purejazz summer

US$6.00 / CanC$ 6.50 Summer 2012

James SpauldingThe Master The Gentleman

JazzWoman

Black Swan Records

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TRANSART Presents

12TH Annual

Artists Subject to Change.

12thannual

Summer 2012Volume 6 Number 2

Publisher / Editor & Chief

Jo Ann Cheatham

-Senior Editor-Fikisha Cumbo

-Editor-Agneta Ballesteros

-Contributing Writers-Jo Ann Cheatham

Ed DessissoWilliard Jenkins

Tony Vollo-

Graphics-Dwight Brewster

-Marketing-Danyelle Ballesteros

-Consultants-Eunice Lewis Broome

Jim HarrisonGreer Smith

Ed StouteRandy Weston

This magazine was made possible with public funds from BAC the Brooklyn Arts Council and the Department of Cultural Affairs.

African American Classical Music

Pure Jazz is published quarterly with editorial and advertising head quarters in Brooklyn, NY. Tel/ 718.636.9671. All rights reserved. The authors and editors have taken care to ensure that all infor-mation in this issue is accurate. Nevertheless, the publisher disclaims any liability loss or damages incurred as a consequence directly or indirectly of the use and application of any contents.

Features Black Swan ............... 5

Vinyl Man Spins ......... 10

JazzWoman ....... 14

One on OneFab 5 Freddy .......... 22

Columns Let Me Touch Your Mind ........8 Flowers For You, Babe ...........12

Space is the Place ....... 26

Cover Story

James SpauldingThe Master,

The Gentelman ............ 16

We’re in the summer time it’s here with all its glory. Music everywhere on the radio on the roof tops con-verts. We internetters are setting up our schedules to list all the concerts everywhere

Pure Jazz Magazine was fortunate to spend time with our historian-advisor at large Jim Harrison has he shared with us some of his valuable collection that. He has been collection with his late wife Fannie books posters CD DVD and items we need to keep this his-tory strong. Jim has been gathering these items for the past Fifty years. What an honor. We are sure as Hard and wonderful continue to print our issues. We will be able to use these items usefully.

The tradition of jazz and its history is long and hard maybe that’s why the fans that are purist treat it gin-gerly. Can you image the stories and time that not only what Jim has in his head but all the music and that what this publication continues to do write the history of the music.

What an honor to tell these stories. This issue it is James Spaulding Master alto tenor player and a Gen-tleman to boot We approached him while he is finish-ing up his autobiography, we talked about some times he had to wet your a appetite about what’s to come just from the interview along I am waiting for his his-tory. Thank to him and his family.

About ten year’s ago ran a story which was entitled the forgotten Story of Black Swan Records. What hit that story was, it ran for two parts written by Jitu Weusi. From time to time people still ask about the story we so decided to re run it a Black Swan Records, the same story by Jitu but with new graphics. It’s a story to behold.

One On One with Fab 5 What started out as a two part story is now a three part story we still have an-other part to go written by Willard Jenkins The im-portance of this story is the relationship that comes about in the relationship of Fab 5 and Max Roach.

Thank you,

Jo Ann Cheatham Publisher

With The Music In Mind

Publisher’s Statement

Pure Jazz Magazine -

He viewed himself as a sort of ex-pert on Black history and culture. In 1980 he earned a Master’s Degree in Black Studies at the Africana Stud-ies and Research Center of Cornell University. So when he was asked on the TV quiz show to name the first Black-owned and operated recording company he answered with assur-ance: “Motown Records”. “I’m sorry”, the announcer said, “you’re wrong. The correct answer is Black Swan Records”.

For weeks he was stunned. Then he snapped out of it and hit the books at the Schomburg Center, The Brooklyn College Music Library and the Brook-lyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza. He reviewed books, watched hours of microfilm and researched old magazines and catalogs. Within days he uncovered the magnificent and fascinating story of the meteoric rise and fall of the Black Swan Recording Company.

In the first quarter of the 20th century (1900-1915) the great migration of the African-American people took shape. They left their rural habitats of the southern states of the U.S. and relocated in the northern cities of an emerging industrialized America. They brought with them their taste for music, which was a staple of their spiritual and earthy lifestyle. With this musical impact, combined with growth of capitalist America, you produce an urban industry entertainment for the masses. Names like Scott Joplin (Ragtime), W. C. Handy (Blues), Eubie Blake (Dixieland) and Louis Armstrong (Jazz) produced a lucrative and thriv-ing music entertainment industry that continues to prosper in many different formats. The technology of this industry was almost totally in the hands of White Americans. The making of records in its beginning years, 1900-1920, was a discrimina-tory process. White producers took

the musical ideas of Blacks, but were reluctant to allow Blacks to make re-cords by themselves. By 1920, the only Black voices to be recorded by a major company were Bert Williams on Columbia and Mamie Smith on O.K. Victor. One man in particular, Harry Herbert Pace, was acutely aware of this fact and he decided to act. He said, “Companies would not entertain any thought of recording a colored musician or colored voice, I therefore determined to form my own company and make such recordings as I believed would sell.”

Harry Herbert Pace was born on January 6, 1884 in Covington, Geor-gia. His father, Charles Pace, was a blacksmith who died while Har-ry was an infant, leaving him to be raised by his mother, Nancy Francis Pace. Light-skinned and extremely bright, Pace finished elementary school at age twelve and seven years later graduated valedictorian of his

Black Swan RecordsBy Jiti Weusi


class at Atlanta University. He was a disciple of his college teacher W. E. B Dubois and his concept of the tal-ented tenth. After graduation, Pace worked in the printing, banking and insurance industries, first in Atlanta and later in Memphis. In various ju-nior executive positions, he demon-

strated a strong understanding of business tactics and had a reputa-tion for rebuilding failing enterprises.

