[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 28 (Monday, February 28, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E329-E330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING THE EMBASSY OF TURKEY AND THE ERTEGUN FAMILY FOR THEIR
CONTRIBUTION TO JAZZ
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HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.
of michigan
in the house of representatives
Monday, February 28, 2011
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, a recent Washington Post article examined
the Embassy of Turkey's role in promoting jazz in America. Former
Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegun and his sons Ahmet and Nesuhi
Ertegun were instrumental in raising the profile of jazz in the 1930s
and 40s in the District of Columbia.
While growing up in Washington, DC, Ahmet Ertegun and his brother,
Nesuhi, disregarded the racial barriers that divided the city and the
country and hosted jam sessions at the Turkish Embassy. Many notable
jazz artists performed, including Lester Young, Benny Carter, Meade Lux
Lewis, Leadbelly, and members of the Count Basie and Ellington bands.
On a recent visit to the Embassy, Ambassador Tan showed me a picture of
Dr. Martin Luther King at the embassy with jazz musicians.
Later in his life, Ertegun went on to found Atlantic Records in 1947
as a record label for gospel, jazz and R&B music with partner Herb
Abramson. His brother eventually joined the firm and created one of the
most successful independent labels in American history.
Many renowned artists joined Atlantic Records such as Ray Charles,
Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, the Drifters, the Coasters, Aretha Franklin
and Led Zeppelin. Other artists shaped by Ertegun include John
Coltrane, Stevie Wonder, and Mick Jagger.
Asked by the Slate magazine on his legacy, Ertegun responded, ``I'd
be happy if people said that I did a little bit to raise the dignity
and recognition of the greatness of African-American music.''
On Friday, February 4th, in acknowledgement of Black History Month,
Namik Tan, the Republic of Turkey's current ambassador to the United
States, announced a series of six concerts at the Turkish Ambassador's
residence to highlight the unique role the Embassy played in the
promotion of jazz music and racial integration and acceptance in our
Nation's capitol. The first concert will be tomorrow and it will
feature the Orrin Evans Trio.
As we conclude Black History month, I would like to pay tribute to
the contributions of the former Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegun
and his sons Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun and to their contributions to
bringing jazz to the world.
A stirring Moment in Jazz History To Echo in Turkish Embassy
(By J. Freedom du Lac)
The ghosts are jamming again.
They're playing that hot jazz in the Turkish Embassy's old
Sheridan Circle mansion, just as they did in the 1930s and
'40s, when the ambassador's boys, Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun,
were always inviting their favorite musicians over to hang
and blow and thump. The informal, integrated gatherings
achieved near-mythic status--``Washington's most famous
private jam sessions,'' jazz journalist Bill Gottlieb called
them in The Washington Post in 1943--and then they evaporated
into history.
``So many people don't know about it,'' said Namik Tan,
Turkey's current ambassador. He's in the mansion's second-
floor music parlor, envisioning Lester Young sitting in the
wood-paneled room, coaxing those light, airy notes out of his
tenor saxophone. Or maybe it's Benny Carter, making his alto
sax sing. And aren't those the cats from Duke Ellington's
band--Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Barney Bigard--on deck to
play?
``Just try to scan back and imagine sitting here and
listening to those great jazz musicians play,'' Tan said.
On Friday, in a nod to Black History Month, Tan will
announce a series of six invitation-only concerts at his
palatial residence just off Embassy Row. The first, March 1,
will feature pianist Orrin Evans. Jazz at Lincoln Center, on
whose board Ahmet Ertegun served, is curating the series,
which Tan conceived to highlight the mansion's past as one of
Washington's most exclusive--and unlikely--jazz venues.
These will be much more formal affairs than the jam
sessions hosted by the brothers: Ahmet, who founded Atlantic
Records and produced some of R&B's greatest sides; and
Nesuhi, who ran the jazz department at Atlantic and produced
classic records for John Coltrane, Ray Charles, Bobby Darin
and Roberta Flack.
But any jazz is notable at 1606 23rd St. NW, where the
Erteguns proudly flouted the conventions of segregated
Washington by welcoming black musicians through the front
door. This was done, as Ahmet Ertegun liked to point out,
much to the consternation of ``outraged Southern senators,''
who complained to his father, Ambassador Mehmet Munir
Ertegun, about the practice.
``I thought it would be wise to rebuild the historical
image of the Turkish Embassy residence as a center for jazz
and jazz fans,'' Tan said. ``People should be aware of the
historical significance of this house and of Ahmet and Nesuhi
Ertegun. They made a good place for Turkey in the hearts and
minds of the black community here and in the music community
around the United States and elsewhere.''
The Ertegun boys were already hard-core swing buffs by the
time their father was named Turkey's ambassador to Washington
in 1934, when Nesuhi was 17 and Ahmet was 11.
Upon landing in America, the young Turks dived headlong
into the heart of the District's hopping jazz scene,
frequenting the Howard Theatre, a mecca of black
entertainment, to hear Ellington and other favorites. ``I got
my education in music at the Howard,'' Ahmet later declared.
The Erteguns began promoting concerts, too--at the Jewish
Community Center, the National Press Club and elsewhere--
partly because they so loved the music but also out of a
sense of social responsibility. ``You can't imagine how
segregated Washington was at that time,'' Nesuhi told The
Post in 1979, a decade before his death. ``Blacks and whites
couldn't sit together in most places. So we put on concerts.
. . . Jazz was our weapon for social action.''
They regularly invited musicians back to the embassy. The
typical gathering began with a meal served by servants in
tuxedos. Then came the sweetest dessert for hard-core swing
fans.
``Nesuhi and I made the most out of the extra-territorial
situation offered by the embassy by inviting musicians who'd
played in town the night before over for Sunday lunch,''
Ahmet recalled in his 2001 book, ``What'd I Say: The Atlantic
Story.'' ``They all loved the idea of having lunch at an
embassy, particularly one as well-appointed and in such grand
surroundings as the Turkish embassy in Washington. After
lunch, jam sessions would inevitably develop.''
If there's a record of the artists who visited the
Erteguns, the embassy hasn't been able to find it. Based on
interviews with the brothers, Gottlieb's columns in The Post
and photos at the Library of Congress, though, the cumulative
guest list probably included Young, Carter, boogie-woogie
pianist Meade Lux Lewis, blues giant Leadbelly, and members
of the Count Basie and Ellington bands.
You can feel it when you set foot in the place, said
Washington jazzman and educator Davey Yarborough, who
performed at the residence in October in what Tan called ``a
practice for the series.''
``You feel the history coming up the steps,'' Yarborough
said. ``There's a sense of energy, a sense of ancestry that
you get to absorb. If Lester Young played here, his spirit is
still here, and he might guide me through a breakthrough on
my instrument--like, `Here, let me show you what it really
felt like.' ''
To Nesuhi Ertegun, watching Ellington's band jamming at the
mansion ``was one of the biggest thrills of my life,'' he
told The Post in 1979.
The music, he said, seemed to go over well with others,
too. ``I remember once there was an embassy party, and I was
having some musicians over at the same time. We were really
getting kind of loud, and I was worried that maybe the people
outside could hear us. At about that time, my father peered
in and said, `Can you leave the door open? That music sounds
awfully good.' ''
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