Thanks to Ryan Nielsen for directing me to this letter. I think it's really important for any musician, or any artist for that matter.
Bob Moses' Letter to the Boston Phoenix
This letter was inspired by the article "Merenda Plays Mingus" which appeared in the May 18th. 2001 Boston Phoenix.
I write from the heart with love, compassion and optimism. If I wasn't hopeful about the future I wouldn't bother because I do not enjoy the process of writing. The truth is that I really don't care much what other people do or don't do. I live a life in the world but not of the world. Stupidity and injustice barely touch me anymore. Nevertheless I feel compelled to offer this point of view because I feel a profound responsibility to pass on the ways of spirit, creation, integrity and respect to future generations.
I don't expect everyone or anyone to understand, agree or change their point of view, but I would consider myself to be less of a man if as an elder, teacher, musical master and one who grew up with Mingus as a friend, mentor and musical father, I didn't speak out against the arrogant, disrespectful, exploitative appropriation of a great men's names.
This is not meant to be a personal attack on Mr. Merenda whom I know to be a decent person. This makes it all the more sad and disappointing that he and others like him wouldn't know any better. I've been in his house and he has told me how much he respects me. We'll see after he reads this if that respect is real. To quote Max Roach, another of my musical fathers; "Deeds Not Words".
Though I use him as a prime example, this article is not about him. It's addressed to what I see as a pervasive unawareness about what it means to be an artist, an original, a visionary, to have heart, soul, integrity and as the hip hoppers say "keep it real".
I grew up with Charles Mingus. When I was 12 years old he would come to my house, make ice cream sodas, "talk story" and play piano and drum duets with me, never going easy on me because I was only 12. I sat in with his band at the Jazz Showplace on W., 4th. NYC with Eric Dolphy, Ted Curson, and others, playing on Dannie Richmond's drums every Sunday for 2 years at ages 13-14.
I was there at the first meeting of Mingus and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. My dad drove him to Mingus' apartment on 5th Ave. to audition for Mingus' band. It was also my father Richard Moses who helped procure that apartment for him by showing up with Mingus' wife and pretending to be Mingus while signing the lease because in those days they probably wouldn't have rented it to a black man.
I was there at the ill-fated Town Hall concert and the stormy rehearsals preceding it. My dad sat with him for hours when he was having an anxiety attack recording his solo piano album. The composition "Meditations for Moses" was for my dad.
I was there with him through many triumphs and heartbreaks including his incarceration at Bellevue Mental Hospital.
The point is I knew him and his music well. I loved him and he treated me like a son. Some of the things I learned from him and other visionary masters will be reflected in this letter. A being's life and their music are one in the same. A person's music is their blood. Their compositions their children. It's all we have and all we leave behind. One must go deep inside, on a long difficult journey to find your own voice. Your own song. Your own language and vision. Each beings inward spirit quest is a sacred and singular path. It can't be shared, borrowed or stolen. That's acting as in pretending. Masters like Mingus were not acting, they were being. They knew that one must only play what's theirs. What you like is not yours; only what you live is yours. I don't believe Mingus would give a shit that he was barely included in Ken Burns' jazz documentary. His recordings speak for themselves.
Indeed he never liked the term "Jazz" as applied to his music. His music went back farther yet was more out and modern then the contemporary jazz of his time. It was as dirty and raw as a chain gang field hollar. But also as virtuostic, technically difficult and flat out beautiful as the most sublime classical music. What did piss him off greatly was injustice and dishonesty. I would think unequipped unauthorized white people using his name and his music to further their careers without knowing him, asking him, or paying for the privilege would have pissed him off big time.
There is a basic flaw in the thinking of many people who believe that liking something justifies and entitles one to take and use it as you please. This thinking is what enabled the first colonialists to come to the "new-world", plant a flag and claim it as their own. It's the same shameless attitude that allows Kenny G to think its okay to duet with Louis Armstrong after he's dead (hooray to Pat Metheny for blowing the whistle on that one) or bass players who think it's okay to play Jaco's licks verbatim, albeit without the soul, groove or power of the original. Similarly, the Napster Generation who feel that because they like an artist its okay to come to a gig, record them without asking and with no compensation and distribute it freely to any other so called fans around the world.
