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

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio July 29, 2022
29 Jul 2022
Glen Ford debating Michael Eric Dyson on Democracy Now in 2008, the abuses of the child welfare system in North Carolina, and residents of the University City Town Homes in Philadelphia face mass…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Glen Ford and Michael Eric Dyson 2008 Debate on Democracy Now
29 Jul 2022
On January 9, 2008 Glen Ford debated Michael Eric Dyson on the program Democracy Now. The topic of discussion was Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Abuses in the Child Protection System
29 Jul 2022
Across the country entities that are known as child welfare agencies regularly break up black families by claiming to care for the needs of children. Amanda Wallace is the founder of Operation Stop…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Save the University City Town Homes
29 Jul 2022
Rasheda Alexander is a tenant organizer at the University City Town Homes in Philadelphia. She joins us to discuss their struggle to stop a mass eviction amidst the proposed sale of their affordable…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Glen Ford's Irreplaceable Journalism
27 Jul 2022
I was very proud to write the preface to Glen Ford's book, The Black Agenda, which was published posthumously by OR Books. As we approach the first anniversary of Glen's passing, I endeavored to…