During his sojourn in the South, two significant things happened that would impact his future. In 1912 in Memphis, he met and collaborated with W.C. Handy generally recog-nized as the “Father of the Blues”. Handy took a liking to Pace and they wrote songs together. Later they would develop the Pace and Handy Music Company, which would bring Harry Pace to New York City. Sec-ondly he met and married his wife Ethlynde Bibb, who became a great inspiration in his life.

In 1920, Pace resigned his position in Atlanta, moved to New York, pur-chased a fine home on “Strivers Row” in Harlem and settled in to manage the Pace and Handy Sheet Music business. The enterprise using Pace’s business knowledge and Handy’s creative genius was very successful. Though the company was profitable and artistically effective, Pace was frustrated. He observed that White recording companies bought the mu-sic and lyrics from Pace and Handy and then recorded them using White artists. When they did employ Blacks they refused to let them sing and play their own authentic style. Pace resolved to start his own record firm. Many scholars for years believed

Handy was part of Pace’s company. Handy stated, “To add to my woes, my partner withdrew from the business. He disagreed with some of my busi-ness methods, but no harsh words were involved. He simply chose this time to sever connection with our firm in order to organize Pace Phonograph

Company issu-ing Black Swan Records and making a seri-ous bid for that market. With Pace went a large number of employees. Still more con-fusion and an-guish grew out of the fact that people did not

know that I had no stake in the Black Swan Record Company.”

During the 1920’s in New York, Har-lem was ushering in a Negro renais-sance of art and culture. Marcus Garvey (of whom Pace was a severe critic) was leading the largest Black mass movement for pride and eco-nomic redemption in twentieth centu-ry American. Even the Negro middle class of which Pace was an undeni-able member, was feeling the call to control the destiny of their lives, set up companies and manufacture prod-ucts, employ and sell products to their own people. Pace was impacted by the wave of Black Nationalism sweeping the U.S. in the early 1920’s post World War I period.

In March of 1921 under the laws of the state of Delaware and using about $30,000 in borrowed capital, Pace or-ganized the Pace Phonograph Corpo-ration, Inc. With a Board of Directors that included Dr. W. E B. Dubois, Mr. John E. Nail, Dr. Matthew V. Bouttle and Ms. Viola Bibb. The company’s first office was his home at 257 West 138th Street, New York. The African-American newspaper, New York Age, reported that “of the business organizations recently established by Negroes in New York, one of the most important is the Pace Phonograph Company”. This Company was

incorporated in January 1921, under the laws of the state of Delaware, based on assets of $100,000. The board of directors of the organization was composed of some of the most able colored businessmen.

Pace did not have an easy time enter-ing the recording business. White re-cord companies threw up obstacles to exclude him. When he attempted to use a local pressing company, a large White company purchased the plant to keep him out. He was able to get a local studio to record, but had to send the master to be pressed. Finally, in about six weeks with all the pre-liminary work completed and all the necessary elements in place, from re-cording laboratories to wrapping pa-per and corrugated board, Pace was ready to manufacture Black Swan Records

The name Black Swan was chosen by Pace to honor the accomplishments of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (1809-1876), a remarkably talented Negro singer known as “The Black Swann”. Pace had designed their logo as a handsome black and gold label, with a swan in gold against the background of the banner. In his advertising in African-American newspapers Pace stressed the race issue saying, “The only genuine colored records, others are only passing for colored”. Among the earliest employees for Pace was Fletcher Henderson, the pianist and band leader who became the record-

Harry Herbert Pace

Ethel Waters


ing manager and William Grant Still, the classic composer and orchestra leader, the musical director.

The first 3 records probably recorded in April of 1921 and released in May of 1921, featured: C. Carroll Clark, a Denver born baritone known to sing a fine ballad with a generally good rep-utation among high class Negro pa-trons ; Katie Crippen, a vaudevillian who sang blues and Revella Hughes, a soprano and vocal teacher who was very popular among the highbrow New York area patrons at that time. The Chicago Defender of May 7th, 1921 carried a press release of three paragraphs listing Black Swan 2001, 2002 and 2003 as May releases.

Fletcher Henderson was the pianist of record on all Black Swan releases from the start until the fall of 1921. Other musicians employed regu-larly during that period included: Joe Smith, cornet; George Brashea, trombone; Edgar Campbell, clarinet; Cordy Williams, Charlie Dixon, ban-jo; “Chink” Johnson, trombone/tubas; William Grant Still, who also dou-bled as manager and played several instruments (oboe violin, cello, clari-net, saxophone, banjo and others). All were available for recordings.

Black Swan Records would have had a short and unremarkable existence if it had relied on the sale of its earli-est records. Even Fletcher Henderson stated that these early releases were “straight songs or novelty numbers in the “raggy style”, which was the heritage of the Europe Brymn-Dab-ney School; the one blues, had not been done in blues style.” The music was not being produced to appeal to the taste of the masses of African-American people. This change sud-denly in the Summer of 1921.

End of Part 1, Part ll next issue

jazz

mobileRobin Bell StevensExecutive Director

154 West 127th StreetNew York, NY 10027Tel: 212-866-4900 Fax: 212-666-3613

Jitu Weusi, is co-owner of For My Sweet, pre-mier Jazz club located in Brooklyn and van-guard writer


I wanna poet to you

Direct your energy

While you close your eyes and dream

I wanna touch your mind

Undress you with my creativity

Produce your only child-woman

Let me touch your mind

I wanna poet to you

I wann make love to your bodies and mind

Not just your body

I wanna poet to you

Thyme

Sonnet

Free Verse

Your romance eyes speak

A Language of their own

Once more before the night ends

Let me touch your mind

I wanna poet to you


Let Me Touch Your Mind

Tony Vozzo

Vinyl Man’s Spin

Afro-Cuban Jazz has been a part of the language for decades; since the 1940’s for sure. The thrilling rage be-gun by Chano Pozo, Machito, Mario Bauza, Prez Prado and a pantheon of Hispanic virtuosi is healthy and evolved in its existence today. The Latin brothers have retained their sacred commitment to the beauty of the sound, the therapeutic value of the dances encoded in the precise rhythms and the sexy, ritualistic en-gagement between the genders that continue to make Latin Jazz both ethnically and universally relevant. This Vinyl Man’s Spin is dedicated to a look at the joy to be found in the Afro-Cuban vein of the music.

