Jazz’s Advocate-in-Chief
ithin the arts community, longtime U.S. Congressman John Conyers, who passed away on October 27 at the age of 90, was regarded as one of the most persistent and influential advocates of the uniquely American music called jazz. I knew him for more than 30 years, working with him on a number of initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution, where I was the curator of American music. We bonded because of jazz, which he championed as a proud product of African-American and American culture. Sometimes he would invite me to his office to talk about the music, and he spoke frequently at the Smithsonian, including (to my everlasting gratitude)
