Jazz in the Alley began on the South Side of Chicago when black performers and musicians were unable to play at the white venues & nightclubs due to a racist nationwide policy of segregation and exclusivity ... in order to have a sacred space for us to release the tensions amidst the unrest of the civil rights era, the back alleyways of Chicago became the birthplace of open garages with DJs and musicians entertaining small crowds of Black folks having a good time while poets and painters created the artistic vibe ... it evolved into the Universal Alley Jazz Jam shortly there-after and has become a highly anticipated annual Jazz festival free to all Chicagoans who love live jazz, art and poetry ... in 2015 I was asked to become a committee member and worked as an artist alongside Reverend Doctor Cleveland Siddha Webber, a Chicago muralist, napropath and theologian who was one of the co-founders of Jazz in the Alley ..... under Siddha's mentorship, I created a series of paintings now known as "Musicians in Black and White" .... some of those paintings were created at the Jazz Jam using the live musicians as models while they played.... by creating these timeless images of jazz musicians, I uphold the legacy of "REVITALIZING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH ART AND CULTURE" the catchphrase Siddha and friends echoed throughout every Jazz Jam currently located at the Black United Fund of Illinois Building every Saturday for 7 weeks during the summer ... in 2016 Dr. Webber made his transition to rejoin the ancestors, befitting of his namesake band ANCESTRAL RESURRECTION ENSMEBLE for he will forever be remembered, resurrected in the hearts of everyone he touched through his music, poetry, art and healing, and especially in the children he inspired to unlock the potential for greatness and god within.
the "Musicians in Black and White" series has been shown in the Chicago Arts District at Elee.Mosynary Gallery, UFAT Gallery, the African American Cultural Center at UIC, and featured at the Harold Washington branch of the Chicago Public Library in the Art & Music Department
