Eye Hear You

December 17, 2018 in music

Going to live music events is multi-sensory experience.

I enjoy concerts where everything make sense and everything goes together. I like it when the venue and music match. I like it when lighting heighten the moods. I like it when musicians on the stage put some thoughts into their outfits and their presentation. I appreciate it when I can tell that cats on the stage know that I, we, the audience is there and we matter to them. I enjoy the way music vibrates not only my eardrums but also my entire being. I like the overall thoughtfulness.

This, unfortunately, does not happen very often in jazz. Musicians work hard on music. They practice tirelessly to perfect their crafts and spend hours putting music together painstakingly. Yet, somehow, everything else is neglected. Some argue that nothing should matter but music. I feel you but I don’t necessarily agree. I think it is important for cats to understand that how you serve up what you are cooking really matters and can make a huge difference in audience’s experience and in turn, yours. And you are artists. Why limit yourself to just music when expressing whatever it is that you want to express. Yes, your speciality is music but your creativity can take many forms.

A Guardian of Being a.k.a. Roy Hargrove

November 09, 2018 in life, music

Roy was a guardian of being.

Just like flowers, trees, winds, and a puppy. He said, “Universe is moving right on time with us. So move on.” He was always in the moment. All he dealt with was here and now.

It sounds wonderful but it is hard to go through life in that way when everyone else around him wanted more than that moment. People wanted friendship, association, love, relationships, hoping for a bit of crumbs in any shape or form… which created the need for past and future; which created necessity for remembering and planning. Roy was not that person. He was always only in the moment. Hard and sincerely. In that moment, he meant everything he did; he meant every words he said; he felt everything he felt. There was no lie or deception in that. But because the rest of us don’t know how to deal with that truness of being, he had to lie and deceive and manipulate, so that he can somewhat sustain a facade of being a human and move through this world in flesh.

I Am Only A Person

October 31, 2018 in music, life

I am not a gig booking machine.

There are people who only talk about wanting to play at The Jazz Gallery every time I see them. Put yourself in my shoes. What do you think you’d do. Wouldn’t you want to avoid yourself? You can argue that it’s my job and I should suck it up. Perhaps. But I am telling you that it won’t serve you and your purpose well if you keep pushing your agendas only.

I’m only a human-being after all.

Lonely Wo/man

October 25, 2018 in life

It is a lonesome thing. To be an artist.

When you are an artist, you are truly alone. Or should I say, being an artist unquestionably brings on a realization that we all are alone. Whether we like it or not.

It is for each of us to know how we figure in the genre/community you work in and it is for us to know if what we are doing is any good. Nobody is going to tell you. Ever. And even if someone decides to give us an honest (whatever that means) opinion, it is just that. It’s an opinion. If that person is in a position of power and s/he has positive reaction to the work, it can mean something but it still doesn’t say anything about the goodness/badness/soulfulness/pointlessness/beauty/roughness of our craft. Not in an absolute way which all artists ache for. It is such a lonely place to be.

There was a period of time in my life when I used to frequent poetry slams at the Nuyorican and Bowery Poetry. I wanted someone to tell me if I was any good. My ego wanted praise and my insecurity craved approval. I fared alright. I won some nights and I got invited to invitation-only Friday slams. Some people came up to me to say how they loved my writing. All that didn’t give me the confirmation I was looking for because that’s the wrong place to look.

It is for me to know. If I’m writing piece of shit or if I’m any good. I have to decide. I had to get with myself. And that’s rough. That’s lonesome.

