ARTSEDGE: Jazz in DC

From Fairmont Street to U Street, from the Howard Theater to the Bohemian Caverns, take a tour through jazz history with Billy Taylor and Frank Wess, who lead listeners through their hometow's music scene in this 6-part audio series.

A pianist and renowned radio and TV personality, Billy Taylor grew up in DC and went to college in Virginia. Sax and flute master Frank Wess spent his teen years in the District and graduated from Howard University. Through memories and music, they describe growing up in the nation's capital, their musical coming of age, and the people and places that are indelibly linked to the world of Jazz.

Beginnings (08:01)
Dr. Billy Taylor and Frank Wess share memories of Dunbar High School, long-gone DC clubs and of jazz legends Jelly Roll Morton and Lester Young.

Incubating Jazz (06:30)
In Part II of the series, Wess and Taylor share memories of growing up in music clubs around the region and reflect on the role DC had in the development of jazz.

Jazz Teachers, Jazz Masters (06:50)
Henry Grant was a music teacher who taught in Washington DC's black public high schools. Among his students count luminaries of Jazz history, including Duke Ellington— and Billy Taylor and Frank Wess, who remember him here.

Life in Segregated Washington, DC (07:37)
In this episode, Taylor and Wess talk about the upsides and down-sides of being African-American in the segregated Washington, DC of their childhood. Segregated theatres and restaurants, racist neighbors, and prejudiced law-enforcement made life in Shaw difficult. Despite this, African American-owned establishments in DC afforded a respite from some of these hardships— one of these havens being the prestigious Dunbar High School.

Bringing Jazz to Europe (05:36)
Teacher Mary Reese Europe was the sister of James Reese Europe, who brought jazz to France in WWI. In this episode, Taylor and Wess expound upon the influence of the two siblings, and Mary Reese Europe's teachings about singer Roland Hayes in prejudiced Germany prove an inspiration to her students.

Neighborhoods (07:36)
The Crystal Caverns, the Howard Theatre, and other venues in Washington DC allowed the teenage Wess and Taylor opportunities to see their idols in concert. In this episode, they discuss the great musicians who frequented these monuments of jazz history.

Unsung Heroes (07:36)
Washington, DC saw an influx and outflux of some of Jazz's greatest talent. In the final episode the series, Taylor and Wess talk about the relative anonymity of some originators, including Billy Eckstine and others who enjoyed only a short-lived celebrity.

Dr. Billy Taylor—pianist, broadcaster, teacher, author (and the Kennedy Center’s Artistic Advisor for Jazz)— has a musical career that spans nearly six decades. He has been playing the piano professionally since 1944, when he got his start with Ben Webster's Quartet on New York's famed 52nd Street. He then served as the house pianist at Birdland, the legendary jazz club where he performed with the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. His career in broadcast began in radio, bringing jazz to New York audiences; he moved to television as Musical Director of NBC's The Subject Is Jazz, the first ever television series on the subject, and was a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning.

Known for being a jazz flute pioneer as much as for his Lester Young-influenced saxophone work, Frank Wess has played jazz since he moved to DC in 1935. His classical training paired with a gift for jazz improvisation led to frequent work in DC based big bands. In 1944, shortly after his return from Army service (where he accompanied Josephine Baker in North Africa entertaining the troops), Wess joined the Billy Eckstine Orchestra. After a break to return to school—where he got a degree in flute—Wess joined the Count Basie Orchestra, where his gifts as a flutist complimented his sax work. After leaving the Basie orchestra, he made a name for himself as a sideman on some of jazz's most influential albums.