Visionary Vibes: A Blog by Aberjhani

Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for the Angel of Compassion: Essay with Poem (part 2 of 2)

3/4/2017

"Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for the Angel of Compassion: Essay with Poem (part 1 of 2)" Postered Poetics art graphic by Aberjhani.

NOTE: If you missed part 1 of this special tribute to the jazz singer and songwriter Al Jarreau please check it out here. Part 2 begins now.

For the past few years, I have been particularly grateful for the technological advances that allowed me to catch online streaming of Al Jarreau's International Jazz Day performances from around the world: Washington D.C, Istanbul, Paris, etc. When news of his death came on February 12, 2017, the only thing I could really focus on was the astonishingly beautiful gift that was his presence in this world.

The first song by him I was able to access to commemorate his triumphant artistry was an MP3 file of the 1993 live version of "Summertime" from George Gershwin's and DuBose Heyward’s classic folk opera Porgy and Bess. The second was a 3-song set with the equally-amazing singer Randy Crawford on their 1982 Casino Lights CD recorded live in Montreux, Switzerland. Once again, like all those years before in Berkeley, I found myself compelled to sing along. This time, employing a style utilized for the Songs of the Angelic Gaze series published in The River of Winged Dreams, my participation took the form of a haiku jazz poem:

Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for
the Angel of Compassion

1.
In a blue-green field,
redbirds and skylarks circle
hope's trembling body.

The sun's eyes open
to see princelings setting fire
to a sea of tears.

Shaped like Al Jarreau
a trumpet-blazing rose bush
paints the sky with joy.

2.
The moon's cyan dream
sings poems of compassion
to tireless schemers.

Drunk jackals and snakes
wipe their excrement smiles with
scandal and hatred.

Scatting... like Jarreau,
golden-black wings zoom solos
of grace... and genius.

3.
Ruling predators
waltz to the screams of pilgrims
starving for freedom.

Earth moans Bessie's blues,
sighs Ellington's concertos,
erupts brilliant style.

Skiddly sweet-bopping,
Jarreau's light takes sonic flight
above scorched nightmares.

4.
An eagle's new song
heals the shredded heart of a
nation's bleeding soul.

Aberjhani
©23 Feb 2017

Healing and Comforting Anyone in Need

If we think of the musical maestro as a self-contained corporation constructed of impeccable melodies and soul-stunning craftsmanship, we can further define his company mission as intent to blanket humanity with compassion.

To be a "star" could have never been substantial enough for him. Belief in providing service that made a tangible difference in the world would have been listed among the primary corporate goals and values. Note the following observation posted on his website after his passing:

"His 1st priority, far ahead of the other [Music], was healing or comforting anyone in need. Whether it was emotional pain, or physical discomfort, or any other cause of suffering, he needed to put our minds at ease and our hearts at rest. He needed to see a warm, affirming smile where there had not been one before. Song was just his tool for making that happen." (Al Jarreau.com)

Anyone who believes those words are nothing more than sentimental hyperbole should note that before the emergence of Jarreau's talents as a singer, he earned a master's degree in vocational rehabilitation from the University of Iowa and for a time worked as a social worker in San Francisco. Music became the platform and instrument that enabled him to embrace and serve with love as many people as he possibly could during the course of his celebrated life.

Author

Author-Poet Aberjhani is currently completing a book of nonfiction narratives about race relations, histories of erasure, the cultural arts, and practices of slavery in his hometown of Savannah, Georgia, USA.

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Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for the Angel of Compassion: Essay with Poem (part 1 of 2)

2/25/2017

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"Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for the Angel of Compassion: Essay with Poem (part 1 of 2)" Postered Poetics art graphic for essay and poem by Aberjhani.

The first time I became aware of the name Al Jarreau was when receiving a letter (of the old-school variety penned by hand) from a former college roommate exclaiming how thrilled he and his girlfriend had been to attend one of his concerts. Despite my former roommate's enthusiasm, which rarely bubbled over so heatedly for anything other than football and slightly-older women, I did not really understand all the fuss over Jarreau.

Then a couple of years later, in the early 1980s, I got to see the rhythm-bending phenomenon myself in Berkeley, California, on a bill that also featured Carlos Santana and Frankie Beverly and Maze. The world by then had come to know him as the Grammy Award-winning talent behind the albums Look to the Rainbow (1977) and All Fly Home (1978). For my part, I finally got to experience the truth of a statement Jarreau would make many years later:

“I have missed the boat over my career by not doing every second or third CD live, because things happen on stage that don't happen in the studio.” (Al Jarreau Biography.com)

By its accommodating democratic nature, live jazz is often a music of improvisation. And by his brilliant fluid aesthetics, Al Jarreau was able to adapt his vocal vibrations to whatever genre he chose. But he was also, in essence a flesh, blood, and soul embodiment of jazz. It would not be absolutely wrong to describe him as a male Ella Fitzgerald or as a contemporary Cab Calloway, both of Harlem Renaissance fame, rolled into one. It might be more accurate, however, to say he was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of talent.

Among the things to which he alluded that could "happen on stage" was for him to suddenly turn his chest and rib cage into a drum set, transform his clapping hands into tambourines, or absorb an inspiration from the improvisational moment and blast it out of his lungs like a laser cannon lighting up multiple Sonny Rollins solos.

Two phenomenal musicians: Al Jarreau and Randy Crawford. (Getty Image photograph by Sean Gallup)

What happened on the stage was the kind of inexplicable enchantment that made music journalists rush to describe the "quintessential jazz musician" who could duplicate the superlative performance of a brilliant quartet, or even an entire orchestra, with just his singular voice and body carved from music. Think of him this way--Al Jarreau did not just perform his music: right before your astonished eyes and heart he brought it to kicking, shouting, dancing, holy cosmic life that left you breathless with wonder.

Forced to Make a Difficult Decision

The horrible dilemma with which I had to deal the night I saw Jarreau at the Berkeley Coliseum was that he had already been onstage for an hour, took a very short break, then came back for an additional set that lasted even longer. Dependent as I was on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) subway system to get me back to San Francisco, I could not ignore the fact that it was close to midnight and, according to my schedule, the last train to the city would leave at that time.

Thoroughly immersed in the essential work of channeling raw creative energy into musical genius, the singer himself clearly had no use for clocks or schedules and the band seemed happy to match him song for song. Knowing no one from whom I could beg for a ride if I chose to stay, I forced myself to leave and head for the subway.

Just as I was about to enter the station some blocks away, something incredible caught my attention. It was his voice. Whether due to the unique acoustics of the coliseum or the undiminished intensity of his performance, I could still hear him. It was if the night itself with the surrounding buildings, street lamps, trees, and sweet cool air had become his microphone and speakers. I smiled, then laughed out loud, and then laughed some more while simultaneously trying to sing along with him and hurry down the subway steps.

NEXT: Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for the Angel of Compassion: Essay with Poem (part 2)

Aberjhani
©February 2017
Bright Skylark Literary Productions

AUTHOR

Author-Poet Aberjhani is currently completing a book of nonfiction narratives about race relations, histories of erasure, the cultural arts, and practices of slavery in his hometown of Savannah, Georgia, USA.

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The 2017 Rising Tide of Multicultural Voices

2/10/2017

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"The 2017 Rising Tide of Multicultural Voices" Postered Poetics art graphic by Aberjhani. (Bright Skylark Literary Productions)

The United Nations may have officially tagged 2017 as The Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and the Chinese dubbed it Year of the Fire Rooster, but I am inclined at this point to declare it: Year of the Rising Tide of Multicultural Voices.

Sounds a little awkward I know. However, it is fairly accurate and the poetic quality lends to the description an aspect of hopefulness as opposed to a smell of certifiable doom.

