Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra) | Black Agenda Report

Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

08 Sep 2021

🖨️ Print Article

Photo: Janine Robinson

Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem

(For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)

Gathering witnesses bearing beautiful collisions—

Kansas City, New Orleans, Harlem—in Harlem. Only

Harlem fetes YardBird in Marcus Garvey Park. Only

Harlem has Big Easy Chief of Congo Nation do the

honors. It’s still a COVID 19 scene and Black masking’s

an act of communal resistance…

It’s still a COVID 19 scene and the virus’s variations

are playing “Giant Steps” within Monk’s complicated

compositions. It’s still a COVID 19 scene and greed

driven confederate governors are playing with lives;

Playing simple songs sounding like “Mississippi Hot-

dog”/“Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars and Bars…”

Spy Boys check Jazz Tribe temps and statuses.

They buy Big Chief time to procure and secure

Suspenders; adjust his invisible headdress and

prepare sacred songs for meeting The Peoples’ Tribe.

Charlie Parker’s music’s magic—Blues magnet gathering

grassroots, salt of the earth—Harlem’s finest—like

shavings of steel hardened by white heat and hammer

A drizzle decrescendos and morphs into the perfect

prelude, into micro climate mist—handing humidity a

rare defeat. The weather’s a bittersweet reminder of

Impermanence. Change—spiraling lower to higher—birth

to death; reminding us who are “Just Friends,” “Now’s

The Time” to connect—this evening’s the only time we own…

Older gentlemen—second wave Jitterbugs—with

muscle memory of Lindy Hop to Bebop honor the

Moment. They select skilled younger partners to

Swing, spin, twirl; showing off middle year bodies

more beautiful than perfect: cleavage, calves and

sculpted thighs revealed as colorful knee-high skirts rise

Maybe they couldn’t keep Malcolm alive or hold on to

Houses grandparents paid off. But tonight they hold

on to one another—hold on to Charlie Parker—Bird

with strings attached…

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at:

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Music

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.

More Stories

Natasha Lennard
New York Spends $225 Million on Its Own “Cop City” — to Make the Whole City Run on Cops
12 Jun 2024
A proposed New York training facility shows how establishment politicians only understand governance through policing.
Alander Rocha
Inmates Challenge Motion to Dismiss in Alabama Forced Labor Federal Lawsuit
12 Jun 2024
The lawsuit against Alabama state officials, agencies, local governments, and private companies for their involvement in the prison labor program continues. Prisoners now must fight a wave of motions…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio June 7, 2024
07 Jun 2024
This week, we learn about how Black and Latinx communities in Buffalo have been targeted by a Black mayor and the police to raise city revenue. But first, a discussion about the recent South…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
South African Communist Party Navigates Coalition Building in the Wake of National Elections
07 Jun 2024
Lefika Chetty joins us to discuss the recent elections in South Africa, and the state of politics in the country.
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Buffalo's Black Mayor Targets Communities of Color to Raise Revenue
07 Jun 2024
We're joined by Dorethea Franklin and Anjana Malhotra to discuss a lawsuit against the City of Buffalo challenging unconstitutional and racially discriminatory traffic enforcement practices by the…