Guest Editor:Lafayette Harris,Jr.,pianist, composer,educator
Lets be real. We only play what we know. I play music that relates to my culture. Being black, from a basically southern area, Baltimore, Md. (by way of Virginia) and born of parents who went to church. Baptist church. Black baptist of course.
I've made my living in New York City playing all kinds of music. Before I left my home for college in the early 1980's I was in a funk/disco band called Life Unlimited. We played weekends and rehearsed every week night. The repertoire? The usual things you heard on the radio in the late 70's and early 80's: Chic, Kool And The Gang, The Commodores, Bohannon, Donna Summer, Rick James.
That was the music that people were familiar with and that had been pushed on them by their local DJ's at the radio stations. Of course the youngsters loved it. It was good fun-time music. My mother often yelled for us to "turn that mess off!"
For the people who went to church like she did, there was a whole 'nother dimension to what they thought of music. It must relate to Jesus! Because praising Jesus was what they wanted, needed and loved. Sometimes more than anything or anybody else! Anyway, I relate to how they felt because I experienced the feelings of sanctified church in both Baltimore and during our frequent visits to my grandmothers home in rural Virginia.
When I started becoming more educated in music I learned about our jazz heroes. Clark Terry, Slide Hampton (my band teachers played brass instruments) and Oscar Peterson. I'd already learned about Scott Joplin and Eubie Blake from hearing Eubie on TV.
Now that's three major styles of music and I saw it in a black way even though some of my teachers were white. Gospel, Pop and what I play mostly today Jazz.
A few years ago I started playing pretty often with Houston Person. We had played together and recorded quite a bit with Ernestine Anderson.
There was a special chemistry I felt playing with both Houston and Ernestine. I didn't understand what that was until I had some good conversations with Houston.
The three of us are all southerners and therefore share a common culture. Of course people from the north have some of the same qualities but I began to realize that there was a significant difference in how we were raised and what we were exposed to.
The "down home" feeling in people from the south is something that was constant and not seen as offensive or degrading. Northerners often are embarrassed by their "fresh from the sticks" cousins with their country accents and unsophisticated mannerisms. I think it's a social issue that many of today's musicians black, white and otherwise have not thought much about. They aren't aware of how this issue relates to their own sound as a musician and even more so a singer!
James Brown ad Elvis Presley don't sound like they're from Boston do they? Neither does Ray Charles or Ella Fitzgerald.
So I started thinking: why haven't I been made aware of these significant differences? One reason I think is that, not a lot of people understand these concepts and therefore don't see what the importance of them are. Two, I think a lot of people don't feel comfortable talking about how we differ. That is that we see and respond to the world differently depending on our backgrounds in religion, race, economic level, sexual orientation, and very important; whether we're from below or above that North/South cultural divide: The Mason Dixon Line.
I was married to a woman from Chicago for several years. Many things about her were very different from what I was used to. She was of Hispanic origin and had a catholic background. I was totally unprepared for how these differences would affect our relationship.
Sometimes when we listened to music together I'd notice that she liked plainer sounding instrumentation and what I thought were white sounding voices. (In hindsight they were people not from the south!) I, on the other hand required some soul and funkiness to what I wanted to hear. I did appreciate all types of artists. But I was stunned by what she thought was good!
Now I look back and realize that we each had a certain comfort level with things. Things that reminded us of our southern or northern roots and our religious backgrounds. (Even though neither of us went to church!)
Most jazz saxophone players have either Bird or Cannonball as their alto saxophone hero. It seems that many northerners, Detroit, Chicago, New York prefer Charlie Parker while many southerners particularly cats from Florida follow Cannonball Adderley. Now, no one can compare to Bird not even Cannonball Adderely. Bird certainly was a super soulful player and master of blues. I think many people like how Cannonball used blues more overtly vs Charlie Parker's sublime approach.
Then you have the Texas style boogie woogie piano players vs the Chicago greats like Earl Hines and Nat Cole.
Now a days many of my peers play jazz music that doesn't relate to the southern roots of music. It is often very complex and difficult for the musicians to learn. When it's played well the audiences are blown away and they really enjoy the excitement of hearing something that sounds new and fresh. But many people are left wondering?... "Where the soul at?"
My choices of what to play boil down to whether or not I can actually feel the music or not. If it doesn't give me a feeling somewhere inside then I kind of have the urge to skip to the next thing. I recently played with the great bassist and personal friend Lonnie Plaxico. I had to study his original music for weeks before I could even be ready for a rehearsal! I was so glad I tackled his music and was able to do a gig with him. It greatly broadened what I thought I was capable of learning and performing. He knew that I had learned many Ragtime piano pieces as well as Charlie Parker solos. He said if I could learn that music there was no reason why I couldn't learn his. (At first I thought he was wrong but he proved he was right!)
What I choose to compose and play though comes from a different point of view. Yes, I've written things that only come from my intellect and aren't hummable melodies. But I see that you can have strait forward melodies and rhythms and do them in creative ways so both the spirit and the intellect get stimulated.
I think Duke Ellington (a DC native) was the master of "simple meets sophisticated!"
I really relish an overall vibe when I write music. I will often think of a nice swing or funk feel that dancers could "step" to and then write to that. And the drummer I play with is always very important. They have to have a feel that I can relate to, or else I'm constantly guessing where and when to play.
So these are my music politics.
I've got to feel it or I ain't gonna play it!
Lafayette Harris, Jr.
www.lafayetteharrisjr.com
www.facebook.com/lafayette.harris
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