Young & Rtls’ Christian LeBlanc Com Out as Gay on State of Md — Michael |

Contents:

• HOW LTER YOUNG INVENTED COOLHIP LIPNOT NTENT TO VENT A MUCH-PIED YET PARABLE MIL STYLE, JAZZ SAXOPHONIST LTER YOUNG LIBLY SHAPED AMERIN SPEECH, TOO, OM OL TO CRIB TO HOMEBOY.TED GIAUPDATED APR. 14, 2017 11:03AM EDT / PUBLISHED APR. 12, 2015 6:45AM EDT MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIV/GETTY IMAGWHO IS THE MOST FLUENTIAL MICIAN THE HISTORY OF JAZZ? IS LOUIS ARMSTRONG OR MIL DAVIS? BILLIE HOLIDAY OR DE ELLGTON? BENNY GOODMAN OR THELON MONK? JOHN COLTRANE OR CHARLIE PARKER?FACED WH SUCH AN EXTRAORDARY RANGE OF CHOIC, I SIMPLY N’T MAKE UP MY MD. SO, FIVE ME, BUT I REFE TO ANSWER THAT QUTN.BUT LET ME ASK A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT ONE: WHICH JAZZ ARTIST HAD THE GREATT FLUENCE OUTSI THE WORLD OF JAZZ? WHO EXERTED THE BIGGT IMPACT ON THE BROAR CULTURE—NOT ON OTHER JAZZ MICIANS, BUT ON EVERYBODY ELSE?AH, THAT IS A QUTN I N ANSWER. AND MY ANSWER WILL PROBABLY SURPRISE YOU, BEE THE NAME IS FAR LS WELL KNOWN THAN ANY OF THOSE OTHERS LISTED ABOVE. IN FACT, THE JAZZ ARTIST WHO HAD THE GREATT FLUENCE ON THE BROAR SOCIETY IS VIRTUALLY UNKNOWN AMONG THE GENERAL PUBLIC. IF YOU GO TO THE WEB TO LEARN ABOUT SAXOPHONIST LTER YOUNG, YOU WILL FD THAT HE IS ASSOCIATED WH THE KANSAS CY STYLE OF JAZZ THAT FLOURISHED THE ’30S. HE ONLY ACHIEVED THE TIT DOSE OF FAME DURG HIS LIFETIME— FACT, YOUNG WASN’T EVEN THE BANDLEAR ON MANY OF HIS MOST IMPORTANT RERDGS. MIC FANS WERE MORE LIKELY TO REGNIZE THE NAME OF HIS BOSS COUNT BASIE OR HIS EQUENT LLABORATOR BILLIE HOLIDAY. DURG HIS PEAK EARNG YEARS THE ’50S, YOUNG EARNED $500 OR $750 DURG A GOOD WEEK. THAT WAS A SWEET PAYCHECK FOR A WORKG STIFF THE EISENHOWER YEARS, BUT HARDLY THE E OF A WORLD-CHANGG ENTERTAER.BUT LTER YOUNG CHANGED THE WORLD, AND HAS NEVER GOTTEN THE CRED FOR .LET ME START WH THE MIC. HERE YOU NEED TO LOOK OUTSI THE JAZZ WORLD TO GGE YOUNG’S IMPORTANCE. I ALMOST NEVER HEAR YOUNG JAZZ SAXOPHONISTS DRAWG ON HIS OL JAZZ STYLE. BUT WHEN I ENUNTER A SAXOPHONE ALMOST ANY OTHER SETTG, I N HEAR YOUNG’S FLUENCE. I HEAR ECHO OF HIS SMOOTH, BEGUILG SOUND ON MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS, ON POP RERDGS BEHD THE SGER’S VOL, ON BOSSA NOVA ALBUMS, EVEN ELEVATOR MIC.WHEN PULZER PRIZE-WNG POSER JOHN ADAMS RELEASED A RERDG OF HIS CLASSIL SAXOPHONE NCERTO LAST YEAR, I WAS HARDLY SURPRISED TO HEAR HTS OF YOUNG’S TENOR SAX SOUND THE MIC. SAXOPHONE IS NOT A STANDARD STMENT A SYMPHONY ORCHTRA, BUT WHEN DO SHOW UP AT THE CLASSIL NCERT HALL, THE TONE UALLY STRAIGHT OUT OF THE LTER YOUNG PLAYBOOK. BUT YOU WILL NEVER SEE HIS NAME MENTNED THE PROGRAM NOT.THE TERM “CROSSOVER” DIDN’T EXIST THE JAZZ WORLD BACK LTER YOUNG’S DAY, BUT MANY WAYS HE PNEERED THE NCEPT. HE