Listen to the radio-essay here. The Power of Black Music
Music is far more than a multi-million dollar business in the US, and around the world. It is far more than the stuff that comes out of your radio in an unending roll. For some people, music, the right music, can transform one's way of looking at the world, and even change lives. By music (as you may have guessed) I'm not talking about bubble gum pop, or rap. I'm talking about a music form that has been called classical (at least by Black listeners) for generations.
I speak of jazz.
I speak specifically, of the music of the late saxophonist John Coltrane (1928-1987), an adherent of the form that came to be called avant-garde (French for advance guard), or free form jazz. In the '50's he was a star player in the Miles Davis quintet. Later, he would lead several groups, and would play such music as would move millions, even now, decades after his death. In San Francisco, a church stands today, which has named the musician a Saint of the African Orthodox rite. This is the same church that was the religious branch of the Marcus Garvey Black nationalist movement of the early 20th century.
At the St. John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church, Archbishop Franzo Wayne King presides, and his appreciation of Coltrane's music may be shown as often by his preaching as by his playing of the saxophone in tribute to the Saint. In a recent interview, Archbishop King explained that he heard Coltrane live in 1966, at a local club called the Jazz Workshop, where he and his girlfriend (soon to be wife, Marina) got front row seats. What they heard that evening almost literally blew him away. King would later explain the experience as his "sound baptism."*
So taken was he by the power and beauty of Coltrane's music that her first organized a small congregation called the Yardbird Temple, named after the nickname of another famous sax player, Charlie Parker. In this initial gathering Coltrane was worshipped as a god, and Parker was seen as a John the Baptist - type figure.
Years later, when he joined the African Orthodox Church, Coltrane was "demoted" to saint. Today, People come from all around the world to visit the San Francisco church. The influence of Coltrane has also had far less spectacular, but still meaningful impact, on the lives of people during the '60's.
As Black revolutionary and later scholar, Muhammad Ahmad (who worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), and other such movements) would later write in his political autobiography, We Will Return in the Worldwind: Black Radical Organizations: 1960 - 1975 (Chi., IL: Karr Publishing, 2007), music opened his mind to political ideas and possibilities:
First was going to see Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln present their "Freedom Now" suite at the national convention of the NAACP, which was held in Philadelphia that year. I had been raised on Jazz and had done my homework with Eddie Collier while listening to John Coltrane's Giant Steps.
I had gone to the Newport Jazz festival and was an avid fan of both Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderly. But this was the first time I had heard "message music" so direct for my generation. The "Freedom Now" suite immediately raised my political/cultural consciousness. It wouldn't be until a year later that I would listen to John Coltrane's My Favorite Things and become a "Tranite" until "Trane" passed on in 1967. {p.xxvi}
As Ahmad explained, music was a powerful social force that opened new ways of looking at and thinking about, and living in the world.
Music is more, much more than a commodity.
Free jazz of that period represented, quite simply, freedom, in breaking away from the restraints of the past. This power of music must be recaptured, to become a resource for a people, who are still not free. --(c) '07 maj {*Source: Freedman, Samuel C., "Sunday Afternoon Faith, Inspired by Saturday Nights," New York Times, (12/1/07), p.85:Ahmad, M (a/k/a Max Stanford, Jr.) We Will Return in the Whirlwind: Black Radical Organizations, 1960 - 1975 (Chi., IL.: Karr Publ., 2007.}
The title of this post is blatantly as racist as any post I have ever seen. The fact is music is not seen but is HEARD with one's EARS and therefore it is COLORLESS. And yes there are many great jazz musicians who are black but there are plenty of great white, asian, and hispanic jazz musicians as well. My guess is the only reason the PC POLICE don't jump on this is because the man who wrote it is black and a convicted murderer so, of course, we all know 'black people can't be racist'.....what a load of CRAP!
by
BenMarbleMD (18 articles, 0 quicklinks, 182 diaries, 279 comments)
on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 12:16:28 AM
I must say, Ben, I'm fairly dissapointed to see this comment coming from you. I've been reading your diaries for a while and have always enjoyed them. I don't see how this is "racist" at all... And I don't see how "black music" cannot be enjoyed by all. Recognizing the artist as being Black does not make it anti-white.... And the comments about Mumia, well.... that is also dissapointing :(
by
Hans Bennett (19 articles, 45 quicklinks, 44 diaries, 77 comments)
on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 3:49:02 AM
My primary complaint is the title of the post. So you are trying to tell me you and a ton of other people wouldn't freak out if it said "The Power of WHITE Music aka WHITE POWER!"? Please do spare me the PC condescension. And I am really sorry Mumia murdered that man so I think trying to proclaim him as some sort of hero or martyr is just wrong because I am pro-life.
by
BenMarbleMD (18 articles, 0 quicklinks, 182 diaries, 279 comments)
on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 10:42:00 AM
Well, interestingly, when I said I was dissapointed by your post I was just being honest, since I have often read your diaries and enjoyed them. Therefore I did not expect your blatant hostility towards Mumia and his subject matter--I truly was shocked by it.