Beginning with something old, I call your attention to a 1973 cooker by Ray Barretto entitled THE OTHER ROAD. For a long period, this album was my wake up music at the start of my day. The title cut puts “gut in your strut and pride in your stride”. Believe it. The entire band is a Pan-Latin America collection of all stars working under the leadership of ‘Mr. Hard Hands’ for the Fania la-bel. Barretto has the distinction of being the ‘conguero’ for giants the size of Gene Ammons and gracing the legendary cuttin’ sessions at Minton’s with Monk and the fellas. The second cut on the album is “Round Midnight” and in the liner notes, after itemiz-ing the Spanish pedigree of his band members, Mr. Barretto christens the

album by writing: “This is the source of pride for me, that we Latinos got to-gether and played some Jazz.” Some points of special interest about THE OTHER ROAD is the fact that all of the other tunes were band member compositions, the fact that Billy Cob-ham, the great Jazz drummer, holds the pocket along with Barretto on the album and the fact that every cut is a smoker. There is no fat to trim and if you can find a copy of this vinyl gem, your life will thank you along with everyone who hears it.

The next ‘something old’ I want to examine is a Jerry Gonzalez pearl that I found on Muhammad The Li-brarian’s table of used books and re-cords at his spot on Lenox Ave. THE RIVER IS DEEP is a recording of the Fort Apache Band at the Berlin Jazz Festival on Nov. 5, 1982. As is only correct, they inaugurate their set with a salute to ELEGUA, the deity of the crossroads, and then proceed to do an eleven minute homage to Dizzy Gillespie with his tune “Bebop”. That is merely consistency when you think about the fact that it was Dizzy who first heard and accessed the talents of the Latin Masters, Bauza and Pozo. Speaking through the univer-sality of music and a shared love of rhythms, Gillespie and Bauza opened a road that still leads to emotional re-lease, musical transport, virtuoso op-portunity and the merged landscape of African/Indio/Spanish sensibilities. Gonzalez is accompanied by a veri-table ‘Bembe’ of master musicians: Velez, Turre, Vasquez, Dalto, Berri-os, Golden, Hernandez, Marrero, Mi-randa, another Gonzalez, and sealed by the vocals of Frankie Rodriguez. The Fort Apache workup on the Bud Powell classic “Parisian Thorough-fare” is no less than speaking Jazz in Spanish. Jorge Dalto’s piano keeps the chord progression flying while the rest of the members cook along. This is seminal Bebop interpreted from the Latin heart. There is so much going on in the music, it qualifies as Anthropology (the academic disci-pline, not the Parker recording). THE RIVER IS DEEP is working with the same profundity as the rivers Langs-ton Hughes refers to in his famous poem. The musical confluence in this

festival presentation is the perfect example of the internationality of the Jazz as well as the beauty of the par-ticular regard the Hispanic ear lends to the music’s execution. No one is fooling around on this album. The business of the regard is in place and spot on. As a result, the alchemy of the sacred is rendered in Jazz. Jerry Gonzalez is to be praised for continu-ing to maintain the same intensity, the same devotion to the music that is presented for sale in foreign ven-ues. His understanding of the music is a blessing. It retains the vitality and brilliance of Jazz, in the idiom of “Clave” and places everything neatly at the feet of sacred ritual. One can-not experience the Gonzalez sound without knowing exactly who we are and have been. Here again is another album to get up with.

As a rule, my column is composed of musical antiques worthy of your attention. My next offerings are de-partures from the norm in that they are new presentations worthy of your attention. I consider them classics in the making, to such a degree that I am willing to predict their success before they have been in the public domain for very long. Both CD’s have recently arrived and both are note-worthy to the disposition and future of Afro-Cuban Jazz. While each is dif-ferent from the other, they both share a powerful regard for the Jazz in the music and make that regard felt spe-cifically.

Dr. Mambo and The Experience Ensemble recently released their independently produced CD. It is pure refreshment. Dwight Brews-ter (Dr. Mambo) identifies the group as Afro-Cuban in its soul but plays comfortably across the spectrum of modern music. The CD is a study in eclecticism and a thrilling display of musicianship. To hear “Salse-ros,” jamming in fusion, reggae and fatback, is to be immersed in ‘experi-ence’ of a high degree. The group is composed of graduates from places like Dr. Buzzard’s Savannah Band and the many freelance avenues that compose a New York musician’s back-ground. The Experience Ensemble is ‘big fun’ and you can hear that these

Something Old, Something New…

By Ed Dessisso


guys have played with everybody. I support their initiative to produce themselves and play the gamut of music that excites them as a unit. I found myself starting the day with this CD after first hearing it. There is plenty of easy float to the tunes; just the kind of stress-free swing to step into whatever has to be accom-plished.

The CD is full of original mate-rial with the exception of “Beseme Mucho” which they do as a salute to the beauty of that great Bolero. The CD features, to quote Art Blakey, “no one in particular”; they’re all cooking! What strikes me most about their sound is the tight interplay no mat-ter the genre of the tune. Each mem-ber of the group belongs whether it’s West African zhoucou or a jump blues riff. While their repertoire is not your father’s “typica”, the strength of their clave is such that you want to travel along, wherever they’re going. I find it delightful that the usually restrict-ed and formal borders of Afro-Cuban music making, can loosen to include forays into other disciplines with the same sense of precision and swing as any mambo.

