“Once
you know what you want, getting it requires perseverance”
- Vanessa Van Edwards
I felt sharp with excitement
to be able to sit down and have a conversation about the beautiful culture of
jazz with award winning NY-based jazz saxophonist, Carl Bartlett Jr.
He took the time to describe
what changed the script for him to submit himself to the art of jazz that
became a way of life for him which lead to his becoming a finely crafted jazz
musician. Just by listening, you can hear the amount of confidence that this
brilliant architect of music has, as he graced my radio show Jazz on the JNote with his time, music and thoughts.
Once I knew I wanted to find out the answer to what is Jazz, I used it as a basis for writing my college thesis which through the process, my radio show Jazz on the JNote was born at Medgar Evers College and I used it along the way as I set out to write 30 pages on jazz, identity and racism. Through writing it, I came across many books where this question is posed and no two people respond the same. I have interviewed several different artists and have received some interesting responses. And so, as I continue on with this show and am blessed with more opportunities to feature guests on the show, I will continue to pose the question because it leads to interesting thoughts worth considering; especially for me who is also a vocalists who sings jazz as well.
As I asked Bartlett Jr the
question "what is jazz?," he made a concerted effort to answer. He also shared his story on how he broke through in the breakthrough initiative segment and shared his thoughts on why he feels it is important for musicians to practice
repeatedly, on purpose.
Bartlett Jr is a NY-Based
musician who is making a difference with his music. Jazz seeps through is pores. Everyone who
listens to his music, loves what they hear. He has achieved great heights because
once he knew what he wanted to be, he became a creature of habit and worked to
the point of exhaustion to breakthrough. I am thankful that he was willing to
share about his lifetime of experience as a jazz musician. If you are
interested in listening to our interview, please click on the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25EfqdswfM4&feature=youtu.be
This episode was originally
aired on Sunday, August 19, 2018 on http://theenglishconnectionmedia.com at 7PM and is definitely an inspirational treat for young musicians looking for
motivation. Hope you'll check it out
I can’t believe that it is the
unofficial end of summer.
Someone said to me that there is no more wearing white after today. Already?
School is back in session in just a few days and in a few weeks, the autumn
equinox will make its way into the days of our lives. But to think of the fact that
I took full advantage of the summer makes me happy.
I was surrounded by warm,
genuine and kind people, and I was able to seize every opportunity of enjoyment
that I could possibly have. And though summer is about to part ways with us, I
can honestly say that I had a mighty good time and the positive memories of it
will remain.
The love that lingers is like
a souvenir. My heart still skips a beat for every sunset that I captured and for the day when I was sitting on the bus and saw the actual glimpse of the sunrise with my own eyes
for the first time.
And I still feel so
blessed for seeing the result of the hard work of my friend who uses her
beautifully landscaped garden for planting and shared a bit of her plentiful
harvest with me. And I can’t help but have
this look of delight I have on my face from meeting the smiles of my family in
person as opposed to on Facebook or Instagram, and being liberated by every
second spent in conversations and good times during our reunions. Getting together with family always leaves a good feeling in my heart.
And I still get butterflies
when I think of the touch of God’s ocean water on my skin as I took a dip in his
ocean all the many times I went to the beach and washed away the weariness of the first half of the year that I was
carrying on my back. Nothing like the beach to get me in a somber mood. Something about just letting your foot touch the sand that changes everything.
And it still knocks me off my feet for all the awesome stage
performances that I got to have that were different for me and very much built
up my present level of vocal performance expertise a bit more.
And I still burst into laughter when I think
about the medical physician telling me that I am getting old which is not a false
statement at all, but something that makes me know that I have to prioritize making it a
thing to seize more life events that leave fond memories.
And then I still feel bouts of
sadness for the people I have lost to heaven which had me feeling emotionally drained; some even changed my way of thinking about how to approach what is there for me on the road ahead. But,
thank God that he always provides shelter from the storm.
And here we are at Labor
Day. It is September; already. Where did
the time go? Am I the only one who feels like time is like virtually flying?
Did somebody say that the first day of school will be 94 degrees? Can I go to the beach instead of to the class room?
I guess the change of pace is
not a bad thing at all though. But while we have an extra day to let summer out of our system, lets embrace it with our whole hearts.
Today
is the day to take a pause, relax, relate and ease up off work mode for a day to prepare ourselves for all the many tasks that are about to lure us into being buried under piles of things to do. But let's not think about the clutter of the work pile on our desks. It's Labor Day. God bless the child who let’s go for a day and let’s God
direct the sails into a moment of rest from the 9-5 environment.
