Showing posts with label Margaret Walker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Margaret Walker. Show all posts

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Making Moves with Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra


A Happy Birthday to Dizzy Gillespie!

Show description for Sunday 10/23/2011 @ 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

This afternoon we will focus on the contributions of the Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Cuban Orchestra. As part of these efforts, we will also explore the music recorded by Charlie Parker as featured soloist with Machito & His Orchestra, including Mango Mangue, as well as Okidoke. In bringing attention to this period, the great composer, arranger Tadd Dameron will also be featured, including his earliest efforts with Harlan Leonard, the small groups featuring Fats Navarro, and the neglected masterwork, The Magic Touch, recorded for Riverside. Along the way we will hear poetry from Countee Cullen, Gwendolyn Brooks, Claude McKay, Margaret Walker, Sterling Brown, and Langston Hughes. (Pictured at right, Harriet Tubman)

Runagate Runagate

by Robert Hayden
I.
Runs falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darkness
and the darkness thicketed with shapes of terror
and the hunters pursuing and the hounds pursuing
and the night cold and the night long and the river
to cross and the jack-muh-lanterns beckoning beckoning
and blackness ahead and when shall I reach that somewhere
morning and keep on going and never turn back and keep on going
Runagate
Runagate
Runagate
Many thousands rise and go
many thousands crossing over
O mythic North
O star-shaped yonder Bible city

Some go weeping and some rejoicing
some in coffins and some in carriages
some in silks and some in shackles

Rise and go or fare you well

No more auction block for me
no more driver’s lash for me

If you see my Pompey, 30 yrs of age,
new breeches, plain stockings, negro shoes;
if you see my Anna, likely young mulatto
branded E on the right cheek, R on the left,
catch them if you can and notify subscriber.
Catch them if you can, but it won’t be easy.
They’ll dart underground when you try to catch them,
plunge into quicksand, whirlpools, mazes,
turn into scorpions when you try to catch them.

And before I’ll be a slave
I’ll be buried in my grave

North star and bonanza gold
I’m bound for the freedom, freedom-bound
and oh Susyanna don’t you cry for me

Runagate
Runagate


II.
Rises from their anguish and their power,

Harriet Tubman,

woman of earth, whipscarred,
a summoning, a shining

Mean to be free

And this was the way of it, brethren brethren,
way we journeyed from Can’t to Can.
Moon so bright and no place to hide,
the cry up and the patterollers riding,
hound dogs belling in bladed air.
And fear starts a-murbling, Never make it,
we’ll never make it. Hush that now,
and she’s turned upon us, levelled pistol
glinting in the moonlight:
Dead folks can’t jaybird-talk, she says;
you keep on going now or die, she says.

Wanted Harriet Tubman alias The General
alias Moses Stealer of Slaves

In league with Garrison Alcott Emerson
Garrett Douglas Thoreau John Brown

Armed and known to be Dangerous

Wanted Reward Dead or Alive

Tell me, Ezekiel, oh tell me do you see
mailed Jehovah coming to deliver me?

Hoot-owl calling in the ghosted air,
five times calling to the hants in the air.
Shadow of a face in the scary leaves,
shadow of a voice in the talking leaves:

Come ride-a my train

Oh that train, ghost-story train
through swamp and savanna movering movering,
over trestles of dew, through caves of the wish,
Midnight Special on a sabre track movering movering,
first stop Mercy and the last Hallelujah.

Come ride-a my train

Mean mean mean to be free.

ArtistSongAlbumLabel

Countee CullenHeritageAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

Dizzy Gillespie featuring Chano PozoMinor WalkDizzy Gillespie Vol. 1/2RCA - France

Dizzy Gillespie featuring Chano PozoCubana Be Cubana BopDizzy Gillespie Vol. 1/2RCA - France

Machito & His Orchestra featuring Charlie ParkerMango MangueAfro-Cuban JazzVerve

Langston Hughesthe Negro Speaks of RiversAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

Langston HughesI, TooAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

James MoodyCu-BaJames Moody & His ModernistsBlue Note

Tadd Dameron SeptetJahberoTadd Dameron SeptetBlue Note

Bud Powell TrioUn Poco LocoThe Amazing Bud PowellBlue Note
========================== Airbreak ==========================

