Cincinnati native preserves a jazz legacy .....

Byron McCauley, bmccauley@enquirer.com
Published 6:28 a.m. ET Aug. 2, 2017 | Updated 7:18 a.m. ET Aug. 2, 2017

At 82, Cincinnati native Leonard Herring Jr. says he has not slept in his own bed in three months. Instead, he has been back in his hometown ushering through a series of jazz concerts honoring jazz and R&B greats while raising money for charity.

On Saturday night, Herring's summer in Cincinnati can begin to wind down with the final of three concerts in the series under the name "Clarion Jazz's Open Door Concert Series."  It will feature a tribute to legendary blues and jazz singer Billie Holiday by jazz vocalist Lynne Fiddmont.


If the "Open Door" brand sounds familiar to symphony fans of a certain age, it should. In 1970, Cincinnati, like most big American cities, was in the midst of the Civil Rights era.