Entertainment
Jazz pianist Kirk Lightsey found respect in Paris that was missing in the United States — Andscape
Black Americans in France is a series of reports specializing in African Americans living abroad during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Pianist Kirk Lightsey moved to Paris permanently in 1994. After moving there, Lightsey, then 87, joined one other wave of African Americans to maneuver to the City of Light.
Since the early twentieth century, Paris has been a magnet for African Americans who saw the country and city as a refuge from the brutal reality of racism in the United States. For generations of black Americans, Paris has offered opportunity, recent beginnings, and an escape from the constant hum of racism.
As a highly regarded jazz musician, Lightsey was a part of a wealthy jazz tradition that had delighted Parisians since the early twentieth century, when jazz was introduced by the regimental bands of black American soldiers who spread the exciting recent music throughout France.
While Paris was under no circumstances a paradise for people of various races, for a lot of African writers, musicians, and artists the city was a protected space where their humanity was not only recognized but valued.
“Paris was welcoming,” Lightsey said from his home in Paris during a recent interview. “I felt more at ease. I felt appreciated. I felt like people were people, and I was just a human being to all people, and I was very appreciated. It was wonderful to be here. It was great.”
Brian O’Connor/Images of Jazz/Heritage Images via Getty Images
Born and raised in Detroit, Lightsey began playing piano at age 5 and spent his teens and early maturity becoming a part of the city’s vibrant jazz scene. Eventually, Lightsey was prompted to maneuver to Paris when the burden of racism became an excessive amount of to bear.
The first incident occurred while he was serving in the army.
Lightsey was drafted in 1960 and was a member of the Fort Knox Army Band. During one visit, Lightsey and his then-wife decided to go off base for dinner.
“She was visiting me at Fort Knox. We were hungry. We just drove down the hill about 15 minutes from Fort Knox,” he recalled. “I said, ‘I’ve never been to this place, but it looks pretty good, so let’s go in and get something to eat.’ We went in, I was in my uniform, and they immediately said, ‘Excuse me, we don’t serve blacks here.’ I didn’t know what to do. All I could do was take Shirley’s hand and walk out. It was the most outrageous thing that had ever happened to me, as far as race was concerned. And they still expect me to fight for my country.”
In addition to soldiers, black musicians weren’t spared the humiliation of racism during their tours.
“The whole Count Basie band had to do it, a lot of people who were on the road, all these black musicians at the time had to go through it,” Lightsey said. “That’s why so many black individuals who were playing music at the time decided to come back to Europe, decided to come back to Paris, and most of them stayed. They stayed because they knew after they got back to the States they were going to get their asses kicked by white toes.
“There was no racial issue here (France). The French were really happy to accept us as artists and had great respect for us.”
After his discharge, Lightsey became a staff pianist at Motown Records and continued to achieve fame by fiddling with a few of Detroit’s finest musicians. In the mid-’60s, Lightsey joined trombonist Melba Liston’s all-female band and made a pilgrimage to New York.
After his time with Liston, Lightsey moved to California in 1969 to work with vocalist OC Smith, during which era he made his first trip to Paris. He then joined saxophonist Dexter Gordon’s band, returned to New York, and have become a fixture on the New York jazz scene.
One night, Lightsey was riding a crowded subway back from a concert when he was arrested by the New York City Transit Police on a vague charge of hit-and-run. He later learned that he and other black passengers had been racially profiled by the Transit Police in a scheme that was uncovered when the Transit Police targeted an off-duty black police officer. Lightsey sued the city and won a positive settlement seven years later.
“I was working all over New York at the time and had been to Europe a few times,” he recalled. “I was playing in Paris, and Paris seemed like a good place to live.”
Lightsey decided to make use of the settlement money to maneuver to Paris along with his recent wife, who was French. At 57, he had had enough.
The subway incident was the final straw.
“What was happening politically was a big part of why I left the States and came to Europe,” he said. “The club owners were dying and things were changing in New York in the business and it just didn’t feel the same. It’s worse now than it was then, but it was bad enough then. It was at a time when a lot of American musicians were moving to Paris and Europe because life in the States was just so ugly for black Americans, and especially black American musicians. A lot of people moved here. And I came here and found a lot of people who were my friends.”
