I was also excited on those occasions when a jazz great sang the national anthem before one of our games. Cab Calloway, a major jazz star from the Harlem Renaissance, sang the national anthem several times at Warrior games in Oakland. Grover Washington Jr. performed it, and Earth, Wind, and Fire have played it both at the Forum and the Staples Center. My favorite jazz instrumental version of the national anthem is Wynton Marsalis’s performance at the 1986 Super Bowl XX. My favorite vocal version by a jazz singer was sung by Al Jarreau. I don’t know if hearing a jazz artist perform the national anthem made me play any better, but I like to think so.
It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing
“The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician,” said Louis Armstrong. “Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the backyard on a hot night or something said long ago.” The memory of things gone is important to all of us, because the more we know about the past—our personal past as well as that of the rest of humanity—the better we can choose which direction to go in the future.
In the large scope of things, that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar likes jazz is pretty insignificant. But what isn’t insignificant is the impact jazz has had on African-American history as well as American history. The men and women who created and refined the jazz sound during the Harlem Renaissance had America dancing and moving to a sound it had never heard before. And they had white Americans appreciating black artists as they never had before.
Certainly we are not obligated to listen to jazz just because it has historical significance. All the jazz greats from the Harlem Renaissance such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong would be horrified if they saw children being spoon-fed jazz as if it were some bitter-but-good-for-you medicine. I feel the same way. I hope that through your exposure to the history of jazz and through my history with jazz, you’ll be curious enough to play a few of the tunes discussed. But if you don’t, jazz will endure. Because, in the end, jazz isn’t about musical theory or historical significance or even personal memories.
It’s about toe-tapping.
It’s about head-bobbing.
It’s about wanting to get up out of your chair and move your body just because you’re alive and the world is fat with possibilities—and because it just feels so good to swing.
Photo Credits
© John Bach: Courtesy of John Isaacs: © Richard Lapchick:
Bibliography
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Anderson, Paul Allen. Deep River: Music and Memory in Harlem Renaissance Thought. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001.
Ashe, Jr., Arthur. A Hard Road to Glory: The African-American Athlete in Basketball. New York: Amistad, 1988.
Baker, Jr., Houston A. Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Banks, Jr., William H., ed. Beloved Harlem: A Literary Tribute to Black America’s Most Famous Neighborhood, from the Classics to the Contemporary. New York: Harlem Moon, 2005.
Bontemps, Arna. The Harlem Renaissance Remembered: Essays Edited with a Memoir. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1972.
Davis, Francis. The History of the Blues. New York: Hyperion, 1995.
Feather, Leonard. From Satchmo to Miles. New York: Stein and Day, 1972.
Floyd, Samuel A., ed. Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1990.
Floyd, Samuel A. The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
George, Nelson. Elevating the Game: Black Men and Basketball. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Greenberg, Cheryl Lynn. Or Does It Explode? Black Harlem in the Great Depression. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Haskins, Jim, et al. Black Stars of the Harlem Renaissance. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992.
Hill, Laban Carrick. Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2003.
Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Jones, LeRoi. Black Music. New York: William Morrow, 1967.
Kitwana, Bakari. The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture. BasicCivitas Books, 2002.
Kuska, Bob. Hot Potato: How Washington and New York Gave Birth to Black Basketball and Changed America’s Game Forever. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004.
Lapchick, Richard E. Smashing Barriers: Race and Sport in the New Millennium. New York: Madison Books, 2001.
Lewis, David Levering. The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. New York: Penguin Books, 1994.
Locke, Alain, ed. The New Negro: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Touchstone, 1992.
Margolies, Edward. Native Sons: A Critical Study of Twentieth-century Negro American Authors. New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1968.
Oakley, Giles. The Devil’s Music: A History of the Blues. New York: Taplinger, 1976.
Oliver, Paul. Blues Fell This Morning: Meaning in the Blues, 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Osofsky, Gilbert. Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto, Negro New York, 1890–1930. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
Peterson, Robert W. Cages to Jump Shots: Pro Basketball’s Early Years. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.
Ramsey, Jr., Guthrie P. Race Music: Black Cultures from BeBop to Hip-Hop. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
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Spencer, Jon Michael. The New Negroes and Their Music: The Success of the Harlem Renaissance. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1997.
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Acknowledgments
I wish to thank all who helped get this project up and running—a list that must begin with the late Dr. John Clarke, who conceived the Harlem Youth Action Project. It was during my participation in HARYOU-ACT that I first learned of the enormous contribution black Americans have made to the United States and world culture. I must also acknowledge Mr. Arthur Schomburg, whose Harlem museum is a treasure trove of history that encompasses so many particulars of black achievement. I would also be remiss if I didn’t give heartfelt thanks to my cowriter, Raymond Obstfeld, whose talent and dedication permeates every chapter of this book; and to my financial guru, Deborah Morales, whose day-to-day contribution and unerring energy greatly helped to lighten my load as we saw this sometimes daunting project to completion.