CREATED A STYLE AND ATHETIC VISN PERFECTLY ADAPTED FOR ASSIATN BY OTHER MIC GENR. HIS RELAXED PHRASG, MELODIC GIFT, AND LUCENT TONE JT SEEM TO F PERFECTLY TO EVERY SETTG, WHETHER BE THE MIL BACKGROUND TO A TV MERCIAL OR THE FIRST DANCE AT THE WEDDG RECEPTN.YET LTER YOUNG MAY HAVE HAD EVEN MORE FLUENCE ON NON-MIL MATTERS. NO ONE BACK THE ’30S WOULD HAVE APPLIED THE TERMS “ANDROGYNY” OR “METROSEXUAL” TO THIS BIG BAND SAXOPHONIST, BUT WH THE BENEF OF HDSIGHT, WE N SEE THAT YOUNG WAS SUBVERTG SEX ROL AT EVERY TURN. BY REFERRG TO HIS MALE IENDS—OR EVEN SUAL ACQUATANC—AS “LADY,” HE WAS UNRCUTTG THE MACHO CULTURE OF JAZZ AT THE ROOTS. SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT LTER YOUNG WAS HOMOSEXUAL; OTHERS MERELY THAT HE WAS AN ODD DUCK. (DURG HIS ARY STT, A PSYCHIATRIST DIAGNOSED YOUNG AS “A NSTUTNAL PSYCHOPATH.”) BUT EVERYONE ULD SEE HIS STUBBORN REFAL TO TAKE ON THE TYPIL MASCULE STANC OF THE DAY. CRIC NAT HENTOFF, WHO DOUBTED THAT YOUNG WAS GAY, NOTED HIS “EFFEMATE GA AND HAND GTUR” AND RELLS THAT THE SAXOPHONIST HAD “LONGER HAIR THAN THAT OF ANY MALE JAZZ MICIAN I HAD EVER SEEN BEFORE.” YOUNG’S FELLOW MICIANS THE BASIE BAND SOMETIM REFERRED TO YOUNG AS “MISS THG.”I WILL LEAVE TO OTHERS TO BATE LTER YOUNG’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN. FRANKLY, I DON’T HAVE MUCH TERT HIS BEDROOM PROCLIVI. BUT I N’T HELP BUT ADMIRE THE URAGE HE SHOWED BLURRG TRADNAL BOUNDARI OF MASCULY AND FEMY ON THE BANDSTAND OR OUT AMONG THE PUBLIC. I DON’T HATE FOR A SEND GIVG HIM CRED AS A KEY FORENNER OF DAVID BOWIE, PRCE, AND ALL THE OTHER LATE 20TH CENTURY PERFORMERS WHO TOOK THAT SAME GENR-BENDG FORMULA AND RO TO SUPERSTARDOM.LAST, BUT HARDLY LEAST, WE ARRIVE AT LTER YOUNG’S FLUENCE ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. WHEN I WROTE A BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF “OL” A FEW YEARS BACK, I TRIED TO UNLOCK THE MYSTERY OF THAT WORD’S CHANGG MEANG. “COOL” HAD LONG BEEN A NEGATIVE TERM, SIGNIFYG ALOOFNS, EMOTNAL ADNS, AND SOMETIM EVEN ANTISOCIAL VLENCE. HEMGWAY ONCE WROTE: “I’D LIKE TO OL YOU, YOU MMY FAKE.” I N ASSURE YOU WASN’T TEND AS A PLIMENT. BUT SOMEHOW THE TERM FLIP-FLOPPED DURG THE ’40S AND ’50S. “COOL” EMERGED AS THE PREFERRED ADJECTIVE TO SCRIBE A HIP STYLISHNS.WHO SPURRED THIS LGUISTIC SHIFT? ACRDG TO MY REARCH, LTER YOUNG WAS THE TALYST. MORE THAN A DOZEN FELLOW MICIANS LATER ATTTED THAT YOUNG VENTED THIS AGE. EVEN TODAY, MORE THAN A HALF-CENTURY AFTER YOUNG’S ATH, THIS MEANG OF THE WORD IS EMBEDD EVERYDAY SPEECH. EVERYWHERE YOU GO, YOU ENUNTER “OL” AS A POSIVE AFFIRMATN, WHETHER SUAL NVERSATN, TEXT MSAG OR MARKETG PCH.LTER YOUNG ALSO VENTED A HOST OF OTHER UNUAL PHRAS. SOME ENTERED THE MON VERNACULAR, FOR EXAMPLE HIS E OF THE TERM “BREAD” TO REFER TO MONEY OR “CRIB” AS