimes a cultural theorist or scholar in the area of English or Women Studies will get a writing gig from a certain publication or institution in lieu of a person trained as an Ethnomusicologist or Musicologist. Now, I’m not saying that those individuals are not capable of writing about music, but their approach to it is completely different. Sometimes the prose or narrative takes on a colloquial tone that fails to frame the performance aesthetic of musicians in a language that is comparable to scholarship on concert or classical music. Those individuals become the “central” or only black voices heard, as opportunities are not filtered to individuals who have different training or experiences with the music. I think the road to writing in major publications (trade magazines, etc.) is circuitous for many black scholars. I’m not hating on anyone (trained or untrained) because I can appreciate anyone who takes the time to accurately and seriously write about music, especially black music and not trivialize it. I also believe unless we develop a passion for writing and analyzing the world around us instead of pushing young people to choose a profession that’s going to pay “big,” there’s going to be this dearth.

DO YOU THINK THAT DISPARITY OR DEARTH OF AFRICAN AMERICAN JAZZ WRITERS CONTRIBUTES TO HOW THE MUSIC IS COVERED?
Yes and no. I believe its one of the very reasons why some musicians have been excluded from serious discussions regarding the evolution of jazz after 1965 and why we see the repeated deification of certain artists. I think that there are certain aspects of the history that require a nuanced reading that can only be gained through lived-experience. Jazz has become canonized in such a way that many believe that we have not progressed beyond certain genres and musicians. I’m waiting to see the history expand to more coverage of regional scenes and musicians who are shaping the music where they are. Before Hurricane Katrina, the HBO series Treme and the rising popularity of New Orleans musicians like Trombone Shorty, who was really talking about the New Orleans jazz scene? I have yet to see one jazz history book revisit New Orleans after the closing of Storyville. My point is we need writers to evolve organically from or forge relationships with communities/musicians that are often ignored by the culture industry to continue to expand the historical context.

SINCE YOU’VE BEEN WRITING ABOUT SERIOUS MUSIC, HAVE YOU EVER FOUND YOURSELF QUESTIONING WHY SOME MUSICIANS MAY BE ELEVATED OVER OTHERS, AND IS IT YOUR SENSE THAT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE LACK OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY AMONG WRITERS COVERING THE MUSIC?

Yes. It’s always baffled me how someone like Wynton [Marsalis] could be elevated as the “voice” of jazz when individuals like Bertha Hope, Billy Taylor, Carline Ray or Roy Haynes who “lived” and experienced the music as it was developing are never quoted or even talked about. I don’t have a problem with Wynton, but his lived experience in jazz begins in the 1970s if not 1980s. What can he tell you—that extends beyond what you can read–about the rent party culture of Harlem during the 1940s? I’ve sat at the feet of Billy Taylor and heard him talk about hearing a young Thelonious Monk play at a rent party. Taylor left this earth without recounting much of the history he was a part of in the public forums that have been granted to musicians who give you a bunch of repeated anecdotes, sound bites and stories. The same can be said for Carline Ray, who played with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and worked extensively with Mary Lou Williams in the 1970s and early 1980s. How many writers are going to take the time to develop relationships with pioneering musicians? I’m not slamming Wynton because I believe he does take the promotion of jazz very seriously, but the history of jazz will not be complete if we continue to privilege the voices of some musicians over others. I’m not going to get into the gendered aspects of jazz writing that’s a can of worms that reflects a narrow viewpoint amongst black and white writers.

