Mingus

Kirchheimer doesn’t call upon talking heads or voice-over to explain the higher purpose of graffiti artists; he merely photographs the trains, gliding over the boroughs on elevated tracks like rolling canvases, accompanied by the appropriately chaotic music of Charles Mingus.

Macklemore may be to hip-hop what fellow Seattleite Kenny G is to jazz, but it should not go unnoticed that he and the saxophonist share another key commonality: the ears and hearts of white folks who claim to love their versions of jazz and rap, and who may also think Charles Mingus is a medical condition and J. Cole manufactures sensible footwear.

Davis mentions a dazzling array of influences from other great African American composers as well, such as Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Charles Mingus and McCoy Tyner.

“It looks like a river that’s been here for years,” said Keki Mingus, whose neighbors’ homes were damaged.

His love of hip-hop led him down the rabbit hole of samples, and in college he became hooked on Charles Mingus’ “The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.”