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,
,
Juneteenth
I sit in coffeehouses
And read
Because Lincoln freed
My ancestors
I can live ( almost )
Anywhere because Martin
Luther King had the Audacity
To believe we were as good
As them
I can eat in ( almost ) Any
Restaurant
Cos Freedom Riders and
Sit in-ers chose to listen
To the ghosts of the past
And not back down
And a man can’t ride your
Back, if it isn’t bent…
I go where I want only
Because Black Union
Soldiers decided they would
Rather die free and Jesus was
Their only King
Freedom is not free
It is rented, paid with
The blood of ancestors
From generation to
Generation
So, when you see me sit
In coffeehouses, reading
And writing, I’m not
Just giving thanks to my
Peeps, but making plans
For the next battle ahead.
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Erren Kelly is a three-time Pushcart nominated poet from Boston whose work has appeared in 300 publications (print and online), including Hiram Poetry Review, Mudfish, Poetry Magazine, Ceremony, Cacti Fur, Bitterzoet, Cactus Heart, Similar Peaks, Gloom Cupboard, and Poetry Salzburg.
Click here to read “Under Quarantine” — COVID-era poetry of Erren Kelly, published by Jerry Jazz Musician
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Listen to the 1960 recording of Max Roach performing his composition “Freedom Day,” from his album We Insist: Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, which is made up of Roach (with Oscar Brown) compositions written in response to the civil rights movement. The album cover references the era’s sit-in demonstrations.
Joining Roach (drums) on this piece are Abbey Lincoln (vocal); Booker Little (trumpet); Julian Priester (trombone); Walter Benton (saxophone); and James Schenk (bass). [Candid Records]
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From Wikipedia…this description of “Freedom Day”
The second track on the album is “Freedom Day,” a track that is an extension from the slavery-driven (prior tune) “Driva’ Man”. This track is a response to Emancipation, which became official law in 1865. This track was also written and arranged by Max Roach.
Although the track is titled “Freedom Day,” Max Roach confessed to Ingrid Monson “we could never finish it,” because freedom itself was so hard to grasp: “we don’t really understand what it really is to be free. The last sound we did, ‘Freedom Day,’ ended with a question mark.” This tension between expectancy and disbelief is also mirrored in the musical technique of the track. [Album producer Nat] Hentoff wrote, “‘Freedom Day’ manages to capture both the anticipation and anxiety of the moment of Emancipation by setting its minor-blue solos over a feverishly paced rhythm section.” The conflicting layering of the instruments in the track help to express this conflict of belief in the piece.
Hentoff wrote that Lincoln’s vocal performance is bursting with impatience, reflecting the anticipation that the track inhabits. Although this track is the most highly arranged tune on the album and the melody is simple, the rhythms of Lincoln’s vocal lines do not match the accent patterns created by the rhythm section. This track also switched textures frequently, moving quickly from an opening of horn voicings to Lincoln’s vocals, followed by the introduction of a new horn melody, consecutive horn solos, and a drum solo. In his liner notes, Hentoff includes the instrumental solos played by Booker Little on trumpet, Walter Benton on tenor saxophone, Julian Priester on trombone, and Max Roach on drums.
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Click here to visit the Wikipedia page for this album
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Click for:
Information about Kinds of Cool: An Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry
More poetry on Jerry Jazz Musician
“Saharan Blues on the Seine,” Aishatu Ado’s winning story in the 68th Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest
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