If anyone needs a primer on how jazz leads directly to the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th president of the U.S., see Nat Hentoff’s Wall Street Journal article on the history of musicians, audiences, presenters and producers of all “colors” in the struggle for Civil Rights.Â
The march from Buddy Bolden playing in New Orleans’ “back ‘o’ town” to a man of diverse ancestry leading the free world from the White House has been direct (if not necessarily “straight”) and determined.