Swing University: Jazz as a Tool for Liberation is a four-session course that invites participants to explore jazz through a social justice lens and understand its historic role as a liberation tool in the United States. Each class will be led via Zoom by Seton Hawkins, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Director of Education Resources and Public Programming, in an informal lecture and discussion format with special guests from Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet. Classes are sequential, but each session can be enjoyed as a standalone experience. Buy all 4 events and save.

By the 1920s, Jazz had developed, changed its sound, and spread throughout the country. This class will look at its arrival in Chicago by hearing the legendary bands of the era, as well as newcomers to the music who fell in love with it and created their own unique spin on Jazz.