And God bless the child
that can’t get the day off, has to go to work on Labor Day anyway and still has to
wake up early in the morning to be to the office at 9AM. And God bless the child who still has not started doing the summer readings and homework that is due when you enter into the class rooms during the first week. Hopefully you will get it together and be prepared for the tests that you might be given based on your summer assignments. And God bless the child who will enter into the new
school year as a teacher or a student with a revivaled interest in participating in the educational process.
Whatever it is that will be your
experience for the rest of 2018, God bless you!
I dedicate this song to you. It’s
a rendition of Billie Holiday’s and Arthur Herzog’s God Bless the Child performed
with the New Rochelle Jazz Orchestra at the Hudson Park Band Shell Summer
Music Concert Series in New Rochelle and featured me on vocals. Please check out a clip of our performance here: https://youtu.be/bcrKRwO9TGM
The weather forecast had called
for rain that day which would have cancelled our performance but
luckily, God had a different story to tell and it turned out to be the most beautiful evening
with this gorgeous breeze that just made everything great.
And so, under the
summer night sky, we got tofill the
park with orchestral sounds and I can still feel the excitement that took over me as I got to sing with with this big band again.
I had a mighty good time starting my Labor Day weekend off performing with them. What are your Labor Day plans? Whatever they are, I hope you have a wonderfully blessed day. Thank you so much for reading my blog post.
Aretha Franklin is the most
celebrated female artist in the history of recorded music.
She had uninhibited expression
full of beauty, raw power, expressive character, vitality and hope. She was
regarded as a legend in the making by the tender age of 16. She always gave all
that she had to give when she was on the stage.
Aretha had the greatest impact
on the soul sound because folks who heard her would marvel at the wonder of her
voice that just grabbed people by the collar. She transcended all musical
boundaries starting out in the church with Gospel, then being acknowledged as the
next Billie Holiday and the new Queen of the Blues singing jazz and blues, to
later move into the R&B and crossing over into the pop sphere, being
reigned the Queen of soul for winning the title of Best Female Vocal Soul Performance
for eight years in a row and also was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of
Fame.
I have been listening to her
more and more ever since her transition from earth to her new
home in heaven
and I am finding more and more reasons to love her voice. The clarity, the
rifs, the sheer perfection of what she was able to put out when she sang was
nothing short of amazing.
She said, “artists covering her
songs was the most sincere form of flattery” (Aretha Franklin). The other night
at an event with my band, the JNote Band, I did just that, dedicating her song
to her life and everything that she was able to accomplish in this world with
the gift that God gave her.
She said that if she could get
a young singer to be inspired by her singing then she has done her job. She did
just that and more. Job well done Aretha. You have truly inspired a wealth of
talented individuals in this world and I truly R-E-S-P-E-C-T who you were as a
woman and a vocalist.
This cover of her tune was
performed at Shrine World Music Venue in Harlem, NY on August 17, 2018. Aretha
Franklin died on the 16th of August. It was only right for us to pay
tribute to an artist that we all collectively as a band really loved a lot. The band features me, Stephanie
Jeannot on vocals, Richie Johnson on drums, Mark Payne on bass, Prrrl on keys
and Phil Smith on guitar. The awesome footage was captured by my good friend, William Rivers.
“Rocksteady” is only one of
the many of her songs from her 50-year long career and there are songs I am
only now discovering she sang, as I continue to read through a biographical
writing about her life by Mark Bego entitled: Aretha Franklin: The Queen of
Soul which features a little under 600 pages about the Queen herself. I started reading it a few days ago because I was asked by one of the public libraries, to
put on a full-length tribute show dedicated to Aretha that will be about 90 minutes of a tribute to
her life and I don’t think it would be appropriate to do something of that magnitude without knowing more in
depth about who she was, besides what I already know based on the media and her
songs that I like to sing. It is an interesting book so far. I have managed to read about 35% of the book which is good because my song list and everything that happens on the stage for it is going to be based on that and other researched information I come across and though 65% of a book left to read is not that much to read, there is a lot to be done to put on a show like this. But I'm working on it.
Maybe you are interested in reading
this book too. Feel free to check it out here:
All I can say is that I hope I
do her justice because she deserves it so please, keep me in your prayers
everybody as I embark on this journey that won’t be as easy as it seems. But I
was asked, and I am going to do what I was asked to do. Thank you
for reading my blogpost everybody. Peace and blessings!
