My hearts unfolds like a
flower when I get the opportunity to experience the culture of jazz.
I was squealing
with delight at the idea of celebrating nature’s abundance of simple joys. What was being celebrated?
Black history.
Jazz history.
The history of jazz dance.
The event was hosted by the
Harlem Swing Dance Society and was held at the Pelham Fritz Recreational Center
in Harlem, NY and featured me and my band, Stephanie Jeannot’s Savoy Four Band.
Please check out the mini clip
of the event that was held here:
https://youtu.be/NmgnLuWKMBI
The ambiance was great there in
that Harlem venue located at Mount Morris Park. The art on the walls gave an
appeal that just melted my heart.
I walked in and saw dancers dancing with an
instructor teaching them a bit of jazz dance from its history at the Savoy
Ballroom where the lindy hop was first introduced. I always enjoy these events
because of the air of knowledge and jazz that I am able to breathe in while
history is being shared until the band is ready to play the music to set the
dancers up on a rhythmic fleet.
An eclectic array of standards
was hoisted into the air met by the swinging dancers on the floor who met our
sounds with energetic body movements. We played finger snapping rhythms,
evocative classics, and modernized versions of antiquated songs. The instrumentalists
did not shy away from improvising solos or showcasing their unique flavor which
made it easy for me to be drawn in by their sounds to sing before the host of
people rhythmically propelled to dance to the music. They danced to throbbing
beats played by Napoleon Revels-Bey who approached the counter rhythms with
brushes of purposeful soulfulness. They bopped to the thumping of the technical
virtuosity of Hill Greene. They hammered their heels to the floor to the
variety of tinkling sound played by pianist Danny Dalelio and I sang to the twists
and turns of their music as the music gave a cultural salute to the sounds they
played.
I was suddenly flooded with
memories of earlier times when purveyors of the music would gather dressed to
the nines to share their artistic expression. I thought of artists like Billie
Holiday, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie,
Thelonious Monk and Max Roach. Music was definitely their vehicle for
improvisation whether it was playing, singing or dancing to it because music is
all about self-expression and sharing. They
were always draped in the finest of threads and communicating to the audience
with their hearts full of music. It was a fertile harmonic ground for joy to be
sprung. It was the world’s most glamorous atmosphere and jazz history at its
best. How could one not absorb the cultural influences and be inspired by those
troubadours of yesteryear who made great triumphs with their music?
With each deep-throated growl,
the onlookers danced and danced and danced.
That day still remains imprisoned
in the walls of my heart. I have a growing admiration for the culture of jazz
which makes my heart skip a beat more and more each time I dabble into it. Music
infuses me enthusiasm and makes me feel alive. And so, I have grown this
insatiable hunger to listen and to learn and to sing and to dance and to just
take in music as much as I can; because it is my first love and because I have
a growing appetite for it.
The more I sing, the more it calms my rage. Thankful
for every musical opportunity and for the beautiful gift of song that God
planted in me when he fearfully and wonderfully created me.
