The Jackie Robinson of Jazz

Everybody knows Brooklyn’s number 42, but I’m surprised how many people are unaware of how popular music got integrated in the 1930s, paving the way for Robinson and Rickey to break baseball’s color line after World War II. The pivotal figure for jazz was Teddy Wilson, whose musical compatibility with the King of Swing created music so exquisite it silenced the critics and drowned out the haters. Did you know Wilson was also called, on at least one occasion, “the Marxist Mozart”? Read about “Teddy Wilson, American Jazz Hero” in my latest piece for The Syncopated Times. And support independent media!