Tuesday, April 27, 2010

James Baldwin on Black Music


It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story. It is a story which otherwise has yet to be told and which no American is prepared to hear . . .

The story of the Negro in America is the story of America - or, more precisely, it is the story of Americans. It is not a very pretty story: the story of a people is never very pretty. The Negro in America, gloomily referred to as that shadow that lies athwart our national life, is far more than that. He is a series of shadows, self-created, intertwining, which we now helplessly battle . . .

This is why his history and his progress, his relationship to all Americans, has been kept in the social arena. He is a social and not a personal or a human problem; to think of him is to think of statistics, slums, rapes, injustices, remote violence; it is to be confronted with an endless cataloging of losses, gains, skirmishes; it is to feel virtuous, outraged, helpless, as though his continuing status among us were somehow analogous to disease - cancer, perhaps, or tuberculosis - which must be checked, even though it cannot be cured. In this arena the black man acquires quite another aspect from that which he has in life. We do not know what to do with him in life; if he breaks our sociological and sentimental image of him we are panic stricken and we feel ourselves betrayed. When he violates this image, therefore, he stands in the greatest danger (sensing which, we uneasily suspect that he is often playing a part for our benefit); and, what is not always so apparent but is equally true, we are then in some danger ourselves - hence our retreat or blind and immediate retaliation.

James Baldwin, 1951

Monday, April 26, 2010

The Cotton Club By Clarence Major



The Cotton Club




Look at Duke!
He stays up and up.

Stays up in the music.
Up where the music reaches.

Up through the waves of the music.
His waves slicked back.

Duke's staying up all night
so long that time stays up with him.

But you can see the afternoon
in his eyes. Yellow sunlight going down.

And he sleeps late. Slow at home.
Remembering Jungle Nights.

Sailing on the wide wings
of a Blue Bird, sailing light.

And somebody's always saying
Hold it, Duke,

I wanna take your picture,
and they can't even see him.














this poem, originally published in a chapbook of the same name, 1972, reappeared in the collection Configurations: New & Selected Poems 1958-1998 (Copper Canyon Press)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

The Last Measure (Poem for Charles Mingus) By Hart Leroy Bibbs


WONDEROUS PEALING FEELING RETICENCE
RESONATE NINE TIMES ACROSS THUNDER
PEAKS. TRI-HALOED BEAUTY LIVES THERE IN
THE SOUNDLAND, SOFTLY PEEPING AROUND A
DARK CLOUD WHOSE BACK IS TURNED UPON
WORLDS DISDAINED. YET IT DARES TO POSSESS
THE TOUCH OF STRINGS WHERE BEAUTY IS
HEARD AND NOT SEEN

unheard is vision for the self within is dead
but the juxtaposition has already been clearly
explained.

GREAT MINGUS IS BOWING THE LAST
MEASURE'S HEAD!

THE MUSIC'S SHEET READS FOR STRINGS AND
WOODWINDS BUT UNWRITTEN ON HIS CHART
IS GUILT FROM UNSTRUCTURED DOUBT. A RIFF
OF NONCOMMITAL MEASURES THAT ENDS
WHERE GUILT IS NEITHER WITHOUT NOR
WITHIN THAT CONFOUNDS TO CONTAIN ALL
DOUBT.

dumbness mirrors itself to praise what little
and questions the rights of me to have lived and
died. it meddles to make frustration a raga's rage.

MINGUSIANFIED IS BESPOKEN IN THE WHEEL OF
SOUND AND UNSELFISHLY IS THE NEWS
ALREADY OUT OF THE GRACE TO DIVIDE
RHYTHM AND CONQUER METHOD'S PAGE. HELL
NEED NOT FREEZE IN ORDER TO BE
RECOGNIZED ENCOUNTERING HARMONIE'S
POINT OF BITTERNESS NOR THE SERVANT SNAIL
THAT LEADS THE NEW YORK UNI(ONS) CORN
BAND INTO FALSE MEASURE.

when all doubles stop on planet nine, two
octaves cry the blues between the grumbling
crossfire of the cymbals polyrhythmic oneness