To my good friend Rafee Kamaal for sharing my dream and encouraging me to put in written form the story line that ended up as this book. I’m also grateful to the film’s investors, who were willing to risk loss, so convinced were they that this vital piece of heritage be preserved. They include the Dreier family, Ozzie Silna, Michelle Brown, Michael Carabini, Grant Hill, Chris Webber, Erika Bjork, Stephon Marbury, Etan Thomas, Jerry Reinsdorf on behalf of the Chicago Bulls, Allison Weiss-Brady and Chip Brady, and Rodney Hunt. Thank you one and all for your friendship and support. A special thanks to Chad Dreier, the first to step up and offer
me his hand in friendship, not to mention his business acumen. It has also been my good fortune to have the backing of Bob Costas and Dennis Gilbert, two dear friends who saw me through a difficult period of transition. To Herbie Hancock for his insightful musical genius and Spike Lee for his gracious guidance that helped make this dream a reality. To will.i.am for embracing our cultural heritage by integrating these musical insights into today’s hip-hop culture. My art team, Dustin Tanalin and Jeremy Castro were invaluable for their creative and artistic contributions. Many thanks to my editor, Kerri Kolen, for helping put all the pieces together. And finally, I extend my gratitude to the NBA, the Basketball Hall of Fame, the NBA Players Association, the Chicago Bulls, and the Los Angeles Lakers for helping to spread the word throughout the basketball community that we are, all of us, truly standing on the shoulders of giants.
Index
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem: aspirations of awards and honors for childhood and youth of “giants” in life of as Harlem Renaissance Man name change for passions of personality of post-basketball career of and rewriting history role models for self-definition of self-education of self-pride/respect of skyhook of as team player at UCLA as writer See also specific topic
African Blood Brotherhood
African Jazz-Art Society
African Nationalist Pioneer Movement (ANPM)
Afro-American Institute
Afro-American Realty Company
Afro-Americans. See black people Alcindor, Ferdinand
Alcindor, Lew. See Abdul-Jabbar Kareem
Alcindor, Cora
Alcindor, Steven
All-Star Team, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s
American Basketball Association (ABA)
American Basketball League (ABL)
Amos ’n’ Andy (radio/TV/films)
Andrade, Vernon
Angelou, Maya
Apollo Theater
Armstrong, Louis “Satchmo”: at Apollo Theater awards and honors for black reactions to and blues and civil rights Davis compared with death of Ellington’s praise for and Great Migration and healing powers of music and importance of history to jazz influence on KA-J of inspiring moments of jazz comment of jazz definition of as jazz great legacy of and origins of jazz personal and early professional background of and race issues at Renaissance Casino and rent parties style of
art/artists: and art for art’s sake Du Bois’s views about and end of Harlem Renaissance function of Hughes’ views about Johnson’s views about as leaders of black social movement on Lenox Avenue and politics as propaganda at Schomburg Center See also musicians; writer(s); specific person
Ashe, Arthur
Back-to-Africa movement
Bailey, Pearl
Baldwin, James
Bamboozled (film)
baseball
Basie, Count
basketball: barnstorming in Douglas as father of black and Harlem Renaissance KA-J’s early interest in KA-J’s passion for in nightclubs popularity of professionalization of and race issues as social event as team sport See also World Professional Basketball Tournament; specific player or team
beatings, at Holy Providence
Belafonte, Harry
Bell, Clarence “Puggy,”
The Birth of a Nation (film)
Black Arts Movement
Black Bohemia
Black Liberation Flag
Black Muslims
black nationalism
black people: exploitation of foreign-born hope/optimism of identity of images of imitation of whites by inferiority of jazz as history of middle class in military name to call racial hierarchy among self-hatred of self-image of as spiritually superior people as in vogue See also New Negro; Talented Tenth; working-class blacks; specific person
Black Profiles in Courage (KA-J)
Black Star Line Steamship Corporation
blackface
Blake, Eubie
Blakey, Art
blues: black reactions to and boll weevil call-and-response in city and Conventional White Wisdom country and country music definition of Du Bois’s views about gut-bucket Handy as father of the and Harlem Renaissance and Hughes influence of the instruments for and jazz Memphis modern variations of the origins of popularity of the and race issues Rainey as mother of recordings of the in the South white acceptance of the women as singers of
Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich
boll weevil
Bontemps, Arna
boxing
Braithwaite, William Stanley
Bratton, Johnny
Brooklyn Dodgers
Brother to Brother (film)
Brothers in Arms (KA-J)
Brown, Sterling
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Bryant, Vincent “Doc
Bunche, Ralph
Buy Black Campaign
call-and-response
Calloway, Cab
Carmichael, Stokely
Celtics See also Original Celtics
Chamberlain, Wilt
Chicago American newspaper
Chicago Defender newspaper
children: literature/verse for and racial pride role models for
Civic Club dinner (New York City 1924)
civil rights
Clarke, John Henrik
Clayton, Zack
Clef Club
Club Deluxe
Club Kentucky
Coffey Club
Cole, Nat “King
Colored Basketball World Championships
Coltrane, John
Commonwealth Big Five
Commonwealth Casino
Communism/Marxism
Connie’s Inn
Cooks, Carlos A.