The tones of the Rising Tide of Multicultural Voices range from the humanely compassionate and passionately engaged to the apathetically detached and dangerously dictatorial. They include, but certainly are not limited to, the following:

African-Americans, although increasingly dubious about ever closing the racial divide in the United States and living as citizens with equal opportunities who are not routinely targeted for marginalization or annihilation, continue to do more than protest such issues. Advocates for racial justice and equality have become more inclined to propose solutions in the form of social data analyses used to formulate strategies for making changes in institutional procedures and individual behavior to help avoid violent conflicts.
White-Americans who continue experiencing difficulty accepting Donald Trump as POTUS alternately engage dialogues to help the president help the country move forward. When finding compliance too difficult, some encourage "resistance" to administrative policies they consider non-democratic or inhumanely repugnant.
Immigrants and Refugees fleeing to America and other lands as yet in 2017 wander the earth like tribes in Biblical times, but the mainstream media and social media of these modern times continues to amplify their cries for compassion and force humanity to examine hidden depths of conscience.
Members of the American Press, traditionally referred to as "the fourth branch of a democratic government," feeling under attack by the POTUS via his frequently-tweeted condemnations, have found themselves switching back and forth between reporting the news and using their platforms as journalists to fight a war of presidential accusations.

Add to the above chorus Native Americans and committed environmentalists taking a stand against the on-again Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, women across the globe convinced they have been cheated of their time to shine in history, and Millennials struggling to find the right balance between trust placed in technology and the flaring passions of their innate humanity.

In truth, members of any number of various demographic groups who thought they had gained solid social and political ground on which to stand for the rest of their lives during former U.S. president Barack Obama's administration are now screaming "Oh hell no!" as the new commander-in-chief --doing exactly as he promised to when campaigning for the job--steers America toward the far right.

Allowing Ourselves to Hear Each Other

Probably the biggest mistake anyone can make when wishing for his or her voice to be heard and respected is to ignore the voices of everyone else. That observation helped drive the launch and growth of the Creative Thinkers International (CTI) online community 10 years ago.

The sharing of visions and voices for the purpose of inspiring unity in a world turned morbidly cynical by 9/11 was what made the community possible and drove it to thrive for nearly a decade. At a time when hatred threatened to permanently erase the potential for any meaningful cooperation between cross-cultural populations, Creative Thinkers International demonstrated the exact opposite: unity in the name of shared humanity.

The glorification of hatred is predicated on a foundation of fear-induced ignorance venomous to haters and those they believe they hate. Without awareness of root causes inflating their fears, prejudices, and destructive actions, it is easy for someone such as an alt-right terrorist, or a jihadist more faithful to a love of violence than love for Allah, to misinterpret aggravated frustrations as saintly devotion. Given the chance to do so, their own hearts can provide the insight necessary to correct themselves.

For Creative Thinkers International in 2007, allowing ourselves to hear each other and work together to identify the common ground on which we could build trust and cooperation was a matter of working to either: 1) sustain humanity; or 2) watch it simultaneously implode and explode. It is not so different at this 2017 moment in history when words like "polarization," "fake news," and "alternative facts" shape stories heard, viewed, and read every day.

Most people understand achieving unification is more complicated than sticking labels on entire populations and trusting in bias or bigotry to solve the world's most existential dilemmas. Many, however, do not bother to consult any kind of discerning social or political analyses of the turmoil raging around them like the very real tornadoes that slammed New Orleans East on February 7, 2017 (twelve years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused historical damage from which the city is still recovering). To them it is a simple matter of opposing dichotomies: good versus evil, white versus black, the past versus the future, the aged versus youth, East/West, Christian/Muslim, nationalism/globalism, and so on.

Empowered Consciousness

What does it take for us to hear each other clearly enough to not only respect what is being said but understand that often the concerns of one group or individual mirror those of "the other." How do we recognize and remove the most unyielding roadblocks to harmonious coexistence between nations and communities?
We begin by acknowledging the reality of the need to do so. We begin by setting aside denials of truth blazing like wildfires right in front of our faces.

