The excitement I felt when I heard the Debbie Deb sample on Kendrick Lamar’s Squabble Up off his new GNX project was overwhelming. It took me right back to being 12 and starting to navigate the treacherous teenage years with the help of music. The first record I remember buying was Fascinated by Company B. I listened to that song over and over and over again. This style of music that was called Freestyle was extremely popular and overlapped with a lot of early hip-hop in those days in California. According to Wikipedia, freestyle music developed in the early 1980s in New York:
I remember my first after school dance in the school gym at Raney Junior High in Corona in 1985. I walked into the school gym and the song “La Dream Team Is In The House” was playing and at that moment the most popular, pretty, and feared girl in school walked in with a level of confidence that I will never forget. She wore thick black eyeliner and a long flowy skirt and tank top. Her bangs were hair sprayed high and the sides of her hair were teased to look like wings, also shellacked with aqua-net. She was walking into the dance while that song was playing and she sang along to the chorus but changed the words to hype herself. “oh yes we’re here, the dream team is here” became “oh yes I’m here, Alice is here.”
Other notable songs that I loved from that genre and time that really exemplified the era include the following, and in certain neighborhood swap meets or backyard parties all across the Southland, these songs still get regular rotation:
I created the main collage art and included it as a free hi-res digital download where you can access it here. (Copyright Sylvia Marina Martinez, 2024. Not for resale, personal use only). If you would like to make a donation to support my work including all my free content on my two main blogs, I very much appreciate it.
As I was recovering from the flu last week I decided to watch the documentary American Symphony on Netflix and it was absolutely heart-wrenching and timely and spoke to the incredible creativity required to survive a history as brutal and violent as American history. The story really reminded me of the healing and survival power of creative expression, especially music. Multi-instrumentalist musician and music therapist Cinamon Blair life story and family legacy is one thread of that historical tapestry that needs to be shared.
Of Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickahominy lineage, her roots are in the Southeast US. Her musical legacy most recently goes back to her paternal grandfather. He was jazz musician Lee Blair, who migrated from Savannah, Georgia to Brooklyn in the 1920s and played and recording with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red-Hot Peppers, Louis Armstrong, Luis Russell, Billy Kato, Thomas Morris’s Seven Hot Babies, and Charlie Skeete. It was from this rich musical legacy that Cinamon was born into. Brooklyn-born, Massachusetts-based Cinamon is currently playing with the bands Rebirth and Brown Bones as well as continuing to work on her own music.
“Music has literally been about health wealth my whole life, as my Mother would stand in front of the speakers while I was in utero; blasting Blue in Green off of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis…to this day, is my go to soul soother…this music is imprinted onto my DNA and actually repairs my genetic code whenever listened to. I have been using Music Therapy applications most of my life without even knowing that’s what I was doing in an academic sense. I use music as a tool to self-sooth as well as to build connections, educate and activate myself and the listener. I am a working musician & a pre-licensed Expressive Therapist with a focus in Music Therapy.”
~ Cinamon Blair
Here is my interview with the effervescent Cinamon Blair.
What styles of music growing up sparked your love of music?
Can you tell me about your interest in music therapy and in what ways do you use musical therapy for yourself and how do you work with it for others or in what ways have you seen music be a healing force in your life?
My interest in Music Therapy was a natural progression from how I was formed in utero to how I was raised and how the public education system failed me and so many other creatives growing up. I would often rely on a Music Therapy modality, lyric replacement to pass exams. Lyric replacement is changing the lyrics to your favorite song with lyrics that are relevant to the situation. One that stands out in my memory is memorizing math equations to Spirits in the Material World by The Police…don’t tell Sting, he might sue me LOL! The act of writing music is a therapeutic practice, meaning every song written should not be shared with the masses but part of one’s own journal. Sometimes, writing a song that mends the soul can be shared with the world because there is a universal message in the music, in fact, I wrote a song called “Return to Paradise” about my Brother, who was murdered by Dade County Police in GA.
What motivated you to learn how to play the bass guitar and how old were you when you started learning music?
My first music lessons came directly from my parents by playing music in the home, all of the time. I was learning how to be an active listener, which informed my speaking and singing voice. I started taking Piano lessons around 5 yrs old and continued through High School but also picked up various other instruments in middle school and landing on upright bass in High School Orchestra. Both my younger Sister and I took music lessons at The Harlem School of the Arts on Saturday mornings. I’ve always been drawn to music that was heavy on Drums & Bass…the heartbeat.
I know you grew up in Brooklyn. What music was in your environment whether inside or outside the home that has influenced you? Are there any artists that you really admire or look to as inspiration?
Are there any non-musical influences that inspire your creativity?
This is a trick question because everything is musical if you’re actively listening but I love being in nature. Swimming, walking, hiking and meditating all influence my creativity.
What advice would you give to emerging artists who are just starting their artistic journeys?
Listen to as much music as possible and learn your favorite tunes by ear and play along. Keep pushing, stay true to yourself, be patient and be an active listener.
Can you describe the role that community and cultural heritage play in your work?
My community, wherever that may be, wherever I am, has played an important role is nurturing & growing me into the creative that I am and supports my/our music and my cultural heritage is my community so my/our music is a product of and supports the community through storytelling, performance and creative practices.
Are there any particular influences or sources of inspiration that have shaped your artistic practice?
My Sister Eyeserene Oasis is my cardinal influence and inspiration in even being a creative, among many other things. Particularly in my health and meditative practices, which I previously stated nurtures my creativity.
Could you share a specific project or artwork that holds significant meaning to you? What was the inspiration behind it?
Rebirth is currently in the process of recording our second studio album, but we will be releasing singles as they’re ready. Funding an album, as independent artists takes time.
How do you see your art contributing to or engaging with broader social or cultural conversations?
My singing and songwriting comes from lived experiences, so they’re mostly love songs. Because love is a spectrum and to be love, be loved and give love, you have to be in the practice of loving and that starts with self. Without self-love, we are forever searching for it, often in all of the wrong places.
Anything else you would like our readers to know about you or your art?
I am the granddaughter of a Jazz Musician that was shut out of the industry because he did not let the White Man talk to him however he wished, which was racist, emasculating and disrespectful. I hope my Grandfather is proud of all of my accomplishments thus far and continues to support me from the spirit realm, to reach my goals as an independent artist.
Thank you to Rebirth’s Conga player I-shea Iréne Shaikly for putting together this playlist. Follow her at @ishea_music.
I first discovered singer/songwriter, roots fiddler Anne Harris, through her work with trance Blues innovator Otis Taylor, who I had seen play at the Doheny Blues festival more than a decade ago. Anne recorded and toured worldwide for nearly a decade with Otis Taylor. Long time readers of this blog know how central the Blues has been to my musical journey.
Earlier this year GoFundMe’s Heroes spotlighted Anne’s crowdfunding of her historic commission of a handcrafted violin by luthier Amanda Ewing, the first and only female African American violin maker on record in the United States, making this the first professional commission on record of a violin by an African American female luthier for an African American female violinist. The story got quite a bit of press coverage and I was excited to talk to Anne about her roots in roots music and her love of the violin and of our conversation explored many offshoots such as AI and being co-creators, electoral politics, empowering storytelling, and representation.
I did a bit of a search and found that throughout history and spanning cultures worldwide, there are many folktales that feature a magical violin. From Elijah’s violin in the Egyptian Jewish folktale, the Scandinavian Fossegrim to Anansi, the fiddle playing trickster spider traced back to Ghana. It’s fascinating how Anne Harris’s journey into the world of the violin has a serendipitous connection to the beloved movie Fiddler on the Roof.
“I started begging for a violin when I was three and my mother took me to go see the movie version of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. She tells me that I stood up out of my seat in the beginning of the film when Isaac Stern is shown in silhouette playing the overture, pointed to the screen, and shouted, “Mommy that’s what I want to do!”
Born in Ohio, Anne grew up in a loving family in a musical household within a vibrant musical community, and it was not a given that she ended up playing American Roots music as she initially was classically trained and wasn’t exposed to the violin in the context of improvisation and blues/roots music. In popular music seeing Black people playing roots and folk music was a rarity until recently.