COLLECTED EYELIDS OPEN UPON HUMANITY
THAT RAVES TO RECALL BIRD, LADY DAY AND
TRANE. NO MORE SOCIAL REGISTERS FOR
DOLPHY, BECHET NOR RASHAAN. WHAT TIMES
HAD THESE WHORE'S FOR MUSIC'S PLEASURE.
FIGHTING NOTES ON TOP OF PEANUT JOKES
AND MELODIC CONFUSION THAT MADE SEEM
FRIVOLOUS THE FINALITY OF A CLIMAX THAT
LEAPS MINGUSPLEXIAN INTO THE LAST
MEASURE.

legend flavored fumes from massy hall where
music heard of its mythical birth. Saturday happy
blues tuned to bop turned that ball.

IN ECSTASY EYES CLOSED AND JAWS SLACK,
TONGUE UNCONTAINABLE BEHIND THE TEETH
AND GROOVING WITH FATTED UPBEAT'S
SWING. WAILING ECHOES MOURN THROUGH
THE VALLEY OF TRIPLETS, WHERE TEARS TURN
TO FLOWERS AND ORNAMENT EARTHY SPACE
NOTES. 2-2-3-4. One must forever fall on tomorrows
trauma, WHERE THE LAST MEASURE OF
YESTERDAYS FRUSTRATIONS BREED, down by the
riverside, TO GO DOWN MINGING.

five spot features a bass (strad) that sings
of misery dancing on fragile fragrant wood.
knocked down, dragged from the splintered
measure
a mystical cry telling the all time lows,
the dow jones of human spirits without wings.

BLUES MONDAY AND RAINY DAY CONCERTS
SWELL THE TRUTHS OF BLACK TUESDAYS TO
THE GOSPEL RESOLUTION TO REDEEM PURITY
WITH THE COOL, GREEN NOTES AND BREAK ALL
STRAINS INTO A STRING OF REDHOT
HARMONIES. COSMIC UNITY IS THE GRACE
WITH THE VOICE TO SPEAK: YOU NOT ALWAYS
BEAUTIFUL, SACROSANCT, SPIRALLING TRULY
BLESSED ONE. HARD LINED IN UGLY COLDNESS
AND ONLY HALF HUMAN, DEVOTION ONLY
COULD HAVE BEEN YOUR HOME.

the future's last measure is before the tomb
when a little finger reaches round the womb
to strum the umbilical ending.

DOWN IN THE OLD SWIMMING HOLE FISHING.
UNDER THE BASS BRIDGE, GOLD AND DRIPPING
HOARDS. THEN RUN ALL THE WAY HOME, BACK
TO FIRST BASE, TO SHOW MIGUSIAN
PERFECTION WITH MINGUSPLEXIAN CHORDS.
UNO, SENOR EL UNO AND RAISE THE SEVENTH
A STRING TWELVE STOPS OF MUSIC'S CALVARY.
RAISE HELL MING.

vision is the last measure, melodic in its theme
with sweet but cruel notes that leer. The sound
grace is exercising her vocal chords.
















this poem appeared originally in Double Trouble, a collection of work by Ted Joans and Hart Leroy Bibbs, including Bibbs photography. Double Trouble was published in Paris, 1992, by Editons Bleu Outremer: Revue Noire. A truly legendary figure of the jazz world in Paris and New York, Hart Leroy Bibbs lives on in the "space love demands"!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Soledad By Robert Hayden


(And I, I am no longer of that world)

Naked, he lies in the blinded room
chainsmoking, cradled by drugs, by jazz
as never by any lover's cradling flesh.

Miles Davis coolly blows for him:
O pena negra, sensual Flamenco blues;
the redclay foxfire voice of Lady Day

(lady of the pure black magnolias)
sobsings her sorrow and loss and fare you well,
dryweeps the pain his treacherous jailers

have released him from for a while.
His fears and his unfinished self
await him down in the anywhere streets.

He hides on the dark side of the moon,
takes refuge in a stained-glass cell,
flies to a clockless country of crystal.

Only the ghost of Lady Day knows where
he is. Only the music. And he swings
oh he swings: beyond complete immortal now.










Robert Hayden











Monday, April 12, 2010

Billie Tells Her Story


New Day Jazz


Justin Desmangles

Jazz music for lovers and the lonely.