I happily report that each cut is spe-cial; the “industry suits” didn’t get to ruin this one. Another plus is the fullness of the sound quality. There is real production value in the pres-ence recorded on the CD. The mix is as good as anything out there. Lock yourself away with this CD and a good set of earphones and just listen. I challenge you to not hear the joy of Jazz throughout every cut. It speaks volumes that a New York Salsa band can, when they feel like it, play the soundtrack under your life in every relevant genre.


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.....Tato LavieraEd Dessisso is a Free Lance writer and is the author of Vinyl Man, which is regular column in this publication.

I’ve been walking, Singing a song to;

Night and day I’ve been

Talking, talking about this new love affair.

I’ve been walking and talking, singing this song to you-

Night and day

Flowers for you Babe, and all you said was “take’em away, Baby

Can’t stay. I’ve been walking= Singing this song Struttin the avenue

Walki, talkin’ Singing my song to you

Night and day and all you had to say was

Baby can’t stay” I Can’t Take it no more

Walkn out the door on you

-on my way to San Jo-se, Maybe L. A.

By the boy on a sunny day –

Walki, talkin singin this song to you-

Night and day now it’s your turn to say “

Baby please stay – a- don’t go -. a-bye, bye-

A-fare. well, my love

Flowers For You, BabeTony Vozzo


Tony Vollo created the delightful book “Creatively Speaking” from which these poems come.

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Can you imagine conducting a struc-tured Jazz Concert for as many as 55 people every Sunday in your living room? This weekly task could give New York restaurateur B. Smith the jitters. Why in the world would a per-son perform such an awesome feat each Sunday come rain or shine for nine years?

It all began in 1994 when Marjorie Eliot was visiting her son Philip in the hospital. He was there because of a serious kidney ailment and they both know he did not have long. “My mission every day was to go into the hospital with something fun to talk about. He was very optimistic always smiling, so I wanted to make every

day a pretty day.” She told her son “You can sit in the parlor and listen to some music on Sunday.” Philip was an actor and played the piano as did her four other sons Rudel, Michael, Shaun and Alfred. He said he liked the idea. Marge as she is affection-ately known is accustomed to having music in the parlor because that’s where she took piano while grow-ing up. Sundays after church people would come over to her house and the family would ask her to play the tunes she had learned. “Those little tunes that you know that you can play well.” When brainstorming a project she notes you go to your own resources.”

As soon as Marge got home she started contacting the musicians she knew and asked them to come and play that Sunday, And her pool of music people was extensive; besides her own piano activity she is married to Al Drears . The music has been flowing ever since. The musicians who come are serious musicians well known well known in their own right. “This is not a jam session: this is a paid gig for them.” she says, she says, and sometimes this is difficult because admission is free. Each Sun-day is different; the musicians have a rare opportunity to play without re-striction of pleasing a club owner in order to be rehired, they let the mu-

JazzWoman10 Years Later


By Jo Ann Cheatham

sic flow freely. If a well-known figure in the jazz community makes their transition, the life and works of that person is celebrated. What started as a promise has evolved into a musical tribute to her son? It is fitting that these concerts are held on Sunday because this is the sacred day of the week and this is the celebration of a life, the most sacred thing we have.

Every Sunday her couch is removed and replaced with folding chairs. In the beginning her family complained” you’ve taken every comfortable chair out of here.” My idea was to have a concert stage and have the audience meet the artist. When I first started, it was Jazz and theatre Sundays, ev-ery other Sunday it would be a play and I was crazy because I’d be writ-ing all Saturday night.”

The audience is comprised of her regulars plus people from around the world. Marge has a collection if arti-cles written about Parlor Entertain-ment from the New York Times Daily News and many papers in Europe. In days gone by when Jazz enthusiasts came to New York, the firsts place they would want to visit was 52nd Street. Today it’s Parlor Entertain-ment. The people are true jazz lov-ers, not just tourists. Someone who has been there will spread the word about Parlor Entertainment. “These are people who really want to come to Harlem. They find a treasure trove here and they come back.” One guy from London told Marge that when he informed his mother he was coming back to New York, his mother said. “I know where you will be on Sundays. You’ll be at that nice woman, Marge Eliot; s house, Marge continued, she had also read about us in the papers in Europe. It’s an embarrassment of riches really, because the New York Times goes everywhere. I had a lot of people calling me from Europe about the articles they have read. A man came Sunday who later hugged me and said ‘Thank you for celebrating Philip: we lost our little girl too’ and there he was in tears and all. We just hugged, so if I never see him again, we‘ve bonded. People come here be-cause they get a chance to see great musicians. This is a quite celebration

of tie life,” Marge concludes. “I don’t want it to be anything else.

It is not surprising that she gets no complaints from her neighbors, given the roster of former tenants who were well known jazz musicians: Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington, Sonny Rol-lins. Andy Kirk and actor/singer Paul Robeson have called this build-ing home. The landlord lives upstairs in Andy Kirk’s old apartment. “The community celebrates it and I‘ve nev-er had any real complaints. Anyone who doesn’t love this, there is some-thing wrong with them. People come and embrace the idea and legally. I can do this, I can have a party.” When asked, if that’s the reason there is no charge, she says, “I don’t want to merchandise my kid.”

Marge is an only child whose father played the trumpet and worked in a laundry to support his family hails from Philadelphia. Piano lessons be-gan at the age of five and she started playing for her church when she was twelve. A few years later, she moved to New York to study drama. As a resident of the Washington Heights area for over twenty years, she was inducted into the People’s Hall of Fame) located in the Museum of the City of New York) by City Lore. A non-profit organization that recog-nizes living individuals deemed cul-tural treasurers. Marge was honored for keeping alive a unique expression of Harlem’s Jazz legacy. That mission is furthered enhanced by her yearly outdoor concert at the Jumel Man-sion, a historic site dating back to revolutionary times.