Margaret WalkerFor My PeopleAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

Dizzy Gillespie OrchestraThings to ComeBebopNew World Records

Kenny Clarke & His 52nd St. BoysRoyal RoostJazz In RevolutionNew World Records

Machito & His Orchestra featuring Charlie ParkerOkidokeAfro-Cuban JazzVerve

Dizzy Gillespie featuring Chano PozoAlgo Bueno (Woody'n You)Dizzy Gillespie Vol. 1/2RCA - France

Modern Jazz QuartetWoody'n YouNica's DreamNew World Records

Gwendolyn BrooksThe Preacher RuminatesAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

Gwendolyn BrooksThe Children of the PoorAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

Charles MingusYsabels' Table DanceTijuana MoodsRCA
========================== Airbreak ==========================

Woody Herman & His OrchestraLemon DropBebopNew World Records

Elliott LawrenceElevationJazz In RevolutionNew World Records

Dizzy Gillespie featuring Kenny HagoodOol Ya KooDizzy Gillespie Vol. 1/2RCA - France

James MoodyTropicanaJames Moody & His ModernistsBlue Note

Tadd DameronOn A Misty NightThe Magic TouchRiverside

Sarah VaughnA Ship Without A SailGreat Songs From Hit Shows Volume 2Mercury

Sarah VaughnHe's Only WonderfulGreat Songs From Hit Shows Volume 2Mercury
========================== Airbreak ==========================

Dizzy GillespieGroovin' HighIn The BeginningPrestige

Tadd Dameron featuring Barbara WinfieldIf You Could See Me NowThe Magic TouchRiverside

Sterling BrownLong GoneAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

Dodo Marmarosa TrioMellow MoodJazz In RevolutionNew World Records

Charlie ParkerRelaxin' at Camarillo BebopNew World Records

Dexter Gordon - Wardell Gray QuintetThe Chase Part 1 & 2Jazz In RevolutionNew World Records

Claude McKaySt. Issac's ChurchAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

Claude McKayThe Tropics in New YorkAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

Claude McKayIntro / If We Must DieAnthology of Negro PoetsFolkways

Randy WestonCon AlmaAfrican NiteInner City
========================== Airbreak ==========================

Harlan Leonard & His RocketsA-La-BridgesJazz In RevolutionNew World Records

Dizzy Gillespie featuring Chano PozoGood BaitDizzy Gillespie Vol. 1/2RCA - France

Dizzy Gillespie & Charlie ParkerHot HouseIn the BeginningPrestige

Tadd DameronDial B for BeautyThe Arranger's TouchPrestige

Tadd DameronYou're A JoyThe Magic TouchRiverside

Tadd DameronSwift as the WindThe Magic TouchRiverside

Dizzy Gillespie featuring Joe CarrollJump-Did-Le-BaDizzy Gillespie Vol. 1/2RCA - France
========================== Airbreak ==========================

Sarah VaughnEmbraceable YouSarah VaughnEmarcy

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Margaret Walker, Lee Morgan, and those blues in the night . . .

Paulene Myers, actress (with back to camera), Raymond Patterson, poet, Margaret Walker, Paula Giddings's afro towering over Margaret Walker, Herbert Martin (center), Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis, critic, unidentified woman,Lorenzo Thomas, poet.

Show description for Sunday 7/10/2011 @ 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Lee Morgan , one of the greatest trumpet players in the history of jazz, is celebrated today on New Day Jazz, along with the life and poetry of Margaret Walker.

"Margaret Walker is of the great creators and teachers of literature." - Amiri Baraka


ArtistSongAlbumLabel

Margaret WalkerKissie LeeAnthology Of Negro PoetsFolkways

Ella FitzgeraldBlues In The NightSings The Harold Arlen SongbookVerve

Ella FitzgeraldLet's Fall In LoveSings The Harold Arlen SongbookVerve

Ella FitzgeraldStormy WeatherSings The Harold Arlen SongbookVerve

Margaret Walker (read by Gloria Foster)We Have Been BelieversA Hand Is On The GateVerve-Folkways

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Roots & HerbsRoots & HerbsBlue Note

Lee MorganShort CountThe Sixth SenseBlue Note
========================== Airbreak ==========================

