Oct 10, 2024
Benjamin Barson is a historian, a baritone saxophonist, a political activist and an assistant professor of music at Bucknell University. His newly released book, BRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY, recasts the birth of jazz, unearthing vibrant narratives of New Orleans musicians to reveal how early jazz was inextricably tied to the mass mobilization of freedpeople during Reconstruction and the decades that followed. In this interview conducted by Michael Barson, Senior Publicity Executive at Melville House (and Benjamin’s father), Benjamin talks about his inspiration for the book, a thrilling discovery he made while researching this fascinating subject, and his next project, which is somewhat of a sequel to BRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY.