On October 7 and 8, Hypocrisy of Justice: Sights and Sounds from the Black Metropolis will take place at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. An ambitious musical collaboration between composer Dana Hall and writer Cheryl Lynn Bruce, the work explores inequities within systems and institutions through visuals, text, sound, and performance.
In addition to two performances by Dana Hall’s jazz sextet with special narration by Malcom Banks, the program will include a day-long symposium on October 8 convening activists, scholars, journalists, practitioners, and artists. The event will also feature other interdisciplinary projects and resources, from an accompanying podcast to an immersive soundscape created by graduate students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Dana Hall, jazz drummer and composer, and Kate Dumbleton, director of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, discussed the project on WTTW Chicago. They explored themes of Richard Wright’s 1940 novel Native Son that served as an influence on Hypocrisy of Justice, and discussed the cross-disciplinary scope and purpose of the project’s day-long symposium.
Click here to watch the video.
Hypocrisy of Justice: Sights and Sounds from the Black Metropolis is co-commissioned by the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, and UChicago Presents. This program is supported by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Dan J. Epstein, Judith Guitelman, and the Epstein Family Foundation, the Illinois Humanities Envisioning Justice initiative, the Jazz Institute of Chicago's Dr. Timuel Black Inspiration and Education Program, the National Public Housing Museum, the Revada Foundation with additional support from the Julie and Parker Hall Endowment for Jazz and American Popular Music, and the Reva and David Logan Foundation. Presented in partnership with Chicago Jazz Magazine, DownBeat Magazine, Jazz Institute Chicago, and WDCB 90.9 FM.