Mary Lou Williams, courtesy photo

The Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival continues through [May 12] in Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater. This three-day affair, co-sponsored by BET on Jazz, is billed as a celebration of the contributions women in jazz have made to its development and also as a recognition of some of its best artists.

Jazz, a uniquely American cultural art form comes out of the African-American experience. And Williams (1910-1981) was one of the pioneering black women who struggled to define her space and breakdown barriers for black performers. It is perplexing then to find black women in the minority in a festival dedicated to the memory and spirit of this great African-American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, arranger and educator. Trudy Pitts and Nicole Yarling are the only two African-American women included the line-up of 15 headliners. (In the 2001 edition of the festival things have improved some. There are five African-American women among the 14 headliners.)

The pool of talented African-American jazz women is extensive so their absence is a significant omission and public institutions like the Kennedy Center must be challenged when they fail to reflect the depth and breadth of our continuing contributions to the arts.

In response to the near invisibility of black women in this year's Mary Lou Williams Women In Jazz Festival, letters have been written to Lawrence Wilker, President of the Kennedy Center (the new president is Michael M. Kaiser) and the sentiments are consistent.

"For two years in a row, this festival has been a platform for imbalance between American women of color in performance jazz and American women of European derivation...I am dismayed, infuriated, and saddened by this presentation and the blatant, insensitive cultural expropriation that it represents," writes Tony Regusters. "Certainly, jazz is an American music, a richly American experience, but the music and Mary Lou Williams, are products and children of the African-American community; and your program, beyond the wonderful fact that you are honoring the late Ms. Williams, does not reflect that..."

In her correspondence, CeLillianne Green commends the Center for naming the "Jazz Festival in honor of the pioneering and courageous work of Ms. Mary Lou Williams...However, it is shameful," she writes, "to hold such a festival with a lineup of performers that suggest women of Ms. William's heritage, barely exist or are not talented enough to perform at the Kennedy Center."

She goes on to point out just how disheartening it is that African-American women jazz performers must continue to fight battles Williams and other musical foremothers waged to get their music heard in venues like the Kennedy Center. "If this failure to include significant numbers of African-American women continues, the only connection an African-American women will have to the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival is the photograph of Ms. Williams in the advertisements," Green continues.

Another writer, who prefers to maintain her anonymity, writes that she was shocked when she saw the advertising for the festival. "It is a travesty to conduct a festival in [Mary Lou Williams'] name and ignore legions of accomplished and emerging black jazz women. If this omission was on purpose the Kennedy Center has a very serious problem indeed. Likewise, if it was inadvertent, the Kennedy Center has a very serious problem...Were the producers unable to `find any qualified' black women musicians - the old tired [statement] used over and over again to deny inclusion of blacks in most aspects of American life?"

She concludes her letter to Wilker with a sentiment shared by many in this community, "Please know that the Kennedy Center has a long way to go to be accepted in the black community as an institution of representation of America's diversity."

If you would like to share a comment about this or any other programs at the Kennedy Center you may reach the administrative office at 202-416-8000 or by email comments@kennedy-center.org.