RAHSAAN STORMS THE STUDIO

[PHILLYQ]

Here's a link to an interesting story in today's NY Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/city_life/big_town/index.html

[paul secor]

I saw the Sullivan show when this occurred, and I remember thinking how bizarre it was to see Archie Shepp soloing on prime time television. I also realized that it was a one-shot bit of craziness (in terms of television - not to me) that would never happen again.

[chris olivarez]

Rahsaan-you gotta love him-I know I do. That's one that I'm sorry to say that I missed. There were so many bubble gum groups on that show that I had stopped watching by that time. It must have really messed up the mind of Sullivan's audience.

[MartyJazz]

I saw the Sullivan show when this occurred, and I remember thinking how bizarre it was to see Archie Shepp soloing on prime time television. I also realized that it was a one-shot bit of craziness (in terms of television - not to me) that would never happen again.

I attended that Ed Sullivan show as I was a member of Rahsaan's "Jazz & People's Movement". The group was a sociopolitical one started by Kirk and a friend of his, Mark Davis, with the main goal of trying to get more jazz on TV. Previously, we had disrupted the taping of several late night shows protesting the lack of jazz on TV, including Dick Cavett and Merv Griffin. That activity had resulted in some small victories, including the appearance on the Sullivan show.

Aside from Rahsaan & Shepp, the group onstage at the Sullivan show included Mingus and Roy Haynes among others and the performance was an abbreviated version of Mingus's "Haitian Fight Song". One thing I recall is Sullivan's total ignorance of jazz. He misread the cue card when introducing the group, saying, "And now, here's Rammmmsin Roland Kirk!". I also recall Sue Mingus sitting behind me in the audience. I had a lot of fun back then.

[jazzbo]

I'll BET you Did! Thanks for sharing.

[Dan Gould]

Am I missing something? The link goes to a story about Toscanini.

[brownie]

Am I missing something? The link goes to a story about Toscanini.

That's right. It goes to Toscanini now. The link to the Rahsaan/Ed Sullivan story worked a while ago!

[Bright Moments]

missed it

maybe someone can post it here?

[Dan Gould]

missed it

maybe someone can post it here?

Found it:

Stopping the white wash

Rahsaan Roland Kirk on TV

By DAVID HINCKLEY

Rahsaan Roland Kirk with Ed Sullivan

Just about the time the cameras started to roll for the regularly scheduled nightly taping of Merv Griffin's show on Friday, Aug. 27, 1970, the phone rang in the television department of the Daily News.

An anonymous woman said that a group called Black Artists-Musicians of New York, of which no one had previously heard, was planning a nonviolent disruption of the Griffin taping to dramatize its demands that black artists get some of the television exposure given so copiously to derivative white artists.

Had someone made a similar call to Griffin, perhaps he would have been less startled when about 35 minutes into the taping at the Cort Theater on W. 48th St. a group of between 60 and 80 demonstrators sure enough did stand up and make it quite impossible for Griffin to continue.

The demonstrators, who included well-known jazz artists Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Lee Morgan and Andy Cyrrile, blew wooden whistles and played various sounds on flutes and other instruments they had smuggled in under their coats. Soon they moved forward to take over the stage, waving signs that read "Stop the Whitewash!" and "Tom Jones rose to fame singing black songs!"

Griffin, who had just introduced Larry Kert, star of the Broadway show "Company," shook his head and walked off.

The CBS cameras continued to roll as the studio audience sat fascinated, wondering what would happen next.

As it turned out, not much. When the protesters announced they would remain until they could talk with someone in authority, Griffin came back and announced that taping was done for the day. Since this Friday tape wouldn't air til Monday night, it had been decided to finish the last hour over the weekend.

By now a dozen police had entered the theater. As the only apparent damage was to the taping schedule, no arrests were made - and, even as the audience was starting to trickle out, producer Walter Kempley and associate producer Andy Smith were talking with Black Artists-Musicians of New York, who had suddenly changed their name and now told reporters just to call them Lovers of Music.

Their complaint, heard for neither the first nor last time in the music world, was that the "roots" artists of American music - jazz, blues, gospel and so on, a disproportionately black group - deserved mainstream media exposure on national shows like, say, Merv Griffin's.

While jazzmen played 200-seat clubs, they argued, white "jazz-rock" musicians who had clearly gone to school on those jazzmen's records were cleaning up from recordings and concerts in much larger places - abetted immeasurably by all that free media exposure and promotion.

The protesters also warned that paying all this attention to later-generation white artists distorted history because it crowded out the real, undiluted music.

These complaints echoed arguments made by respected musicians in many fields, though the Griffin demonstrators got something of a "fringe" tag largely because of the prominence of Kirk, a brilliant musician who distinctly marched to his own muse.

