We are celebrating all those hip cats who have birthdays in the month of July, especially the coolest of hip cats and assistant producer of the Houston Jazz Spotlight, Essie Joy Malone! Turning the Big 5! We will be playing the jazz versions of some of yours and Essie Joy's favorite cartoon and animated movies theme songs. Think about this, there have only been four animated movies with African American lead characters in my 57 years and Pixars's 'Soul' is number four.
I mention this because it is important for young people to not only see themselves in this form of storytelling but to also have stories that center their world.