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One of the most notable differences between the Down Beat of the 1950s and that of the 1960s is the amount of space devoted to public forums which aired intense and racially polarized debates on these themes. Although these events frequently climaxed with deep divides between black and white participants, secondary splits often occurred as well — between older and younger musicians, between white advocates of color blindness and white leftists sympathetic to black nationalism, and between those for whom merit was measured in relationship to musical standards of mainstream jazz, and those who advocated the unbounded experimentalism of the New Thing. This chapter analyzes two of these panel discussions — “Racial Prejudice in Jazz” (Down Beat, March 1962) and “Point of Contact” (Down Beat Music 1966) — not only for what they reveal about the racial discourse of the 1960s, but also for their ongoing relevance to debates about music and race in the 21st century.

Earl Hines was one of the few contemporary pianists who molded the history of jazz music. In a cold Friday evening in 1964, Earl Hines performed the first on a multiple series of concerts held at Broadway's Little Theatre. The concert was a success and the start of arguably the greatest comeback in the history of jazz. He was featured on an influential profile by Whitney Balliett as a famous jazz performer. He was chosen to represent the United States on a visit to Soviet Republic. And he was enacted in Down Beat's Jazz “Hall of Fame”, joining other famous musicians such as Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Count Basic, Coleman Hawkins, and Louis Armstrong.

“The Unique Thelonius Monk” received excellent reviews. Nat Hentoff in “Down Beat” gave it “four and a half stars” because Monk remains “one of the insatiably, irrepressibly, and valuably individual jazzmen in our era.” He “has an intense sense of drama (not melodrama) that can create a reflectively dissonant, almost hypnotic mood . . . and a sharply knifed penchant for shaping and reshaping a few key phrases into a hail of plunging aural mobiles.” Whitney Balliett from “The Saturday Review” called it “an essential record”. He said: “Monk's style—loose, almost diffident dissonances, wry single-note lines, a laggard-like beat—is easily plumbed. Here he winds his way . . . keeping the melody always just below the surface and embellishing it more than reworking its chords. . . .”

The Beatles were't likely to be reviewed in “Down Beat” magazine, and after contemplating what a distinct decline this would be to the readers, the author decided to provide impressions of how the next Beatles LP—whatever it might contain and whenever it might appear—might be received elsewhere by other commentators. Many had noticed that, with the rising popularity of coffeehouse “folk” singers, certain of the more established jazz journalists had turned their notice to the trend. Whatever their reviews may have revealed about it, they seemed to reveal something about our jazz writers. This chapter talks about an imaginary review of some of Bob Dylan's previous LPs.

Ruby Braff was an American jazz trumpeter born in Boston, Massachusetts. He started playing in local clubs in the 1940s. In 1955, Braff was an emerging star trumpeter in the prestigious Down Beat International Jazz Critics poll, possessing a phenomenal style for his age, twenty-eight, for that time. His musical style was reminiscent of Louis Armstrong's, Billie Holiday's, Lester Young's as well as other jazz performers during the 1930s. In an interview, he stated that his ideal record would include a trumpeter, no drums, no bass, and two rhythmic sections, with Clark Terry or Al Haig joining him.