12 Jan 2008 |
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A Bridge to the Future Part 1 – Jazzing it Up!
This international demise as insinuated above can be traced to the oft vulgar mass produced plethora of Rap and Hip Hop stars that virtually each commercial entity keep churning out and clogging up the air waves and video screens with the overkill of what for lack of a better term, can be called nothing more or less than sub par entertainment and honestly speaking border line rubbish. These days it seems all one uses to define “star quality” are cheesy smiles, absurd hip gyrations and marketability - as opposed to once stunning writing, understanding complex rhythms and delivering both with impeccable showmanship as Jazz musicians once did. This brings me to my main story. Circa 2 years ago in a moment of weakness I volunteered to teach one or two “Art” related classes each year at a Minimum Correctional facility around the North East of the US, where a bunch of young men who had strayed of course for whatever rhyme or reason were being rehabilitated and folded back into society. Last year I introduced them to the refreshing complexity of Chinua Achebe’s “Things fall Apart” and since they were mostly of African heritage, the presentation had been an outstanding hit. Buoyed by this initial success - when approached to host this years presentation I had thrown all caution to the wind, and decided to speak on “Jazz ” even though I knew this would be like teaching a bunch of Vegetarian’s about the joys of eating meat. In other words I could not have made it more complicated. So it was almost with a sense of trepidation that I walked into the generic looking common room after being subjected to full cavity search late in Fall carrying my preselected 20 Cd’s and ready to talk about Jazz. They were all dressed in Orange looked to be in their early 20’s and could have made the perfect Album Cover for Fela’s “ Teacher Don’t Teach me Nonsense”, because they looked that excited. Or should I say bored? In any case I think you get the gist. The class consisted just like the former one of every hue of black with a smattering of vanilla and brown thrown in for effect. 
I started with the story of the Drum and how it was taken away from the African Slaves as the Slavers knew of it’s importance to them, and found it to be the most effective way to both disenfranchise and control them. I explained how these very Slaves years later had returned from serving in the Union army now knowing how to play reed instruments and how they now played these instruments as if they were drums. Precise Eurocentric waltzes and dances were now infused with subliminal African beats and were subject to new interpretations. Nowhere was this more obvious in the Black Church were once stoic hymns were now being served with a new twist. Jazz had now been born.I seemed to have piqued their interest because all of a sudden hands were now being raised and questions being asked. The free doughnuts were no longer being torn apart as by a pack of dogs, but were now being casually devoured. I continued explaining how this Jazz evolved, into various forms each one arguably spawned by its greatest disciple Miles Davis. I went into explaining how he from the “git go” swam against the tide, always pushing the envelope and reinventing himself. In almost mesmerized silence they listened to the prejudice he was subjected to as well as how he played under influence of heroin on one part of “Bitches Brew” and clean on the other….resulting in 2 different bodies of work – both extraordinary and the blue print for modern Jazz Fusion. And then I hit them with my first song namely his live version of “Tutu” [1] named after the feisty South African Bishop. By the time it got to the part where Miles and Marcus Miller (the actual song writer and bassist extraordinaire) are caught in a delicious ménage a trios with the crowd, they were visibly into it clapping and snapping their fingers in rhythm. 1.Tutu: Happy that I had received some positive response to the stimuli just presented I forged ahead not allowing the advantage so quickly gained, to slip through my fingers. I spun Quincy Jones' “Soul Bossa Nova” [2] after I briefly went through his history and how he had risen to his position from abject poverty and once eating Rats, to now being the “unofficial official” conductor of the Planet. The quirky anthem that once made Austin Powers a house hold name now had them captivated as they smiled, whistled and hooted in full glee. 2. Soul Bossa Nova My next choice was more subtle but just as effective and it came from the famed saxophonist Maceo Parker known just as well for his collaborative work with James Brown as well as for his own fantastic contributions to Jazz. Taken from “Roots Revisited” where he wills himself back to Africa to rediscover his “Chi” or inner self, my choice was “Children’s World” [3] his ode to the infants of the world. In my humble opinion this is one of the best recordings of a Sax player ever and by the time