blajay

Spinning this. Just bought it at Jazz Record Mart on a visit to Chicago. Wishing all Chicagoan, and other organissimo members, well. Heya, thanks for popping in. See you at one of those Grex shows I hope. Yes, definitely!

Spinning this. Just bought it at Jazz Record Mart on a visit to Chicago. Wishing all Chicagoan, and other organissimo members, well.

He discusses Pithecanthropus Erectus in "The Changing Same," not extensively, but as somewhat of an addendum meant to rectify having not included Mingus in earlier essays. For the purposes of your categorizing, he calls that album a "massive orchestral breakthrough" in the same breath with Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, Sun Ra and Ellington.

I like that collection because it is clearly organized in a way that historicizes well in my opinion Baraka's work from Beat (1957-1962) to Transitional (1963-1965), Black Nationalist (1965-1974), and finally to Third World Marxist (1974-). Judging from this thread, it seems to me important to keep in mind that people change and so, then, does the knowledge they produce, depending on the timing of its publication. That collection is pretty comprehensive, too, including for example his scarce short stories like "The Screamers" that has been cited on this board about a riot that is initiated at a Lynn Hope concert. Enjoy. For folks in NY, Baraka is speaking at the Left Forum next week in a panel called "Occupy Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary." Here is the link.

For help in sorting out this question of authenticity vis-à-vis anti-essentialism in Black American music and its sub-idioms, I recommend turning to Baraka's influential essay "The Changing Same" in Black Music, and then following that with Paul Gilroy's revisit of it below in which he elaborates on the idea that if Black music is a changing same, then it is neither a fixed essence nor a reified construction. Gilroy, Paul 1991 Sounds Authentic: Black Music, Ethnicity, and the Challenge of a "Changing" Same. Black Music Research Journal 11(2):111-136. [edit to correct the title of Gilroy's paper (I had only put the subtitle above previously); I wanted to add along these lines that I'd also recommend this piece by George Lewis available here]

Tsuruga is the same organist I saw Donaldson with a few years ago at Yoshi's SF. If I recall correctly, Dr. Lonnie Smith mentored her. He's clearly a great teacher. I saw him perform on Saturday night at the Jazz Standard, actually. It was a great show, and afterward his adorable 8 or so year-old grandson who is apparently blind went up on stage and sat at the organ. He started to play and blew everyone away. Look out for that kid!

Just gave a modest pledge for this very exciting sounding project! Good luck, Karl!

Looks like for Lynn Hope it was related to practicing Islam as part of the Nation of Islam. Might it be that Lonnie Smith is neither Sikh nor wearing his turban in a secular way, but is simply a Black Muslim?

Does anyone have this release of Chuck Willis recordings? Apparently its booklet contains "the secret behind his turban".

You sure it wasn't from during the above-mentioned performance with Lou Donaldson? haha, Chris you should write fiction! But I am very curious if someone could confirm whether his wearing of the turban is a secular or religious practice. Which is not to say unsoulful! And what about Lynn Hope or Chuck Willis? I know Sun Ra has his own "Astro-Black Mythology" and Horace Silver is I assume doing it for the cover art there, but is there something consistent in the former three at least (Smith, Hope, and Willis) related to Black American culture or religion or is it simply an aesthetic choice?

I guess Sun Ra could be included for wearing a turban, among other kinds of head coverings.

This thread has stuck in my mind for ages. I'm curious if there are further examples of this apparent tradition of combining turban + hammond/jazz/exotica. Or is it just a coincidental series? If a tradition, how did it come to be?

Thanks! Tuning in.

I'm unfortunately on the East Coast now, so I'll miss this show (but maybe see you at the NY concert, 7/4!). If you're in the Bay Area, I highly recommend for anyone to go to this show, if not for Frith's band, for our friend ep1str0phy (Karl Evangelista). If you think his contributions to this forum have been thoughtful and well-informed, his guitar playing is likewise and very exciting live! I've seen him perform a number of times over the past couple of years ever since he generously gave me a ride to a Roscoe Mitchell/Muhal Richard Abrams concert at Mills College without having ever met in person; we got in touch through this board. It is always a thrill to go to one of his shows. I encourage everyone to check it out, and look out for that name: Karl Evangelista (sometimes in a trio) and Grex! Hope you don't mind the side spam, Karl.

Clever title.