Mary Ann and I went to see the great Ramsey Lewis at Chicago’s London House in the early 70s. The Trio was the house band for a number of years. On his passing at 87, The Guardian wrote:
“The piano great tuned in to the hits of his day and played hard bop to a rock backbeat, crossing into the mainstream and becoming one of the most sampled musicians of all time”
“I can, if necessary, play quite complicated jazz improvisations,” he once said. “But you’ve got to make sure you carry the audience with you. Most people don’t have an MA in music scholarship, they haven’t sat a jazz improvisation 101, they don’t want to hear you playing bebop inspired by Béla Bartók. You’ve got to follow the audience, and play off their energy.”
I can’t let this month get by without recognizing the 50th anniversary (May 21, 1971) of the release of Marvin Gaye’s masterpiece album, What’s Going On.
“OK, let’s just get this out of the way. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On LP is a masterpiece. If it’s not in your top five or at least within the realm of your top 10 albums of all-time, then I seriously think you need to reevaluate your list. Not many albums give you a snapshot of the world at the time of its release and still remain very relevant decades later. What’s Going On most certainly does.” — Terry Nelson (albumism.com)
Gaye released the single, What’s Going On, after co-writer Renaldo “Obie” Benson saw police in Berkeley, Calif., brutality beat anti-Vietnam War protesters. Gaye would later say, “What mattered was the message. For the first time, I felt like I had something to say.”
The album went platinum, and Rolling Stone would place it among the greatest albums of all time. Now fifty years out, its influences are evident today as the nation wrestles with inequality and a racial reckoning.
A Teacher’s Teacher: Ellis Marsalis (November 14, 1934, April 1, 2020) Image Source: Chicago Tribune
All of us reach an age when it seems like every day someone of our generation dies, even more now with the COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly, on April 1, a giant in education and jazz became one of the numbers in the current pandemic.
In the 1980s, Ellis Marsalis, with his sons, became the fresh new face to a resurgence of jazz in the last decades of the 20th century. “My dad was a giant of a musician and teacher, but an even greater father,” Branford Marsalis said in a statement. “He poured everything he had into making us the best of what we could be.”
Ellis Marsalis had a light and graceful touch at the piano, allowing his enter fellings to pour out like a gentle flowing mountain stream. He had held a weekly gig for decades at Snug Harbor, one of New Orleans’s premier jazz clubs, before giving it up in December.
The New Times critic, Stephen Holden wrote: “Sticking mainly to the middle register of the keyboard, the pianist offered richly harmonized arrangements in which fancy keyboard work was kept to a minimum and studious melodic invention, rather than pronounced bass patterns, determined the structures and tempos.”
One of my favorite Cole Porter songs done superbly by Ellis and his son Branford.
Live Jazz In The Old Pueblo — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The Weary Blues
— Langston Hughes
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway . . . He did a lazy sway . . . To the tune o’ those Weary Blues. With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues! Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet Blues! Coming from a black man’s soul. O Blues! In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan— “Ain’t got nobody in all this world, Ain’t got nobody but ma self. I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’ And put ma troubles on the shelf.”
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more— “I got the Weary Blues And I can’t be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues And can’t be satisfied— I ain’t happy no mo’ And I wish that I had died.”
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.
Gil Scott-Heron was a soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known as one of the most important progenitors of rap music, aggressive, no-nonsense street poetry that inspired a legion of intelligent rappers. He has been called ‘the black Bob Dylan.’
WINTER IN AMERICA
From the Indians who welcomed the pilgrims And to the buffalo who once ruled the plains Like the vultures circling beneath the dark clouds Looking for the rain Looking for the rain
Just like the cities staggered on the coastline Living in a nation that just can’t stand much more Like the forest buried beneath the highway Never had a chance to grow Never had a chance to grow
And now it’s winter Winter in America Yes and all of the healers have been killed Or sent away, yeah But the people know, the people know It’s winter Winter in America And ain’t nobody fighting ‘Cause nobody knows what to save Save your soul, Lord knows From Winter in America
The Constitution A noble piece of paper With free society Struggled but it died in vain And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner Hoping for some rain Looks like it’s hoping Hoping for some rain
And I see the robins Perched in barren treetops Watching last-ditch racists marching across the floor But just like the peace sign that vanished in our dreams Never had a chance to grow Never had a chance to grow
And now it’s winter It’s winter in America And all of the healers have been killed Or been betrayed Yeah, but the people know, people know It’s winter, Lord knows It’s winter in America And ain’t nobody fighting ‘Cause nobody knows what to save Save your souls From Winter in America
And now it’s winter Winter in America And all of the healers done been killed or sent away Yeah, and the people know, people know It’s winter Winter in America And ain’t nobody fighting ‘Cause nobody knows what to save And ain’t nobody fighting Cause nobody knows, nobody knows And ain’t nobody fighting ‘Cause nobody knows what to save
— Gill Scott-Heron
If you are interested in some great music, damn good poetry and a little history of this nation, check out the video — it’s all about holding on to your dreams.
Ken Nordine Album Cover: “How Are Things In Your Town?” 1972
Growing up in the Chicago area as a teen and young adult, I often I would listen late night jazz on the radio. One of the shows was that of Ken Nordine reading his poetry while playing jazz. He has one of the best radio voices anywhere. You may have heard his voice and didn’t know who it was, since over the years he has done a lot of voice-over TV commercials. Since his radio show in the sixties, he has done several Word Jazz albums. One of his albums that I have is “How Are Things In Your Town,” which includes, “What Time Is It?”
Some years ago on one of our trips to New Orleans, Joy and I were walking in the French Quarter and decided to go in a resale store. That’s when I saw the John Coltrane t-shirt I’m wearing in above photo by Joy. The t-shirt has faded over the years, but I still wear it often to live music events, also just when I feel like it. Okay, so I set it up for this posting, which I had planned on in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Coltrane’s, “A Love Supreme.”
In my teen years and early twenties I often would go to sleep listening to jazz on late-night Chicago radio. I still listen to a lot of radio, especially NPR where you can still find good jazz music. About ten days ago, I listened to and NPR story, 50 Years Of John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’. (A Love Supreme was recorded December 9, 1964.)
“I call it a sacred day for music fans, not just jazz fans. For people across musical boundaries and cultures — for Carlos Santana, Bono, Joni Mitchell, Steve Reich, Bootsy Collins, Gil Scott-Heron — hearing A Love Supreme was a revelation.”— Arun Rath
Many generations have and will continue to be influenced by the music of John Coltrane. If you let your soul listen you can hear his bluesy sound in the words and music of poets, singer-song writers and musicians:
Flirt with me don’t keep hurtin’ me Don’t cause me pain Be my lover don’t play no game Just play me John Coltrane
“People had channeled emotions into music before. But no one had ever played the blues like this.
It’s the same message we get from the blues: Even in struggle and suffering, we sing, because life is a blessing. As much as Coltrane made his saxophone cry — for his suffering, and the world’s — in A Love Supreme he’s telling us that the most important voice to raise is one of gratitude to the creator for the gift of life.” — Arun Rath
A Jackson Square Morning — Photo-Artistry by kenne
A Teacher’s Teacher: Ellis Marsalis (November 14, 1934, April 1, 2020) Image Source: Chicago Tribune 
Live Jazz In The Old Pueblo — Photo-Artistry by kenne
“Come Blow Your Horn” — Image by kenne
Image by kenne
A Yellow Bird of Paradise Blossom — Image by kenne
Gill Scott-Heron — Grunge Art by kenne
Morning is Bright — B&W Image by kenne
“Desert Coltrane” — Image by Joy
Becoming is Superior to Being 