Jazz musicians were about intersectionality before the term was coined. During 2018 Jazz Appreciation Month, I moderated a conversation on art, jazz and activism, curated by Black Quantum Futurism and Icebox Project Space.
The panel discussion and community forum featured artists/activists Josh Graupera, Stormy Kelsey, Michael O’Bryan and Tieshka K. Smith. The audio is now available on Artblog Radio.
I was listening to Jerry Blavat’s show on WXPN when he mentioned The Wedge. It never ceases to amaze me how many jazz clubs there were in Philly in the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s and well into the ’70s. While everyone knows about the legendary Pep’s, Showboat and Blue Note, those spots are the tip of the iceberg.
Located on Ridge Avenue in North Philly, Bull Moose Jackson, a saxophonist and rhythm and blues singer, performed there.
During Philadelphia’s golden age of jazz, there were jazz clubs in every neighborhood. There were so many that folks in North Philly didn’t go to joints in South Philly and vice versa. There were a handful of clubs that reached legendary status and attracted patrons from all over the city. The Blue Note at 15th Street and Ridge Avenue was “the town’s swankiest jazz emporium.”
From 15th Street to Columbia Avenue (later renamed Cecil B. Moore Avenue), Ridge Avenue was a jazz corridor where legends-in-the-making roamed.
All That Philly Jazz 