JD and Zen Making Mac and Cheese Photo Courtesy of Netflix
Without reservation, the filmMalcolm & Marie starring Zendaya and John David Washington was no doubt visually stunning. The movie, which chronicles the couple’s highs and lows of a brutal all-night argument about . . . damn, I don’t know, was shot on black and white film rather than in a digital format. It was artful. It was special. It was instantly classic in its aesthetic. Moreover, it was abundantly clear that the movie Malcolm & Marie intended the soundtrack to be something special as well.
From the opening scene where Malcolm jubilantly prances around their rented home then cues up James Brown’s “Down and Out in New York City,” a tune intimately tied to the film Black Caesar (1973), an astute audience was privy to the fact the music, diegetically (both the character and the audience can hear it), will narrate the nonverbal sentiments of the characters. The music was brilliantly cast and was more than ample to sonically narrate a scene. Admittedly, writer, director, Sam Levinson, and film editor Julio Perez, IV were deliberate in their attempt to support dialogue and set the mood of a scene with music. Malcolm’s choice of Brown’s funk jam first fills the scene with sound then enlightens the audience of the bold overcoming power of a Black man, which is gan yẹ* to the character’s attitude at the moment. Likewise, only moments later Marie’s unspoken tensions are revealed through Little Simz’s song “Selfish” featuring the amazing vocals of Cleo Sol. Marie sentiments as heard through “Selfish’s” chorus, “I don’t want to fight” set the scene and reveal her desire to be left alone to brood for the remainder of the evening . . . or not.
Little Simz Photo: Linda Nylind
As the film progresses, the music continues to be a sonic masterpiece as it enters and exits the various scenes. Saxophonist Zoot Sims’ Betaminus syncopated beat and flighty saxophone runs clearly disrupts the couple and escalates their tensions in a scene where Marie makes Mac and Cheese for Malcolm. Fatback Band’s jam “Yum Yum” speaks loud and clear for Marie as she states her discontent about the evening. Stax singer, songwriter William Bell’s “I Forgot to Be Your Lover,” which is awesomely orchestrated, by the way, drops in at the perfect time to allow an all too brief respite for the sparing couple, a mood of forgiveness for not making love a priority.
Coltrane and Ellington making magic
The film moves through its paces with a myriad of songs and rounds out with the ever lovely “In a Sentimental Mood” by Duke Ellington. This song is undefeated in ushering in feelings of intimacy and sex appeal. With the light key touches by Ellington on the piano and the seemingly far and away melody of John Coltrane on saxophone “In a Sentimental Mood” does it again. In the end, literally in the last scene, Outkast’s song “Liberation” enters the expansive and resolute morning, to sum up the events of the previous evening. The chorus belted out by CeeLo Green, and Erykah Badu states, “And there’s a fine line between love and hate you see, Can’t wait too late but baby I’m on it.” As the couple Malcolm and Marie stand in the sunrise it reinforces the couple’s love-hate relationship in the most melodic of ways.
Outkast: Big Boy and Andre 3000. Ready to eat their Mac and Cheese!
Music in film is meant to aid in storytelling by driving and supporting scenes. It is also used to set the mood and emotion of the characters. In Malcolm & Marie, music is used to narrate the unspoken words of an emotionally caustic couple. The music effectively created a subtext for the audience to follow. We should all be so lucky to have a soundtrack like this to help back our most difficult moments in an argument.
Imagine you and your significant other getting dressed in your finest evening wear. Watch, necklace, bracelet, and earrings adorned. You’re going out tonight! You head to your car, drive downtown, and enter the premier concert hall of the city. Everyone is excited and dressed to the nines! This must be the philharmonic’s opening night! This is a highbrow event! Together you find your seats just before the lights dim. In anticipation, you hold your breath. Your wait is brief. Suddenly the stage lights shine to reveal the assemblage of . . . wait for it . . .wait for it . . . Parliament/Funkadelic and a rambunctious funk mob on stage. They begin to tear shit up (musically speaking of course). You look at your significant other and gleefully discover you are both sporting the same quintessential funk face. You throw your hand up forming the righteous universal funk symbol and rock out. Imagine that!
Goin out tonight! By Joshua Aaron Photography
The night was seemingly set up for a sophisticated event. Your attire and the venue location suggested as much. The atmosphere was ripe to embrace a stiff collar crowd. This was not classical music. With P-Funk on stage were you truly going to engage in a so-called “highbrow” event? Of course, you were! Funk music is everything classical music is and more.
