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

Hanna Eid
Review: Cabral Writings
04 Sep 2024
Amilcar Cabral's work and writings are still as relevant today as they were when he walked the earth. The struggle for liberation in Palestine and across the continent of Africa is still alive and…
Brasil de Fato
Venezuela suffers national blackout, government denounces “sabotage” to electrical grid
04 Sep 2024
The outage began at 4 am on August 30 and affected several states in the country, including the capital Caracas.
Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
Reclaiming the Narrative on HAITI with Dr. Jemima Pierre
04 Sep 2024
Dr. Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor spoke to The Other Narrative about why Haiti is paying a price - 220 years after it won Independence from the jaws of colonizers. She discussed…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio August 30, 2024
30 Aug 2024
We hear from the first journalist to have been arrested on charges of violating the Terrorism Act. First, Jill Stein discusses the Green Party campaign and the Democratic Party's attempts to stop…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Jill Stein's Green Party Campaign
30 Aug 2024
Green Party nominee for president, Dr. Jill Stein, talks to us about her campaign and how she plans to surmount the challenges the Green Party faces from the Democratic Party.