Quincy Jones announced on Juneteenth that Qwest TV, the video streaming service that he co-founded in 2017, will be available to schools around the U.S. in an effort to raise awareness about the origins of jazz, soul, funk, and world music.
Starting in September 2020, all interested schools, from kindergarten to college, will be given free access to the Qwest TV Educational Platform, giving students and teachers access to concert films, documentaries, and archival footage.
Jones told Variety, “Kids in general today, especially in America, have no idea of the history of the music they are listening to. There is a direct line from jazz and the blues, be-bop to doo-wop to hip-hop, and everything in between that was born of them, from country and rock ‘n’ roll to pop. That is the beauty of Qwest TV. It is a platform where you can experience the origins of jazz, the blues and gospel music, and see and hear how it evolved into and influenced all types of music genres around the world.”
He continued, “Jazz, the blues and gospel music are America’s only indigenous original art form. It’s a music that was born from the pain, suffering and degradation of slavery and Reconstruction, so it is very powerful, soulful and honest. That is why it resonates so deeply with people, no matter what they look like or where they come from.”
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Article image: Quincy Jones at the 2001 Kennedy Center Honors. (John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Wikimedia Commons.)
