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

Tunde Osazua
Violence and Extraction in Mozambique: How Neo-Colonial Forces and Corporate Interests Undermine Security
13 Nov 2024
Western corporate interests have targeted Mozambique to exploit its natural resources, using tactics of destabilization and neoliberal austerity measures to weaken the nation. While these imperialist…
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Unprincipled, Unstrategic, and Unsustainable: e(U)logy for the U.S. Climate “Movement”
13 Nov 2024
The ineffectiveness of the climate movement during the 2024 election signals its inevitable collapse. But from the rubble, a new movement dedicated to the working class can be built.
Fedaa al-Qedra
Palestinian surgeon survives Sde Teiman and Ofer Prison
13 Nov 2024
The heartwrenching story of Dr. Khaled Al Serr is a haunting example of the barbarity of the Israeli entity and the strength of the Palestinian people.
Stanley Kwabla Arku
Niger to Host Conference in Solidarity with the Sahel Amid its Anti-Imperialist Upsurge
13 Nov 2024
Activists from across Africa and the world will gather in Niger from November 19 to 21 for the “Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel”.
Noah Hurowitz
Congress Is About to Gift Trump Sweeping Powers to Crush His Political Enemies
13 Nov 2024
The House is set to vote Tuesday on a bill that would let the administration destroy nonprofits it claims support terrorism.