coon songs
Coon, Zip
Cooper, Charles “Tarzan,”
CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)
Cotton Club
Cotton Comes to Harlem (film)
country music
Cowley, Malcolm
Crane, Hart
Crane, Stephen
The Crisis (NAACP newspaper)
Cullen, Countee: alienation of on art and politics black reactions to work of and civil rights and dicty and Du Bois Fauset’s support for and Fire!! magazine and Harlem nightclubs and Harlem Renaissance as homosexual and Hughes influence on KA-J of influence of and Locke and NAACP and New Negro personal and professional background of and race issues and Talented Tenth and Van Vechten’s work writings of and YMCA
Curtis, Sylvester
Daily American newspaper
dancing
Davis, Lee
Davis, Miles
Defender Athletic Club
dicty
discrimination
“Dixie” (song)
Donahue, Jack
Dorham, Kenny
Dougherty, Romeo
Douglas, Aaron
Douglas, Bob: and barnstorming and battle for Harlem as casino manager and Celtic-Rens relationship as father of black basketball and Globetrotters-Rens rivalry in Hall of Fame as Harlem community leader and professionalization of basketball and race issues Rens formed by and Rens as goodwill ambassadors and Rens in late 1920s and Rens legal problems on Saperstein/Harlem Globetrotters sells Rens to Saperstein as West Indian and World Tournament See also Spartan Braves
Douglass, Frederick
Du Bois, W. E. B.: and art as propaganda awards and honors for and black-owned businesses contributions and influence of and Crisis /NAACP criticisms of death of and Fisher and Garvey and Harlem Renaissance and Hughes as influence on KA-J and leadership of blacks and Locke and McKay and music and name to call black people and New Negro personal and professional background of and politics and race riots and racial hierarchy among blacks radicalism of and Rogers Sugar Hill home of and Talented Tenth and Thurman travels of and Van Vechten’s work and Washington World War I and writers writings/ publications of
Du Bois, Yolande
Dunbar, Paul Laurence
Duvivier, George
>
Dyckman Street projects
Ebony magazine
Eckstine, Billy
education
Eisenhower, Dwight D.
Eldridge, Roy
Ellington, Edward Kennedy “Duke”: on Armstrong awards and honors for band of and blues at Cotton Club and dicty and Harlem Renaissance influence on KA-J of influence of and jazz jazz comment of and jazz as role model and musicians’ commuting personal and early professional background of and piano popularity of and race issues and ragtime and rent parties Sugar Hill home of works by
Ellison, Ralph
Erving, Julius “Dr. J,”
Europe, James Reese
Evans, Gil
Fanon, Frantz
farmers, black
Fauset, Jessie Redmond
Feather, Leonard
feminism
Fetchit, Stepin
film: blackface in
idealization of Harlem in
stereotypes of blacks in See also specific film
Fire!! magazine
Fisher, Rudolph
Fitzgerald, Ella
folk stories
Forbes, Frank “Strangler
Foster, Stephen
Foxx, Redd
Frederick Douglass Book Center
Frederick Douglass High School
Furey, Jim
gangsters
Garvey, Marcus: awards and honors for back-to-Africa movement of black antagonisms toward Clarke’s book about death of and Du Bois and Hughes and importance of history imprisonment and deportation of influence on KA-J of influence of and jazz and legacy of Harlem Renaissance and McKay and New Negro reputation of and Sarco Realty Washington’s influence on as West Indian white images of and working-class blacks and World War I writings/publications of
Gates, William “Pop,”
Ghana
Giant Steps (KA-J)
Gillespie, Dizzy
Gilligan, Thomas
Gioia, Ted
Go, Man, Go (film)
On the Shoulders of Giants Page 28