Classical music has certainly achieved, in over three hundred years, a position in our society of reverence and honor. Its widely known composers Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven are pedestalistic gods and known as such in and out of the genre. Most often intellectuals and the cultured are drawn to classical music. Statistics reveal the college-educated and affluent are largely attracted to the genre. They—“the sophisticated”—not only enjoy and indulge in the accouterments of classical music but it also defines them. The richly appointed hallowed concert halls, tailored suits, designer cocktail gowns, and opening nights cater to their refined and even snobbish worldly taste. Classical music is indeed a highbrow phenomenon. However, it has a younger sibling that mirrors its every move and defines its very own high brow flare.
Sly And The Family Stone. Cosmopolitan at its finest!
Funk music has certainly achieved, in over fifty years, a position in our society of reverence and honor. It’s widely known progenitors Brown, Clinton, and Stone are pedestalistic gods and known as such in and out of the genre. While the ‘sophisticated’ who chiefly consume only classical music and little of anything else the rooted funk music consumer is attracted to classical and beyond. Jazz, r&b, blues, gospel, soul, swing, rock, and metal are often devoured by the funk listener. Funk music, like classical music, also holds the attention of intellectuals, the cultured, educated, and affluent. Moreover, it also draws to it the enlightened, the academic, literate, and articulate. In this way the funk music listener is beyond sophisticated, rather they are ‘Cosmopolitan’—the sharing of all things wrapped in the ONE! Funk music can be heard in the richly appointed hallowed concert halls as well as in stadiums, arenas, street festivals, parks, backlots, and garages.
Conversely, funk music is defined by the listener. Unlike classical, which is static in terms of its response to current affairs and its inability to create a space for active audience response during a performance, funk music is qualified by its attention to current affairs and welcomes the immediate response of the audience (call and response).
Clinton in a suit! By: Marcy Guiragossin
In the end, you can go to a funk music concert in your tailored suit and designer evening gown. You can listen to EWF at the Chandler, (Sup, L.A.). You can funk out and follow along with intellectuals like Brown and Vincent in the front row as they raise their hand with the righteous universal funk symbol and chant:
If you got funk, you got style
You’re funkin’ and you’re styling all the while
When you got funk, you got class
You’re out on the floor movin’ your ass . . .
Yeah, funk music is everything classical music is and more. Take a listen.
In November 1936, in San Antonio Texas, traveling Mississippi Delta bluesman Robert Johnson entered the Gunter Hotel where a makeshift recording studio lay in wait. Johnson, who was well known up and down the Mississippi Delta, had only the slightest public existence beyond the backwood barrooms, juke joints, cotton fields, dirt roads, and sharecropping plantations. Johnson, a dark slender man, dressed in black slacks held up by dark suspenders that wrapped around his shoulders and white oxford shirt, cautiously entered the hotel “studio.” His look was refined by a well worn, short-brimmed black hat, and stiff-soled Sunday best shoes. He paced the sparse makeshift studio, finding only a chair, which sat adjacent to a microphone attached to the top of a mic stand in the middle of what was once was a hotel bedroom. Johnson sat, pulled his guitar to his lap, which he had been holding under his arm for most of the day, and began to quietly hum and tune his instrument. The studio where Johnson sat adjoined another room, which was filled with recording equipment. In this room, sound engineers Vinnie and Ralph plugged microphone cables and turned knobs. Heading up this entire operation was Don Law, a British salesman for the American Record Corporation who was also the talent scout manager and producer for their small music recording outfit Vacalion. Vinnie and Ralph were set. Don moved to the doorway, which separated the rooms and asked Johnson if he was ready to record. Johnson, saying nothing, stood up, grabbed the microphone stand, and placed it in the corner of the room. He then lifted and spun the chair around so it faced the stand in the corner. Johnson sat again, facing the corner, with his back toward Don, Vinnie, and Ralph. Don closed the door, but could still see Johnson through its glass window. He motioned to Vinnie and Ralph to begin recording. Johnson tapped his Sunday’s best in time, strummed his guitar, and began to sing the blues. This is the true account of the recording session that captured the sound of the greatest blues artist on earth.
Most likely born in the small town of Hazelhurst, Mississippi on May 8th, 1911, Johnson was the illegitimate and 11th child born to Julia Noah. As a child, he learned to play harmonica before moving on to the guitar. Johnson followed and prodded older musicians around town to hone his skills on the guitar. By the spring of 1931, Johnson, 20, was widely known as a wayfaring musician, who had been married twice, divorced once, buried a child, and ultimately disappeared from the Delta area and the music scene. In just a few short months upon returning to the Delta, everyone realized Johnson had changed. He evolved from a run of the mill musician to a remarkable virtuosic blues artist. He exhibited exceptional skill in playing the guitar. The blues, which flowed from him, was matchless. In time, a rumor sprang forth that Johnson surely made a deal with the devil to achieve such a state of mastery in such a short amount of time.
