As this series continues to explore musical genres with major roots in the Black American experience, I’d like to take a point of personal privilege and focus on the music that drew me into becoming both a jazz fan and a devotee of vocal harmony.
As a teenager, I had the privilege of attending a premier high school in New York City, dedicated to both music and the visual arts. At that time, it was called simply the High School of Music and Art, but has since merged with the High School of Performing Arts (portrayed in the movie and TV seriesFame) into one building known as Fiorello LaGuardia High School. Those of us who went to M&A, as we called it, often spoke of ourselves as “Castleites” since our school building resembled a castle on a hill in Harlem. Though I was an art student, the music side of things was part of all students’ daily life, and we were proud that Leonard Bernstein had conducted and composed for our orchestra, and that trumpeter Donald Byrd guided our jazz chorus. We gathered in the stairwells (which had great acoustics) or outside of school after classes to sing. Our rite of passage to hipness was to be able to sing “Cloudburst” by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross (L, H & R) all the way through. I can still do it … 56 years after graduating in 1964.