Edwin Bayard/Saxophone
Lee Savory/Trumpet
Myles Tate/Piano
Janeen Holmes/Vocals
DJ/Krate Digga
Bass/Jordan McBride
Drums/James Gaiters
“It is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.”
Frederick Douglass
People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.
James Baldwin
Feel like old Ned, wished I was dead
What did I do to be so black and blue?
Even the mouse ran from my house
They laugh at you, and scorn you too
What did I do to be so black and blue?
I’m white inside, but that don’t help my case
‘Cause I can’t hide what is in my face
How would it end? Ain’t got a friend
My only sin is in my skin
What did I do to be so black and blue?
How would it end? Ain’t got a friend
My only sin is in my skin
What did I do to be so black and blue?
“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law”
Martin Luther King Jr.
“I learned early that crying out in protest could accomplish things. My older brothers and sister had started to school when, sometimes, they would come in and ask for a buttered biscuit or something and my mother, impatiently, would tell them no. But I would cry out and make a fuss until I got what I wanted. I remember well how my mother asked me why I couldn’t be a nice boy like Wilfred; but I would think to myself that Wilfred, for being so nice and quiet, often stayed hungry. So early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.”
Malcolm X
[Samora] sees a metaphor for community activism in jazz and musical improvisation. All involve “creating from scratch. It’s the exact same thing we’re trying to do as a society. We’re stuck in all these patterns and we have to break out and imagine our way forward. Every time, we have to find the groove. We have to invent the future.”
Samora Pinderhughes
Oh, Lord, don’t let ’em stab us!
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!
Name me someone who’s ridiculous, Dannie.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won’t permit integrated schools.
Then he’s a fool! Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!
Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan)
Name me a handful that’s ridiculous, Dannie Richmond.
Faubus, Rockefeller, Eisenhower
Why are they so sick and ridiculous?
Two, four, six, eight:
They brainwash and teach you hate.
H-E-L-L-O, Hello.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Langston Hughes
“If you’re only concerned about YOUR rights, then you haven’t earned the right to be concerned.”
Iimani David
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Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
Them big bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia, clean and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the leaves to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Jazz can help us all understand how to better manage our space in relation to other people’s space. The three fundamental aspects of jazz are:
Improvisation: I am. Identifying who you are and bringing your unique self and personality to the table.
Swing: It’s the opposite of that. Other people have personalities too. Other people need space too. With the same intensity of how you found yourself, find them. Find that common ground and nurture it. In jazz, it’s the opposites. The bass is way down at the bottom and the cymbals are way at the top, and they have to play on every beat together.
“The blues: Stuff doesn’t work out sometimes.”
We’re grateful to the black musicians throughout our history, who continued to innovate and create, in spite of the hate and violence waiting around every corner.
It seems only barely anything that we pay our tribute to them, and to the countless men and women who have stood in the face of their oppressors so that others might be offered a chance to be free in their own skin.
Thank you.
As our city wrestles a conversation that is nearly 400 years in the making, we want to share our love and support for you, and for everybody asking for something that’s already been promised to them – a chance at a life, perfect, whole, complete, and free from unnecessary and unending violence.
If you have something you’d like to say, and we can use this platform to help you say it, please contact us jazzcolumbus@gmail.com
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