I don't think the title is in any way "anti-white," particularly since the article's content explains how many blacks who were involved in the black liberation movement (also not "anti-white) were inspired by John Coltrane and other Jazz musicians, who were also very conscious politically. Why no "white liberation movement"? Because white people are not institutionally opressed because they are white. Blacks and other non-whites were, and still are, oppressed because of their skin color, because of institutional white supremacy... Am I "PC" for saying this? Maybe, maybe not. I think the "PC" label is sometimes legit (for example, I like watching controversial shows like 24, Ali G, and Family Guy---and I would be upset if I was labled a bigot for enjoying these shows), but often it is used to discredit legitimate criticisms of white supremacy and other oppressive structures.
How can you declare Mumia guilty when he hasn't recieved a fair trial? If you base your opinion on mainstream media coverage, I can maybe understand why you'd say that, but upon reading the true facts of the case, it is undeniable that Mumia needs a new trial (those in agreement include Noam Chomsky, Toni Morrison, Cornel West, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, The Japanese Diet, European Parliament, Amnesty Intl and more), and there is also very strong evidence of both a police frame-up and Mumia's actual innocence.
I am very confident of this, so let me offer a friendly challenge. Take a look at any of these 3 articles I have produced, and please find ONE factual error on my end....why was his trial not unfair? Interview with Peter Wirs, MURDERED BY MUMIA rebuttal, and The Four Issues.
Hopefully you will re-think your allegiance to the FRY MUMIA lynch mob.
by
Hans Bennett (19 articles, 45 quicklinks, 44 diaries, 77 comments)
on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 7:27:47 PM
He helped create the Black Panther Party in Philadelphia which was a blatantly racist organization who used the slogan "BLACK POWER". So how is that any better than the KKK using the slogan "WHITE POWER"? Also in one of the interviews Mumia gave shortly after forming the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther's he quoted Mao Zedong, saying that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun". The Black Panther's had another slogan they liked to use in reference to police....
"The Revolution has come, it's time to pick up the gun. Off the pigs!".
Now is it any irony that the man who helped CREATE the Black Panther party in Philadelphia wound up being convicted of picking up a gun and offing a "pig"????
And why is it that Mumia supporter Phillip Bloch claimed that he visited Abu-Jamal in prison in 1992 and asked him whether he regretted killing Faulkner, and that Abu-Jamal replied, "Yes."???? It is obvious Mumia was on the scene that day and in the midst of the struggle otherwise he wouldn't have been shot. (Why would the officer be shooting at someone other than the person shooting at him????) So best case scenario for that argument is that Mumia was standing next to the 'real shooter' so why can't he give any information on the alleged 'real shooter'???? Who else on the scene that day would have the motive to kill the officer? Who's brother was in a physical fight with the officer? Who would have wanted to stop his brother from getting hurt by the officer? How could someone else have gotten Mumia's gun (which was proven to be the murder weapon) to use it? Was there someone else on the scene who helped create an organization that says "The Revolution has come, it's time to pick up the gun. Off the pigs!"???? So yeah when I look at the evidence it sounds to me that Mumia almost certainly killed the "pig". But I guess when you consider all the conflicting stories I can imagine that if Mumia had Johnny Cochrane on his side he could get off like OJ did but that doesn't mean he didn't kill that "pig".
Now back to the thread title..."The Power of Black Music" now I never said it was 'anti-white'. I said it is racist because it was written by a man with a known history of blatant racism and it implies that only black people create/perform JAZZ music and that somehow/someway JAZZ is "BLACK MUSIC" which just isn't true. So if/when Mumia does manage to get his conviction overturned I guess at that point I won't be able to say he is a racist convicted murderer. But as of right now he is, in fact, a racist convicted murderer.
by
BenMarbleMD (18 articles, 0 quicklinks, 182 diaries, 279 comments)
on Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 1:56:09 AM
Does the MD in Ben Marble stand for Mentally Deranged? I too believe that in all probability Mumia is guilty of murder. However, I fail to understand why you go off the deep end in response to the title, "The Power of Black Music."
The article, such as it is, is a muddled mess but there is nothing offensive about the title. If someone posted an article entitled "The Power of Chinese Medicine" or "The Power of Yoga" would that be jingoistic?
Get a grip!
by
Leon (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 4:06:16 AM