Here are some questions for Mr. Merenda. Do you intend to play Mingus' music for the rest of your life? After all there are many great composers. Two years from know is it going to be Herbie Nichols? Andrew Hill? Elmo Hope? Don't you see this trivializes the life and work of these singular innovators to something akin to changing a hair- style or way of dress every few years? If Mr. Merenda played his own compositions instead, would they be as unique? As beautiful? As interesting? As fun to listen to and play on? Would as many people come to the club if the posters read "Merenda Plays the Music Of Merenda". Would you have gotten a full-page write-up in the Phoenix? Would you have the nerve to call your group "Mingus Three" if Mingus were still alive? If not, how dare you do it after he's dead? Who is benefiting, Mingus? I think not.
Mr. Merenda plays alto sax. Look at some of the alto players Mingus chose to play his music. Eric Dolphy, Charlie Mariano, John Handy, Charles McPherson. Those men are masters of their instrument. Merenda is not. Those men were masters of several forms of "black music". Merenda is master of none. Those men went through Mingus' rigorous often brutally critical trial by fire apprenticeship which Merenda and his crew have not and could not. Yet none of these great men have used Mingus' name in connection with their own music as Merenda has. Mr. Merenda could transcribe every note of every Mingus composition and his versions would still have less then nothing to do with Mingus' music. Important point; the notes are not the music. The spirit behind the notes is the music. Playing Mingus' music without Mingus there is way too easy. Try playing it with him there as I did and best be prepared to get screamed at, stopped in mid-performance and called out in front of a club full of people. I saw him do this to musicians of far superior talent and dedication then Mr. Merenda's crew. And most of those great musicians had the fortitude to keep coming back for more because they knew they were learning from a master and the results were well worth the pain.
Contrast that with the behavior of Merenda's bass player whom I not long ago had a two night gig with. He ignored everything I played, slowed down every tempo, and was so rhythmically oblivious that he didn't even notice whether I was playing in 2 or 4 which is probably the most basic thing to hear. With no anger I gently took him aside and explained to him that it would be a better strategy, to try to hear, learn and understand rather then just playing what he already knew which as far as I could tell was nothing about the language of jazz and swing. What did he do? Continued to ignore everything I played, went into a complete funk and wouldn't look me in the eye or speak to me for the rest of the gig. If he thought I was hard on him, I am a marshmallow-coated pussycat compared to Mingus. If he pulled that shit with Mingus he probably would have got punched out and he definitely would not have survived a second set, let alone a second night. It never bothers me what people don't know. It can bother me sometimes when they don't want to know. I am free and playful but not careless about the music I play.
Mr. Merenda says "Mingus music was about fire. It made people's fucking hair standup." Here's a person who never met Mingus, heard him live or hung out with him telling us what Mingus music was about. Let me offer a more informed opinion. Mingus music was not about fire. Full of juice, yes but way too composed, symphonic, romantic and personal to be about fire. If you are looking for pure creative fire check out late period John Coltrane (Interstellar Space with Rashied Ali for example) or "Alpha-Nebula" (Anamimusic.com) by my spiritual guide, guitarist Tisziji Munoz. This music represents pure, selfless, universal, nature mind, creative fire.
Mingus music was about musical mastery, courage, super human physical strength, telepathic drum + bass communication and the willpower to create beauty out of pain and rage in the face of racism, indifference, injustice, and heartache. It was about genius, madness, sadness, real blues, integrity, originality and determination.
These are qualities that Mr. Merenda will never approach as long as he continues to hide his own lack of genius behind the compositions and achievements of other beings.
