The “Jackie Robinson” of classical music, after-the-jump ...
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Recently in my weekly grab-bag essay on Friday, October 4th: I was stretched for time as far as listing a song of the week, with just 1 hour before Cheers & Jeers was to post. Just then I noticed (in a list of celebrity birthdays that day) the words, musician Charles Burrell is 104.
I was unfamiliar with the name, and a quick search revealed that his nickname is the “Jackie Robinson of Classical Music”. And that he had a longer career as a modern jazz double-bassist. I wrote a quick bio, yet had trouble finding a YouTube video … all of which led me to do a follow-up on his amazing life in this space.
Born in Toledo, Ohio (and growing up in Detroit) at age twelve he heard the San Francisco Orchestra (under the direction of the French-born Pierre Monteux) on the radio … and vowed to play for that orchestra someday. Meanwhile, as a high school student he studied double bass at a magnet school in Detroit from two musicians in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. After graduation, he found work at a local jazz club.
Early in WW-II, he was drafted into an all-black naval unit near Chicago and performed with its big band (featuring future trumpet ace Clark Terry) and later studied at Wayne State University in Detroit (on the G.I. Bill) after the war.
In 1949 he joined his family in Denver and made history as the first African-American hired by a major symphony orchestra (today known as the Colorado Symphony). Ten years later he fulfilled his childhood dream by playing for the San Francisco Symphony — and especially when Pierre Monteux came back as a guest conductor. During that time, he was one of the first African-Americans admitted to the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory. Returning to Colorado in 1965, he met his wife Melanie: who was a cellist in the Colorado Symphony.
Yet all along he kept a career in jazz, especially in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, known as the jazz hub between Kansas City and the Bay Area. As the house bassist at the Rossonian Hotel in the district, he backed visiting stars such as Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Erroll Garner, Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton.
His legacy includes his cousin (the late pianist George Duke) and his niece (singer Dianne Reeves). He was a mentor to bassists Ray Brown and Major Holley and in 2017 was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.
Perhaps his most enduring legacy may be (as someone who attended a magnet school in Detroit), living long enough to have a new suburban Denver magnet school open in 2017 … and named after him.
Alas, I still can’t find a simple YouTube video with him playing a simple song (either classical or jazz). So here are two tribute videos: one for each genre.
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Now, on to Top Comments:
From thesphynx:
In the front-page story about the VP with Brett Baier - whitehouseblack's excellent description of the right-wing method of storytelling, and how Harris deftly sidestepped it in her Fox interview:
From snafuforyou:
In the front-page story about Kamala Harris holding a rally in Pennsylvania, with 100 GOP supporters of her campaign — I nominate SottoVoce for 'Statement of the day'!
Highlighted by GrannyCT:
In the diary by danarheaelliott, also extolling the VP’s interview— Huzzah!! a Top Comment!! (from denig).
Highlighted by patricia13:
In the diary by about omu on (what else? the interview) — this Top Comment made by Hodges.
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by BettyP about the more than 26k pregnancies resulting from rapes in Texas since Dobbs (and 64k cumulatively in states where abortion has been banned throughout pregnancy in all or most cases) — wandering in samsara casts an eye at the entertainment industry.
Some top photos:
From:annieli
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And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
20) Sounds pretty on-brand ;-) by alx9090 +9622) FEMA by Denise Oliver Velez +9428) Thank you for the update. … by bear83 +86