Historic weekend brings musicians together

[Kevin Amos]

http://www.examiner.com/article/pittsburgh-panels-to-focus-on-music...

[Dr. Nelson Harrison]

Simone,

Your father, George "Duke" Spaulding is mentioned as a panelist on line 20 of the 2nd paragraph of the article.  The punctuation didn't come out so well in the repost but he IS there.  Thanks for the added background info on him.  It will be a grand and enlightening day indeed.

[Simone Spaulding Cephas]

Just to let you that my father, George "Duke" Spaulding, is also one of the panelist.  He is the only living member of the original 5 musicians that went to court against while local 60.  He will be 90 years old in November and his mind is as sharp as a tack.  He has been a member of the musicians the longest out of all the African American musicians in Pittsburgh.  He joined in 1941.  He is like E. F. Hutton, when he speaks everyone listens.  I am sending this because in you article you failed to mention his name.  Thanks

[Dr. Nelson Harrison]

June 11, 2012

Panels to Focus on Musicians Unions and Historical Past

Kevin Amos Pittsburgh Jazz Music Examiner +

 

On Friday, June 22, keynote speaker, producer and writer Willard Jenkins, will moderate a panel, Segregated Musicians’ Unions: Significance, Survival and Impact, at 7pm at The Big Room at the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council located at 810 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. Jenkins is an independent arts consultant/producer, writer and broadcaster under his Open Sky banner. He has been a public & community radio station broadcaster and producer in Cleveland, OH; Minneapolis, MN; and since 1989 at WPFW, Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC. Jenkins was also affiliated with Black Entertainment Television, commencing with creative consultation on its jazz programs. Since that time he has hosted, associate produced, produced, and written numerous series, specials, and documentaries for the BET Jazz and BET J channels. In addition Jenkins is a successful and widely recognized workshop, symposium, and conference facilitator, and speaker at universities, conventions, and arts conferences across the country and internationally. Jenkins has served on arts granting panels at the federal, regional, state, local and private foundation level as well as coordinator of the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Live grant program through Arts Midwest.

 

Panelists include: Hon. Warren Watson, multi instrumentalist, former legal counsel for African American Local 471. Judge, Court of Common Pleas (retired) George Arthur, Colored Musicians Club of Buffalo, Inc. Lovett Hines, Jazz Ensemble Director at the Clef Club Ken Foley, Ph.D.,  Advisor, African American Jazz Preservation Society of Pittsburgh Advertisement The two panel discussions will take place at 1pm in the Hillman Auditorium after the historical marker ceremony. The installation ceremony will also honor recently deceased AAJPSP president, Charles “Chuck” Austin and will take place at 11:30am near the former location of the Musicians Club, the union’s venue, on Crawford Street between Wylie and Webster Avenues in the Hill District. Ceremony speakers include George Clewer, President of Local 60/471 American Federation of Musicians; R. Danielle Lavelle, Pittsburgh City Council; Rosemary Trump, President, Pennsylvania Labor Historical Society; and Warren Watson, Judge, Court of Common Pleas (retired) & former Local 471 member. This program is supported, in part, by the Heinz Endowments Small Arts Initiative, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The panels and panelists are: The 471 Experience: Dialogue and Oral History Hon. Warren Watson (See Above) Cecil Brooks II, Drummer/Percussionist, former member, African American Local 471 Johnathan White, MA, Instructor History, Penn State University – Greater Allegheny Campus Black Musicians Unions: Moving the Legacy Forward George “Duke” Spaulding, Pianist and former member, African American Local 471 George Scott, President, Colored Musicians Club of Buffalo Donald Gardner, Managing Director of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts Harry Clark Ph. D., Educator in Pittsburgh Public School system, founder of the high school for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), consultant for schools across the country and advisor to the African American Jazz Preservation Society of Pittsburgh. Notable members of Local 471 included Mary Lou Williams, Erroll Garner, Art Blakey, Stanley Turrentine, Billy Strayhorn, Ray Brown and Ahmad Jamal. They were part of a distinguished group of players who went on to become international performers, great influences on the development of jazz throughout the latter part of the 20th century. These musicians and the union’s venue, the Musicians Club, were at the heart of a rich culture that developed in the lower Hill District. As ambassadors to a uniquely American art form and as noted figures of the Hill District, it is only fitting that the rich history and the musical gifts they bestowed on our community be commemorated with a memorial honoring their contributions. The African American Jazz Preservation Society of Pittsburgh is an outgrowth of the realization that a great deal of the rich cultural contributions made in the field of jazz originated from musicians who were born, raised, are living or have lived in Pittsburgh. AAJPSP is dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and dissemination of the history and accomplishments of Local 471 and jazz and blues musicians from Pittsburgh. AAJPSP seeks to present programming that creates an appreciation for the African American contribution to America’s original art form by exploring the artistry, personal stories and experiences of the musicians who helped develop the jazz scene. The panel discussions and ceremony are free of charge and open to the general public.

 

For more information about this series of programs, please contact AAJPSP at 412.867.1721 .

[Dr. Nelson Harrison]

Kevin, Thank you for writing this article and posting the link.  I  am taking the liberty to post the actual article here for the members who haven't learned how to click on a link.  This is an extremely important panel and I plan to be there.