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Race And Jazz (Part I)

When pianist Teddy Wilson joined Benny Goodman's quartet in the mid 1930's, he broke the color barrier in jazz more than ten years before Jackie Robinson did it in baseball. Ever since, many musicians...including guitarist Jim Hall...have believed that jazz was an oasis of racial harmony. But perhaps just as many musicians don't feel that way. A look at race and jazz, from reporter Dean Olsher.

Copyright 1996 NPR