Cats of Any Color: Jazz Black and White

It Was Louis Armstrong Who Said, These People Who Make The Restrictions, They Don't Know Nothing About Music. It's No Crime For Cats Of Any Color To Get Together And Blow. You Can't Know What It Means To Be Black In The United States--in Any Field, Dizzy Gillespie Once Said, But Gillespie Vigorously Objected To The Proposition That Only Black People Could Play Jazz. If You Accept That Premise, Well Then What You're Saying Is That Maybe Black People Can Only Play Jazz. And Black People, Like Anyone Else, Can Be Anything They Want To Be. In Cats Of Any Color, Gene Lees Takes A Look At The Pervasiveness Of Racism In Jazz's Past And Present--both The White Racism That Long Ghettoized The Music And Generations Of Talented Black Musicians, And What Lees Maintains Is An Increasingly Virulent Reverse Racism Aimed At White Jazz Musicians. In Candid Interviews, Living Jazz Legends, Critics, And Composers Step Forward And Share Their Thoughts On How Racism Has Affected Their Lives. Dave Brubeck, Part Modoc Indian, Discusses Native Americans' Contribution To Jazz And The Deeply Ingrained Racism That For A Time Made It All But Impossible For Jazz Groups With Black And White Players To Book Tours And Television Appearances. Horace Silver Looks Back On His Long Career, Including The First Time He Ever Heard Jazz Played Live. Blacks Were Not Not Allowed Into The Pavilion In Connecticut Where Jimmie Lunceford's Band Was Performing, So The Ten-year-old Silver Listened And Watched Through The Wooden Slats Surrounding The Pavilion. And Oh Man! That Was It! Silver Recalls. Red Rodney Recalls His Early Days With Charlie Bird Parker, And Pianist And Composer Cedar Walton Tells Of The Time Duke Ellington Played At The Army Base At Ford Dix And Allowed The Young Enlisted Walton To Sit In. --from Publisher's Description. The Prez Of Louisville -- Dr. De Lerma, I Presume -- The Man On The Buffalo Nickel : Dave Brubeck -- Growing Up In Los Angeles : Ernie Andrews -- Father And Son : Horace Silver -- The Nine Lives Of Red Rodney -- The Philadelphia Connection : Benny Golson -- The Return Of Red Mitchell -- Three Sketches -- Jazz Black And White. Gene Lees. Essays From Gene Lees Jazzletter.