In addition, for example, to xenophobia and cultural bias, we know the so-called wealth gap and insufficient education all fall in the same category of oppressive strategies that do not work. We know also that a predatory instinct prompts some power-brokers to use divisiveness as a tool to manipulate social unrest for personal financial benefit. That is a sadly-cruel non-alternative fact we are able to improve with the kind of empowered consciousness represented by the 2017 Rising Tide of Multicultural Voices.

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Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 2 of 2)

1/21/2017

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"Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017" Postered Poetics by Aberjhani inspired by original image creations of Barron Claiborne.

Trends in demographic shifts, progressive grass roots movements aimed at correcting blatant social injustices, and social media have had transformative effects that strongly encourage revisiting and reflecting on images of Black men's realities in 2017. The prototypes identified in "The Many Ways of Looking at Black Man" are still important. They have, however, expanded considerably.

Signs of Our Changing 2017 Times

Both before and during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s through the 1940s gifted African-American actors and performers like Ira Aldridge and Paul Robeson at times left the States to find outlets for their talents where they could work without the hindrances of extreme racism. In 2017, that scenario has reversed as performers of African descent from countries outside the U.S. make their way to Hollywood, Broadway, and central strongholds of hip-hop to reap the financial rewards of professional gains made during Blacks' historic struggles for equality.

When giving interviews about his 2013 Academy-award-winning film, 12 Years a Slave, director Steve McQueen Afro-Britain noted he was able to adapt Solomon Northup’s book for the screen as successfully as he did because of the Transatlantic slave trade common to the history of Black people on different continents in the western hemisphere. That simple acknowledgment underscored an aspect of African American men’s' identity often overlooked: that African Americans are also members of the African Diaspora, or, if you will, African Diasporans. Despite the United Nations-endorsed 2011 International Year of People of African Descent, the profound implications and potential of the McQueen's observation is routinely overlooked.

In addition to McQueen, actors David Oyelowo, Idris Elba, DelRoy Lindo Del, and Chiwetel Ejiofor are only a handful of British actors of African descent whose artistry has been employed to dramatize interpretations of African-American men's lives. Such interpretations have ranged from Elba's portrayal of druglord Russell “Stringer” Bell to Oyelowo's acclaimed performance as Martin Luther King Jr. in the film Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay.

Echo Kellum's recurring role as Curtis Holt, a gay Black man married to a Latino on the hit television show ARROW, reflects an aspect of one population subgroup which many in the larger community still have extreme difficulty accepting. Yet, so far as popular television series go, Jesse L. Martin's role as Joe West in The Flash is no less a challenge to stereotypes and assumptions. As the Black adoptive father of a White son––Barry Allen (a.ka The Flash, a.k.a. actor Grant Gustin) who is involved in a romantic relationship with West's biological daughter Iris (Candice Patton )––his is a comic-book world where race is defined not so much by color as by those who have super powers and those who do not.

The Obama Legacy Effect

In his farewell addess, President Barack Obama quoted the late great novelist Harper Lee in which her character Atticus Finch states the following in To Kill a Mockingbird: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Finch's words may contain the wisdom necessary to help members of an increasingly diverse democracy better support one another as Americans rather than continually battle each other as cultural and political separatists. The president also wisely pointed out the need for African Americans to recognize the value of adopting the following practice:

"...Tying our own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face – the refugee, the immigrant, the rural poor, the transgender American, and also the middle-aged white man who from the outside may seem like he’s got all the advantages, but who’s seen his world upended by economic, cultural, and technological change...." (Barack Obama)

Mr. Obama's commentaries on race and the American identity over the past nearly 10 years have not brought about an end to racial divisiveness or violence in the country. But they have played a major role in helping to decrease the magnitude of assumptions and racial bias that seemingly prompt the dismissal of Black folks' lives. His two-term presidency has allowed Americans and citizens of the global community to experience a black man as a "leader of the free world." That singular comprehensive achievement surpasses any categorical way of looking at African-American men that would have been considered possible in 1997.