In addition, Marge is the Founder and Artistic Director of Children’s The-atre and Music Workshop. “I write plays for them and Jazz is the music I use. I talk about the neighborhood and what African American classical music has had to go through. It’s an academy without walls,” The young actors rehearse and perform during their vacation breaks from school. “I want children to know the musicians I know. It is important that we em-brace the children. And I love it. I love working with children, she states.

Marge feels that music is the diving rod that brings us together “I thank this audience each Sunday for help-ing to create this miracle.” Parlor En-tertainment is located at 555 Edge-combe Avenue. For information call 212-791-6595

It should be noted that this was the first Jazz Woman and Marge Elliot continues her work with Parlor En-tertainment, gathering great artists for a swinging Sunday event. Please support by stopping by on a Sunday.


Marge Elliot

Jo Ann Cheatham is the publisher of Pure Jazz Magazine

This interview of James Spaulding began in a ‘corner pocket’, Brook-lyn jazz club by the name of “Sista’s Place”, during their concert season for the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consor-tium (CBJC). Mr. Spaulding fronted a very baritone, straight-ahead en-semble that displayed heavy cooking in the traditions of Blakey & Silver, Thad & Mel, Hubbard & Spaulding, to a concert crowd of advanced jazz heads. Building on the tight rhythm section of George Gray, Eric Lemon, Sharpe Radway and Sabor, Spauld-ing served up “le Jazz Hot” in authen-tic blues metrics from ‘Second Line’, to Swing, to “Salt Peanuts”, to ‘sheets

of sound’, to absolutely ‘free’. With generous graciousness, there was even room for a ‘nobody planned it’ jam session with free-style singing by TC3 and Vanessa Rubin. You say you want Jazz? Try channeling vintage Jean Carn and Leon Thomas inside the signature Spaulding anthem, “Ancestral Chant”. With all the jazz testosterone from ‘back in the day straight- ahead’, the joint was on fire! There is graciousness to the Spauld-ing sound. He floats on a real classi-cal vibe as he enters, penetrates and brackets the music. His horn is ev-erywhere but never in the way. Mu-

sicians who can permeate the music with their presence convert tunes into events. Jazz fans have many ex-amples of this form of musical genius. It is the alchemy that allows artists to become one-name identities: Pops, Miles, Dizzy, Sun Ra, Parker, Monk, The Duke. Spaulding is there, where he justly belongs. I am fortunate in that I get to interview a talent like Mr. Spaulding as a so-called job as-signment. No amount of ordinary living would normally afford me the opportunity to hang out with a musi-cal genius of his rank. You don’t find the James Spauldings of the world on ‘open mic night’; nor should you.

The Master, The Gentleman

By Ed Dessisso


I view his hosting of PURE JAZZ MAGAZINE for an afternoon’s con-versation on the shape of his career and some com-mentary on where the mu-sic is now, as an extension of that same mu-sical gracious-ness. That Mr. Spaulding took time away from the writing of his autobiog-raphy to share insights and events with me, Jo Ann Cheath-am and you the readers is a fur-ther testament to the generous, giving nature of a truly humble and gifted reed virtuoso. I recommend and look forward to sup-porting CHORD CHANGES when James Spaulding’s autobiography is published. The authenticity of its voicing and the insights from the mu-sical life lived at the apex of the Jazz Era that accounts for personalities like Sun Ra, Art Blakey, Freddie Hub-bard, Horace Silver, Rashid Ali, Art Taylor, John Coltrane and so many, many others is a much needed relief from the hype and the noise of what has chased jazz from the airwaves nationally. I guarantee a trip on the Web to www.speetones.com will re-fresh more than just your sense of the Spaulding sound. It will revive (as it did mine) your faith in the viability and timelessness of the music. It will give you intimate contact with an art-ist at the peak of his skills, who is in personal control of his artistry and is filled with the musical commentary for which he is famous. Creating on the same entrepreneurial path as Charlie Mingus, Michael Jackson and The Artist Known as Prince, James Spaulding publishes his own works and markets to the world under his own imprint. I find his business acu-men yet another facet of his talent to admire. In these times of careful wording, advertising hype and fascist

business intimidations, courageous, plain speakers of all kinds who know what they are talking about, deserve

support. I com-mend without res-ervation, whatever amount of time you can afford yourself of James Spauld-ing; for truly, if he has been travel-ing under your ra-dar…. your radar is not on. Not to give away too much, but as James Spald-ing prepares the manuscript for his autobiography, we sit down for a chat about his life and times. These are edifying stories which will prepare you for what’s to come in CHORD CHANGES.

JAMES CHATS WITH PJ JS: I was the third child. During that time, it was 1937, my father was traveling with his music and would bring home records of Charlie Park-er, Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach. By the time I got to be 10, from lis-tening to Charlie Parker and Dizzy, that’s when I fell in love, you know, with that sound, the alto. There was Johnny Hodges with Duke Ellington, Sonny Stitt… all those alto players. Cannonball! Look out! When he came on the scene, I got a chance to meet him in Brooklyn. He was there with his group and was playing flute with his brother (Nat Adderley). Freddie (Hubbard) and I were work-ing some place and we were hanging out with Wynton Kelly and we ended up meeting the Cannonball. ‘Wine tones’ we used to call Wynton, he was something else. PJ: Who among those influences was most meaningful? Did you know these folks? JS: Listening to their records. You get to know them by their records. Charlie Parker: When I heard Char-

