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***This event took place on Feb. 27, 2023.
As part of its new Music and Justice series, the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music will host a public conference featuring prominent scholars and experts exploring the historical and cultural connections of Black and Jewish communities in the United States, intimate analyses of Brubeck’s The Gates of Justice, and the contemporary relevance of music to social justice.
Attendance is free and open to the public.
9:00 a.m: Welcome and First Session
Opening remarks from Professor Anna Spain Bradley, Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at UCLA
“Historical and Cultural Connections of Jews and Blacks in America”
– Hasia Diner (NYU) “Jews and Blacks in America before World War II”
– Charles Hersch (Cleveland State University) "Jewish and African American Pursuit of Social Justice in Jazz”
– Kelsey Klotz (UNC Charlotte) “The Sounds of Justice: A Musical Understanding of Brubeck’s The Gates of Justice”
11:30 a.m.: Keynote Address
Professor Dwight Andrews of Emory University: “Spirituality in Dave Brubeck’s The Gates of Justice”
Response: Wayne Winborne, Executive Director Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, Newark
2:00 p.m.: DARIUS, CHRIS, and DAN BRUBECK: “Dave Brubeck and Social Justice”
Moderator: Larry Blumenfeld (Wall Street Journal, Daily Beast, and others)
3:30 p.m.: "Music and Social Justice Today" panel discussion
– Darius Brubeck
– Larry Blumenfeld
– Lorenna Garcia, UCLA music performance student
– Susan Nanus, Rabbi, Wilshire Boulevard Temple
– Diane White-Clayton
Moderator: Wayne Winborne, Executive Director Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, Newark
5:00 p.m.: Reception
The Music and Justice series is presented by the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience. Co-sponsors include The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, The Milken Archive of Jewish Music, the UCLA Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, the Global Jazz Studies Interdisciplinary Program at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, and the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy.