The sweep of jazz history
The legendary jazz pianist and composer Randy Weston spent a lifetime using music to tell stories that crossed cultures and continents. On Wednesday, Harvard will honor the 90-year-old for his extraordinary body of work and the University’s acquisition of his personal archive during a celebration at Agassiz Theater. “Man, how did I get here?” the spirited entertainer said during a phone call from his New York home last week. “When I trace my life and the musicians I’ve played with — I’m so blessed. I’ve met almost everyone in my life through music.” Weston’s archive reads as a “Who’s Who” of jazz greats, literary luminaries, pioneering performers, and social activists. In one breath, Weston ticked off collaborations with Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Melba Liston, and John Lee Hooker, then recalled meeting Marshall W. Stearns, his correspondence with Langston Hughes (whose poem inspired Weston’s 1960 landmark album “Uhuru Afrika”), and his travels to...