What do Chico Hamilton, Dexter Gordon, Horace Tapscott, Sonny Criss, Frank Morgan, Big Jay McNeely, Marshal Royal, Art Farmer, and Don Cherry of Los Angeles have in common with…

Ornette Coleman, King Curtis, Dewey Redman, Prince Lasha, John Carter, Julius Hemphill, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Ray Sharpe and Cornell Dupree of Fort Worth…

…And with Gene Ammons, Nat King Cole, Jerome Cooper, Richard Davis, Bo Diddley, Dorothy Donegan, Von Freeman, John Gilmore, Johnny Griffin, Milt Hinton, Eddie Harris, John Hartman, Fred Hopkins, Joseph Jarman, Leroy Jenkins, Clifford Jordan, Julian Priester, Wilbure Ware, and Dinah Washington of Chicago.

Think on it a bit before you look at the answer.

What did these great American artists have in common besides the fact that they are Afro-Americans and internationally recognized masters of jazz?

Answer

They all got their professional-level music performance education in a free public high school under just three different teachers.

Sam Browne of Jefferson High School (Los Angeles)
G.A. Baxter of I.M. Terrell (Fort Worth)
Walter Dyett of DuSable High School (Chicago)

If you like music, remember to thank a music teacher. Better yet, look for a local program you can support.

Video made by Jazz on the Tube for FoodMusicJustic.org. New Orleans (2010)

– Ken McCarthy