Jerry Martini played saxophone for Sly and the Family Stone. Sly Stone’s lineup of musicians was very daring for those racially turbulent times. White musicians rarely played in black soul groups, yet Sly had not one, but two white guys in his band, Jerry on sax and Greg Erricho on drums, two years before The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed, two years before Martin Luther King was killed, and five years before the US Supreme Court first addressed racial desegregation of schools through forced busing.
These were times of high racial tension, and Sly was reportedly under pressure from the Black Panthers in the late 60s to sack his white musicians, but he admirably declined to discriminate, and Greg remained in his band for 5 years, Jerry for 9 years.
great post as usual!