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OutBeat, America's first LGBT jazz festival, starts in Philly

Being a gay or a lesbian jazz musician isn't new. Take pianist Cecil Taylor, vibraphonist Gary Burton, drummer Allison Miller, and, famously, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington's cocomposer/arranger.

The spirit of improvisational pianist Fred Hersch, who came out publicly two decades ago with the information that he had HIV, informs OutBeat. Hersch will be performing at the festival.
The spirit of improvisational pianist Fred Hersch, who came out publicly two decades ago with the information that he had HIV, informs OutBeat. Hersch will be performing at the festival.Read more

Being a gay or a lesbian jazz musician isn't new.

Take pianist Cecil Taylor, vibraphonist Gary Burton, drummer Allison Miller, and, famously, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington's cocomposer/arranger.

Improvisational pianist Fred Hersch, currently on the jazz charts with his new album, Floating, came out publicly two decades ago with the information that he had HIV, and never looked back. "I was advised against coming out" says Hersch. "People thought it was a death sentence - this was 1993, before all the cocktails - that it would screw up my career. 'No one will book you. They'll all think you'll be dead in a year.' " Twenty-one years later, the pianist is still here, still gay, and still talking about it. "I figured if I was going to be dead, I'd like to make a difference," he says.

That spirit informs OutBeat, an LGBT-based jazz fest, running Thursday through Sunday at venues throughout Philadelphia. Performers include Hersch, vocalists Andy Bey and Patricia Barber, drummers Terri Lyne Carrington and Bill Stewart, and Philly's violin-vibraphone duo Diane Monroe and Tony Micelli. Organizers have billed the fest "America's First Queer Jazz Festival."

Chris Bartlett, a classical pianist with jazz training who is executive director of the William Way LGBT Community Center, is producing OutBeat with Ars Nova Workshop artistic director Mark Christman. As they worked on the event, they found that there had never been a jazz festival focusing on LGBT artists and composers.

Why not?

"I think almost everyone in the jazz world nowadays realizes the huge impact LGBT performers, composers, arrangers, and theorists have had on the form," Bartlett explains. "I also think there is in operation a general principle - I think it is a good one - that jazz is universal, surpasses the individual identities of its practitioners. Add to that the history of homophobia in America and it is understandable that LGBT artists and their friends were hesitant to talk too much about it for fear of ruining careers or reputations."

Hersch says that like blues and country music, jazz has long been considered a macho art form. "My theory is when you're creating improvised music, there is a certain intimacy that needs to happen," he says. "If I'm playing with emotional intensity - if that gets misconstrued - perhaps they'll think I want to take it beyond the bandstand. Ultimately people are scared of intimacy."

The always outspoken Hersch was quick to sign on to OutBeat, but unhappy with its queer subtitle. He understands that younger people use the term "as a way of turning a pejorative or derogatory term into something positive. But I was pretty shocked. Gay would have worked for me."

Bartlett respects the disagreement and is grateful that Hersch is participating despite the hassle, but he believes that queer is the right term for this festival. "One of the challenges we face is that the standard language for sexual and gender minority participation is not inclusive enough," says Bartlett. "We wanted a term that would include all of the descriptors and more. Queer gets at how this festival is outside of the box." 

Particularly important to OutBeat is the participation of locals, such as pianists Andy Kahn and V. Shayne Frederick within the framework of "Lush Life," an all-Philly tribute to Strayhorn, coproduced by the festival organizers and the Philadelphia Jazz Project. The longtime duo of Monroe and Micelli will have a release party for their new album Alone at the festival. Together for 20-plus years, renowned within the community of jazz session folk, people occasionally confuse them as a couple. Monroe is gay, Micelli is not.

Monroe jokes that "I'm the boy, and he's the girl," but then turns serious. "The term queer has been around for forever and has a huge history. So, borrowing it for OutBeat links the event to all gay issues which have existed for so many years, and have needed to be addressed. I'm just grateful and proud that this festival finally exists."