Created as part of Visualizing Abolition, a public scholarship initiative housed at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Music for Abolition provides a soundtrack for–and heartbeat to–the shared struggle for a future in which prisons, policing, and racial violence are things of the past. Directed and curated by Terri Lyne Carrington, the project brings together artists, dancers, and musicians from a variety of genres to craft a multimedia call for reflection and freedom. In this event featuring the video performances produced as part of Music for Abolition, Terri Lyne Carrington, Angela Davis, and Gina Dent will discuss the vital role jazz can play in expressing grief, rage, and exhaustion as part of the drive for freedom amidst historic and contemporary conditions of oppression. Collaborators include Chief Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Nicole Mitchell Grant, Nicholas Payton, Samora and Elena Pinderhughes, and more. 

NEA Jazz Master and four-time GRAMMY® award-winning drummer, producer and educator, Terri Lyne Carrington has long collaborated with visual artists from Mickalene Thomas to Carrie Mae Weems. She has also maintained a steady activist practice, fighting for gender and racial justice as well as greater inclusivity within the music world itself. 

Angela Davis is known internationally for her ongoing work to combat all forms of oppression in the U.S. and abroad. Over the years she has been active as a student, teacher, writer, scholar, and activist/organizer. She is a living witness to the historical struggles of the contemporary era. Former California Governor Ronald Reagan once vowed that Angela Davis would never again teach in the University of California system; today she is Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies Departments at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Gina Dent is Associate Professor Feminist Studies, History of Consciousness, and Legal Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A committed activist, scholar, and educator, she directs the Mellon-funded Visualizing Abolition project, an initiative that aims to shift our social attachment to prison through art exhibitions, curricular initiatives, and public programs. Together with Angela Davis, Erica Meiners, and Beth Richie, she is the author of Abolition. Feminism. Now. (Haymarket, 2022).

Music for Abolition will be featured as part of the Monterey Jazz Festival 66. The performance will take place at the Pacific Jazz Café in Monterey on Sunday, September 24 from 4:15 to 5:30 PM. For full details, including a link to purchase tickets, see here.