Genre
Jazz

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Show Description for Sunday 04/11/2010
Our annual birthday celebration of Our Lady, the great Lady Day, Miss Billie Holiday, is this afternoon. As ever, the broadcast, in it's entirety, will be dedicated exclusively to her and her music.






Artist Song Album Label

Billie Holiday Your Mother's Son-in-law The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday It's Like Reaching for the Moon The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday He Ain't Got Rhythm The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday Let's Call the Whole Thing Off The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday My Man The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


James Emanuel (read by Cicely Tyson) Get Up Blues A Hand Is On The Gate Verve-Folkways


Mari Evans (read by Cicely Tyson) The Rebel A Hand Is On The Gate Verve-Folkways


Billie Holiday Be Fair to Me Baby Shades of Blue Sunset


Billie Holiday Blue Turning Grey Over You Shades of Blue Sunset


Billie Holiday Rocky Mountain Blues Shades of Blue Sunset

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Billie Holiday Everything I Have is Yours The Complete Verve Recordings Verve


Billie Holiday What A Little Moonlight Can Do The Complete Verve Recordings Verve


Billie Holiday Cheek to Cheek Lady Sings the Blues Verve

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Billie Holiday I Get a Kick Out of You The Complete Verve Recordings Verve


Gwendolyn Brooks Song of the Front Yard Anthology of Negro Poets Folkways


Gwendolyn Brooks The Preacher Ruminates Behind the Sermon Anthology of Negro Poets Folkways

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Billie Holiday Nice Work If You Can Get It The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday I Don't Know If I'm Coming Or Going The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday Pennies From Heaven The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday The Way You Look Tonight The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia

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Billie Holiday Spreadin' the Rhythm Around The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday A Fine Romance The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday This Years Kisses The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday A Sailboat in the Moonlight The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Langston Hughes (read by Ellen Holly) Mother to Son A Hand Is On The Gate Verve-Folkways


Billie Holiday Autumn in New York The Complete Verve Recordings Verve

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Billie Holiday East of the Sun The Complete Verve Recordings Verve


Billie Holiday Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me The Complete Verve Recordings Verve


Jean Toomer (read by Arna Bontemps) Song of the Sun Antholgy of Negro Poets in the U.S.A. Folkways


Billie Holiday Lady Sings the Blues Lady Sings the Blues Verve


Margaret Walker (read by Gloria Foster) We Have Been Believers A Hand Is On The Gate Verve-Folkways


Billie Holiday Strange Fruit Lady Sings the Blues Verve


Richard Wright (read by James Earl Jones) Between the World and Me A Hand Is On The Gate Verve-Folkways

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Billie Holiday He's Funny That Way The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia


Billie Holiday They Can't Take That Away From Me The Quintessential Billie Holiday Columbia
























































































































































































































































Thursday, April 8, 2010

Our Wars, Peace, and Speaking of the Dead at Home


Show Description for Sunday 04/04/2010

Over There, Over There: A Conversation with renowned Professor Tom Bruce on Our Wars, Peace, and Speaking of the Dead at Home. This afternoon, on the 4 o'clock hour.



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Show Description for Sunday 04/04/2010






Track Artist Song Album Label


Charles Mingus II BS Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Impulse


Charles Mingus Prayer for Passive Resistance Mingus Revisted Mercury - Limelight


Ella Fitzgerald & Ellis Larkins Someone to Watch Over Me Sings Gershwin Decca


Ella Fitzgerald & Ellis Larkins My One and Only Sings Gershwin Decca


Margaret Walker Kissie Lee Anthology of Negro Poetry Folkways

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Bud Powell Blue Pearl The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 3 Blue Note


Hank Mobley Smokin' Workout Blue Note


Hank Mobley The Breakdown Rollcall Blue Note

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Andy & the Bey Sisters Love Medley 'Round Midnight Prestige


Interview with Tom Bruce by Justin Desmangles Part One





Carmen McRae As Time Goes By Live at Dug Amigo


Interview with Tom Bruce by Justin Desmangles Part Two





Ella Fitzgerald Always Have an Ace in the Hole Sings theCole Porter Songbook Verve