All that Jazz…

A Peoples Music began as a high school history project. I’m now a high school senior and I’ve been playing jazz trombone for eight years. Through performance, research, and volunteering, I’ve found my home in the jazz world. Along the way I’ve been curious about where the music comes from, what moves the performer and the performance and how it’s all connected to the history and culture of the United States.

Through the archives and conversations with contemporary musicians that I’ve been fortunate to meet, I explore different definitions of improvisation, how musical collectives were also social experiments and finally how aesthetic innovations mirrored political projects of liberation and cultural freedom.

My research paper on these themes, “Rhythms of Resistance: Free Jazz and the Politics of Community During the Civil Rights Movement” will be published in Spring 2026. The website however is a living and expanding conversation with you all and I welcome comments and suggestions!

Sundar Pemmaraju, New York