If, however, someone did feel inspired to duplicate "The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man" with fresh 2017 faces, it would be easy enough to do with another seven individuals such as: Chance the Rapper, Colson Whitehead, T.D. Jakes, Semaj Clark, Jay Z, Michael B. Jordan, and Tyler Perry. Their celebrity or non-celebrity status would not really comprise the core issue. The main point would be a definitive demonstration that as catastrophic as violence and oppression have been in our lives, they have not and will not erase the most beautiful and essential truths represented by our stories and realities.

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Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 1 of 2)

1/17/2017

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Photo collage of men featured in original Nov '97 ESSENCE Magazine feature. From top left: Maxwell, Aberjhani, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Michel Marriott, John Edgar Wideman, Tiger Woods, and Geronimo ji Jaga Pratt. (Collage inspired by original photography of Barron Claiborne)

Since the publication of "The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man" special feature story in ESSENCE Magazine, November 1997, perspectives on men of African descent in the United States of America have evolved to cover a lot of ideological territory. That observation rings as true for everyday citizens of the country as it does for mainstream media, in which we have seen a gamut of extreme images, sometimes horrifying bloody, sometimes wonderfully inspiring.

The atmosphere of combativeness generated when the country's President-Elect, Donald Trump, chose to castigate civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) for exercising his right (some might say duty) to voice concerns over political legitimacy, removed any doubt that a lot of work still needs to be done where race relations are concerned. In light of the increasingly disturbing violent deaths of African-American men, women, and children over the past few years, prompting me to wonder if their names inexplicably would soon join the others, and in light of unconcealed attempts at disenfranchisement, an industrial prison complex that gorges itself on Black men's lives, and other irrefutable factors, "The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man" takes on new and powerful significance in this year marking the 20th anniversary of its publication.

Among other things, it is also, as Black History Month approaches, one more reason to think back with gratitude for the leadership which Susan L. Taylor, now founder/director of National Cares Mentoring Movement, provided as editor-in-chief of the magazine for some 20 years. In the noted classic issue, she reminded readers of this: "Whatever parcels of power we claim today were not surrendered to us willingly or without long and painful struggle. That struggle continues because our oppression continues..."

Nevertheless, the dominant theme for the occasion was more one of celebration than protestation. As such, the following description of the African-American man is from the magazine's contents synopsis and introduction to the original feature:

"From sexual icon to warrior to caretaker--he is our black man. In this annual men's issue, we explore how he handles power, privilege and pain... He is many things to many people: husband and lover, father and son, brother, friend, sex symbol and political nightmare, crossover icon and business mogul..."

Those bright powerful noble words make a poignant contrast to the vivid horror of Black men's and boys' bodies falling in American streets to the repeated blasts of gunfire. That does not mean they are no longer relevant.

On Timelines and Parallel Conditions

We know in 2017 that how Black Men are perceived, perceived, or guerrilla decontextualized, is extremely important because of the various circumstances and events that have led to their deaths, or incarceration, in more instances than anyone can accurately count.

Alleged perceptions of unarmed black males as immediate threats to armed policeman's lives (or a would-be policeman in the case of George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin) has resulted in numerous deaths declared "justifiable" under Stand Your Ground laws. Stunningly, Edward Lewis, who in 1997 was publisher of ESSENCE and CEO of Essence Communications, Inc., wrote in the November issue:

"Some victims of police brutality don't live to tell about it. They die from bullets and blows and choke holds that are found--upon review by higher authorities--to fall roughly within acceptable guidelines. Others, who seek redress, often find their paths blocked."

Could not Lewis's words written 20 years ago have been penned just as easily in 2017? Think Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray,Terence Crutcher, Walter L. Scott, Sandra Bland and, sadly, many more.