Art by Gary Kelley
Johnson displayed his superior command of the genre as he traveled throughout the Delta wowing audiences at every venue. Eventually, Johnson’s blues caught the ear of traveling record salesman Ernie Oertle, a bonafide Delta blues music fan. He approached Johnson to suggest he record with a fellow salesman and friend Don Law. Johnson agreed and the resulting recording sessions in both San Antonio and later in Dallas yielded twenty-nine iconic blues songs—these are the only known songs Johnson recorded in his career. Robert Johnson’s records were not heard by many and thus not very popular. Amid an era of swing bands and jazz groups, Delta blues was not highly sought after in the mainstream. It was a specific genre with a specific audience who foraged for its unique sound.
A year and a half after Johnson’s session with Law, his music crossed the path of Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond, Jr. Hammond who by the mid-’30s had discovered musical luminaries such as Billie Holiday and Count Basie to name a few. He would go on to discover more great artists, like Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan. Once Hammond heard Johnson’s songs he knew what he was hearing was something special. Hammond who regularly created musical showcases and concerts to introduce up and coming artists planned, in early August of 1938, an ultimate concert to introduce the stiff collar folk to Black roots music. His concert, which he called From Spirituals to Swing, was to be presented at Carnegie Hall on December 23. Hammond wanted to tell the story of Black music from its beginnings to the current musical phenomena of swing. He assembled an assortment of artists to achieve his goal. A few artists scheduled to appear in concert were The Count Basie Orchestra, Albert Ammons, Joe Turner with Pete Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Jimmy Rushing, The Golden Gate Quartet, and . . . Robert Johnson. Without acquiring a confirmation by Johnson, Hammond placed him on the bill as one of the artists to appear on the advertising for the December concert. Hammond searched for more music and the artist himself, however neither were to be found. While planning the concert, Hammond was able to make contact with Ernie Oertle, who found Johnson in the back juke joints of the Delta. He made an urgent request to find and bring Johnson to New York City. Oertle searched for Johnson throughout the Delta. Shortly thereafter, word reached Oertle that Robert Johnson, the blues prodigy had died on August 16. He was 27!
Tales of Robert Johnson’s demise are legendary. Rumors flourished in the years following his death. They ranged from as mundane as he drank bad moonshine, he had the flu, to more nefarious activities such as he was poisoned by his lover, poisoned by the husband of his lover, stabbed by his lover, possessed by spirits and died howling at the moon, and some claimed to have seen him yanked out of a club by the devil himself and dragged to the crossroads to settle his debt. Regardless of how Johnson died, his being dead posed a problem for Hammond’s concert.
From Spirituals to Swing. Johnson’s Name appears on the bill.
Hammond filled Johnson’s vacant spot with fellow Delta blues guitarist and singer Big Bill Broonzy. No changes were made to the advertising bill. Robert Johnson’s name continued to appear. On the evening of December 23, 1938, John Hammond’s concert From Spirituals to Swing at Carnegie Hall was sold out. Upper crust society in black tie showed up to bathe themselves in Black roots music.
The lights dimmed, the crowd hushed, and a spotlight found Hammond approaching a microphone on the stage. He greeted and thanked the crowd and rattled on about the story of black music and the artists he assembled to tell its tale. He then eagerly introduced them to the greatest blues musician they never heard. Quickly describing Johnson as a musical genius and the very progenitor of Delta blues he then ended his description with a few of the swirling rumors of his death— alcohol, women, devil, and all. He then happily proclaimed regardless of his death, Robert Johnson will grace the stage of Carnegie Hall tonight. Hammond motioned for two stagehands who quickly rolled out a record player then set up a microphone just inches away from the player’s speaker. He set the record in place, faced the audience, and simply stated, “Here’s Robert Johnson!” Robert Johnson’s voice and guitar filled the space of Carnegie Hall. Hammond played one song (Preachin’ Blues: Up Jumped the Devil) and then another (Walkin’ Blues). Johnson’s seldom-heard music was front and center in the most well-known venue in America. The black-tie and white faced audience erupted in applause after Johnson’s post mortem virtual performance. Hammond proudly applauded as well. Johnson had just made his debut at Carnegie Hall.