lie Parker, he knocked me off my feet. I told my dad, at ten years old, ‘Dad I want to play that instrument’. He said “well okay, we’ll have to get you a horn.” I had a friend named Walter at grade school. He loved instruments. He was getting rid of his alto. He didn’t want to play anymore. I asked him ‘are you selling it? How much do you want for it?’ He said “give me ten dollars.” PJ: Your first horn? Huh? JS: Yeah, my first horn. I learned my fingering from another friend of mine who played the saxophone and piano. His parents afforded him music les-sons. We lived in different areas of the ghetto. I’d always visit him and you know how boys would always be playing in the dirt, but he would be in the house playing his saxophone. He would show me the fingering of the instrument, so when I got one of my own, I tried to teach myself and he would help me. He had a ‘C Melody’ saxophone that he would lend me and I used to practice with that up until I got my own. We were both going to Chrispus Adducts High School, so we would get together and rehearse for the band. Our band teacher would allow us to rehearse down there in the band room all the time. We put together a school Jazz band. We were only teenagers but we got good enough that we were playing around Indianapolis behind various artists that came to play the town; people like Bull Moose Jackson. PJ: You played pick up behind Bull Moose Jackson? He had tours all over the Midwest, famous tours. JS: Oh yeah! We could all read mu-sic; we had good horn players and a good drummer. All he had to do was pull out his horn and have the charts. In fact, one of the places we played is still there in Indianapolis, the build-ing built by Madame C.J. Walker, right there on Indiana Avenue. Yeah man, they would come there to India-napolis and they would ask for us. PJ: How large of a unit are you talk-ing about? This was not a big band? JS: No. We were a combo. This would have been around 1953. All this is in


James Spaulding

my book. I’m almost finished with it. PJ: What’s the title of it? JS: CHORD CHANGES. I’ve got to get my little P.R. campaign going be-fore I put it out here. We’ve got the cover. My wife and daughters are proof reading it and we’re getting to-gether all of my publishing to include in it. You know all that legal stuff that you need to protect yourself; copyrights and bar codes and such. I’ve got about 500 pag-es right now at home.

PJ: You were de-scribing the combo that used to string behind Bull Moose Jackson. How many people was that? JS: It was a quintet: bass player, drums, guitar, trombone and me on reeds. PJ: Have you played with any of those people since those days? JS: Melvin Rinds (an organ player), he’s still back there in Indianapolis. He won’t leave. He didn’t like New York. Blue Note wanted to sign him. We were all listening to Grant Green and Melvin would duck and hide. He didn’t want to get involved with the business side. He just wanted to be free. He’d be turning down gigs. He played back in our high school band. Back then, he’d be turning down gigs; he played drums and piano. In fact, we called our group “The Monarch Combo.” PJ: So the billing would read “Bull Moose Jackson and The Monarch Combo.” JS: Yes and there were others too. Singers would come there. I can’t re-member everybody. Johnny Ace came through there. Do you remember him? PJ: Sure. Sure. ‘Forever My Darling, I’ll Always Be True…’ JS: He had a good career with a trag-ic end.

PJ: So tell me, was Indianapolis like a hot music scene? JS: It was hot once but has since cooled down. It was affected by the racism in the country. To hear the big named acts you had to go downtown, outside of the neighborhood. Whites controlled all of the downtown area and they subscribed to segregation.

They had Louis Armstrong com-ing to the down-town theater with a big picture of his beautiful smile on a poster that advertised, “For Whites Only”.

JS: My earliest influences in the mu-sic came from my father, who was a musician and my grandmother who sang in the Baptist church. Also you could learn about other musicians from talk among the elders at the barbershop. That’s the real meaning of ‘hearing it through the grapevine’. The talk of elders was another way to learn. I learned music from my father who was a musician. My mother was very supportive and she sang at church ev-ery Sunday. So I had the experience of being blessed and baptized in the church. She never dis-couraged my playing and practicing. I taught my-self the flute. The school let you take the instruments home, to be respons ib le and bring them back. PJ: I under-stand that the embouchure for the alto is particularly difficult. I’ve been told that

the alto and the clarinet are hard to play. JS: Back then in school, everyone who wanted to play the saxophone would first have to learn to play the clarinet. I was committed to playing the alto, so I had to get out my little practice book and that clarinet and go to work. Of course the fingering is different, the keys are completely dif-ferent; clarinet is a B flat instrument and the alto an E flat instrument. I worked on it until I got good enough to pass my tests and began on the alto. I played the clarinet in the marching band, then later on I got together on my alto and my flute and from there I got good enough to play flute in the senior orchestra. I was able to read music. That’s what saved me, being able to notate and read music. I un-derstood the value of notes, even at my young age. I was a sophomore in the senior orchestra playing the flute. PJ: So you taught yourself the flute? JS: I’m self-taught on the flute. I was also a member of the woodwind quartet: flute, French horn, clarinet and bassoon. We had a young sister on the French horn and my friend Al

played the bassoon. It was amazing to see him handle

that thing, especially b e c a u s e the clari-net was kicking my butt. We got togeth-er my last s emes ter at Chris-pus At-tucks High School and played var-ious dates t h r o u g h -out India-n a p o l i s , even on television. E v e n t u -ally, they asked if we could play in the reed section of a

“You could learn about other musicians from talk among the elders at the barbershop. That’s the real meaning of hearing it

through the grapevine.”


James Spaulding

big band with older musicians. I said okay and they hired me. PJ; So, you’ve been gigging since childhood literally? JS: We even had a Shri-n e r s Band and I played for them too. PJ: You marched for the Shriners? JS: Yeah m a n ! In my fez and apron, it got me together for basic training in the army, blowing that flute and marching. PJ: Did you blow in the Army Band? JS: Yeah, after 8 weeks of basic train-ing. My father got me hooked up with the Army Band at the time I signed up. He told them “my son is a musi-cian. They need to consider him for the band”. They signed me up there and put me on the road to basic train-ing and after they shipped me to Cali-fornia to audition for band training at Fort Hood. I auditioned for a spot in an all white band. There was one oth-er brother in the band but he was on the edges of getting thrown out. He wasn’t handling the pressure of being the only Black in the band. He was a nice brother but the experience was driving him to drink. I passed the au-dition on alto and they let me stay. I was ready for anything if it allowed me to play. PJ: You must have been pretty young then. How old were you? JS: Fifteen. I was getting by, playing my little recorder and my records: “Moody’s Mood for Love” by King

Pleasure. I got a chance to meet him in Indianapolis when he had Eddie Jefferson in his band. They would gather during breaks and sit around

telling stories of their travels, just like I’m do-ing here with you. PJ: What kinds of stories? JS: Stories of uptown and d o w n t o w n , ‘ B l a c k - t o w n ’ and ‘White-town’, stories about the work, stories about Harlem and the road. They would talk the kind of stuff you could see on Gil Noble’s LIKE IT IS. I collected all of his shows. I

could start a school with all of those stories.