WHAT’S YOUR SENSE OF THE INDIFFERENCE OF SO MANY AFRICAN AMERICAN-ORIENTED PUBLICATIONS TOWARDS SERIOUS MUSIC, DESPITE THE FACT THAT SO MANY AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS CONTINUE TO CREATE SERIOUS MUSIC?
First many of these publications are no longer black-owned. So the diverse and organic type of coverage of our community has been diluted down to whoever or whatever is popular. They are struggling for relevance against the People magazines of the world. So unfortunately they replicate the templates of white oriented magazines. I look at old issues of Jet and Ebony [magazines] and I’m amazed at the amount of range of coverage black music received. Popular culture in the form of rap, R&B and soul are advanced as “authentic” representations of blackness, which means we have regressed in our own understanding of who we are and what we do. Outside of DownBeat did any black publication discuss Jason Moran’s appointment as Artistic Director of Jazz at the Kennedy Center? Is anyone talking about black singers on the operatic stage? No but go through the last few years of Ebony, Essence or Jet and you will see Beyoncé at least three times; Kerry Washington from “Scandal” at least three times. But where is Angela Brown? Where is Audra McDonald who just made history at the Tony Awards? You won’t see them because that’s not who we as a community embrace or offer as examples of success. More importantly in general we are a public that wants small bits of information that is accessible through our smart phones and tablets. We engage completely different with the published word today, so in order to remain relevant these publications have to tap into what interest the prominent demographic. It’s a really conundrum.

HOW WOULD YOU REACT TO THE CONTENTION THAT THE WAY AND TONE OF HOW SERIOUS MUSIC IS COVERED HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH WHO IS WRITING ABOUT IT?
I think there are instances where this is true, but overall I would not apply this to every situation. I’ve read the work of some white writers that I would have sworn were black because of their treatment of the subject matter.

IN YOUR EXPERIENCE WRITING ABOUT SERIOUS MUSIC WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF YOUR MOST REWARDING ENCOUNTERS?
I met the family of Mary Lou Williams shortly after one of my first articles on her appeared in a journal. During the Q&A of a public lecture I gave on Williams, her niece stood up and thanked me for my work. She said that I had captured the essence of her aunt and her passion for music. Man, it almost took me out. I don’t know how I held it together. That was priceless to me! Because those were the people who knew her the most. I’ve had a lot of people over the years come to me and say thanks for writing about black women musicians the way you do. I so appreciate your work and that’s what makes it all worth all the struggles I have sometimes in finding resources or finding the right way in which to describe the music.

WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED – BESIDES DIFFICULT EDITORS AND INDIFFERENT PUBLICATIONS – IN YOUR EFFORTS AT COVERING SERIOUS MUSIC?
Family members and their perspectives on their relative’s life and music. Sometimes people have their own agendas and they believe they can dictate what you write, even if it’s not true. My earliest work was on the operas of William Grant Still. Initially his daughter was a supporter of my scholarship (she provided me with many of the materials I’ve used in my work) and when she realized I wasn’t willing to repeat some of the commonly held beliefs that circulated amongst her family members because there was no definitive truth, I became her mortal enemy. My work never dismissed these beliefs, but I could not in good conscious substantiate them. She first wrote a letter to my alma mater requesting that they rescind my thesis because it was “blasphemous” and defamed the legacy of her father’s memory; then when she was ignored she launched a tour complete with the 5-page single spaced typed letter she sent me. I know this sounds crazy, but it’s all true!! I would get messages from people who said I went to this conference and Judith Still was there and she had this display that had her letter to you, etc. I wanted to go straight gangsta on her, but I realized that I was not the only scholar she was targeting. Over the years I would randomly receive these letters from her harassing me further. I never responded. One other scholar actually hired a lawyer; I didn’t because her plan of discrediting me only made my scholarship more popular. But it took a mental and spiritual toll on me and I grew to hate the music of William Grant Still. She is one of the very reasons why I and many other scholars no longer write on Still. But that’s the price you pay when dealing with individuals who have their own readings of their family member’s life and music. What was most distressing is she took issue with two pages of a 70+-page document. Nothing misaligned her family or her father’s music. She just read what she wanted to in those pages. I learned from that scenario that integrity is more important than popularity, but there’s a cost. She reached out to me a few years ago to participate in a conference of Still, but she specified that she wanted me to present on women musicians. I never replied! I didn’t go either because I knew I probably would have caught a case if I were in the same room as her. While I still try and reach out to living musicians and/or family members, I’m more aware of the challenges that some time comes with this. I know my response is long, but the only other obstacle I’ve faced is people wanting to be paid for being interviewed. Even when I explain that I’m writing for scholarly journals I’ve had people blow me off when I can’t pay them for just relating their experiences. I experienced a lot of that when writing my book on Mary Lou Williams. I really tried to talk to as many of the musicians who played with her. Some were cool; others were just plain rude when they learned I had no budget to pay them. That attitude is one of the very reasons that I haven’t seen anyone write on them or mention them in jazz history books.