Mingus' work is done. Let him and him alone be the keeper of his legacy. His recordings are as close to perfect as music ever gets. Not perfect in a pristine mistake free way. But perfect because every note was lived. Hear my message as passed down from Mingus, Rahsaan, Max Roach, Eric Dolphy, Trane, Elmo Hope and many others to me, and me to you as best I can. Play and write your own music based on your experience. Work hard to master the elements of music i.e. melody, harmony, rhythm and Spirit. The more discipline you have the more freedom you have. The results may not be "jazz" (except in the improvisational aspect), and it certainly won't have anything to do with Mingus or anyone else you have never met, played with, heard live, and who are light years removed from you in every imaginable way. But it will be unique, it will be yours, it will be honest, it will be real and in that sense it will be closer to the essence and path of those great artists you profess to admire.
Mr. Merenda, I call upon you to apologize to Mingus, you can do that in private, just talk to his spirit) and to me. Cease and desist using the man's name in connection with your music. If you don't, then know you have a powerful enemy here on earth (me) and I believe a far more powerful one waiting for you in the afterlife, that is the man who wrote "If Charlie Parker Were A Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats".
Lest Mr. Merenda think I'm singling him out, let me give some other examples of the same syndrome. How about Branford Marsalis recording a version of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" one of Trane's most breakthrough, soul searching, personal works. Though Mr. Marsalis is undoubtedly far more accomplished on the saxophone and various forms of jazz or "Black" music then Mr. Merenda is, this is still not spiritually righteous behavior. Look at some of the other saxophone players Coltrane chose to play with, Pharaoh Sanders, Eric Dolphy, Archie Shepp, Marion Brown. All of whose playing is much more original, dirty, free, strong and organic then that of Mr. Marsalis. Can you imagine any of those powerful spirits laughing at Jay Leno's unfunny jokes with the Tonight Show Band? Can you imagine any of them doing a cover version of "A Love Supreme"? Can you imagine Coltrane inviting Branford to play on Ascension? I believe the answers are NO! NO! NO!
And No! No! No! is what I have to say to The Miracle Orchestra, The Slip and Taylor Ho Bynum who are doing a concert about which I've seen some publicity called 4MDD3". These groups are doing the music of Miles Davis, of course without Miles himself, anybody who ever played with Miles or anybody capable of playing with Miles. Is Bill Carbone going to enhance the legacy of Tony Williams or Jack Dejohnette? Is Jared Sims following in the footsteps of John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, George Coleman, Sam Rivers or Dave Liebman? This is the same Mr. Sims who when he last played with me was so oblivious to my playing that he cut me off in the middle of a solo four times in one gig. One would think he'd be curious to hear what I would have played given that I am probably his most direct link to the music he says he loves and wants to learn because I have played with Jack Dejohnette, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Gil Evans, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Dave Liebman, Mike Stern and John Scofield among other Miles' associates.
On the same concert is the trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum who claims to "explore the concepts of Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman". This is arrogance supreme! I haven't heard him play and perhaps he's a genius but this treats the life and work of these singular masters as lightly as two flavors of ice cream in the same cone because we feel like tasting both. The truth is that Miles and Ornette, both geniuses couldn't have played each other's music. Are we to believe that Taylor Ho Bynum can play both?
A person's life is not a flavor to be tried and not a place one can come and go from. Your life is your music. It can only be lived by the person living it, from birth till death. I repeat: Because you like something doesn't make it yours.
Giants like Coltrane, Mingus, Miles, Ornette, Jaco etc. worked hard to develop their own unique pathway to the divine. It hurts my heart to see people who don't know try to get over by raping and ripping the styles and worse, the names of those true originals.
