Memorial Chapel swelled with masterful jazz to honor the centennial celebration of Jackie Robinson’s birth.
Bobby Bradford, a composer and musician, and his ensemble brought “Stealin’ Home,” Bradford’s tribute to Robinson, to Whittier College on Sunday, November 10. The afternoon performance for more than 150 attendees paid homage to the first black baseball player in the Major League, and was presented in part by Whittier College’s Institute for Baseball Studies.
The institute is the first humanities-based research center of its kind to be associated with an American college or university. It houses the Baseball Reliquary’s research collection: everything from books to baseball historians’ papers to nostalgic memorabilia, all of which support multifaceted and interdisciplinary studies at Whittier.
On Sunday, the institute was proud to host the jazz musicians’ swinging tribute. The music was commissioned by the Reliquary and featured pieces inspired by Robinson’s life.
“The game of baseball and the art of jazz don’t immediately appear to share a mutual inclusivity,” the program for the show reads. But black players often rubbed shoulders with jazz legends, whose music often sets the tone in films about the sport, and both jazz and baseball are counted as important and influential American cultural exports. “The game and jazz also share an obsession with history, capital-‘T’ time. Great feats, players, and compositions from the past are subjects of endless fascination and influence to the living. Jazz has audio recordings, baseball has stories.”
The afternoon also included a reading from Michael C. Ford, a distinguished figure in the Southern California literary landscape. Ford read his poem about the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, “From Flatbush to George Bush.”
Beyond the concert, the institute and Whittier are continuing to honor Robinson and other black athletes of baseball history. The institute’s student intern, Amanda Melodia ’21, helped curate artifacts and other memorabilia related to Robinson’s career for a display in Wardman Library’s foyer. Professor emeritus Joseph Price is also teaching a month-long course this January that examines the professional leagues formed by 19th Century black players and, more broadly, how baseball has dealt with racism in American culture.
The jazz program was supported in part by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
Photo by Fionna Tejada '22
