It is an American tragedy that this mind-bogglingly (you can use that word) astounding music is now an artifact, a relic in most circles. I feel like it's an artistic horror that snobs and academia high-jacked a music that was created by “the people“ and for “the people.” And most of all, it's a crocodile-tear-cryin-shame that what used to be the music of the youth-generations gradually grew to be viewed as lame and archaic -- and has stayed that way for some years, now. And I won't even get into how my African-American peers shun this music that, along with hip-hop, is one of the greatest Negro contributions to American art, if not the greatest.

It all makes me teary eyed. And, as a jazz-owner, a Jazz Survivor, I feel like it’s my duty to protect, cherish and promote it -- hence, the Jazz Survivors’ Series.

The objective of this monthly feature is quite simple, actually: We want to put real music listeners onto a forgotten gem (jazz music) in all of its facets. So, you’ll get tunes from popular legends -- Trane and Miles -- but also some of the greats that have been lost to time, like Joe Henderson and Max Roach. We’ll put you on to all the nasty young kats that are seeking to propel the music forward and also introduce some recent musicians that have made sure they are keeping jazz’ grand tradition in tact. We’ll offer incredible, inspiring, filthy and beautiful tracks from all the various subsets of this sprawling genre, too, whether it be early jazz, fusion, soul-jazz, post-bop, etc (but, absolutely, positively, categorically no easy-listening, soft-jazz). And we’ll direct you to where you can go to kop the music and support the artists.

If you ever thought some version of, “Man, I’d really like to get into jazz, but I just don’t know where to begin,” then you’ll want to religiously check the Survivors Series each month.

“Kate Song”,
Casually Introducing Walter Smith (2006) -- Walter Smith III:
This track right here is courtesy of a new, young sax-kat, Walter Smith. The track is, simply put, beautiful. The "head" (equivalent to the "hook" in hip-hop or "chorus" in singing music) will make you smile. The head is dope, because it winds and jumps and expands and does all the majestic things that great jazz heads do and Walt layers the sax with some soft vocals to give it a richer feel. It has a lyricism that, I feel, is accessible to ears that grew up on our generations’ music. Which is the point: he's playing jazz through the prism of his personal musical experiences, which inevitably includes hip-hop and soul and R&B and rock and everything else. It's not some boring, lazy, reprisal of 1940s jazz, which certain young musicians fall victim to (for a variety of reasons, some valid and others corny).

The song goes through several changes, as well, which is something that jazz created. There really was no such thing as a “bridge” in music, until some blues-jazz dudes decided to mess with their tune arrangements. Because of all the changes and in-n-outs and swooping and swinging, I feel confident that you won’t would mistake this for some Najee-garbage, even though it has a contemporary feel.

Check Robert Glasper on keys, undoubtedly the illest young piano player doing it today. He's playing the Fender Rhodes (an electric piano), which tends to give the songs a more current/contemporary/hip feel than the acoustic piano. Eric Harland (of Terrance Blanchard fame) is on drums. He's grooving and improvising and being nasty, but behaving, too.

Anyways, Smith's a killer. The band is monster. The song is nuts. Check it out. If you want more from him, click on the album link and kop.

“Black Renaissance”,
Black Renaissance: Body, Mind and Spirit (1976) -- Harry Whitaker:
This joint is a true gem in black music and by black music I mean music created by a black artist that specifically speaks to the Black Experience. The whole song swells that sense of pride and wonderment of the black race, which says a lot. I don’t know whether it’s the spoken word, the afro-rhythms or the pain and freedom that the soloists blow through their horns. All I know is that this tune and the album have to be considered seminal statements in black music.

It’s a 24-minute tune, broken into three distinct suites, each signaled by a new bass-line, with a different horn-soloist taking off on some magnificent trip. This is important, too, because our generation almost never digests songs longer than the typical four-minute joints made with the radio in mind. Jazz songs, however, are routinely seven, eight, ten, sometimes 20 or 30 minutes long. I like to say that creativity takes time, but it doesn’t waste time. “Black Renaissance” is one of those profound sonic-creations that go on forever, but never lags.

As with all jazz, it begins and ends with the musicians and they’re all murdering their instruments on this track. But, pay attention to Whitaker, as pianist and composer, and the way he keeps the tune sounding so important with the weighty chords that he reiterates throughout; Buster Williams on the most thumpin', grimy bass; and, my personal highlight, trumpeter Woody Shaw -- whose brief career is akin to, say, Big Pun in that, although he wasn’t the greatest, he was beast and unique, but tragically died far too soon -- taking a solo, "blowin’ all outside the horn" as my Pops would say.

It‘s a classic. Knowledge, yall.