Local Woman Was At The Forefront Of Jazz and Civil Rights History

Prince George’s County resident, Renatta DeBlase, is pulling back the curtain on her time behind the scenes working with jazz legends including Duke Ellington and Billy Taylor during the racially charged 1960’s in her audio book and ebook “WITH STARS IN MY EYES”. Released in May of this year, the audio version of WITH STARS IN MY EYES is narrated with warmth by the author, now a retired veteran of both the music and publishing industry based in Washington DC.

In the late 1960’s, Deblase was a young white college student from the suburbs who fell in love with the uniquely African-American music emanating from the hip jazz clubs of New York. Soon, she was a valued insider in that world, fighting to bring the music of jazz pianist Billy Taylor and the hugely influential Duke Ellington to audiences, no matter what the color.