JS: I left Chicago for a job with Freddie Hubbard here in New York. He was staying in Slide Hampton’s brownstone in Brooklyn. Eric Dolphy was staying there too at the time. I had about $80 when I got off the bus. I hurried and called Freddie right at the bus station and he said come on through but I wanted to see Birdland at 52nd Street first. I stood a long while at the door to Birdland, just starring. I was also afraid to confront the subway out to Brooklyn. I had to go to Carlton Avenue. I stayed there about a week as I tried to enroll in the Manhattan School of Music. It didn’t work out because they didn’t have a Jazz program. It was all ‘Classical’ music. Of course, now they have a fine Jazz program, but not then. PJ: I think it is interesting that it took your generation of musicians to educate the whole world about the fact that Jazz is America’s Classical music. From Charlie Parker on, we have your generation of musicians: Miles, Blakey, Silver, Hubbard, Sun

WANTED:Writers

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Ed Dessisso is a Free Lance writer and is the author of Vinyl Man, which is regular column in this publication.

Ra, Mingus, Timmons, The Adder-leys, Durham, Evans, Coltrane and all the others, to thank for extending the understanding of Jazz as a world-class music. JS: I think you’re right. I have to agree that America came to that con-clusion. PJ: They woke up. Look for CHORD CHANGES by James Spaulding.


James Spaulding

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Fab 5 Freddy

A Jazz Up-Bringing

at the Roots of Hip HopPart Two

By Willard Jenkins


In part one (scroll down or check the archives) of our lively conversa-tions with Fab 5 Freddy, the graffiti artist who was one of the pioneers of what has become the global pop phenomenon known as hip hop, we discussed the heavy jazz influence on young Fred’s Brooklyn upbring-ing, which included the significant influences of his godfather, NEA Jazz Master Roach. One course correction: the crib Fab described in part one, as Roach’s home on Gates Avenue, where Max, his dad Freddy Braith-waite, Sir and other Brooklyn Jazz ‘heads’, chess players and advanced thinkers would gather for their “jazz sets”, was actually rented by Fab’s dad and several members of his crew. It was a kind of hipsters’ clubhouse. “It was not Max’s but he surely was there often,” Fab corrected. “It was known and always referred to as 212 Gates Avenue.” In part two we explore the continuing influence of Max Roach and his encouragement of Fab’s early forays into what was then known as “rap” music and has become the broader global phenom-enon as hip hop

Wj: Is it safe to say that some of Max’s early consciousness of what was going on in early hip hop culture came from you?

Fab: Oh yeah. One day Max came to visit my dad and asked what I’m into and my dad said ‘oh he’s into some rapping thing’. This was before (hip hop) blew up, this was the early 80s when we were having street block parties and what not (in Brooklyn). I was already making my moves on the arts scene and I was never trying to be a rapper but I had a few rhymes that I could get on the mic at a block party and do my thing. There was a DJ across the street who had built a nice system in his crib, so I would go over there and rap a little bit. So my dad was aware of this, unbeknownst to me; my father was never into much contemporary music - - with the ex-ception of James Brown.

So one day I came home and my father said Max had been there and “I told him you’ve been doing this rap thing with your man across the street”…Right away I get kind of nervous be-

cause I never at that point considered anything music with the developing rap scene. I knew we weren’t playing instruments, we were making sounds and we were energetic and I knew this was a new thing that I dived into full speed ahead, but I didn’t consid-er it music-------- as in musician. My father said, “Max wants to check it out”, so I said OK. So we arranged a time a week or two later and he came through on my block on Hancock Street between Lewis and Summer (Brooklyn)-------which is now Marcus Garvey Blvd… which is very appro-priate.

I prepped my DJ and we worked out a lit-tle rou-tine. Once again the music is not formu-lated – the four-min-ute rap song is not developed, it’s just an “in the s t r e e t s ” e q u i v a -lent to just jamming, no real structure. Max comes by and I’m rhyming and my DJ is cutting up; he’s scratching… Max just peeped it. We did a little 20-minute thing and when we’re walking back to the house I’m thinking ‘what the hell is Max gonna think of this shit?’ Max said, “Let me tell you guys something, that shit that you and your man were do-ing was as incredible as anything that me, Bird, Dizzy and any of us were doing…” I’m thinking to myself [skeptically], ‘that’s so nice, trying to placate a young teenager…’ But that’s how Max was, always very en-couraging, but I’m thinking to myself, ‘yeah, right…’ Because I’m not seeing this as music, this a hip hop thing…

“Rapper’s Delight” was probably out as a big record at that point, nothing really breaking crazy like it is now. It wasn’t long after that through, me

now making moves on the art scene and people knowing that I’m doing my thing on the downtown scene in New York, graffiti, introducing peo-ple to the beginnings of this hip hop culture, that a guy who promotes a lot of things with performance art-ists says, “Man, I found out that Max Roach is your godfather… We were talking with him about his M’Boom group…’” And he says, “Man, I feel like why don’t you do something with Max together…” And I’m like think-ing, ‘huh, how the hell…?’ Next thing I knew Max says “yeah, let’s do it…” So then I started to have these con-versations with Max, and Max says

“yeah, you’re in charge, put this stuff together…”

This is the kind of enthusiasm he had and how eager they were to check out something new, which is the point Max made to me. He explained how Bird and the guys were about check-ing out new things; about how when Olatunji came around and they all jumped into the African thing and they were the first [generation] to take African names. He

was saying this also to ex-plain how a lot of cats wanted

him to continue playing the stuff that they architected back in the 40s and 50s, but Max was always saying ‘I’m always about checking out that new thing…’ Obviously Max was able to put that in full effect. Max had hipped Miles to my show “Yo MTV Raps” and [Miles] was checking it out. This was an extension of how Max would al-ways bring me up when the hip hop thing came up.

