Dorthaan Kirk’s Bright Moments

By Dorine Bethea

Known as the First Lady of Jazz, Dorthaan Kirk was featured in the virtual living room of the Divine Visions Connector Network before a live audience on Saturday, April 25 at Pillar College in Newark. It was everything anyone could have hoped for and more.

The talk covered Dorthaan’s early love of country and western music, Dolly Parton, the blues, and of course jazz, long before she met, married and traveled the world with the brilliant and multitalented musician and bandleader Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

The relationships she made proved invaluable when it came to revitalizing a stagnant radio station into a world renowned, all jazz, public radio station reaching millions. One of the station’s first employees, her name soon became synonymous with Newark Public Radio WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM.

In 2020 Kirk was honored by the National Endowment for the Arts with the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy. The jazz enthusiast continues to inform and educate new generations about the music she loves, having planned and hosted hundreds of youth concerts in and around Newark, and across New Jersey.

Jazz Vespers at Newark’s Bethany Baptist Church founded by Kirk alongside former pastor, Rev. Dr. Moses William Howard, is still going strong after 26 years.

At 88, Dorthaan continues to be actively involved with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which hosts Dorthaan’s Place, a jazz brunch during the annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival.