Bipeds of Brookland: Rusty Hassan

Posted by Abbott Klar Real Estate on Thursday, April 27th, 2017 at 7:09pm

Bipeds of Brookland: Rusty Hassan
Rusty Hassan

Rusty Hassan remembers listening to radio as a kid in Greenwich Connecticut. “Back then, Louis Armstrong would also get on top 40 radio.”  He was in the 7th grade and making a model airplane when he listened to a Benny Goodman Concert recorded at Carnegie Hall. “So, it was the first LP that I bought from Woolworths.”

Rusty listened Jazz all through high school, and “I took my collection, small collection then, to DC when I went to college at Georgetown.” There he discovered the Bohemian caverns where he saw John Coltrane and Miles Davis among other great jazz performers.  As a student he took over a radio show on WGTB and has been broadcasting jazz music on the radio and educating DC about the history of Jazz since 1966.   He can now be heard onWPFW, Thursday nights 10-12.

After graduation Rusty got involved with a community organization called The New thing Art and Architecture Center in Adams Morgan, as a Vista volunteer and met his wife teaching African Dance.  They got married in 1969 and went to Europe.  “A lot of the more avant-garde artists were there, so I met a lot of musicians and took recordings back.”

Rusty worked for DC housing and community development and was active in the American Federation of Government Employees. He later worked for the Union and earned a master’s degree in labor studies from UDC. “I kept broadcasting regardless of what job I had.”

 

Rusty also teaches Jazz history at UDC. “I found that musicians who took my class really appreciated learning about the history and culture and the musicians that were important as part of the music that they performed.  So I felt gratified that even people who knew the music loved what I was doing. ”

 

He and his wife moved into the Brookland area in the early 70s. “It was supposed to be our starter home. I like the ambiance in the neighborhood.  We’re so grateful that we didn’t have the kind of commutes many people do. We’ve sort of had the suburbs but not the commute.” 

 

In honor of Jazz history month, Rusty will be the guest speaker for the April "Know Your Neighborhood" Lecture Series at the Woodridge Library on April 30th at 3 pm.

 

Bipeds of Brookland is a weekly series introducing the people who make Brookland their home, one step at a time. Article and photo by Tom Sabella.

1 Response to Bipeds of Brookland: Rusty Hassan

Jim RYan wrote:

Hello Rusty: I'm back in the DC Area with Millie out in the Silver Spring boonies for a couple of years now. Playing out a little, mostly at Rhizome DC http://www.rhizomedc.org/ Spent 28 years in S.F. Bay Area playing music. Have some stuff up on You Tube (check Jim Ryan sax) and Sound Cloud
https://soundcloud.com/zopa-1 Will be playing Monday, May 15th, 9pm at Galaxy Hut in Arlington . . . 2 sets duo w/drums, trio w/drums and electronics. I see you have become the become the Grand Wizard of DC Jazz . . . Congratulations & Cheers, Jim

Posted on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017 at 5:34pm

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