Art by Gary Kelley
That evening, on stage at Carnegie Hall, the music of Robert Johnson was elevated out of the backwoods, juke joints, dirt roads, and sharecropper plantations of the Delta. The same can be said about Robert Johnson the person. He was elevated from the Delta carrying a string of stories about his unexplained finesse of the blues, as well as the gripping and daunting tale(s) of the ending moments of his life. Although not supremely popular after Carnegie Hall, Johnson and his music began to slowly grow to exist far beyond the Delta. In time blues connoisseurs began searching for his 29 songs. In amazement, artists began playing his music. The impossibleness of his music is in constant discussion. Johnson and his music today inform artists on how to make it to the stage of Carnegie Hall which may or may not include a deal with the devil.
Every summer there is a song that just sets up the perfect vibe for the season. This summer many songs captured my attention, but none in the way Anderson .Paak’s “Lockdown” did. This song not only held a seasonal vibe but also spoke to the current condition that has plagued the year of 2020.
Currently, as the summer winds down there is always a song that magically sums up the memorable events of the summer season. Such is the case for India Shawn’s end of summer release “Movin’ On,” which features .Paak. The tune plows the rigors of finally moving on from a failed relationship as one should. Shawn’s song can easily sum up our feelings for the summer. The summer of 2020 didn’t work out, so we need to move on as we rightly should.
Listening to Anderson .Paak at the beginning of summer and then to his end of summer collaboration in verse on Shawn’s record brought back to mind his musically brilliant and lyrically essential album Ventura. This album, his latest studio recording, which was released April 12, 2019, is loaded with musical gems, flushed with social themes, and lyrics that resonate in terms of the ebbs and flows of our relationships. Anderson .Paak’s Ventura is a must (re)listen. A Johnny-come-lately review is needed! Let’s get into it!
According to .Paak, songs for Ventura were recorded along with the songs of Oxnard. During recording sessions, gritty and eggier songs were selected for Oxnard while more soulful, R&B sounds, and themes of relationships were selected for the creation of Ventura. With guidance from Dr. Dre and an amazing collection of featured singers, Ventura hit the mark in terms of getting close to contemporary R&B perfection.
1. “Come Home” featuring Andre 3000 (Song won Grammy for Best Musical Performance).
Notable Lyric: “Who should I rest blame upon, when all of the signs are brightly drawn and point back to your open arms?”
Come Home, is musically lush (in comparison to contemporary releases) and contains great drum work by .Paak and smart and subtle Motown-ish bass lines throughout played by Jairus Mozee. The song’s theme is classic R&B where a man is broken-hearted over a failed relationship and although he is to blame and deserves to be punished for his wrongdoings, he endeavors to beg to reunite with his woman. In the end, Andre 3000 delivers a hurried twisted rhyme that conveys the same sentiment all in a style that is so . . . Andre 3000!
Notable lyric: “And it’s easier to walk away than to look for what would make you stay.”
.Paak and Robinson on Jimmy Kimmel Live 2019
Following a sparse two bar hip hop drum intro, .Paak’s voice enters smoothly with a subtle Motown-ish feel. The song is simple in structure which allows .Paak to reveal the ups and downs of a relationship. The narrative suggests the various efforts used to keep a stale relationship fresh; find ways to stay in love. Smokey Robinson sings the chorus in tandem with .Paak and their blend is perfect.
Notable lyric in movement one: “Baby, I feel your pain. But to try and save you now is what I won’t do, what I won’t do”
Notable lyric in Movement two: “I think I’m doin’ way too much, I . . . Way too much, way too much, hey.”
This song is completed in two movements. The first movement is dramatic and tense in its feel with its busy drum work leading to the chorus. The drama continues in .Paak’s voice as he states his intention to not get involved with a person who is going through a moment of struggle in life. He observes their difficulties from afar. Movement two begins with a resounding solid ‘four-on-the-floor’ mid-temple groove. The narrative quickly reveals .Paak could not resist helping the person and has become fully involved in what is now a relationship. In fact, the relationship is more than rigorous, rather, it’s overwhelming. The song resolves with .Paak leaving the relationship as a friend. Lalah Hathaway’s full-bodied voice assists .Paak throughout the second movement and she finishes with an all too short virtuosic scat.
Notable lyric: “This more that get to know me, kiss me slowly, hard to focus . . .”
