This presentation explores some of the ways in which contemporary African American visual artists and musicians use black music to (re)interpret an often complicated cultural past. Works by artists such as Whitfield Lovell, Jefferson Pinder, and Ellington Robinson are read in light of recent trends in black music that seek to approach and re-imagine a black musical past in unique ways; for example, Jason Moran\&##39;s ongoing dialogue with jazz history, or the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ reclaiming of black roots music.