Maceo ends up blowing 3 different solos on top of each other, no one was eating any doughnuts anymore. In fact I could have sworn I saw a tear or 2 as the haunting notes transported all of us to that special place we all would like to be. 3. Children’s World: Suddenly feeling the overwhelming sense of remorse and sadness envelop the room I realized I needed to reel them back in and did so by playing Grover Washington’s “Mr. Magic”. Even though my favorite version is the one found on “Live at the Bijou” I chose to play the one from “Kings of Hip Hop” [4] for the mere fact that it features some of the better scratching and mixing ever done to or on a Jazz record. If the crowd had been any older I would have played the other version. However the repeated stutter effect especially at the start was exactly what I needed, because they were soon high fiving each other and saying “Now that’s bad”. I pointed out that if they ever seen Grover Washington in his impeccable Armani’s and Farragamos especially in Philadelphia, they would have said exactly the same thing. 4. Mr Magic: Disaster almost struck when I realized that I had forgotten my George Benson collection from which I had wanted to have them listen to some authentic guitar playing. But then while looking through their own collection I came across Norman Browns “Lydian” [5] and that promptly went into the CD player delivering an up tempo combination of solid percussion as well as intricate guitars riffs as normally only Benson and Klugh can deliver. Not allowing them to come up for air I let this blend into Eric Gales [6] “De Rabbit” taken of his late 1970’s monster Album “Ginseng Woman”. The catchy tune is as clean as they come and again their heads were shaking and fingers snapping in agreement as Eric delivered his solo with clock work precision. 5. Lydian: 6. De Rabbit: Song number 7 came from Louis Armstrong and since I was now rewinding a little back into history I decided to let them get to know Armstrong the “Player” as opposed to Armstrong the “Musician” first. Again I went over his envelope pushing and his pronounced style that merged a loud rasp of a voice with a bleating horn. And then I went into the words for “Mack the Knife” [7] asking them to close their eyes and envision Armstrong with his gleaming oversized and perfect teeth whispering the following words: “ Oh the Shark has pretty teeth dear and he shows them a pearly white” all while showing his molars. The humor and irony did not escape them as they listened and formed as new appreciation to classic New Orleans swing. 7. Mack the Knife: For songs number 8 and 9 I decided to merge two solid contributions by the former Howard University Professor Donald Byrd together. Many may not know but long before he formed “The Blackbyrds” and gave us party hits like “Rock Creek Park” and “Happy Music” he was already carving out great Jazz Tunes like “Places and Spaces” [8] and the absolutely stunning “ Harlem River Drive” [9] featuring the great flutist Bobbi Humphrey. Considering when they were cut and the wealth of underground subliminal sound effects that are so much and unusual, we even played a game in which they would identify them. You know like the police siren, taxis beeping or the ship fog horn that are all blended into the over all message of the song. Try as they might they could not get past 5 even though I told them they were at least 10. We were still working on the exercise when my alarm went off reminding me that the hour was almost over and that I could only play one more song. 8. Places and Spaces: 9. Harlem River Drive: 
Their pained expression on their faces said it said it all as they quickly asked for one last “good one”. I decided before leaving to blend length, versatility and quality in one roll of the dice and slammed in one of my favorite mixes which I call “Amazon Meets River Niger”. [10] It features a potpourri of assorted artists whose music has been bent by the great DJ Kevin Yost into one delicious meal and final end product. Featuring everyone from Solaris Heights to Bah Samba my favorite blend occurs around 5.06 of the track where he gently brings Femi Kuti and what has to have been every available drum in Africa into the fray. Simply put it is all that and more.10. Amazon Meets River Niger: {enclose http://www.village-music.net/SUYA/jazz/river_niger_meets_amazon_mix.mp3 33915765 audio/mpeg} It took less than 24 hours and the emails started pouring in. They came from the Assistant Warden as well as from the Minister. But most importantly they also came from a score of the inmates and while the language and wording was all different they all shared one common message namely ”Thank You” and “Come Again”. One even sent me a water color entitled “I love Jazz”. In as much as it was downright ugly it made me smile knowing that I had at least won over some converts in the battle over Jazz and its existence. I am already picking out tracks for my next visit and promise to take you all along as well.
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