He grew up on the Avenue in the ’30s and played there. We interviewed a trumpet player, Norman Bowden.
What surprised you when speaking to people in the community? Through him, I met other people in the community.
In the ’80s and ’90s he influenced a handful of musicians who were in their later years to get an idea of what actually happened from the ’20s to the ’50s. There was Steve Isoardi who has written several books on Central Avenue. I was really influenced by the Ken Burns documentary and have probably seen it ten times. Who did you speak to for the research? You mentioned the documentary, but where else did you go? I was amazed by the incredible history of Central Avenue and the culture down there. I was really curious because USC was really close to Central Avenue here in LA so I started doing some research on my own. I noticed while watching it that they mentioned LA for a small duration in comparison to the other places such as New Orleans. Our course followed the Ken Burns documentary and his book. I also took a course about the history of jazz at USC when I was studying there. My dad was a big Frank Sinatra fan and I came through jazz via Count Basie who was Sinatra’s big band for a while and from there I looked for other artists like Basie. I’ve loved jazz music since I was little. When you think of jazz music, Los Angeles isn’t necessarily the first city that springs to mind as a hub. I caught up with Caruso to discuss how his love for jazz and the history of jazz led to his first feature film. In Gregory Carouso’s feature film debut, Flock of Four follows four teenagers who travel to LA’s Central Avenue in search of a jazz great, Pope Davis. When we think of the origins and evolution of jazz, Los Angeles is not often given the big name significance it deserves.
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