Photograph of Hugo Dickens Band at Bronx VA

Photograph of the Hugo Dickens Band playing on the stage of the old Bronx VA Hospital, located on Kingsbridge Road. The Hugo Dickens Band, comprised of Black, white, and Latino musicians, was an early group in The Bronx of the 1950s that melded jazz and Latin genres. Phil Newsum, Barry Rogers, and other of its members went on to play in various Latin and jazz bands of the 1960s and 1970s. This earlier musical scene—eclectic and international from the start—helped lay the foundation for the wide-ranging musical influences of hip hop.