 Jackson
Street After Hours : The Roots of Jazz in Seattle by
Paul De Barros, Eduardo Calderon (Photographer)
In
jazz, as in so many arts, journeymen (and journeywomen)
gravitate toward Manhattan, the proving ground and
graveyard of the music world. But most of them get
their start in local scenes, which tend to remain
undocumented along with the players who populate them.
In Jackson Street After Hours, Paul de Barros
takes a meticulous, affectionate look at one such
scene that thrived in Seattle during the 1940s and
1950s. Part of the fun comes from seeing legends--say,
Ray Charles or Quincy Jones--in their pre-legendary
state, scrapping for a decent gig. But even better
are the oral history bits, like the one in which Ernestine
Anderson discovers her true vocation: "When I
went to audition at the Eldorado Ballroom, the piano
player asked me what key did I do these two songs
that I knew in. I automatically said C. It turned
out to be the wrong key. So I improvised around the
melody, because my grandmother had told me that if
I wanted to be a professional singer, once you start
singing, you don't stop. When I finished, one of the
musicians told me I was a jazz singer." (Amazon.com)
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