It was the appearance of this picture on the Bobby Hutcherson Facebook page that started me thinking, writes Sebastian:

The picture shows Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris in a former role as a board member at SFJazz, with vibraphone legend Bobby Hutcherson (1941-2016) at an SFJazz function (possibly at his Lifetime Achievement Award there in 2011). Perhaps it is unsurprising that a politician who can deliver the strong message about racial and societal cohesion that she did in her powerful November 7 speech (!) should also see the value of jazz.

This tweet was also interesting. Cole and Ella are actually her stepchildren. But it might be worth noting that  Oakland in California where she was born does have a great jazz club….

This is a story just beginning. Its pieces, its memes are starting to land in an unpredictable, not always reliable way. They simultaneously go straight into the composter of memory and into the acrid battleground of politics. But if there is a shift coming, and if jazz has something to do with it, that can surely only be good news.

LINKS: The ‘summer campaign playlist’ mentioned above
More about the SFJazz Lifetime Achievement Awards and another picture