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| Congressman Rangel on Legacy and Jazz for 'Harlem Speaks' Charles Rangel, the distinguished senior member of the House of Representatives and congressman from Harlem, will be the guest of Jazz Museum In Harlem Executive Director Loren Schoenberg in a wide-ranging discussion covering his life, politics, Harlem, and his love of jazz. Best known for having served as the Representative from the 15th Congressional District, comprising Harlem, the Upper West Side, and Washington Heights/Inwood since 1970, Rangel is long-time jazz fan who played a vital role in providing the Jazz Museum in Harlem with its initial Federal funding. Congressman Rangel served in the U.S. Army from 1948-52, during which time he fought in Korea and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He is a graduate of New York University and St. John's University School of Law. He has spent his entire career in public service, first as an Assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and later in the New York State Assembly. Congressman Rangel is the principal author of the five billion dollar Federal Empowerment Zone demonstration project to revitalize urban neighborhoods throughout America. He is also the author of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which is responsible for financing ninety percent of the affordable housing built in the U.S. in the last ten years. He was crucial to the Abyssinian Development Corporation's purchase of the famed Renaissance Ballroom several years ago. In 1995, Rangel paid tribute to his friend Lionel Hampton on the floor of Congress. When Hampton’s apartment suffered a devastating fire 1997, Congressman Rangel ensured that Hamp had suitable clothes for a meeting with then-President Clinton. He recently served as a co-chair to the VERITAS 17th Annual Evening with Friends of Charlie Parker Benefit Concert and Gala. The most recent night of Harlem Speaks, October 6, 2005, presented drum master Roy Haynes in a discussion with fellow drummer Lewis Nash that captivated and thrilled the rapt audience at the offices of the Jazz Museum in Harlem. Much as when on drums, Haynes was at the center of a swirling discussion that swung from his early days growing up in Boston, to coming to New York 60 years ago to play with the Luis Russell at the Savoy Ballroom onto remembrances of the exhilaration of performing with a cross-section of the eternal pantheon of jazz . . . Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughn, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Chick Corea, and John Coltrane, to name a few. He reminisced about hanging with the fraternity of musicians on 127th and St. Nicholas Avenue back in the '50s; he explained why he viewed Sarah and Ella as so musically and vocally talented that they were “one of the guys.” Haynes recounted the quickness and acuity of Charlie Parker's mind on the bandstand, and the drummers he admired while carving his own place in the annals of jazz. When he was asked what he thought about today's popular music, he paused . . shook his head . . . looked up, saying “Now some of rap is hip . . . yet some of it is hop!” The Harlem Speaks series is co-produced by the Jazz Museum in Harlem's Executive Director, Loren Schoenberg, Co-Director Christian McBride, and Greg Thomas Associates. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |