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:
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© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
BAR Editor and Columnist Ajamu Baraka joined BettBeat Media, alongside Dr. Gerald Horne, to discuss the US imperialist campaign against Iran amid the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and how the same…
Western threats against Iran and other nations reveal the persistence of white supremacist ideology.
“I don’t like Trump but Iran is bad,” is the siren song of feckless liberals. This moment calls for condemnation of the U.S. and unreserved support for the Iranian people and for their state.
“The events in Iran are a symptom—of a 20th century disease called imperialism.”
The US and Israel’s wholly unprovoked attack on the sovereign nation of Iran has given Sudan a hand in their own battle for sovereignty.
