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#BORNTHISDAY: GAY JAZZ ARTIST, STéPHANE GRAPPELLI
As the rerr ran, my host—known for his fierce telligence and for the refement of his playg—kept referrg to “that faggot” who had produced a somewhat homoerotic documentary of the once-betiful tmpeter and sger. The jazz world is one of the last cultural ontiers of old-fashned macho, and , homophobia ns rampant.
Sce terviewg that pianist, I’ve met a multu of jazz figur who pri themselv on soulfulns and sensivy, yet are as sensive as rednecks on the subject of homosexualy—pecially s prence jazz, which is not nsirable. One saxophonist, a gay man his early 60s, sums up what he se as the persistg attu: “If you are gay, you nnot be playg this mic that requir you to have a much higher level of ttosterone. ” A veteran sger who has worked wh European big bands remembers walkg out on one of them, fur at beg “harassed” by homophobic slurs.