A Few Thoughts from Trevor Noah

Refuting Stereotypes of Irredeemable Infamy

Perceptions of Black men as dead-beat fathers have been reinforced by actual institutional systems designed to keep them at an economic, social, and political disadvantage. Perceptions of Black men as criminals increased with a manufactured war-on-drugs that first created the means for them to become suppliers of illicit substances and then, once they did so, punished them with prison sentences far more severe than equally-guilty White counterparts.

Call it the guerrilla decontextualization of an entire segment of American citizens' character and reality. One dangerous result of these manipulated perceptions and misconceptions of African-American men has been intensified inherited biases which, in turn, appear to have made institutional racism more severe than ever.

Unlike those who foster the above incongruences and paradoxes, Susan L. Taylor and her editorial board chose for their extraordinary annual men's edition to showcase a spectrum of black masculinity that was not based on a stereotype of irredeemable infamy. To accomplish this, they opted to present well-known and not-so-well-known Black men in the feature.

Among the outstanding aspects of the lay-out design was the line of light orange and blue text across the full-page black and white photographs of the subjects. Below are the names of the seven men featured, followed by a few of the words used to describe them, listed in the order that they appeared on pages 87-126:

Singer-Songwriter Maxwell: soft-spoken, playful, sizzling.
Golf Champion Tiger Woods: gifted, sophisticated, wholesome, young, fresh.
Political Advocate Geronimo ji Jaga Pratt: committed, impassioned, single-minded,
Entrepreneur-Entertainer Sean "Puffy Combs: self-confident, bankable, resilient, astute
Author-Poet Aberjhani: considerate, kind, resourceful, artistic, alert.
Writer Michel Marriott: reckless, noble, rueful, keen, masculine, vivid.
Author John Edgar Wideman: brilliant, somber, deliberate, original, intense.

In addition to those represented in the cover story, some of the other articles and profiles shined spotlights on: basketball legend Michael Jordan (actually seen shaving his head in a full-page ad for his cologne), actor-activist Harry Belafonte, actor Michael Beach, NFL footballer Keyshawn Jackson, poet-publisher Haki Madhubuti, intellectual properties manager Phillip Madison Jones, singers Tony Rich, Brian McKnight and Kenny Lattimore, and designer Dion Lattimore.

Addressing the difficulty of being a Black prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder case, Christopher Darden avowed in the special edition that grief does not play racial favorites when a loved one is lost to violence. Speaking of the Goldman and the Brown families, he acknowledged, "Their tears were the same color as the tears I have seen so many times before in the eyes of Black survivors of violent crime. I cannot distinguish between the two."

NEXT: Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 2)

Aberjhani
Bright Skylark Literary Productions
January 2017

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Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for the Angel of Compassion: Essay with Poem (part 2 of 2)

Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for
the Angel of Compassion

Healing and Comforting Anyone in Need

Author

Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for the Angel of Compassion: Essay with Poem (part 1 of 2)

Forced to Make a Difficult Decision

The 2017 Rising Tide of Multicultural Voices

Allowing Ourselves to Hear Each Other

Empowered Consciousness

Author

Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 2 of 2)

Signs of Our Changing 2017 Times

The Obama Legacy Effect

Author

Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 1 of 2)

On Timelines and Parallel Conditions

A Few Thoughts from Trevor Noah

Refuting Stereotypes of Irredeemable Infamy

Aberjhani

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Categories

Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for the Angel of Compassion: Essay with Poem (part 2 of 2)

Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for ​the Angel of Compassion

Healing and Comforting Anyone in Need

Author

Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for the Angel of Compassion: Essay with Poem (part 1 of 2)

Forced to Make a Difficult Decision

The 2017 Rising Tide of Multicultural Voices

Allowing Ourselves to Hear Each Other

Empowered Consciousness

Author

Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 2 of 2)

Signs of Our Changing 2017 Times

The Obama Legacy Effect

Author

Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 1 of 2)

On Timelines and Parallel Conditions

A Few Thoughts from Trevor Noah

Refuting Stereotypes of Irredeemable Infamy

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Jarreau Jazz-riff Earth-tunes for
the Angel of Compassion