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MOST INTRIGUING NEW RECORDS YOU’VE ENCOUNTERED RECENTLY?
Hmm there have been a few I’ve been listening to—Cecile Salvant’s “Womanchild” and Gregory Porter’s “Liquid Spirit.” I really like the unique perspective they took in their song choices and performance approaches.

As the 2014 Monterey Jazz Festival Artist-In-Residence (check the September ’14 Archives for our report on MJF), drummer Eric Harland was quite literally everywhere. Over the course of that weekend he performed five times, including twice with his own band Voyager, twice with Charles Lloyd (Sangam with percussionist Zakir Hussain and as part of the master’s quartet), and with MJF’s high school all-star Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. At 36 Harland is part of a remarkable generation of musicians to have impacted the scene after arriving from Houston over the last decade or so; a group which includes pianists Jason Moran, Robert Glasper, and Helen Sung, fellow drummer Kendrick Scott, and tenor man Walter Smith 111 (who is also a member of Eric’s Voyager band), just to name a few. Since his arrival Harland has made over 200 record dates and performed with several NEA Jazz Masters, including ancestors Betty Carter and Joe Henderson, and newly-minted 2015 NEAJM Charles Lloyd. Clearly some questions were in order for one of the busiest drummers on the current scene.

Your new record is Vipassana; talk about that title and is the title in direct thematic relation to the compositions on the record?
I got the title Vipassana from the actual Vipassana meditation that means “know thyself”. This “know thyself” meditation practice is in reference to understanding that external situations do not have to affect your state of being. Basically when things occur you do have a choice of how to react. Vipassana’s title is in direct thematic relation to the album. I desired that all the songs and overall vibe of the album should in someway reflect what I felt in my meditation of Vipassana.

I find it interesting in light of often witnessing drummers – including some of the masters, like Max Roach and Elvin Jones – make recordings as leaders that do not include chording instruments in their bands. For Vipassana you’ve chosen to have not only piano/keyboards, but also two guitarists in your band for this record. Explain how this particular configuration best served your vision for this record.

I love chordal instruments. They allow me a chance to hear life in a harmonic way. Also with them being chordal, they provide a more ambient setting which allows the rhythm to be more present. But to explain how this pairing of guitarist/pianist serves my vision… Well they each have their own sound and can play multiple notes at once, allowing for more of a range of sound and texture… which is definitely what I was hearing for this album.

From all of your many experiences, including SF Jazz Collective, the Charles Lloyd Quartet and so many others, what did those experiences teach you in terms of making your own record?
Those experiences helped me to see clearer that I actually had something that I wanted to say musically via my own album. Also by working with great masters like Charles Lloyd, Dave Holland, Zakir Hussain and many others, it naturally blessed my ideas in ways even I wouldn’t have imagined.

ERIC HARLAND AS DRUM EDUCATOR

You had to be about the busiest musician on the festival at the recent Monterey Jazz Festival – playing two sets with Charles Lloyd under different instrumental circumstances, playing two gigs with your own band Voyager, and playing with the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra high school all-stars, etc. What was that weekend like for you?
That weekend was simply amazing. I was actually “Artist in Residence” which was an honor, giving me an experience to work with the kids and see how inspired they were by music. Another highlight for me was definitely being able to debut the Voyager band. But yes, the weekend was non-stop… moving from stage to stage performing completely different material from the other, being approached by a multitude of fans with questions, making sure you remember to eat, checking in on other fabulous bands and having chance to see all my friends and family in one place.

At the Blue Note @ 75 panel discussion Robert Glasper talked about all the musicians who went to that same high school in Houston. What was that high school creative environment like and how have so many of you risen to prominence?
Yes, that high school was definitely a chance to spend time (not only with other exciting artist) but with your own craft as well. It was actually encouraged. That program proved to me that when you are supported so early on in your development, it just gives you more time to express/discover yourself to an even higher level… which is clearly seen by the success of HSPVA’s alumni.