This record begins with an audible scene from the 1993 film A Bronx Tale. In it, the characters discuss that a man only meets three perfect women in his lifetime. The scene sets up a theme for this song. .Paak suggests that he has possibly met one of the three perfect women in a man’s life. With a driving kick drum and steady staccato vocals, .Paak tells the listening audience this is not a woman you fast talk to, but one you take your time with because she is the one. The record is musically bountiful and complete with strong formulaic A-B-C sections. In the pinnacle of the song, .Paak reminds the listener of his hip hop roots and rap prowess as he kicks a verse all while managing to rhyme in Sacagawea while background vocals recall memories of rapper Big Pun.
Notable lyric: “You gon’ get me killed, I’ma catch a fade”
Amid a musically sparse intro, .Paak lets us, the listener, in on a treacherous moment in an affair. Seems his side chick forgot all her essentials at his house and now can’t seem to get into her place as she has left her keys at his house. She is stuck outside in her good heels. .Paak, who is not at home, suggests she sneak back in to get her essentials without getting caught by the wife who is on her way home. Both .Paak and Jazmine Sullivan aptly fill the sparse track with their strong melodic narratives as they trade verses.
Notable lyric: “Came a long way from them open mics at Leimert”
In this record, .Paak is simply fed up! The songs piano and synth bass layout a funk-oriented groove for .Paak to verse all his grievances. All at once, he is fed up with fighting his best friend, dealing with fame, having to prove himself as an artist. He is simply not dealing with it today. It’s all yada yada to him!
Notable lyric: “You can move or stay your ass asleep”
With its luscious groove complete with a funky synth bass and saxophone coupled with recalling elements of Sly Stone’s vocal style this song makes a social statement as a musical dedication to LeBron James and the work he has done and is doing as a civil servant and an entrepreneur in the Black community. The song also serves as a rallying call for freedom fighters to not give up and continue the fight for equity. Listen for a great nod to Colin Kaepernick in the verse.
Notable lyric: “We should be more than each other’s baby.”
With an uptempo groove, embedded with .Paak’s quick vocals together the opening chorus establishes a sense of urgency. However, just as soon as .Paak’s urgent voice is felt, Sonyae Elise comes through in the continued chorus with a calmness that immediately contrasts .Paak. The two trade-off in the chorus to relay a statement of needing someone who will know how to love and who will also have your back no matter what. .Paak doubles down on this message as he raps poetic. In the end, the song collects at the outro as they chant the ways they should love each other.
Notable lyric: “Hands above us, feels like someone lifted me.”
This is a certified dance floor banger. With a soft but pensive piano intro, the song quickly evolves into an exuberant dance tune as .Paak recounts his experience on a dance floor with a beautiful woman he just met. Together they drink and smoke and at times dance close . . . if only for one night. Brandy’s voice soars in the chorus as she sings the catchy hook of the song.
Notable lyric: “It happens to everyone, you’re not the only one, girl.”
Stand at attention for this Reveille-like trumpet and relentless mallet banging bass drum tune. Take heed listeners, .Paak has something to say. Holding your attention .Paak reassures someone he loves that at times we all get a little hurt or embarrassed from our relationships. It’s part of life that he is all too familiar with. The chorus is a thankful response from the loved one noting that .Paak has always been there in times of need. Listen closely for Ferrell Williams’ background vocals in the second verse.
In this well-orchestrated mid temple groove, .Paak tells the listener of a relationship that has ended abruptly, and then he speculates she’ll be back when he gets more money. The chorus finds .Paak and the late Nate Dogg (August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011) waxing about what can they do about a finished relationship. The presence of Nate Dogg’s voice is what makes this recording awesome. Dr. Dre’s producer and mixer Fredwreck, who almost exclusively recorded Nate, brought .Paak an unfinished hook. .Paak made it into a song that featured the best of Nate singing. The most memorable part of the song is the interaction between .Paak and Nate in the vamp as Nate seemingly walks away singing his way into eternity. (RIP Nate Dogg)
Anderson .Paak’s Ventura is a masterful endeavor. Complete with a mixture of solid R&B, soul, and a bit of funk. The album is a powerhouse of sound. .Paak’s album easily outpaces other R&B albums released during this time in terms of its musicality. It’s real, it’s listenable, and it sets .Paak apart from his R&B contemporaries as one to follow. Reward yourself with a re-listen.
