New Film Centers on Puerto Rican Folk Legend Jackie Washington

Photo credit: Catherine Sebastian.

Folk music was wildly popular in America in the 1960’s, with Bob Dylan and Joan Baez as essential leaders of the genre and eventually becoming music history legends. But few people know about Jackie Washington, an Afro-Latino from Puerto Rico, who performed to pay for his college tuition, and ended up recording music that inspired a generation of Folk singers in Boston at the time. His records were shelved and ultimately forgotten. Now he’s approaching eighty, goes by the name of Jack Landrón and lives in Los Angeles, hopeful he can revive his career as a performer, while reflecting upon a legacy he never thought existed.

Enrique Pedráza Botero, a filmmaker from Colombia, has been working on a film about Jack for some years, following his life in Los Angeles and discovering his past. We talked to him about the film, how he discovered Jack and why he thinks it’s his most personal film yet.

You’ve been filming for a couple of years now. How did you discover Jack and how did the film get started?

I’d produced a film, Song From a Blackbird, in which he was the star. It was so difficult to find the right person for that part. We went through so many auditions and contacted Hispanic talent agencies, and couldn’t find the right person. I finally came across Hola, a NY-based agency that had a vast catalogue of Latino actors living in the U.S. Jack’s photo stood out and I called him. When we met in person, we knew he was perfect for the role. It was only after the film was completed, that we became friends and started having conversations about our lives. We bonded and I discovered his music. Later, I began reading about Folk music in Boston at the time when Jack was performing, and it was incredible how much material there was about him, his live performances and stories about his role as an activist during the Civil Rights Movement. After some time, I asked if it would be okay to film some of our conversations, and that’s when the idea really started taking shape.

He had a big influence in the folk revival scene of the 60’s, but not a lot of people know about him, right? What about his story interested you?

Exactly! Why do people not know or haven’t heard his music? He recorded 4 records with Vanguard, which was a successful label at the time, but his albums never made it to the mainstream, they never charted because they probably weren’t given the chance. He was right there, performing with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.

I was interested in Jack’s legacy, of course. His music was beautiful and he was probably one of the very few, if not the only singer performing and recording in Spanish in Boston at the time, which I also found interesting and unusual. His songs were so beautiful and rooted in Jack’s own life and activism. He wrote songs about his experience in the country at that time and how he was treated for how he looked and where he was from. It’s interesting to go through some of the live performances he did, and note how much he actually talked during his live sets; how much he engaged with audiences and talked so openly about his life. Jack even ended up working for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while doing voter registration in Mississippi at one point. There is much to explore in Jack’s music and his life at that time. And the more I read and spoke to club goers at the time, the more I became aware of his influence and importance. There was no one like him doing folk music and he quickly became a club sensation, singing at legendary places like Club 47 or Caffe Lena, where he was the very first performer ever. If you go to Harvard Square now to some of the old, traditional Folk clubs, like Passim, Jack is kind of a legend.

Photo credit: Catherine Sebastian.

No, it’s not only about that. I mean, Jack’s past is fascinating, and there’s definitely a very palpable legacy he left behind. This is obviously something I want to explore and introduce new audiences to it. But I’m very interested in Jack’s current life in Los Angeles, too. You know, he wanted to be an actor, that’s what he wanted to do. Music for him was something he did for fun, and not really thinking about it as a career. After the whole Boston era in the early 60’s, he moved to New York to become an actor, and actually did well for a while, in commercials for television and print. It slowed down after a while and he never went back to music. He then moved to Los Angeles in his late 70’s to be an actor. There’s something interesting about his life now, and the way he thinks about the past. In many ways, he’s very unaware of the impact he had musically back then. He never collected anything, in terms of records, or video performances, photographs, etc. Fans sent him the things he owns today, even his own records! I found that fascinating, his detachment to his work as a singer. I think the film is really about him re-discovering that past and acknowledging it now that he’s older, but also his commitment to being an artist at this moment in time. People keep asking him to perform, and he gets invited to Folk festivals and seminars to talk about his music and his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. In many ways, he can’t escape his past and he’s now becoming aware of what it meant and why people are interested in the work he did.

There is also something beautiful about his friendships in Los Angeles, and the people he surrounds himself with. There’s this amazing community of Latino performers in this city who have similar stories to Jack and have found a space to share their music and spend time together. I love being part of those conversations and being invited to them.

You mentioned this project is very personal to you. Why?

Well, first of all, Jack is my friend. The idea for a film came after we had several conversations and after we’d made another film together. The pure idea of making a film about him came from the conversations we were having, and how much I noted we had similar feelings about our own work and our identity as artists. What does it mean for someone at his age to still wonder about who he is and the relevance of his work? Where does he belong knowing that performing is the only thing he knows how to do? Do we ever find exactly what we’re meant to do in this world? In the context of Los Angeles is interesting too, since there are thousands of people wanting to do the same thing, and much younger of course. It’s tough, and we’ve talked a lot about how we’re going through similar things personally, with such a big age difference. So it’s not just me observing Jack’s world, but wondering how we relate to each other and talking about it.

Now I need to ask, when can we see it?

Soon, I hope! The film’s in the early stages of the editing process still, but we’re excited about it. Also, for Jack, you know? I really want him to see it, and keep it, as well as for people to learn about him and his music.