“I grew up in a house filled with music, within a community filled with music, within a music-filled world. My dad was an avid vinyl collector, and both of my parents loved music of all genres. Those sounds were the sonic backdrop of my childhood. Blues, Gospel, Classical, Opera, Musical Theater, Folk, Pop, Jazz, Soul, Country, Rock, and much more. The radio, my older sister’s collection, my friend’s music… All of it was foundational to my musical development. And being immersed in such a wide variety of music was a gift for which I’m so deeply grateful. The things that really spoke to me came from different parts of who I was exploring as I grew. I loved Issac Stern because he worked impossible magic with his instrument. I loved Stevie Wonder because of his obvious genius- weaving those incredible tapestries of emotion, with sound, with story. Mahalia Jackson because her voice was a direct conduit to Spirit. I loved the Musical ‘Hair’ for its freedom, (I performed in an amazing version of it produced entirely by me and my friends!), and Musical Theater in general. I loved to dance so Prince, Parliament Funkadelic, Rick James…and many many more of course. But honestly, I never thought specifically about becoming a professional violin player, because although I was in love with the instrument, I was trained Classically, and I never saw myself adhering to that structure. I really loved the freedom that improvisational players had, like guitar players, and since I wasn’t really listening to Bluegrass or Old Time music, it simply never occurred to me that I could take my instrument into contemporary genres. If you don’t SEE it, oftentimes it is really hard to imagine it when you are young. Because most young people begin their musical explorations by imitating what they see that excites them. I never saw a Black person playing Blues or American Roots music growing up, and certainly never a woman.”
Prior to her work with Otis Taylor, Anne was playing and writing American Roots music, and listening to a lot of Irish fiddle and Old Time music, as well as a lot of International music. Blues music was a pivotal turn in her musical journey as it changed her entire approach as a player. Anne was a musical theater major at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, and then moved to Chicago after graduating where she picked up her fiddle again, but this time instead of classical music, she became an improvisational player, and started working in various local indie and cover bands. It was that time that she decided to stop reading music and learn strictly by ear. Though Anne has worked hard to create a style and sound of her own, she credits groundbreaking fiddlers Papa John Creach, Sugarcane Harris, and Stuff Smithin influencing her development.
“These groundbreaking artists encapsulated for me what was possible for the instrument beyond the world of Classical music, or really even beyond Jazz as I was starting to play out in American Roots bands and Rock bands in Chicago. But as far as Jazz players, Regina Carter really snapped my neck as well. Her versatility and soul are astounding.”
Playlist of Anne’s Music as well as a few of her inspirations mentioned above.
“Speaking to systemic racism, certainly speaking to patriarchy, speaking to capitalism in its current form- all of these structures… it’s like this invisible highway of root structures underneath the United States, and from the bottom of the Earth comes this earthquake that’s kind of shaking those roots and creating new pathways for things to grow. And we are the embodiment of that growth potential.” ~Anne Harris
Photo by: Laura Carbone
Collage by: Sylvia Marina Martinez
Another theme in folkloric tales regarding the violin are the creation stories of the violin itself. As referenced in the first paragraph of this blog post and story also features a magical violin origin story here is a video of a talking a little bit more about her and Amanda’s collaboration.
What hasn’t been said or written about Queen Nina Simone? She has been called an icon, a legend, and a genius, and she is one of my favorite artists of all time and I would be remiss if I didn’t use my blogging platform to honor her music – especially her love of blues and her strong political stance. She passed away in April of 2003 and she has haunted me since. My late father told me a story of being about 16 years old in Hollywood. This would have been in the early/mid 60s. Nina Simone was playing at a club and he snuck in to see her. He met her for a few seconds and she told him how adorable he was. He used to listen to her version “Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” over and over, which the Animals covered a few years later. After my pops passed, I would listen to that song over and over too. It was soothing to my soul. She was incomparable and a complete bad-ass in everything she did.
Here are some of my favorite Nina tracks, starting with the aforementioned:
“Do I Move You?”
Here is Nina’s song, written by her contemporary, Langston Hughes:
“Mississippi Goddamn” was written by Nina in response “to the June 12, 1963, murder of Medgar Evers and the September 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young black girls and partly blinded a fifth. She said that the song was ‘like throwing ten bullets back at them,’ becoming one of many other protest songs written by Simone. The song was released as a single, and it was boycotted in some southern states. Promotional copies were smashed by a Carolina radio station and returned to Philips. She later recalled how Mississippi Goddam was her ‘first civil rights song’ and that the song came to her ‘in a rush of fury, hatred and determination'(Wikipedia).”
