A somewhat cliched quote, attributed to Mr. Edmund Burke, says that "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Even when some history seems as if it is better off forgotten, whether it be due to the fact that an event is either too painful to remember or too embarrassing to flaunt, it should never be overlooked lest it be repeated again. May 31st of this year will mark the 90th anniversary of one of the worst race riots in the history of the United States. On May 31st, 1921 the Tulsa race riot, spurred on by an overblown account of a young black male shoe shiner who supposedly assaulted a young white female elevator operator, resulted in a devastating riot that before the night was over would see 39 dead, over 800 injured and the majority of an affluent black neighborhood burnt to the ground.
Ninety years after the horrific event, Tulsa based jazz outfit Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is remembering the riot with a new suite aptly titled the Race Riot Suite. The first performance of the suite will take place May 20th at the John H. Williams Theatre in the beautiful Tulsa Performing Arts Center. Located in the heart of downtown Tulsa, the Tulsa PAC stands right in the general area where the lynch mobs and escalating racial tensions would eventually lead to the 1921 riot. The theater is also just blocks away from the now rebuilt "Black Wall Street" that was burnt to the ground that night.
An album version of the Race Riot Suite that was recorded in Tulsa's own Church Studio, a studio formerly owned by Leon Russel, will be available on August 30th. Below you can read about composer and pianist Brian Haas' motivation behind the Race Riot Suite and watch a collection of video clips from the recording session. Also, by heading over to Soundcloud you can sample the song "Grandfather's Gun" from the upcoming suite.
"In 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma was home to the most powerful and affluent African-American community in the country. In one of the largest racial conflicts and cover-ups in America’s history “Black Wall Street” was burned to the ground. The Race Riot Suite is a long form musical work that tells the story of the evolution & destruction of one of America’s greatest cultural epicenters in one of the least understood atrocities of the Jim Crow era. The Suite serves as vehicle for insight & reflection on the event itself, as well as a tool for understanding the ways in which these issues continue to pervade our modern day culture and society."