As a growing trend throughout the first half of the 20th century, African American jazz music was continuously usurped by white artists who willingly enjoyed popular recognition, top billing over African American artists, monetary gain, and the full embrace of U.S. television when performing jazz. In response, African American jazz artists increasingly protested their dwindling presence within the genre. They sought meaningful ways, through heavy resistance, to make headway into gaining respect and recognition as the progenitors of the jazz genre.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
By 1970, one jazz artist, in particular, blind saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk was fed up with the lack of respect and recognition for the African American jazz artist. His point of contention was the invisibility of African American jazz artists on prime time U.S. television. He scoffed at television shows, which showcased lesser talented white musicians representing and performing “our” music while African American luminaries of the genre were absent or on the rare occasion they did appear on a show received an oh-by-the-way second billing.
In mid-summer 1970, Kirk had had enough. He and a few other frustrated musicians such as trumpeter Lee Morgan, saxophonist Billy Harper, drummer Andrew Cyrille, and many others gathered at the Village Vanguard to conceive a plan to achieve a steady and meaningful African American presence on television. Together they devised a plan which moved beyond mere complainant lip service and stationary protest from a decade earlier to one that was more aggressive and disruptive. Frustrated with the accolades of white musicians who perform jazz, Kirk and his group formed Jazz and the People’s Movement or the JPM to combat their situation. Succinctly, the JPM formed to get African American musicians on mainstream U.S. TV.
Lee Morgan
After only a few meetings at the Vanguard, the JPM decided to disrupt the taping of a show to gain the attention of producers. Then in the midst of the disruption question and demand a remedy to the absence African American jazz musicians on prime time TV. Their first order of business was to infiltrate and shut down the popular Merv Griffin Show.
On August 27th, 1970, Kirk and the JPM (about 65 frustrated musicians) assembled a few blocks near New York’s theatre district where the Merv Griffin Show was to record. In the street, they formed an impromptu parade complete with chanting accompanied by handclaps, whistles, flutes, all led by Kirk on clarinet. They made their way to the studio, hid their instruments, and stood in a growing line of unsuspecting audience members. The JPM, showed their tickets (which they bought a week earlier) and quietly made their way into the studio and took their seats. About twenty minutes into the taping of the show, Kirk stood up, pulled out his hidden clarinet, and began to play New Orleans style music as loud as he could. He was instantly joined by all 65 members of the JPM on their whistles and flutes. They filled the studio with music. Amid the attempts to get the JPM to quiet down the show’s producer cued the house band to play anything to drown out the disruptive melodies. The JPM outplayed the house band, which they quickly relented and became spectators in the takeover. Kirk and soloing musicians began to walk out of the audience bleachers and toward the stage. Show host Merv Griffin waved his hands in surrender and ran backstage effectively ending the taping of the show that evening. The JPM surely shut down the taping of a major mainstream television show!
Once on stage, Kirk explained to the stage producers who they were, why they were there, and requested a meeting between himself, Morgan, Griffin, and the lead producers of the show. A long meeting that led to shouting (by Morgan), arguments that examined artist beyond the constant presence of Louis Armstrong to included Theolonius Monk, Horace Silver, and JJ Johnson, the relevance of jazz on TV, to the progressiveness of European television and protest music, all of which was followed by empty promises to include more African American jazz musicians on television.
Theolonius Monk
Kirk and the JPM continued. In the following weeks, joined by Kirks wife, Edith they disrupted, shut down live tapings, and requested meetings with the host and producers of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Oct. 1, 1970) and The Dick Cavett Show(Oct 13, 1970). Word quickly spread to the producers of The Ed Sullivan Show that the JPM was on their way. Rather than have the JPM disrupt their live show, the producers invited Kirk to be a featured musical guest on the show.
On the evening of January 24, 1971, the producers of the Ed Sullivan Show made good on their promise. Kirk assembled a who’s who of jazz musicians of the day. His band for the night included outspoken musicians who were down for the struggle to increase the presence of African American musicians on TV. The band consisted of Charles Mingus on bass (who at this point had not been seen on TV in over two years), as well as Henry Pearson also on bass, Archie Shepp on Saxophone, Sonelius Smith on piano, Roy Haynes on drums, Dick Griffin on trombone, Charles McGhee on trumpet and both Maurice McKinley and Joe Texidor on percussion. This was a powerhouse band.
Charles Mingus. Photo by Lee Friedlander
That evening the show’s producers suggest that Kirk play a tune that was easily accessible for the listening audience. Kirk offered the Stevie Wonder hit “My Cherie Amour” as a popular easy to listen to crossover tune. The producers loved it. During the soundcheck Kirk’s “JPM band” rehearsed Stevie’s hit. However, when the band stood in place on the stage and the cameras went live they tossed out “My Cherie Amour” and launched into Mingus’ “Haitian Fight Song” instead. Stunned and frozen the producers allowed Kirk and his band to perform what Mingus deemed a protest song.