A WAY OF SIGNIFYG ONE’S HOME BASE. HE MAY HAVE BEEN THE FIRST TO E THE VERB “DIG” TO SCRIBE A EPER GREE OF PERCEPTN. DO YOU DIG? BUT MOST OF HIS LORFUL LANGUAGE NEVER EXTEND BEYOND HIS OWN PERSONAL ORB. NO ONE TODAY WOULD REFER TO SOMEONE WH AN ILLNS AS “JOHNNY DEATHBED,” BUT IF YOU WERE TALKG TO LTER THE ’50S, YOU MIGHT HEAR JT THAT.AND WHAT ABOUT HIP-HOP? COULD MR. YOUNG HAVE LEFT HIS FGERPRTS ON THE MORN DAY RAPPER? “LTER YOUNG WAS LLG COUNT BASIE ‘HOMEBOY’ 90 YEARS AGO,” QUCY JON RECENTLY TOLD AN TERVIEWER. “THERE WERE THE JAZZ GUYS, AND THE HIP-HOP GUYS TOOK OM THEM.” KANYE AND EMEM PROBABLY ULDN’T TELL LTER YOUNG OM LA MONTE YOUNG, BUT DO REALLY MATTER? ANY MORN-DAY MICIAN TRYG TO IMPOSE A SASSY PERSONAL VERNACULAR ON THE KG’S ENGLISH IS FOLLOWG THE FOOTSTEPS OF THIS STALWART OF KANSAS CY JAZZ.SO LET’S GIVE LTER YOUNG HIS DUE. HE NEVER MA MUCH BREAD—CERTALY AS NOT AS MUCH AS HIS HOMEBOYS—OR LIVED A OL CRIB. BUT HE HAD MORE IMPACT ON AMERIN SOCIETY ANY OTHER JAZZ MICIAN. ALMOST NO ONE KNOWS HIS NAME, BUT WE ARE STILL DANCG TO HIS TUNE. YOU DIG? TED GIA
• YOUNG & RTLS’ CHRISTIAN JUL LEBLANC UNPACKS THE BAGGAGE OF HOMOPHOBIA: ‘I STILL LIVE WH THE LEGACY OF THAT AS A GAY MAN’

HOW LTER YOUNG INVENTED COOLHIP LIPNOT NTENT TO VENT A MUCH-PIED YET PARABLE MIL STYLE, JAZZ SAXOPHONIST LTER YOUNG LIBLY SHAPED AMERIN SPEECH, TOO, OM OL TO CRIB TO HOMEBOY.TED GIAUPDATED APR. 14, 2017 11:03AM EDT / PUBLISHED APR. 12, 2015 6:45AM EDT MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIV/GETTY IMAGWHO IS THE MOST FLUENTIAL MICIAN THE HISTORY OF JAZZ? IS LOUIS ARMSTRONG OR MIL DAVIS? BILLIE HOLIDAY OR DE ELLGTON? BENNY GOODMAN OR THELON MONK? JOHN COLTRANE OR CHARLIE PARKER?FACED WH SUCH AN EXTRAORDARY RANGE OF CHOIC, I SIMPLY N’T MAKE UP MY MD. SO, FIVE ME, BUT I REFE TO ANSWER THAT QUTN.BUT LET ME ASK A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT ONE: WHICH JAZZ ARTIST HAD THE GREATT FLUENCE OUTSI THE WORLD OF JAZZ? WHO EXERTED THE BIGGT IMPACT ON THE BROAR CULTURE—NOT ON OTHER JAZZ MICIANS, BUT ON EVERYBODY ELSE?AH, THAT IS A QUTN I N ANSWER. AND MY ANSWER WILL PROBABLY SURPRISE YOU, BEE THE NAME IS FAR LS WELL KNOWN THAN ANY OF THOSE OTHERS LISTED ABOVE. IN FACT, THE JAZZ ARTIST WHO HAD THE GREATT FLUENCE ON THE BROAR SOCIETY IS VIRTUALLY UNKNOWN AMONG THE GENERAL PUBLIC. IF YOU GO TO THE WEB TO LEARN ABOUT SAXOPHONIST LTER YOUNG, YOU WILL FD THAT HE IS ASSOCIATED WH THE KANSAS CY STYLE OF JAZZ THAT FLOURISHED THE ’30S. HE ONLY ACHIEVED THE TIT DOSE OF FAME DURG HIS LIFETIME— FACT, YOUNG WASN’T EVEN THE BANDLEAR ON MANY OF HIS MOST IMPORTANT RERDGS. MIC FANS WERE MORE LIKELY TO REGNIZE THE NAME OF HIS BOSS COUNT BASIE OR HIS EQUENT LLABORATOR BILLIE HOLIDAY. DURG HIS PEAK EARNG YEARS THE ’50S, YOUNG EARNED $500 OR $750 DURG A