Arts & Entertainment

Truth Behind MLK Jr. Jazz Quote Uncovered

King was never at 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival

A professor and alumnus from William Paterson University have uncovered the truth behind Martin Luther King Jr's only published commentary on jazz.

Until now the quote has been misattributed as being from a speech King gave at the inaugural Berlin Jazz Festival in 1964. Professor David Demsey and Bruce Jackson have discovered that King was never at the festival; King's thoughts on jazz served as the foreword for the event's printed program. 

"Everybody has the blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved," part of King's statement reads. "Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially that broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone toward all of these."

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Jackson said it took a few years to complete the research. Click here to read King's quote in its entirety and an article from DownBeat magazine on Demsey's and Jackson's discovery.

"Professor Demsey and I were talking about how great it would have been to hear King's speech," Jackson said. He started to research the quote and King's presence at the festival.

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Eventually, Jackson found a copy of a letter sent to King from one of the representatives of the festival dated July 29, 1964, that was being auctioned off with other papers of King's. The letter asked King if he could write a few paragraphs as a foreword to the festival's program. Although King was in Europe at the time, he could not attend the festival.

"That's when I realized he wrote it and didn't say it," Jackson said. "It corrects something that was assumed in history. This is the only time he reflected publicly on jazz. He's declaring that jazz has a universal feeling to it, that everybody gets the blues and everybody gets down and that everybody needs to keep clapping their hands because jazz, and music in general, can be a part of what makes someone happy."


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