SOURCE: Werner, Craig. “Leon Forrest and the AACM: The Jazz Impulse and the Legacy of the Chicago Renaissance.” In Leon Forrest: Introductions and Interpretations, edited by John G. Cawelti, pp. 127-51. Bowling Green, Ohio.: Bowling Green State University Press, 1990.

In the following essay, Werner argues that the art and experience of Leon Forrest and other contemporary musicians and artists who have attempted to merge African-American tradition with European trends are part and parcel of the Chicago Renaissance. Werner also states that these connections are a significant contribution to the development of African-American culture in the United States, and deserving of more recognition that they have been hitherto accorded.

Leon Forrest's hometown of Chicago is in many ways the most paradoxical of American cities. By many measures the most segregated major American city, Chicago nonetheless nurtured some of the most challenging, multiculturally inclusive black artists of the 1960s, 1970s...