Black Music Sunday: Kicking off Black Music Month with Oliver Nelson

Black Music Month, known today as African American Music Appreciation Month, started on June 1. Former President Jimmy Carter, who is a major jazz fan, kicked off the process in 1979, which didn’t become official until Bill Clinton issued a proclamation in 2000. 

Today is also the birthday of Oliver Nelson, one of our greatest musicians who inhabited so many roles: jazz composer, arranger, bandleader, saxophonist, and clarinetist. June is also LGBTQ+ Pride Month, and I’d like to introduce you to the compilation album “Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool,” named for Nelson’s jazz standard “Stolen Moments” and its accompanying film, which served to focus attention on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Black community.

Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music. With over 150 stories (and counting) covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack, I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.