Blinded in a childhood accident, Kirk formed his first band at 14. In his early 20s, he began to experiment with his sound, at first by playing several horns at the same time, then by rediscovering forgotten instruments, like the stritch and the manzello, then by inventing others, such as the trumpophone, which was a trumpet with a saxophone mouthpiece. He was well respected for his skills, and his presence guaranteed that the Griffin protesters would be heard, not merely tossed out on their ears.

When they did leave, after talking with the producers, they said they expected a spot for jazzmen on a prime time CBS show. They also mentioned they might visit other shows on other networks.

Sure enough, on Oct. 13, now calling themselves the Jazz and People's Movement, they dropped in on Dick Cavett at ABC.

This time the disruption lasted about an hour, ending when the Cavett people agreed Cavett would have Movement spokespersons on his Oct. 22 program.

Meanwhile, they had also worked out a deal with CBS: Kirk would be a guest on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

A widely circulated story has it that Kirk was the last guest on the last Sullivan program, and that this final segment ended with Godfrey Cambridge sneaking up behind Sullivan and putting an Afro wig on his head, crowning him an "honorary Negro." Actually, Kirk played the show Jan. 28, 1971, two months before Sullivan stopped doing live shows.

Nonetheless, it was a memorable night. Kirk invited Charlie Mingus and Archie Shepp to play with him and announced they would play Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour." In fact, they largely improvised for 5 minutes, weaving in and out of Mingus' "Haitian Fight Song." It was instantly controversial: fascinating to jazz fans and widely considered impenetrable to almost anyone else.

"The purpose of the Jazz and People's Movement was to make everyone aware there wasn't enough jazz on television," said critic Dan Morgenstern, "and now they clearly proved the reason why."

But many fans said that even though the Jazz and People's Movement soon drifted into history, it had at least made major TV networks aware of an important issue.

Still, there was a long way to go. Another widely circulated story has Kirk asking Sullivan backstage why the late John Coltrane had never played his show, and Sullivan replying, "Does John Coltrane have any records out?"

As for the Merv Griffin incident, it wouldn't be many more years before TV producers realized disruption isn't a problem. Packaged properly, it's a commercial gold mine.

Originally published on April 13, 2004

http://www.nydailynews.com/04-13-2004/city...7p-158794c.html

[Bright Moments]

thanks dan! B)

[MartyJazz]

Found it:

Stopping the white wash

Rahsaan Roland Kirk on TV

By DAVID HINCKLEY

Rahsaan Roland Kirk with Ed Sullivan

[.:.impossible]

MJ, please tell us more about your experience with the Jazz & People's Movement! Sometimes I absolutely love this board!

[Larry Kart]

Larry Kert (now deceased I believe) was a well-known performer in Broadway musicals, best known for his work as one of the leads in "West Side Story." He was the younger brother of tasty cabaret singer Anita Ellis.

[MartyJazz]

MJ, please tell us more about your experience with the Jazz & People's Movement! Sometimes I absolutely love this board!

OK, here's a couple of remembrances.

1) When we disrupted the taping of the Dick Cavett Show (for you young 'uns, Cavett and Merv Griffin at that time (1970-71) were both shown late night opposite the king of late night TV, Johnny Carson), we knew we were going to protest at some point in the show, but we hadn't planned on when. So we were fidgeting in the audience, looking at each other, wondering when we should get up and start yelling and protesting about the lack of jazz on TV. Anyway, the old British actor Trevor Howard (Captain Bligh in the Brando version of "Mutiny on the Bounty") was being interviewed by Cavett. And he had obviously gotten wind that a protest was going to happen because when Cavett asked him about his thoughts about being in America, he replied with an impish grin, (and I'm paraphrasing somewhat but the gist is correct) "Well Dick, it's great to be here but I think there's just not enough jazz going on". At that point, we got up and started yelling, thereby pissing off practically everybody in the audience.

2) After we disrupted the Merv Griffin Show - I seem to recall that we got up as Charo started to do her act - we evidently were making waves because Fred DeCordova, the producer of the Tonight Show, contacted us to arrange a meeting. Rahsaan was always very outspoken and I could see that DeCordova, while being very professional, was not particularly enamored with Rahsaan's personality which could be quite gruff. In any event, although he promised to get back to us, in reality all he did was make sure that ticket requests were screened thoroughly and that security was heightened so that we would not be able to disrupt the Tonight Show.

3) Getting back to the Cavett show, Cavett promised to give us a hearing and keeping his word, there was a follow-up show a few weeks thereafter in which a "panel" of musicians discussed the state of jazz on TV with Cavett. Among the panel: Rahsaan, Freddie Hubbard (who told Cavett that he was "the greatest trumpet player in the world"), and Billy Harper. It's disconcerting to me that I'm not sure who else was there at this point. I should have kept a diary.

Hope you found the above somewhat enjoyable.

Edited April 15, 2004 by MartyJazz

[JSngry]

My money would have been on Jackie Vernon, but if Freddie Hubbard thinks that Dick Cavett is the greatest trumpet player in the world, who am I to argue?

[Chuck Nessa]

As a lowly viewer, I have memories of Lee Morgan in the audience, shouting at one of these shows. Am I wrong?

[MartyJazz]

As a lowly viewer, I have memories of Lee Morgan in the audience, shouting at one of these shows. Am I wrong?

Lee Morgan was involved to some extent in the JAPM and he may very well have shouted on one of those occasions, but I just don't recall it at this point. However, his common-law wife at the time, Helen (the same woman who fatally shot him at Slug's (an ironic name for a jazz club now that I think of it) in Jan '72 - I was there that night also but that's another story!), was far more involved. She was our treasurer if I remember correctly. Frank Foster's wife, Cecelia, also was an important member of the group. B)

[Bright Moments]

Helen (the same woman who fatally shot him at Slug's (an ironic name for a jazz club now that I think of it) in Jan '72 - I was there that night also but that's another story!)

marty-you must tell all about the night lee morgan was shot!!!!!!

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Cecil Taylor was one of the others on the Cavett panel discussion. A little excerpt is included in the Ortiz Walton book "Music: Black, White, and Blue".

Here's a bit from an interview of Art Davis, who was the bassist on the Merv Griffin show during the disruption. From Cadence interview (9/86).

=====

The sad thing about it is all of these people knew me - I had recorded with them - and did not let me know in advance. Which, in a sense, hurt me, because I wouldn't have gone and told and said, 'They're gonna do this and I don't want any part of it, God help me.' I was on one of Kirk's first albums, We Free Kings, and I recorded with Lee Morgan. All those people knew me, so it wasn't a case of not knowing me. But I was portrayed as the organizer. Isn't that great? I was a powerful person. so what happened after that was a sort of slide, going downhill.

[Did Merv fire you after that?]

Well, it was very sophisticated. We heard that he was going to go to California, moving the band; however, certain musicians remained here. And that was the whole idea, as I was told by a certain musician that remained here, that the orchestra had to take certain people and to leave certain people here because of Davis. We know Davis would sue. Those musicians, however, got jobs. They were placed in the network. One person was on ABC. Another one got Broadway shows. They were placed in work.

[so staying in New York meant that you were out of the Merv Griffin Show.]

Exactly. Since I wasn't asked, Merv avoided me. I supposed to be the good little boy since I had a job working; I'm supposed to keep my nose clean. I'm not supposed to do as I felt that if others don't have work, I shouldn't just be the onliest one, as Muhammad Ali said. I did not like that position. Although many other people enjoy that position of being the onliest one, but it wasn't me. So in a sense, I was being made an example of. When that happened, everybody else closed ranks and I was what I call 'Whitelisted.'

===

(interview continues)

In my opinion, the Ed Sullivan performance was a hugely wasted opportunity. The band is remarkably sloppy and it comes across as almost amateurish. If you've got one shot to show the millions of viewers what jazz is and why it's important to have it on TV, you'd better have something that will present your case well.

Mike

[MartyJazz]

You're right, Cecil was there. When I was writing my previous post, I kept searching my memory about Cecil thinking that he was there but for some inexplicable reason I was unsure. My greater memory of Cecil is one of being mesmerized listening to him speak at the Vanguard one afternoon prior to the show. Max Gordon used to let us, i.e., the members of the JAPM, meet on various afternoons at the Vanguard where we would "plot" strategy, etc. It was there that I got to meet quite a few great musicians, all of whom have been mentioned in my previous posts about the JAPM.

As for the music on the Sullivan show, you're right that it was not a "tight" performance by any stretch of the imagination. But it was a thrill to see those guys up on the stage.

One other memory comes to mind about that show. There was a point where the musicians gathered on stage just after Sullivan introduced a promotional film clip from a new film that had just come out, "Five Easy Pieces". For some reason, I recall Mingus really laughing during the scene that was shown, that of Jack Nicholson in a funny, sarcastic exchange with a waitress in the film. Haven't thought about that in years.

Edited April 15, 2004 by MartyJazz

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Ha! "Chicken sal san" - a classic!

http://www.filmsite.org/five.html

Mike

[Jazzmoose]

- I seem to recall that we got up as Charo started to do her act -

thereby guaranteeing a grateful, supportive audience; brilliant!

[Christiern]

MartyJazz, does the name Jane Welch mean anything to you? She worked for Down Beat and was my link to the JAPM. Somewhere, in a messed-up drawer or closet, I have interesting, pertinent observations written by Rashied Ali, that she brought me. I'll try to dig them out.

[MartyJazz]

MartyJazz, does the name Jane Welch mean anything to you? She worked for Down Beat and was my link to the JAPM. Somewhere, in a messed-up drawer or closet, I have interesting, pertinent observations written by Rashied Ali, that she brought me. I'll try to dig them out.

Yes, I did meet Jane Welch back in the early '70s. I recall a group of us including her attending some kind of party or gathering at someone's house following a Cecil Taylor concert back then. Didn't know her real well but we did have a few conversations during that time.