Reflecting recent events, BBC Radio 3’s Saturday afternoon jazz programme, J to Z, devotes its 20 June broadcast to jazz as a protest against racial injustice.
Regular presenter Julian Joseph fronts an episode of the programme dedicated to victims of racism and all those campaigning for racial equality around the world.
Through the programme, titled Jazz for the Struggle, Julian plays a range of pieces occasioned by racism and hears from the musicians who wrote them, among them drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, flautist Nicole Mitchell and trumpeter Byron Wallen, the latter performing his piece Closed Circle, dedicated to Stephen Lawrence.
As part of an exclusive home session for J to Z, harpist Brandee Younger and bassist Dezron Douglas perform a powerful tribute to the victims of police killings.
In the last half hour of the programme British saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi, leader of the Mercury-nominated Seed Ensemble, shares a collection of tracks intended to lift the spirits of black communities around the world.
The programme will be available on BBC Sounds after broadcast and more detail is here.
