Phineas, Freddie, Cecil and the Jazz Foundation of America

© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

The following is from EPILOGUE - A PARTING TRIBUTE to Phineas Newborn, Jr. which closes Veryl Oakland’s Jazz in Available Light: Illuminating the Jazz Greats from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. [2018]

The book is a wonderful compilation of Veryl’s brilliant photographs with connected stories about the musicians they focus on and the settings in which they were taken.

It concludes with some sad true-life stories which are all too commonplace in the Jazz community, but an upbeat is sounded with the arrival of the Jazz Foundation of America [JFA].

If Jazz has been a source of entertainment and pleasure for you over the years, you might wish to visit the JFA website and contribute a few schimolies as a way of helping Jazz musicians who are enduring hard times.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

The life of a jazz musician is a constant struggle. Years of preparation, an abundance of creativity, and the ability to innovate, improvise, and deliver stunning performances night in and night out are still no guarantees that he or she will actually "make it." And even if success does follow, it can be so short-lived.

Pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr. was one of those artists who seemingly had it all, success included.