Kirk and the JPM flip the script on Ed Sullivan!
Kirk and his band for a brief moment had achieved what they set out to do: increase the visibility of African American jazz musicians playing real jazz on primetime U.S. television. The audience cheered!
In the end, the Jazz and the People’s Movement was short-lived. The group, shortly after their performance, disbanded and moved onto other projects. Mingus received a Guggenheim Fellowship. Archie Shepp found new musical ways of protest as well as became a professor at the University of Massachusetts school of music. While others move on to various music endeavors.
Patrice Rushen
Kirk and the JPM exposed the lack of jazz music being played by African Americans on primetime TV. White artists playing jazz on TV was so much the norm that it was strange to see someone like Kirk playing on an evening show the very music he helped to shape. In contrast, fast forward 50 years later and it would seem strange not to see African Americans playing all types of music on primetime TV. A quick perusal of recent live television shows such as the Grammys, American Music Awards, and others have been led by the likes of Patrice Rushen, Rickey Minor, and Greg Phillinganes staffed with overwhelmingly African American musicians. An even closer look of today’s late-night shows reveals the proliferation of African American musical artists over the last 20 years with the presence of one-time band leaders Branford Marsalis and Kevin Eubanks and currently, Jon Batiste leading The Late Show with Stephen Colbert band and certainly not to forget The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with the hiring of The Roots as the shows house band has made a profound and constant presence of African Americans visible on television. No doubt Kirk and the JPM during their brief but sound movement established the undertones for today’s normalcy of African American musicians on TV.
Great! You made it this far. You are certainly developing your sophisticated ear. At this point, you are enjoying the many components of jazz; the vocal narratives, melody, improvisation of various instruments, and the wonders of an ensemble. Jazz is not elusive for you.
Singer’s singer Rachelle Farrell is as good as it gets!
I’ll make this quick so as not to take up too much of your listening time. At this point, take the time to combine all the elements of listening to and understanding jazz-its narrative, its melody, its improvisation, and the workings of the ensemble albeit in equal parts. Take a listen to singer and pianist Rachelle Farrell’s “Bye Bye Blackbird.” Farrell combines all the elements at a high level. Her talent shines through. Be Careful, this is an advance listen so, turn it up as loud as you can!
And for your final listen, sit back and take in Gregory Porter’s “Be Good (Lion’s Song)” Enjoy this with your new and burgeoning sophisticated ears!
In the end, jazz is a musically powerful language that has spoken to many and spoken for many. It is the U.S.’s original art form. It is classic! So continue to listen and explore the many genres of jazz such as Bebop, fusion, afro-Cuban, avant-garde, and smooth jazz to name a few. You now have found your entry point to jazz!
So as a developing sophisticated listener, musical elements such as vocal narrative, melody, and improvisation are becoming easier to consume. At this point, we bid o digba to the voice and gaze toward the instrument. The listener is ready to take on the workings of an ensemble. In this case, an ensemble is a group of musicians performing together to create a single song or piece of music.
As a listener with a flourishing sophisticated ear, this is the opportunity to sonically observe, or better yet enjoy, how musicians use their instruments to work through and communicate musical narratives, melodies, and improvisation. Here the listener will be able to appreciate the many musical instruments in an ensemble. Closely listen to the drummer, the bassist, the pianist, the saxophonist, the guitarist, and the trumpeter. This may take more than one listen, which is a good thing. Things to consider while listening: What instrument stands out to you? How does the instrument make you feel? How is the ensemble working together? Does it all fit together? What is your overall impression of the song and/or musicians? If you could rename the song, what would you name it?
Take a listen to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ tune “Moanin.” Listen to how trumpeter Lee Morgan swings through his solo then leads saxophonist Benny Golson into his. Listen to pianist Bobby Timmons make a musical statement you must to hear. Then take a close listen to bassist Jymie Merritt as he takes his turn at a solo all while being held in check by bandleader and drummer Art Blakey. It is a fascinating sophisticated listen.
Listen to this live convo about moanin’.
Go further: listen to Miles Davis’ “So What.” This song appears on his album title Kind of Blue, which is considered the greatest jazz album . . . . ever! What a conversations, wow!
