BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Did late jazz great Dave Brubeck play the first integrated concert at the University of Alabama? A letter in the digital archives at Brubeck's alma mater, the University of the Pacific, says he did, despite threats from the Klan.

Brubeck, a pianist who was known for using unusual time signatures and for his accessible style,

, a day before his 92nd birthday. He was an iconoclast in the jazz world, and apparently in the world of civil rights, as well.

The

, dated February 1967 and addressed to Brubeck at a Connecticut address, is from Wilbur Rowand, then chair of the Department of Music at the University of Alabama. It is printed on letterhead from the UA College of Arts and Sciences. In it, Rowand refers to a conversation he and Brubeck had on a plane, and apologizes for not writing him sooner (Rowand was in the hospital, he said). Then he cuts to the chase:

"I wanted to put in writing what I stated to you on the plane: that the Sunday afternoon program presented by you and your musicians was the first time that the box office at our main auditorium had been integrated," Rowand wrote. He was referencing a concert played in 1964, a year after Alabama Gov. George Wallace's famous "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door," when UA was in the midst of an integration fight.

Rowand continues:

"We had a number of colored people at that program in spite of the fact that there was considerable threat on the outside by representatives of the KKK. I am pleased to report to you that we have had no unpleasant incident since that day and all of our concerts, lectures and public attractions have been integrated. This year, we have Shirley Verrett on our Concert-Lecture Series (in April) and I am sure we will have a good representation of students from Stillman College across town."



Stillman is a historically black liberal arts college located in Tuscaloosa.



"In my opinion, the reception given you and your trio, including the Negro musician, was so enthusiastic that it took the minds of the worried few off the problem of admitting for the first time Negro patrons."

The letter, which you can read here, also contains some other information.

