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Herb Scott transcript, 2022-08-11T00:00:00+00:00

 Item
Identifier: dcpl_dcohc049_03_01_tra_eng.pdf

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

D.C. Oral History Collaborative (DCOHC) is a citywide initiative to train community members in oral history skills, fund new and ongoing oral history projects, connect volunteers with oral history projects, and publicize existing oral history collections. DCOHC is a project of DC Public Library, HumanitiesDC, and the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. This collection contains oral history interviews, transcripts, and indexes produced by DCOHC grantees.

Dates

  • Creation: 2022-08-11T00:00:00+00:00

Biographical / Historical

Herbert 'Herb' Scott is a jazz saxophonist and advocate that was born and raised in the Fort Totten and Petworth neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. He was raised by a jazz-loving father, who exposed him to all sorts of music and helped instill a sense of musicianship early on. He attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts for music – as well as other institutions like the Sitar Center and Levine School – before going on to study music at Michigan State University. Returning to D.C. during the 2008 economic crash and outset of the Great Recession, Scott hustled as a busker while staking out regular gigs in venues. This led him to start the Capitol Hill Jazz Jam and, as a result, the Capitol Hill Jazz Foundation, through which he advocates for jazz as a tool for economic development and government support from Capitol Hill and city council for jazz musicians and institutions.

Extent

From the Collection: 1.13 Terabytes

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The full transcript of our third interview in the project, with saxophonist and jazz activist Herb Scott. Herbert 'Herb' Scott is a saxophonist and activist who was born and raised in Washington, D.C. Growing up with a jazz-loving father – who remembered the glory days of U Street as 'Black Broadway' and a mecca for jazz – Scott took up the saxophone as he travailed the D.C. public school system around Petworth and Fort Totten. Attending Duke Ellington School of the Arts for high school (while also working with several other music education programs in the city) deepened Scott’s passion for music and set him on his path to becoming a professional. He attended Michigan State University to study music and saw the deep, Black cultural heritage around Detroit, Michigan and relaying that back to his experience growing up in Black D.C. He returned to D.C. in 2008 – with his music program completed but not a full graduate – following the economic crash and the start of the Great Recession. He started busking daily around the city until he started building up regular gigs. During that time, he began performing at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, which became an important professional and communal center for him. His experiences playing at the church, and working with co-founder Dick Smith, himself a longtime activist for the D.C. jazz scene, led him to found the Capitol Hill Jazz Foundation in 2015. Pairing with singer and activist Aaron Meyers, the two began to advocate for legislation to support jazz musicians at the D.C. City Hall and on Capitol Hill. The foundation has encouraged economic development through jazz around Capitol Hill through its weekly jam session at Mr. Henry’s and its annual conference and music festival, among other events. He continues to advocate for legislative support for jazz musicians – such as H.R. 57, the National Jazz Preservation, Education, and Promulgation Act – especially in the face of the continued erasure of cultural heritage in an ever-gentrifying Washington, D.C.

Repository Details

Part of the The People's Archive, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library Repository

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