The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock & Roll
(Another view of Elvis, from Billboard magazine in 1958, stated, “In one aspect of America’s cultural life, integration has already taken place.”)
Rebecca Solnit • The Encyclopedia of Trouble and Spaciousness
The relationship was further compounded by the fact that, historically, jazz musicians, regardless of skin color, had been seen primarily as entertainers, not artists.
Leonard Brown • John Coltrane and Black America's Quest for Freedom: Spirituality and the Music
In the black neighborhoods, he learned that developing one’s own sound was essential and that sound and feeling were paramount over technique.
Leonard Brown • John Coltrane and Black America's Quest for Freedom: Spirituality and the Music
I remember once, when I was a kid, hearing Johnny Winter singing “Tired of Tryin’ ” with Muddy Waters on guitar, on the Nothin’ but the Blues album, and hearing him sing and liking what I heard and then looking at a picture of him on the album and double-taking, maybe triple-taking, and then wondering what it meant to be black (or white, or albino)
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