Samuel Dietz/Redferns
There was no shortage of labor for Lightsey, who enjoyed widespread recognition at this point in his profession. He worked repeatedly at several clubs in Paris, the surrounding countryside, and taught at an academic program outside of Paris. Lightsey believes his profession in Paris has reached one other level.
“Yes, that happened. I was at a different level because now not only was I from New York and playing from New York, but it was a great level,” he said. “And I was one in every of the best pianists in Paris and other parts of Europe that I had been to. So I was on a ladder going up.
“Life in Paris was very easy. I just had to learn the language. But it wasn’t that hard because people in Paris at that time were trying to learn English, so they practiced their English with me back and forth. I don’t have to speak French as much as I did when I came here.”
Because of the historical origins of black jazz musicians in France, Lightsey said, he and other jazz musicians enjoy a level of respect that is usually lacking in the United States.
“My French wasn’t bad. It was beginner’s French, but when people talked to me, they knew I wasn’t French, I wasn’t African, I was from the United States. And that earned them respect,” he said. “Being here and being an American musician, and also being a musician from the States and living in Paris, was a great honor for them. So I was very respected for being a musician and being from the States. I worked all the time. So it was a great feeling.”
After we finished talking, I asked Lightsey what he had gained from moving to Paris. “You gain freedom,” he said. “You gain the language. You gain proximity to very interesting places, like Germany. You’re close to Vienna, you’re close to other worlds. And that’s great, because you can hop on a train and go anywhere.”
How does he see himself? As a black Frenchman? As a black man living in Paris? “As an American living in Paris with a French family, my French wife and my French daughter,” he said.
Would Lightsey ever consider returning to the United States?
“Never, not even in the next life,” he said. “What’s going on there politically is crazy. It’s just crazy.”
Entertainment
Reebok continues to return to basketball with the signing of Dijonai Carrington – and Scape
Dijonai Carrington is the latest WNBA player who joined the Reebok basketball list.
The Dallas Wings guard has signed a protracted -term contract with the company based in Boston, which is able to establish it as a brand ambassador in the field of performance and lifestyle clothing, starting with the basketball sneakers engine.
The signing of Carrington is an element of a protracted -term effort for Reebok to restore to the basketball brand. The A engine, which Carrington wore during the inaugural inaugural season, is their first recent basketball sneakers from ZPump Rise.
“I am excited about continuing the family heritage and joining the Reebok basketball list,” said Carrington. Her father, former safety of NFL, Darren Carrington, also supported Reebok during his profession. “Reebok basketball has officially returned and I can’t wait to introduce energy outside in the new A. engine”
Carrington was appointed the most improved WNBA player in 2024, and also won the first ALL Defense Honors team. A profession from San Diego, on average, almost 13 points, 5 rebounds and a shadow below 2 thefts per match. Recently, it was exchanged with the Connecticut Sun to Wings under a 4 -person contract.
Carrington joins REEBOK WNBA basketball, including Angel Reese and Lexie Brown.
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When hip -hop and classical collide: us to perform “Illmatic” live with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra – Essence
In what seems to be a cult combination of hip-hop and classical music, we can be joined by forces with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra because of this of its groundbreaking debut album. A breakthrough event takes place on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, at 19:30 in Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
The entitled concert guarantees to recuperate one of the famous albums of all time with sweeping orchestral arrangements carried out by Steven Reineke. The evening will happen iconic songs, akin to “Ny State of Mind”, “The World is Yours”, “Memory Lane (Sittin ‘in da Park)” and “It is not difficult to find”, each interpreted by wealthy textures of full symphony.
“Welcoming us with BSO will be an attraction of the year,” said Mark Hanson, president and general director of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. “This cooperation speaks to our involvement in breaking borders and creating a space in which all recipients feel associated with the power of orchestral music. It is an honor to revive this iconic album in a new way and shed light on the amazing scope and talent of our musicians.”
Celebrating thirtieth anniversary From the primary studio effort, this performance is a cultural milestone that mixes raw lyricism with great classical instrumentation-impressing the impression once in life for fans of each species.
