It starts with a tragedy.
A 17 year old girl struck down.
Her married older lover holds the gun.
At the funeral, the scorned wife arrives.
Her focus is singular.
With knife in hand, she seeks revenge on the dead.
What follows is an exploration of these three characters, inextricably linked…
By marital and extramarital vows.
By tragic pasts and hopeful futures.
By love lost and rediscovered.
Jazz is lyrical and rhythmic.
At times, a quick staccato. A tap-tap-tap.
Your eyes dance along the page, working to keep up with the beat. Your heart quickens. Maybe, you wipe your brow.
And then the mood shifts.
A tenor sax tells the story of home where the vestiges of slavery and the inferno of racial brutality reside.
Soaring and diving like a “redwing,” the horn captures the grief as well as the resilience.
But my favorite is the full ensemble. Bass and Drums. Horn and Piano. The musicians know each other. They go way way back.
And when they play together, it’s just as natural and easy as moonlight on a table for two.
It might sound cliche, but Jazz is powerful.
It’s freedom.
And in a broken world, the record keeps spinning.
G
A beautiful review