Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Patrick Chamoiseau's Strange Words


"One of these white folks had refused (as usual) to acknowledge the child he had fathered on his servant. Instead, he became the boy's godfather: a fancy way of washing his hands of him."

Patrick Chamoiseau's Strange Words, translated from French by Linda Coverdale, is his reinterpretation of Creole folktales of Martinique he heard as a child. It was also published in English as Creole Folktales. Writing down these orally-transmitted stories inherently changes the fundamental process through which these stories were told in Martinique, usually by a storyteller with an audience. Indeed, the storyteller also inserted him or herself into the tale, which Chamoiseau replicates in the written form, using several humorous self-referential statements regarding the storyteller's relation to characters in the story, for example.

Unfortunately, the tales themselves are quite short, and with only 12, the journey into the nighttime stories of Martinique ends just as its beginning. That said, these tales are often very dark and full of supernatural phenomena and magic, such as witches, zombi, demons, rainmakers, and tricksters. Indeed, this novel serves as a nice complementary reading to Chamoiseau's Solibo Magnifique, a short novel about the death of orality and the battle between the spoken Creole word and the colonial French written word. This collection of Creole folktales illustrates how these different languages and their respective worldviews fused to create them in the first place. Thus, Ti-Jean Horizon, the mulatto son of a slaveholder and a black slave, becomes a hero according to the trickster ideal in African-derived folklore, but uses his guile at the end of the tale to simply takeover the plantation of his beke father. If collective liberation were the ethos of this story, which was told in communal settings of slaves, how come an individual's escape from slavery would become more important than the liberation of all slaves on the plantation? Clearly, the individualism and rationalism of "the land of Descartes" clashes with African communalism and solidarity as well as clashing due to differing stances on supernatural occurrences.

Anyway, one should read this short collection of folktales to better understand the worldview and context of the lives of slaves and ex-slaves throughout Martinican history. The horrors of the slave trade, brutality and dehumanizing practices of white planters, poverty and hunger, and resilience of the people themselves become quite apparent. Moreover, women emerge as significant characters, often as female heads of their households. Now, this is not the place or time to discuss in depth gender dynamics in the colonial French Caribbean, but women in these stories run the gamut from helpless beauties to strong, independent heroines. Indeed, in many stories families are introduced with only a mother as the parent, and no mention of fathers appears, which, historically was related to lack of legitimacy in their unions with black men in the eyes of whites and the slave trade, but also related to rape and other factors. Beyond analyzing the stories for how they reveal the historical and cultural background of Martinique and the French Caribbean, these short stories are often fables with important morals against sins or defects like gluttony, or for simply explaining the origin of certain animals, the vegetation, etc. Overall, this was a fun, fast read that aroused the reader's hunger for more oral and written literature of the French Caribbean.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Piri Thomas's Down These Mean Streets

It was....interesting. Piri Thomas's account of his own life living as a dark-skinned Puerto Rican living in Spanish Harlem actually reminded me of Malcolm X's Autobiography. The language used in the book is very simple, and loaded with Spanish Harlem slang and a very simple vocabulary, which at times made Thomas hard to decipher. Still, I am willing to overlook that because the story of his life, from ghetto child to ex-convict reveal the full extent of racial discrimination within Latino communities as well as their relation to African and white Americans. Indeed, I was surprised by how the Puerto Rican self-image resembles that of Dominicans, with many of African descent preferring to identify as indigenous, Taino-descended rather than identify with blacks.

Anywho, the book was most interesting when Thomas is in prison after committing armed burglaries and shooting a 'paddy' cop. Piri, like Malcolm X, expands his knowledge and vocabulary in prison by reading the dictionary, and even converts to the Nation of Islam's brand of the religion while in prison. Who would've thought Puerto Ricans converted to the Nation of Islam?