Shirley HornTravelin' LightTravelin' LightABC-Paramount

Shirley HornSunday In New YorkTravelin' LightABC-Paramount

Shirley HornI Could Have Told YouTravelin' LightABC-Paramount

Lee MorganYou're Mine YouCity LightsBlue Note

Lee MorganCity LightsCity LightsBlue Note

Margaret Walker Old Molly MeansAnthology Of Negro PoetsFolkways

Grachan Moncur IIIMonk In WonderlandEvolutionBlue Note
========================== Airbreak ==========================

Margaret Walker For My PeopleAnthology Of Negro PoetsFolkways

Art Blakey & The Jazz MessengersSakeena's VisionThe Big BeatBlue Note

Art Blakey & The Jazz MessengersCalling Miss KhadijaIndestructible!Blue Note

Margaret Walker StackaleeAnthology Of Negro PoetsFolkways

Lee MorganSince I Fell For YouCandy Blue Note

Louis ArmstrongStardustLouis Armstrong Favorites Vol. 4Columbia
========================== Airbreak ==========================

Lee KonitzI Remember YouMotionVerve

Monday, September 15, 2008

The Music Where Our Mouth Is


This is a playlist from a early morning broadcast on KDVS in Davis. I went on the air at about 5 minutes after 3 and was off by 6. All though there were no mistakes I felt that towards the end, due to some extra bookkeeping at the request of BMI, my timing was a little off. I would have liked to have played the 1946 duets by Ellington, Strayhorn (on the same piano!) and something from Sterling Brown. The purpose of playing the poetry along with the jazz is not a mere hip contrivance. In fact, as those who have followed this blog know, it is meant to illuminate the deeper and perhaps more subtle meanings of the music itself. I look at the show in its entirety as a single composition and just as a color or a shape in painting "brings out" a color or a shape in proximity so does a clarinet, a drum, a turn of the phrase. The most successful of these sequences in this particular broadcast, I believe, were as follows;

Ella Fitzgerald & Ellis Larkins playing My One & Only, followed by Duke Ellington's Orchestra playing Snibor

Margaret Walker (pictured above) reading For My People, followed by Johnny Hodges playing Day Dream

Snibor & Day Dream are, of course, compositions by Billy Staryhorn, which, I think, speaks to the depth of his genius and intuitive response to African-American culture in general and Jazz in particular.

I would have also liked to have spent more time on the small groups lead by Ellington sidemen. Perhaps in a future broadcast that's all I will play!


Ella Fitzgerald & Ellis Larkins - Someone To Watch Over Me
Ella Fitzgerald & Ellis Larkins - My One & Only
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Snibor
Langston Hughes - I Have Known Rivers
Langston Hughes - I, Too
Bud Powell - Blue Pearl
Bud Powell - Reets & I
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra featuring Lil Greenwood - Walkin' & Singing The Blues
Abbey Lincoln - Long As Your Living
Lee Morgan - All At Once You Love Her
Louis Smith - Tunesmith (excerpt)
Louis Smith - Au Privave
Herbie Nichols - Argumentative Variation
Herbie Nichols - Riff Primatiff
Countee Cullen - Heritage
Barney Bigard & His Orchestra - Brown Suede
Barney Bigard & His Orchestra - Noir Bleu
Barney Bigard & His Orchestra - "C" Blues
Barney Bigard & His Orchestra - June
Anita O'Day - I Didn't Know What Time It Was
Anita O'Day - The Very Thought Of You
Anita O'Day - Anita's Blues '76
Kenny Burrell Septet - I Never Knew
Ella Fitzgerald - I'm Just A Lucky So & So
Margaret Walker - For My People
Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra - Day Dream
Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra - Good Queen Bess
Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra - That's The Blues Old Man
Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra - Junior Hop
Claude McKay - If We Must Die (Introduction)
Claude McKay - If We Must Die
Miles Davis Sextet - Milestones (Miles)
Bill Evans Trio - Milestones (Miles)
Miles Davis Quintet - Milestones (Miles)
Gwendolyn Brooks - Kitchenette
Abbey Lincoln - Afro-Blue
Abbey Lincoln - Lonely House
Abbey Lincoln - Let Up
Bill Evans Trio - Solar