This part is addressed to many of you in the so-called "Jam Band" scene. If any of you are serious about mastering any form of "black music". Here it is. Don't just play with other white college kids your own age. The clueless playing with the clueless will only add up to massive cluelessness. Play with black musicians, Latino musicians, Brazilian musicians, older musicians. Play with the masters if they will let you. If you are lucky enough to play with a great musician (and its not just luck, you have to seek them out) don't play what you already know, that's the worst mistake. Come empty so that you can fully listen, learn, absorb and inhale the essence, the feel and the spirit of whom-ever is the strongest player there. When I played with Mingus I never took my eyes or ears off of him (I can't imagine cutting him off during a solo). This approach may seem scary to you!!!! Tough. Get over it, fear has no place in this music. Start at the bottom. Don't try to play Mingus, Miles, Coltrane etc., until you can play the more basic forms. Join an R&B or Gospel group. (Mingus was a master of these styles.) Play for non-white audiences. Do it for years until you can get the people dancing by yourself. If you only play for jam band, Phishhead, 99% white college age audiences, you'll never get the critical feedback you need to learn. Nothing against Phish or their fans, it's just a much easier audience than the Apollo Theater for example. Join a reggae band with Jamaicans (if you are good enough). Master several forms of simpler, but not simple black music, like zouk, calypso, reggae, samba, afro-cuban, funk, r&b or hip-hop. Then you might be ready to take on "jazz" the most harmonically complicated and virtuostic form of black music. Spend twenty years mastering that which for starters means knowing every standard and jazz composition in every key, at any tempo, without ever owning or looking at a Real Book.
If you do all that you might be ready to play a Mingus or Miles Davis composition convincingly. This I can do. Nevertheless, I choose not to because I know the master's dance is to always grow, move forward and create anew, not to look back and rehash what's already been. If this seems like too much work for you or not your true path, that's totally OK. Be honest with yourself. You don't have to play "jazz" or "black music". It's not for everybody. I believe we need less jazz musicians not more.
This does not mean that you can't make a contribution. By all means play music, create, and improvise with selfless awareness and love. It's good for the world. It's good for the soul. At New England Conservatory there's a department run by Ran Blake called Contemporary Improvisation. I think this title is more relevant to what most young people are playing, then the term "jazz". Many young ones are extremely talented and some will have the strength and honesty to find their own voices and do great things because it will be new and it will be real because they lived it.
Many of you in the "jam band" scene greatly admire and would love to emulate the group Medeski, Martin & Wood. Good choice! These brohims are for real and they're doing it right, but don't emulate their musical style or business success, they've earned those things. Emulate their generosity of Spirit, honesty, sacrifice and hard work. I'm talking about hard work on music, not on hustling gigs, marketing, getting record deals etc. I remember a 16 year old Billy Martin joining an "Escola de Samba" (Samba School) with badass Brazilian drummers learning the rhythm, dance and language from the ground up, (much like me at 16, playing vibes with Latin bands in the Bronx, eight sets a night, the only gringo in the joint); John Medeski working with a Mississippi gospel group or going to New Orleans to play with the "Dirty Dozen Brass Band"; Chris Wood, probably the closest bassist to Mingus in terms of strength, power and soul, (yet doesn't play a single Mingus lick verbatim) memorizing a complicated three page melody of mine in ten minutes so he could look at me, dance with me, become one with my drumming instead of having his face buried in the music.
These guys mix it up with masterful, innovative musicians of all ages, races and styles, some famous, some not. Marshall Allen from Sun Ra's Arkestra, Eddie Bobe, Cyro Baptiste, Calvin Weston, Daniel Carter, DJ Logic, Bob Moses to mention a few. They have created their own visionary, creative path. Givers, not takers, they have my eternal love and respect. This is the vibe we need.
So in summation I'll make it clear and simple for any and all who would hide behind other being's work, who would utilize unique visionary, musical master's life spirit quest journeys as a flavor to sample or a style to try on and later discard after you've used what you wanted. I say. Do what you want to do; play what you want to play; learn what you want to learn. Be healthy, happy and successful as you want to be. But keep Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane or any other great spirits separate from your names and off your posters and advertisements. Like them, stand on your own two feet. Sink or swim, contribute or not on your own name and your own music. That's integrity, that's strength and that's truth. That's the way of the Masters.
>> Bob Moses
>> July 2001
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