GOOD WEEK. THAT WAS A SWEET PAYCHECK FOR A WORKG STIFF THE EISENHOWER YEARS, BUT HARDLY THE E OF A WORLD-CHANGG ENTERTAER.BUT LTER YOUNG CHANGED THE WORLD, AND HAS NEVER GOTTEN THE CRED FOR .LET ME START WH THE MIC. HERE YOU NEED TO LOOK OUTSI THE JAZZ WORLD TO GGE YOUNG’S IMPORTANCE. I ALMOST NEVER HEAR YOUNG JAZZ SAXOPHONISTS DRAWG ON HIS OL JAZZ STYLE. BUT WHEN I ENUNTER A SAXOPHONE ALMOST ANY OTHER SETTG, I N HEAR YOUNG’S FLUENCE. I HEAR ECHO OF HIS SMOOTH, BEGUILG SOUND ON MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS, ON POP RERDGS BEHD THE SGER’S VOL, ON BOSSA NOVA ALBUMS, EVEN ELEVATOR MIC.WHEN PULZER PRIZE-WNG POSER JOHN ADAMS RELEASED A RERDG OF HIS CLASSIL SAXOPHONE NCERTO LAST YEAR, I WAS HARDLY SURPRISED TO HEAR HTS OF YOUNG’S TENOR SAX SOUND THE MIC. SAXOPHONE IS NOT A STANDARD STMENT A SYMPHONY ORCHTRA, BUT WHEN DO SHOW UP AT THE CLASSIL NCERT HALL, THE TONE UALLY STRAIGHT OUT OF THE LTER YOUNG PLAYBOOK. BUT YOU WILL NEVER SEE HIS NAME MENTNED THE PROGRAM NOT.THE TERM “CROSSOVER” DIDN’T EXIST THE JAZZ WORLD BACK LTER YOUNG’S DAY, BUT MANY WAYS HE PNEERED THE NCEPT. HE CREATED A STYLE AND ATHETIC VISN PERFECTLY ADAPTED FOR ASSIATN BY OTHER MIC GENR. HIS RELAXED PHRASG, MELODIC GIFT, AND LUCENT TONE JT SEEM TO F PERFECTLY TO EVERY SETTG, WHETHER BE THE MIL BACKGROUND TO A TV MERCIAL OR THE FIRST DANCE AT THE WEDDG RECEPTN.YET LTER YOUNG MAY HAVE HAD EVEN MORE FLUENCE ON NON-MIL MATTERS. NO ONE BACK THE ’30S WOULD HAVE APPLIED THE TERMS “ANDROGYNY” OR “METROSEXUAL” TO THIS BIG BAND SAXOPHONIST, BUT WH THE BENEF OF HDSIGHT, WE N SEE THAT YOUNG WAS SUBVERTG SEX ROL AT EVERY TURN. BY REFERRG TO HIS MALE IENDS—OR EVEN SUAL ACQUATANC—AS “LADY,” HE WAS UNRCUTTG THE MACHO CULTURE OF JAZZ AT THE ROOTS. SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT LTER YOUNG WAS HOMOSEXUAL; OTHERS MERELY THAT HE WAS AN ODD DUCK. (DURG HIS ARY STT, A PSYCHIATRIST DIAGNOSED YOUNG AS “A NSTUTNAL PSYCHOPATH.”) BUT EVERYONE ULD SEE HIS STUBBORN REFAL TO TAKE ON THE TYPIL MASCULE STANC OF THE DAY. CRIC NAT HENTOFF, WHO DOUBTED THAT YOUNG WAS GAY, NOTED HIS “EFFEMATE GA AND HAND GTUR” AND RELLS THAT THE SAXOPHONIST HAD “LONGER HAIR THAN THAT OF ANY MALE JAZZ MICIAN I HAD EVER SEEN BEFORE.” YOUNG’S FELLOW MICIANS THE BASIE BAND SOMETIM REFERRED TO YOUNG AS “MISS THG.”I WILL LEAVE TO OTHERS TO BATE LTER YOUNG’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN. FRANKLY, I DON’T HAVE MUCH TERT HIS BEDROOM PROCLIVI. BUT I N’T HELP BUT ADMIRE THE URAGE HE SHOWED BLURRG TRADNAL BOUNDARI OF MASCULY AND FEMY ON THE BANDSTAND OR OUT AMONG THE PUBLIC. I DON’T HATE FOR A SEND GIVG HIM CRED AS A KEY FORENNER OF DAVID BOWIE, PRCE, AND ALL THE OTHER LATE 20TH CENTURY PERFORMERS WHO TOOK THAT SAME GENR-BENDG FORMULA AND RO TO SUPERSTARDOM.LAST, BUT