What have you got planned next?
I’m an Artist, I don’t plan… I create. So what I’m working on now is:
1) I’m one of the new SFJAZZ resident Artistic Directors for 2014-2016 seasons. People can tune in there to see what exciting things I’ll be doing at SFJAZZ.org
2) JamesFarm’s new album is coming out this month. That band consist of Joshua Redman, Matt Penman, Aaron Parks and me.
3) PRISM, a band including Dave Holland, Kevin Eubanks, Craig Taborn and me are getting ready to record our 2nd album.
4) I have a new album that I’m currently working on 🙂
5) and as always, on tour…
Charles Lloyd Quartet

JamesFarm
Sangam
Aaron Goldberg Trio
Voyager
Dave Holland PRISM

and more.
You can checkout my schedule via my website ericharland.com
Also you can follow/like me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

After hearing nothing but great things about the documentary film “Keep on Keepin’ On,” including a ‘you MUST see this film’ order from Christian McBride‘s Twitter feed, I got an email invitation to a screening of the film at the AFI Theater in Silver Spring, MD. On an inviting fall Saturday afternoon what a distinct pleasure it was to spend those 84 minutes with this lovely film! “Keep on Keepin’ On” is a truly wonderful film and an abject lesson in mentoring young people.

Based on the warm and loving relationship between NEA Jazz Master Clark Terry, one of the purest spirits this music has ever produced, and the aspiring young pianist Justin Kauflin, “Keep on Keepin’ On” is equal parts love letter to jazz, tribute to CT, object lesson in the importance of nurturing and mentoring young people, and above all a love letter to the human spirit. Throughout the film, despite his poor and often bed ridden state of health, owing largely to nearly a lifetime of suffering from diabetes, Clark Terry gives love and drops science on a young man who is likely to follow in Clark’s footsteps, as a giving soul and as a significant player. Doubtless education will also become part of young Justin’s future; how could it not after spending so much quality time with one of the pioneers of jazz education!

Justin Kauflin playing for Clark

That the film is produced by Quincy Jones, Clark Terry’s first in an endless line of students and mentees, is all the more poignant as Q has in turn taken young Kauflin under his wing and is producing the pianist’s debut recording. The film is also a tribute to the strength and love Gwen Terry shares with her husband. We meet Justin’s parents and learn how a degenerative condition took his eyesight at age 11 and how neither that catharsis nor his ensuing challenges will keep this unusual young man from mastering the jazz piano. And director Alan Hicks, himself a Clark Terry mentee as a drummer, has skillfully woven in exceptional biographical footage of Clark Terry, from his St. Louis roots, through his Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Tonight Show band triumphs. We hear Clark recounting how a certain churlish old musician purposely gave him false trumpet playing information as a youngster and how CT vowed he would never similarly treat young musicians he would subsequently encounter.

These elements are all satellites orbiting around the film’s core – Clark Terry as giving spirit and mentor supreme. Filmgoers will witness Clark’s troubles with the various infirmities of old age, including not only the loss of his sight but also the amputation of his legs and the very real sadness and resignation of that fate as Clark and Gwen go through medical regimens and eventual capitulation to the ravages of diabetes. Though he pauses to reflect sadly on that loss of mobility, his true spirit of giving is never dampened, never deterred. There is a touching mutuality between CT and Justin as each in his own way is uplifted by the other on so many levels, from their shared vision challenges to the challenges of playing the music in the true spirit of jazz. Throughout the film there are vignettes and testimony lovingly offered by other younger artists Mr. Terry has touched, such as a certain rail thin young trumpeter from East St. Louis, IL who declared Clark Terry his “first idol”, a certain Miles Davis. Dianne Reeves, another student of the master, also extends much love in the film.

Every aspiring musician and parent of aspiring musicians should see this film, it is a triumph of the human spirit of both mentor and student. Here’s a link to the trailer for “Keep On Keepin’ On”. If you see one film this season, you must see “Keep On Keepin’ On”.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/keeponkeepinon/