Continuing your entry point into jazz through voice. The listener, to go deeper, must pay attention to vocal improvisation. Improvisation, in this case, is an unprepared melody involving musical imagination, which carries the spirit and sentiment of the song. Improvisation allows the musician and the listener to travel beyond the melodic boundaries of the song to a place that hinges on emotion and attitude. More commonly known as scat singing the vocalist at times mimics the voicings and style of a musical instrument in an improvisational mode. The listener and the musician both have an experience with the music and a response to the music.
What is Clark Terry Saying?
In this entry point listen to the charismatic vocals of trumpeter Clark Terry in his song Mumbles. In this song Terry doesn’t sing a word, his vocal improvisation is incomprehensible. The listener must use imagination and create their own lyrics or narrative. Together, Terry and the listener move beyond the melody of the song and improvise a unique narrative. What is this song about? What is Terry saying? The listener has to create a narrative of their own. If the listener creates their very own unique narrative then they have moved deeper into the jazz genre.
Go further: Listen to “One Note Samba” and great scat singing by you guessed it, the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald. This is crazy good!
When attempting to enter and appreciate the jazz genre there is no doubt a vocal narrative provides the smallest barrier into the musical art form. In fact, listening to the narrative and tone of the voice draws the listener close. (See the last post) However, to further consume the jazz genre, the listener must also pay attention to the melody. Melody is the satisfying tonal succession of musical sounds that incorporate tempo (is it fast or slow?), rhythm (it’s what makes you move), and is pleasing to the ear. In short, a melody is the portion of a tune that is easily sung, hummed, or whistled.
Chet Baker and the melancholy melody
Focusing on both the voice and melody will lead the listener deeper into the realm of jazz. Take a listen to Chet Baker’s recording of “My Funny Valentine.” Baker’s unique melancholy voice softly carries the listener through the paces of one of the most easily memorable and haunting melodies of all time.
Just listen. How do the narrative, voice, and melody make you feel?
Go Further: Check out Ella Fitzgerald’s catchy vocal melody on “A Tisket A Tasket” Try to sing, hum, or whistle her toon.
Jazz! A musical art form, which emerged in the U.S. by way of the long-suffering toil of black bodies desperately in search of freedom, peace, and a place to belong. Jazz developed as the musical expression of the black condition. Historically, for unyielding bodies that were in search of their own space to exist, jazz music provided that headway to cultivate a solid identity and establish a strong urban culture. As such, jazz became a fully capable medium able to express a range of emotions from sadness, solitude, anger to pensive, festive, and free. In this way, jazz was uncompromisingly bold. It was responsive to its time. It was present.
The mere mention of the term jazz beyond its musical history holds a myriad of meanings. For some, the word jazz evokes feelings of happiness, joy, freedom, connectedness, excitement, peace, and love. While for others (this may be you), the word conjures feelings of dread, confusion, anxiety, purposeless, and boredom. Indeed, the jazz genre, in all its renderings, can be quite complex in its audible space, not to mention the countless presentations and consumption by its many fans.
To be sure, over time, jazz has certainly attracted a crowd of eager and sophisticated listeners who are keen to genre parameters, are musically inclined, well acquainted with personnel, familiar with essential solos, and are intimately familiar with the social and cultural meanings of any particular recording. Consequently, the uncompelled and less than sophisticated listener may find the jazz genre non-approachable or better yet elusive. For the unsophisticated listener (one who is not yet familiar with jazz and thus has a weak attraction to it) there are several methods one can utilize when approaching (listening to) the genre. For one, the listener must allow themselves to become emotionally available to listen; steady themselves to absorb the unfamiliar and not resist the sound of a riff (anything sounding ‘jazzy’). And two, the genre must be gently delivered so a sophisticated ear is not employed. Easily digestible tunes. One has to just sit, listen and feel! So, if jazz has been difficult to grasp, but you want to give it one more try, take a few minutes to listen for your entry point into the genre.
One of the easiest ways to enter jazz is to allow a vocal narrative to lull the listener into the subtleties of the genre. So, the first listen will be through the voice of jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald. Relax, breathe, and take a close listen to Ella as she sings “How Long Has This Been Going On?” Listen as her fully formed satin voice pulls the listener close. Ella is here to tell a story; a story of the sudden realization of the spine-tingling sensation of a kiss and her dramatic shock of never realizing the specialness of it before. How is this possible? Let Ella tell it! While listening, only assess the feeling/s the song arouses. How does it make you feel? If you have an answer to this question then you are at the doorway of becoming a sophisticated listener of jazz.
Go further: Take a listen to the incomparable Nancy Wilson’s narrative and her exemplary jazz voice in “Guess Who I Saw Today?” Oh, damn!
Just SOul You Know 