HARDLY LEAST, WE ARRIVE AT LTER YOUNG’S FLUENCE ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. WHEN I WROTE A BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF “OL” A FEW YEARS BACK, I TRIED TO UNLOCK THE MYSTERY OF THAT WORD’S CHANGG MEANG. “COOL” HAD LONG BEEN A NEGATIVE TERM, SIGNIFYG ALOOFNS, EMOTNAL ADNS, AND SOMETIM EVEN ANTISOCIAL VLENCE. HEMGWAY ONCE WROTE: “I’D LIKE TO OL YOU, YOU MMY FAKE.” I N ASSURE YOU WASN’T TEND AS A PLIMENT. BUT SOMEHOW THE TERM FLIP-FLOPPED DURG THE ’40S AND ’50S. “COOL” EMERGED AS THE PREFERRED ADJECTIVE TO SCRIBE A HIP STYLISHNS.WHO SPURRED THIS LGUISTIC SHIFT? ACRDG TO MY REARCH, LTER YOUNG WAS THE TALYST. MORE THAN A DOZEN FELLOW MICIANS LATER ATTTED THAT YOUNG VENTED THIS AGE. EVEN TODAY, MORE THAN A HALF-CENTURY AFTER YOUNG’S ATH, THIS MEANG OF THE WORD IS EMBEDD EVERYDAY SPEECH. EVERYWHERE YOU GO, YOU ENUNTER “OL” AS A POSIVE AFFIRMATN, WHETHER SUAL NVERSATN, TEXT MSAG OR MARKETG PCH.LTER YOUNG ALSO VENTED A HOST OF OTHER UNUAL PHRAS. SOME ENTERED THE MON VERNACULAR, FOR EXAMPLE HIS E OF THE TERM “BREAD” TO REFER TO MONEY OR “CRIB” AS A WAY OF SIGNIFYG ONE’S HOME BASE. HE MAY HAVE BEEN THE FIRST TO E THE VERB “DIG” TO SCRIBE A EPER GREE OF PERCEPTN. DO YOU DIG? BUT MOST OF HIS LORFUL LANGUAGE NEVER EXTEND BEYOND HIS OWN PERSONAL ORB. NO ONE TODAY WOULD REFER TO SOMEONE WH AN ILLNS AS “JOHNNY DEATHBED,” BUT IF YOU WERE TALKG TO LTER THE ’50S, YOU MIGHT HEAR JT THAT.AND WHAT ABOUT HIP-HOP? COULD MR. YOUNG HAVE LEFT HIS FGERPRTS ON THE MORN DAY RAPPER? “LTER YOUNG WAS LLG COUNT BASIE ‘HOMEBOY’ 90 YEARS AGO,” QUCY JON RECENTLY TOLD AN TERVIEWER. “THERE WERE THE JAZZ GUYS, AND THE HIP-HOP GUYS TOOK OM THEM.” KANYE AND EMEM PROBABLY ULDN’T TELL LTER YOUNG OM LA MONTE YOUNG, BUT DO REALLY MATTER? ANY MORN-DAY MICIAN TRYG TO IMPOSE A SASSY PERSONAL VERNACULAR ON THE KG’S ENGLISH IS FOLLOWG THE FOOTSTEPS OF THIS STALWART OF KANSAS CY JAZZ.SO LET’S GIVE LTER YOUNG HIS DUE. HE NEVER MA MUCH BREAD—CERTALY AS NOT AS MUCH AS HIS HOMEBOYS—OR LIVED A OL CRIB. BUT HE HAD MORE IMPACT ON AMERIN SOCIETY ANY OTHER JAZZ MICIAN. ALMOST NO ONE KNOWS HIS NAME, BUT WE ARE STILL DANCG TO HIS TUNE. YOU DIG? TED GIA

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. “Gays are the last whippg post society, ” he says.

YOUNG & RTLS’ CHRISTIAN JUL LEBLANC UNPACKS THE BAGGAGE OF HOMOPHOBIA: ‘I STILL LIVE WH THE LEGACY OF THAT AS A GAY MAN’

Some attentn was drawn to the qutn the ’90s, when three outstandg jazz micians—pianist Fred Hersch, vibraphonist Gary Burton and sger/pianist Andy Bey—all me out publicly as gay men. Two years earlier me Lh Life, David Hajdu’s bgraphy of arranger-poser Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967), one of the very few openly gay jazzmen of his (or any) time.