Black Excellence: Rufus Harley Jr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_Harley
Rufus Harley Jr. (May 20, 1936 – August 1, 2006) was an American jazz musician known primarily as the first jazz musician to adopt the Great Highland bagpipe as his primary instrument.
Harley became inspired to learn the bagpipe after seeing the Black Watch perform in John F. Kennedy’s funeral procession in November 1963. Then a maintenance worker for Philadelphia’s housing authority, Harley began searching the city for a set of bagpipes. Failing to find one, he traveled to New York City, where he found a set in a pawn shop. He purchased the instrument for US$120, quickly adapting it to the idioms of jazz, blues, and funk. On several occasions, when a neighbor called the police to complain about Harley’s practicing in his home, he would quickly put away his bagpipes and feign ignorance, asking the officers, “Do I look like I’m Irish or Scottish to you?”[2] He eventually acquired a better set of bagpipes, which cost him a little over US$1,000.[3]