Unsung Heroes: Film Screening and Community Conversation 25th Anniversary Celebration In-Person
Enjoy this 25th Anniversary screening of Unsung Heroes: The Music of Jazz in New Haven. Followed by a Q&A with producer, director, and co-writer Rebecca Abbott and co-writer W. Frank Mitchell.
Unsung Heroes explores the music and heritage of jazz in New Haven, Connecticut, a story that was paralleled in major cities across America in the early-to mid-1900s. The documentary focuses on the unique period that began with the boom in industrial production during WWII, a time of economic expansion coinciding with the blossoming of a new musical form: jazz.
Refreshments will be served.
- Date:
- Thursday, February 26th, 2026
- Time:
- 6:00 PM – 7:45 PM
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time – US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Ives Community Program Room
- Branch:
- Ives Main Library
More about the film:
The fact that there were jobs – menial as industrial work was – helped support, at least for a few decades, a number of successful jazz clubs along Dixwell Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut. It gave the African American community living there a sense of growth and optimism before a changing economy pulled the industrial base out from under a transient prosperity, and economic despair and racial tension transformed the landscape again.
It was a special time during which many Dixwell musicians began their careers performing in local venues with Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday, Milt Jackson, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Illinois Jacquet and others. Those stars were part of the remarkable spectrum of talent who made New Haven an important stop on the performance circuit, and they were joined on the bandstand by local musicians like Willie Ruff, Horace Silver, John “Count” Steadwell, Eddie and Bobby Buster, Ed Cercone, Dickie Meyers, and a host of others.
Together they played in big bands and small ensembles at New Haven clubs like Lillian’s Paradise, The Playback, the Musician’s Club, the Democratic Club, the Golden Gate and the legendary Monterey.
