Jazz Maestro comes to town, but where is the Black Community to Welcome him?
I went to see this show on Friday in a concert entitled Let My People Go. I didn’t really know what to expect, because I’m not up on my jazz, but it was a real treat. Archie Shepp is in his mid-80s, and barely able to walk unaccompanied or to lift his microphone with easy, but not only does he blow a tune, he also sings. At first, I thought that Jason Moran on piano had a role limited to that of an accompanist, but I soon discovered that he’s an independent artist in his own right. We were treated to some of his solo pieces. I don’t have the technical words to describe Moran’s performance, but you could see the extent of his musicianship in the way that he played with the keyboard, crossing his hands (so that his left hands were playing the right side and vice versa) and moving flawlessly from tender strokes to more strident jabs. The singer Shirley Tetteh performed some of her compositions and did her own rendition of timeless Jazz numbers.
Perhaps I was wrong to think that brothers and sisters would have attended. There were so few in the audience, and I find this to be increasingly the case when I go to similar theatre events in London.
