A juxtaposition of introspective poetry reading from Beatnik writer/poet Hettie Jones and jazz performances from the Harlem Arts Ensemble, this was barely your conventional concert. Instead, I found myself in a medium sized performance space on campus, with rows of seats and some delicious refreshments in the back (yum). The Wednesday night show was an insightful look into how poetry and jazz have historically mated, giving birth to cultural transformations.
Serenading us with his gracious piano and soulful voice, Donald Smith started the performance by preaching of “a better world for our children.” Fittingly this notion of changing the world by acknowledging racial oppression, colonialism or war (basically the history behind music making) ties to Hettie Jone’s idea of the “inherited dilemma.” Every one of us carries around some form of cultural weight, whether we want to or not. This weight is inherited throughout history, but it is our personal and perhaps even musical choices that shape how we deal with/ change such cultural dilemmas.
Organize, riot, start a movement, create a revolution…form your identity!
The Harlem Arts Ensemble’s hard bop/free jazz played around with Charlie Mingus styled work-shopping (in-between performance and rehearsal), thrilling solos (“Meditations on Integrations”), and at one point some Latin flavored keys that made my teeth giggle. Jones experimented with extremely interesting breathing and rhythm patterns throughout her poetry readings of “Pale Face”, “Mother America” and “Air Jamaica”, which oddly caused me to hear words in a way I am not quite used to.
The last piece that HAE performed was particularly touching and nearly brought me to tears. The keys were playful and the trumpet melody pulled at my skin as it swayed back and forth. I truthfully don’t think I would have felt as powerful of an emotional towards the piece had it not been for Salim Washington’s explanation of why he wrote it. Knowing the personal history behind the song completely intensified the emotion I gathered from it. Now imagine the effect of one personal history on a song multiplied a thousand-fold--- that is the tremendous emotional effect history has on music or poetry.
For example—watch this modern interpretation of Mingus’ “Fables of Faubus” reinterpreted by flute-beat boxer Greg Patillo (who is awesome, check out his stuff), Peter Seymour and Eric Stephenson.
Now watch this historical depiction of the original version… and I’m pretty sure your perception of it will change.
As Jones put it, be “ear-minded, hear the world as you see it.”
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