Since the discharge in 1994, he built a long-lasting heritage from Queensbridge, winning 16 Grammy nominations and winning one of the best rap album in 2020. Its influence includes a long time, and its recent revival keeps him on the forefront of the species.
TicketsPrice between USD 75 and USD 299They are already available by BSO website or on Meyerhoff Box Office. Do not miss this historical celebration of music, poetry and a timeless story.
Entertainment
She knows Suite celebrates Apple TV+ Doc ‘Number on the Call Archie “and Black Women’s resistance in Hollywood
Even when black women are visible, they still must fight to be really. This is one among the strongest take -out, the recent Apple TV+document that made the waves at the exclusive show run by The Wie Suite in New York.
It takes place in the luxurious New York Fouquet, the night was combined by an intergenerational meeting of black women – from fashion founders to Hollywood stars – in reflection on the message of the document: that for black women, breaking barriers in Hollywood never concerned talent. It was about survival, impudence and unwavering self -confidence.
Directing the award-winning filmmaker Sholi Lynch, the document accommodates sincere interviews with powerful actresses, including Viola Davis, Halle Berry, Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg, taking a look at his journeys as leading women in a system that rarely gave them the highest places-the advantage of doubt.
During the event, the guests enjoyed the elegant reception of cocktails, after which the discussion about the show and panel moderated by the founder and general director of WIA Suite, Dee Poku. The participants were Shola Lynch, along with Lisa Price, the founding father of the daughter Carol and Jessica Cruel, editor -in -chief and magazine.
In a room filled with Changmakers-Ludzi akin to designer Fe Noel, actress Folake OlowoFoyload and founding father of Ami Colé Diarrha N’diaye-Mbaye-Rozmowa was intimate and urgent.
“It was amazing to be here with so many inspiring women who are their own numbers,” said Poku. “These women are so busy and have a crazy life, but understandable and felt the importance of gathering and supporting this film. As bosses, we can never lose sight of the importance of relying on ourselves when we move in our lives and career.”
This spirit of sister and solidarity is embedded in a movie that doesn’t pull out the emotional conscription of being the first, only or reflection. From saying that they should not beautiful enough to make a big screen to maneuver after exhausting the constant proved of their value, stories divided by black actresses “reflect the immunity needed to remain in the game.
Hattie McDaniel was the first black woman who won the Oscar in 1940 for “Best Actorsing Actors” for enjoying Mamma in “Gone with the Wind” and said that she hopes that she can be a recognition of her race. But the “supporting actress” category would turn out to be a little bit of her own ceiling, without every other black woman who doesn’t win the role of “the best actress”, apart from Halle Berry, twenty years ago in “Monster’s Ball”.
But the film accommodates powerful reminders of how black women actresses restrictions. In particular, Goldberg’s Whoopi journey stood out in the document. From making a stage production that helped to begin her profession in 1984-a fight for roles when Hollywood didn’t see her “Fit”, Goldberg Shatted Sufiing. She didn’t wait for the alternative; She selected herself. This example of Shol Lynch sees black women embarrassing outside Hollywood.
“After hearing that Dee Poku and Suite knew they wanted to organize a study, I was inspired to be part of the room and gathering similarly thinking people,” said Lynch. “You want to talk to women who are trying to be number one on their sheet of connections.”
Lisa Price added: “My deep recognition for the cinema, vaccinated by my father, made the film the main source of respite and insight. The victory of the Hallle Berry Academy was a breakthrough moment. This represented the rectification of historical supervision regarding the lack of diagnosis of Diana Ross for the injustice that has long worried me.”
For Jessica Cruel, the document was a moment of reflection on her own journey. “It inspired me to reflect on my own career from the writer to now the chief Edior. It is so important to remain faithful to his beliefs and allow the development of possibilities.”
When he showed himself, the crowd raised his glasses with a collective toast to the way forward for black women in Hollywood. It was not only a vacation of what these women achieved – it was a call to proceed, dreaming and demanding more.
This film reminds us of every part that black women were at all times greater than able to being primary on a sheet of connections – they simply needed to fight harder than most to get there.
The premiere around the world at Apple TV+ March 28, 2025 and is currently available to the stream.
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