Jazz supergroup the Cookers, scheduled to perform two concerts at the Kennedy Center Wednesday as part of “A Jazz New Year’s Eve,” have canceled both shows, the band announced on Monday. The New York Times also reported Monday that Doug Varone and Dancers have pulled out of two April performances at the Kennedy Center. These cancellations come days after local musician Chuck Redd pulled out of his annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam, following the decision by the performing arts center’s board of directors to add President Donald Trump’s name to the venue.
While a statement posted on the Cookers’ website does not explicitly mention Trump or the Kennedy Center, it says: “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice. Some of us have been making this music for many decades, and that history still shapes us. We are not turning away from our audience, and do want to make sure that when we do return to the bandstand, the room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it.”
“To everyone who is disappointed or upset, we understand and share your sadness. We remain committed to playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them,” the statement continues.
Band member David Weiss, reached by email, declined to comment further.
Saxophonist Billy Harper, a member of the Cookers who played in groups with Art Blakey and Max Roach, was more explicit about not wanting to perform at the Kennedy Center in an interview quoted on the Facebook group Jazz Stage on Saturday. He said: “I would never even consider performing in a venue bearing a name (and being controlled by the kind of board) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture. The same music I devoted my life to creating and advancing. … And it is not just about me. After all the years I spent working with some of the greatest heroes of the anti-racism fight like Max Roach and Randy Weston and Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Stanley Cowell, I know they would be turning in their graves to see me stand on a stage under such circumstances and betray all we fought for, and sacrificed for, but also betraying all the listeners that believed (and still do) in our cause and our music.”
This is the latest in a series of cancellations since Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center in February, including a production of “Hamilton,” a concert by Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning folk musician Rhiannon Giddens and a show by comedian and television producer Issa Rae.
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