Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Booker T's Jazz Icon Doesn't Have to Blow His Own Horn This Time

I'm always happy to see positive articles in the media about education, music or jazz, and today, the DMN hits the complete trifecta with its feature article on Bart Marantz, the longtime jazz director at Dallas' Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (its abbreviation, BTWHSPVA, is still a mouthful, so we'll call it Booker T. like most people do around here). Marantz can claim the likes of Roy Hargrove, Norah Jones and Erykah Badu as alumni of his program, and he says he's learned as much from them as they have from him.

What's great is that the article seems to have been written without being connected to any special occasion--Marantz isn't retiring, he's not celebrating a "big number on the left" anniversary at the school (his 30th will come in 2013), and there's no new alum who's recently made a big splash on the scene. It appears that this article was published just because someone figured out that this iconic educator deserved some recognition. (By the way, among the many talented Booker T. grads are Marantz's own two sons; saxophonist Matt recently released what I believe to be his first CD, and younger brother Luke excels at both piano and vocals.)

As always, read the whole thing.

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