All That Jazz Katrina fundraiser blocks

Rose McCracken

Rose McCracken: statement

I wasn't sure I was even going to participate in the project for a couple of reasons: I don't hate jazz, but I'm not that big a fan; and New Orleans always had a "party town" connotation in my mind, like Rio de Janeiro, Las Vegas, et al. This isn't to say that I have any ill will towards those places at all, but Mardi Gras and Carnivale and things like that happen to be one of my ideas of hell. Which is my tortured way of saying that given my lack of identification with the subject, I didn't know if I could do it justice. But I don't want to back down from a creative challenge, so here's my square. I'm choosing to focus on the music, which I really do admire. Louis Armstrong is, of course, one of the all-time jazz legends, and the band is a generic one from the 20's or 30's. I've always admired the way that musicians, and jazz musicians in particular, were able to transcend racial prejudice long before the rest of the nation, so I picked a multiracial group.

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©Rose McCracken