James Carroll Booker III (1939-1983) was one of the foremost musical and piano geniuses of the 20th century, yet his name is not as widely known beyond music lovers, musicians, and New Orleanians. That should change because his last album is being revisited by a reissue of his album Classified by Rounder Records by renown roots producer Scott Billington, who did the original sessions for the album in 1983. Scott has produced and played on more than 100 recordings and won two Grammy Awards and has been nominated for 10. I had the good fortune of speaking with Scott this past week about the “tragic genius” of James Booker, who died at the age of 43 before he could become the household legend his legacy deserves. He’s been called the Piano Prince of New Orleans, a wizard, the King of New Orleans Keyboards, a tragic genius, and the Bayou Maharaja. Who was this man who was so talented and brought to the surface so much tragic emotion? Talking with Scott, who knew him well, sheds some light on this enigmatic genius. He suffered from mental illness and addiction which stymied his rise to his proper place among musics’ legendary geniuses. This interview will be two parts as there is too much great info for just one post.
Rootnotemusic: People have called James Booker a genius. What do you see as his specific genius that is different from any other artist that sets him apart from other musicians labeled genius’ of his generation or his style of music?
Scott Billington: He could play more piano than anybody I ever heard. He could synthesize so many different styles of music.
Rootnotemusic: I heard gospel, ragtime, jazz, blues, classical.
Scott: He was a brilliant improviser. He had a classical background. He studied classical music when he was a boy and had a teacher that taught him Chopin and Rachmaninoff. He could do things with his mind that many other people couldn’t do. Earl King, the New Orleans piano player had many Booker stories. One of them was about showing up at a gig and the bandleader handed Booker a fairly complicated score and Booker looked at it for 10 or 15 seconds and Booker said “Okay I got it” and set it aside. And the bandleader said “What do you mean? You can’t play that!” Well he did.
Rootnotemusic: He was a true genius.
Scott: Yeah, Earl King said he had a photo mind, a photographic mind. Earl King told another story about the organist Jimmy Smith being in New Orleans and playing a show. They were backstage and they had an upright piano and Booker was back there and he said to Jimmy Smith ‘I really liked your show, but you made a mistake on the bridge to this song.’ And Jimmy Smith said ‘I didn’t make a mistake.’ And Booker said ‘Yes you did’ and he went to the piano and showed him. And Jimmy Smith said, ‘damn I guess I did.’ Booker said ‘well do you want to hear it backwards?’ and he could play the same song backwards and forwards with both hands at the same time.
Rootnotemusic: Why do you think he never achieved the wider notoriety of other musicians of his talent? (more…)
This April is the 30th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s tragic passing and my girl DJ Moonbaby (my musical soulmate for many years as evidenced by this, this, and this blog post) will be doing a special tribute this coming Thursday, April 10th, on her radio show “Unrestricted” on Acceleratedradio.net which airs on Thursdays 8-10 p.m. PST, and can be accessed via the internet or via the TuneIn, iHeartRadio, or iTunes apps (search Accelerated radio). Moonbaby will be interviewing both Zeola Gaye about her new book “My Brother Marvin” and producer Amerigo Gazaway on his Yasiin Gaye project (with Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def). Moonbaby will be playing some tracks from the Yasiin Gaye project, and some classic Marvin and Marvin-esque tracks:
Here is one of DJ Moonbaby’s choices for one of the best National Anthem performances out there by Marvin Gaye at the All-Star Basketball game in 1983:
One of the highlights of my time at SXSW 2014 was seeing Mr. Bobby Rush (who was nominated this past year for a 2014 GRAMMY Award in Best Blues Album for “Down In Louisiana”). There is a bit of discrepancy as to his age. He told the audience he was 81, however Wikipedia says 73. According to The Encyclopedia of Arkansas Music (where he lived for a while), “Bobby Rush, known as the ‘King of the Chitlin’ Circut’…was born Emmett Ellis Jr…in 1935, however the 1940 census lists him as three years old.” It’s a mystery. But what is clear is how incredible a performer, guitar player, blues vocalist and harp player this man is. He has been on over 200 records and played with the likes of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Bobby “Blue” Bland, BB King, and Johnnie Taylor.
Here Bobby Rush is on harmonica and vocals for a soulful cover of The Beatles “Come Together”
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