Another key thing that Max said to me after I gave him that demonstra-tion with DJ Spy, Max said, “…You know western music has for a long pe-riod of time been a balancing of three different things: melody, harmony and rhythm in equal ways. As black folks have been involved in music we’ve added an increasing emphasis


Fab 5 Freddy

on the rhythm element throughout the development of this music.” And Max, when he would have a conversa-tion like that would always say, “…from Louis Armstrong up until…” He said, “What you guys are doing is just totally rhythm…” Now that’s one thing that when he broke it down I said, ‘…oh shit, yeah…’ just grab-bing a piece of the music and having a way to manually manipulate the record to have this extended rhythm was something Max heard clearly. He also told me, “Man, if you don’t know it, this is so big what you guys are doing…” I’m like ‘yeah Max, great…’ [still skeptical].

It was the early 80s when I had this conversation with Max. By 1988 I’m the host of the first nationally tele-vised show to focus on this rap music [«Yo MTV Raps»] and go around the country interviewing the different people who were defining this culture – everybody from Tupac and Snoop to Will Smith and Run D.M.C., etc., etc. It would all become so much bigger than I ever, ever could have imag-ined… I’m talking like on a global basis – where people who speak oth-er languages could adopt this thing and make it theirs in a unique way. I thought back to what Max had said and how he was right, and how when we get into it, we were just gonna em-brace this whole rhythm thing, and how just the verbal, this whole rap-ping thing was interesting.

At what point did the light go on and you realized that this was part of a continuum – that what your father and Max and those guys were into… there was a straight-line continuum to what you and your contemporaries were getting into in the 80s?

Fab: It was during that time that it blew up. I’m hosting “Yo MTV Raps,” which just came out of nowhere, that was never an intention of mine to be on camera doing things… I always wanted to do things culturally to help stir it up and create these big-ger platforms. A lot of my ability and understanding of that were things that I absorbed around my dad and his friends; knowing that Max Roach and these musicians were loved more

kid with sneakers on and his hat to the side… you were made to look like you were one of those criminals that was destroying the city. So “Wild Style” the movie became this first look that many people around the world had and a spark that ignited them to get busy, and I’m proud of that. Those ideas came directly from the experiences I had being around those kind of individuals [like Max Roach] and knowing that they made global moves.

so around the world than here… The fact that I knew people who were big in Paris, and Italy, and Japan was just amazing to me, it gave me a sense of the world as a very young kid.

Hence key things that I would make happen or launch or instigate in hip hop were motivated by these ideas – knowing that, wait a minute, this stuff that we’re doing in the ‘hood’ – in the Bronx or Brooklyn – is not hap-pening anywhere else in the world. To me that was interesting and I knew it would be at least accepted in other places around the world be-cause these people had embraced and understood the music we were mak-ing and put musicians like Max and them on a pedestal on a par with the greatest European musicians ever, and I felt that these people would at least appreciate the things we were doing, because at that time it was not in any way appreciated by main-stream culture here in America. And that led me to then do things which would become very significant.

The first film on hip hop culture, “Wild Style,” I starred in, I did all the music for, I collaborated with a guy named Charlie Ahearn on the film. The initial idea I had was to make a film that showed that there was a link between this music, this rap-ping and DJ’ing, this break dancing and this graffiti art… there were no links [established previously]. I felt that they were all very similar and if we could put it together in a movie, in a story that depicted it as such, it would create a much more cohesive cultural picture and a look at what we were doing in the streets and the ghettos of New York. There was no positive press or mentions of a young

Willard Jenkins is a Jazz Journalist his blog is www.openskyjazz.com


BARRY HARRIS(Doctor of Arts)

PianistTel. (201) 863-2358

Fab 5 Freddy

Where the Music & the Universe Meet


The Internet is a great place for Jazz aficionados to learn more about the music they love. In this issue we provide you with two sites that show Jazz at its best. Over the years the name has been changed from www.harlem.org. The original address was misleading because this site is not about the village of Harlem. The new address is http://www.a-great-day-in-harlem.com because the site in question is about a photograph, which is now shown. A Great Day In Harlem now provides you informa-tion about the Jazz musicians shown in this photograph. Ten years later the new site provides you with the in-formation and then some.

When you click on the face or body of one of the persons in the photograph, a detailed profile of that person comes up, including a small list of their re-c o r d -i n g s . The site provides you with a variety of links to inves-t i g a t e ; when you click one of the links you will discover additional sites to vis-it. There is a wealth of information here, so be prepared to spend some time. Only four members (in this

photograph) are alive; I did the research on the living members. Let’s both do the research to find out who they are.

You hear it all the time when listening to the radio –the web-site address of your favorite Jazz program. You probably think, “I don’t need to visit the site because the program is so good.” Not so; www.Jazzset.org is more than an appendage to WBGO’s popular Jazzset. Not only do you get and overview of the program, but you also get a short biography of each person involved in the show. As you explore the current program information, you see a listing of up and coming shows. It also

includes different categories. In ad-dition, you can visit their archives.

There has been a change on the “set”. As of October 2001, Bradford Mar-salis stepped aside as host. The new host is Dee Dee B r i d g e w a t e r

for the site and the programs. What a bargain. Dee Dee Bridgewater has been a vibrant host for many years and has innovating programming.

The World of Jazz radio program is on WBAI radio 99.5 FM NYC Sunday’s @ 11PM. Featuring the best Jazz from its inseption to the performers of today. Join us for an exciting evening of music, interviews and information.

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