Monday, May 7, 2012

Art Blakey's Indestructible


Perhaps my favorite of the Jazz Messengers, Indestructible is one of the last times Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter would record together with Blakey. Morgan, my Philadelphia Negro and funky trumpeter, contributes to this album with the latin-funk cut, "Calling Ms. Khadija," a danceable number that proves jazz music can groove, too. My Newark brother, Wayne Shorter, an amazing saxophonist, contributes with "Mr. Jin," a contemplative piece. Trombonist Curtis Fuller also adds two amazing songs, "The Egyptian" and "Sortie," which both feature powerful drumming by my boy Art Blakey and Middle-Eastern themes. The final track, "When Love Is New," is your standard ballad that is nice to listen to, but far from essential. 

"The Egyptian": Blakey's drums take us off, along with that repetitive vamp. Doesn't sound very Egyptian, but definitely leaning toward the modal jazz influenced by North African and Middle Eastern music that also impacted Coltrane and Miles Davis. There is something akin to a spiritual search here, and Fuller's trombone solo keeps digging deeper and deeper into the depths of the soul. Shorter's solo around 3:20 also shows Shorter sounding like Coltrane with the overblowing around 4:50s. Morgan's trumpet solo returns us to a more contemplative journey, as does Cedar Walton's piano solo, which does sound Middle Eastern-tinged at times. Of course one must not overlook that titling this piece after the Egyptian nation likely has resonance with Pan-Africanist and African-American reclamation of ancient Egyptian heritage. Interestingly, around 7 minutes into the song, pianist Walton quotes the melody "A Felicidade" from the famous film, Black Orpheus, a nice little tribute to Brazil and bossa nova!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6ParynStSU Hear the influence of bossa nova 


"Sortie": Blakey provides some Latin-influenced percussion, Morgan blows that trumpet in a typical hard bop, funky mould we all love, even if it gets monotonous on his later solo albums. Then our savior, Wayne Shorter, comes riding in on his saxophone around 3:45 into the song, sounding a lot like John Coltrane, whose playing began to influence Shorter and push him beyond the Blakey school of hard bop. This is beautiful and funky simultaneously, especially that piano riff Walton takes off with. Proof that trombonists are relevant in post-swing jazz and great composers. Walton's piano solo near the end may be the highlight for me, surprisingly.

"Calling Ms. Khadija": With a name like Khadija, Morgan probably wrote this latin funk piece for a black woman. Blakey's aggressive Latin rhythms propel the piece, as well as the waltzy horns, primarily Morgan. Like "The Sidewinder," this is latin funky bop at its best. Blakey's waltz drum solo here too closely resembles his solo on "Koko's Waltz," another Morgan composition, but its still all good in the hood. It definitely illustrates how Blakey must have been an octopus to play the drums like that. Shorter shines here as well, playing that soulful solo around 2:15 or so. Interesting fact: one source I found claims that the Khadija in this song is actually the sister of McCoy Tyner's wife, Aisha. They're all from Philadelphia, my city.

"When Love is New": a nice ballad, this is the sole cut from the album that lacks the aggressive, propulsive swing associated with Blakey. Nice horn work, especially on the part of Wayne Shorter, saves this ballad from developing into boredom. But that's hardly a surprise since Shorter always does well with any ballad (listen to Evil Eyes, from Speak No Evil.)

"Mr. Jin": Mr. Shorter's sole piece sounds like the first two on the album, especially "The Egyptian." However, Shorter takes the piece into different directions during his time to shine, moving past the restrictive hard bop of the Blakey school of jazz. He calls and responds to himself in a way not limited to the blues form, but sounds like his own solo recordings. Lee Morgan's solo also shows off his ability to play in the same school as Shorter.

Overall, this is one of the strongest albums by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. As someone who loves Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter, it's always a pleasure to hear them together. This live version of "The Egyptian" with John Gilmore and Lee Morgan is also worth hearing. Gilmore, who was a member of Sun Ra's Arkestra, actually had a huge impact on Coltrane and is truly an unrecognized innovator of the saxophone.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Bring It On Home to Me



The Supremes, for their tribute album to Sam Cooke, do a great cover of my favorite Cooke song.
"Bring it on home to me, yeah."