1950 and 1960s

A Home Within: Sathima Bea Benjamin

Singer/composer Sathima Bea Benjamin grew up in Cape Town watching movies and listening to jazz records from America. Rejecting a life under apartheid, her career took her to New York, where she now lives. In conversation with Gwen Ansell, Ms. Benjamin discusses, with sung and recorded illustrations, the emotions and debates American music stirred among Cape Town's jazz players and singers, and how America responded to the African contribution to jazz and world culture. Ms. Benjamin is accompanied by Onaje Allan Gumbs, piano.

"You Think You Know Me...": Part II

The continuation of Gwen Ansell's discussion of black radio stations and their struggle with the apartheid regime in South Africa. Click here for Part I.

"You Think You Know Me...": Jazz Broadcasting Under Apartheid (I)

Gwen Ansell discusses the strategies that South African musicians and radio stations used to overcome the apartheid regime's efforts at cultural cleansing by introducing black audiences to jazz, and thus making jazz "the quintessential music of struggle" in that country. Click here for Part II.

Jazz in South African Social Clubs (I)

South Africa is unusual in that jazz is the center of a lively popular music culture in that country, and not just a niche market. A major part of the South African jazz audience are members of organizations known as stockvels, which are part savings clubs, part music appreciation societies, and part social networking and patronage hubs. Gatherings there typically involve not only listening to jazz records, but improvising dance performances to them.

Jazz in South African Social Clubs (II)

South Africa is unusual in that jazz is the center of a lively popular music culture in that country, and not just a niche market. A major part of the South African jazz audience are members of organizations known as stockvels, which are part savings clubs, part music appreciation societies, and part social networking and patronage hubs. Gatherings there typically involve not only listening to jazz records, but improvising dance performances to them.

Jimmy Heath: "I Walked With Giants" (II)

In this video, saxophonist and composer Jimmy Heath talks with colleague Salim Washington about his new autobiography. In I Walked with Giants (Temple University Press, 2010), Heath creates a "dialogue" with musicians he has known and family members. This discussion expands on Heath's account of his life and career. He offers his thoughts on growing up in the big band era and the advent of bebop; on the experience and legacy of racial segregation; on the jazz tradition and the avant-garde; on the power of the music industry and what constitutes musical integrity and quality.

Conversation with Roy Nathanson (II)

The continuation of Nathanson's discussion of his career and work. Click here for Part I.

Conversation with Roy Nathanson (I)

Saxophonist Roy Nathanson talks about his experiences as a Columbia student during the unrest at the University and the militant aftermath during the late 1960s, his development as an artist in an astonishing variety of forms (including composition, songwriting, poetry, acting and teaching) his work with global stars and with high school students, and his basic need to "tell a story" no matter what artistic language he uses. Click here for Part II.

The Struggle and the Triumph of Latin Jazz (I)

Latin jazz artist and educator Bobby Sanabria and Columbia Professor of Music Chris Washburne discuss the recent elimination of the Latin jazz Category in the Grammy Awards. Surveying a broad panorama of the struggles and many triumphs of Latin jazz through the last century, they consider the implications of the Grammy Award decision for the future of this vibrant and interculturally expressive music.

Click here for Part II.

Noise to Signal: Retrieving Information from Jazz Recordings (II)

This talk by Dan Ellis and Douglas Repetto presents the basic tools of audio signal analysis for music information retrieval and the prospects for their useful application in jazz music collections. Click here for Part II.

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