[Ed: CH queued got this one ready for his week but looks like it didn't make the cut. I'm digging it out of the Draft bin, dusting it off, and putting it out there.]
A song for when the end is not in sight.
(4 votes, average: 8.25 out of 10)
Loading... I got the feeling that's something ain’t going right
and I'm worried 'bout the human soul...
Originally recorded as the title track of Attica Blues (1972).
(3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10)Loading... (3 votes, average: 9.33 out of 10)Loading... Your doorbell rings. On the steps is a traveler, someone who looks to be in their early twenties. They’re a local resident. They think they haven’t gone far out of their way, but they seem confused. In reality, they’re lost. They have appeared on your doorstep at the end of a sudden journey.
The traveler looks down at a note in their hand. By their puzzled expression, it’s clear that the note was not there a moment ago. They hand you the note. It reads:
I have arrived from the past. When I left, it was August 7th, 1965. My journey has left me unable to talk with you, but I can listen. I know the general outline of the intervening years between now and when I left.
Back home, I play & listen to music all the time — it helps me make sense of the changing world around me. I am permitted to stay with you for the span of five songs. Please play songs that will tell me something about your world, and how your world emerged from the world I just left. I will take what I hear back with me.
You bring them inside your home, stall for time by getting them something to drink. What are you going to play? Why?
Max Roach, drums; Abbey Lincoln, vocals; Eddie Kahn, bass; Clifford Jordan, tenor sax, Coleridge Perkinson, piano.
Live on Belgian television, possibly circa 1964. Roach’s We Insist! Freedom Now Suite is a landmark jazz album and an artistic jewel of the Civil Right Movement.
We get two pieces of ”Tiptych: Prayer/Protest/Peace” here. I’m not sure why the third was not included on the video, but it’s worth a listen to complete Roach’s thought. (Follow the link above.) He doesn’t simply “Peace” as a nirvana state. It’s jagged, weary, even incomplete.
”Tears for Johannesburg” was Roach’s artistic reckoning with the Sharpsville massacre, which I’d encourage you to read about — particularly right now.
Juneteenth marks the last arrival of the news of an emancipation formally proclaimed two and a half years earlier. By the time of its arrival in Galveston, the proclamation’s author had been reelected & assassinated. We should not forget that slavery continued in a couple Union states until the 6 December 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and finally abolished the practice. Nor should we forget that last Union state to ratify that amendment was Kentucky — on 18 March 1976.
Johnson’s amnesty, Reconstruction’s failure, Jim Crow, the mass perpetuation Lost Cause myth, federal anti-immigrant laws, segregation, and redlining thwarted a national reckoning with the political, social, and moral devastation of slavery & racism for generations.
Juneteenth’s rightly a day of celebration. It’s also a reminder of how far we yet have to go as a country, how fragile progress can be. It is a call seeking a response, because the work of emancipation remains incomplete.
(3 votes, average: 9.67 out of 10)Loading... Composed by jazz pianist Billy Taylor, this song was originally an instrumental called “I Wish I Knew”. Taylor recorded it in November 1963 with Grady Tate on drums, Ben Tucker on bass, and a horn section. He also wrote the first verse of lyrics, then collaborated with Dick Dallas on the rest. Ms. Simone recorded the song, now retitled as “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” for her 1967 album Silk & Soul. She performs it here at Montreux ‘76.
(4 votes, average: 9.50 out of 10)Loading... A WGOM debut. Mrs. Hayes & I saw the Sons of Kemet in the People’s Republic in October 2018. They were touring in support of their album, Your Queen is a Reptile, which was one of my favorite albums of 2018. Shabaka talks about the idea behind the name of the album & each track in a brief commentary at the end of the video.
(2 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)Loading... Counterpoint.
(2 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)Loading... From The Woody Guthrie All-Star Tribute Concert (1970).
(3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)Loading... Order:
Philosofer
Algonad
Mike
SoCalTwinsFan
Freealonzo
sean
bhiggum
Nibbish
brianS
CarterHayes
Beau
TheDreadPirate
cheaptoy
hungryjoe
rowsdower