Dancing the Music - For Pharaoh

October 22, 2018 in poetry

You dance the music
On the thin line
Drawn in between
Arrogance and confidence
Looking for uncharted territory
Night after night
Hunting for a glimpse of
That moment
That forces you to come back
To agony and joy
Of birthing your essence

Years of loving
Years of dedication
Sweat pouring
For your libation
Passing and digesting
Hours of solitude
Drenched in notes
Sixteenth
Eighth
Quarter
Half
And whole
Now you
Dance the music
Like
Flying was your
Second nature

The lights glaze you with red sheen
Sweat shimmering down your face
Dark and statuesque
Wearing mysteries
Like you were born in it
Music flows
Time bends
Now is forever
and forever is now

You Got To Be The Star

October 19, 2018 in music, life

Over the years I have received thousands and thousands of emails from young musicians who want to perform at The Jazz Gallery. First of all, thank you. I feel really honored and humbled to have been asked. Each time. Because without cats, we are nothing.

Secondly, I want to talk about how you should think about yourself as the star of whatever you are doing.

Many of the emails try to get my attention by saying, “I will have Ambrose Akinmusire in my group if I get a gig,” “This is the CD release for the album I recorded with Larry Grenadier, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Mark Turner,” or “I have performed with Vijay Iyer.” And I have many things to say about that type of approach. Lol.

How Do You Like It?

October 17, 2018 in music

As the technologies develop and have become readily available to us, independent artists have more decisions to make. As if you are not doing enough already. When you are a freelancer, (and this goes for any type of freelance gigs) 90% of the job is cumbersome tasks one must to do in order to make the last 10% possible, which is the fun part. In musicians’ cases this 10% consists of practicing, composing, performing, and any other activities that actually bring you joy.

Up until recently, CD has been the medium of choice if you want to disseminate your music. Before that, cassette and records (or vinyls as young people call them now, lol) were what we dealt with. These hardware created time restrictions. They can only contain so much information. This made it a standard practice for musicians to distribute their music/ideas in an album format. Each album contains certain numbers of songs/tunes and the whole thing has an overarching title and theme.

How I Got here // JAZZIT Interview

October 11, 2018 in music, life

I have often been asked, “How did you get a job as an Artistic Director?” Well, I didn’t get a job as the Artistic Director of The Jazz Gallery. Dale Fitzgerald has given me an opportunity to build the place from ground up. Eventually, The Jazz Gallery has grown to the point where I needed an official title to the outside world and “Artistic Director” seemed befitting considering that I have been setting the creative directions for The Jazz Gallery for the past two decades.

Ashley Kahn has interviewed me a while back for the JAZZIT magazine and I talked a lot about how I got started in life, in music, and at The Jazz Gallery. Here is an original interview in English.

Untitled - For Me'Shell

October 10, 2018 in poetry

I am drunk from beats
Words swim out of her mouth
Sucked into my ears
Stir up sensations deep down
I want to rip myself inside out.

My movements are
Not my own any longer.
She who plucks with
Her fingers and her soul
She who summons
Our hidden dreams
She who commands our
Unthinkables into distant possibilities
She
With a sway of her hips
Controls my everything
At this very moment.

Beats are so articulate yet
She implies
She suggests
She whispers vagueness
Contradictions so sweet
I want more.

But it is all too much
Please
I cannot take it any more but
Don't stop
Please.

Love Is Money

October 08, 2018 in music

The bottom line.

Everyone should pay at the door.

I know it’s cool to be let in to the venue like you are one of the cats but if you are really cool, you’ll put some money in the pot.

At The Jazz Gallery, we extend courtesy of free admission to anyone who’s ever led a band on our stage. I know that we are not paying living wages to the musicians and most of the times, leaders dig into their own pockets to pay the bands so that they can present their projects. The Jazz Gallery helps you to work out your ideas in front of the audience and provides opportunities for musicians to be heard. One thing we are not providing…. Is a big fat check at the end of the night. But I’d like to think there is a symbiotic relationship between musicians and The Jazz Gallery. Each has what others need. Free admissions to band-leaders is our way of saying thank you. It’s our way of saying I’m sorry we are not paying enough. It’s our way of showing respect to the work you put into it.

But, really, even then, everyone should pay.

Because that’s how we show that we care and that’s how we ensure that the business we care about continue to exist and that you can continue to present music in an adequate space. That is how we support this music we love. And money is the only real way that you can offer support.