Music Evolution (change; strange)

“Change, strange. This, that…jazz rap.”

I remember the first time I heard Buckshot LeFonque's album Music Evolution. I was sitting in a restaurant in Venice, Italy on my spring break with zero money, but with my friend, her older sister and her friend, were more glamorous and took us to the best spots. We were the only ones in the tiny restaurant, and it was slow, low light, intimate—just how it should be. I asked the waiter, what album is this? I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

The summer before my year abroad, I worked in DC at Blues Alley answering phones and greeting the bands so they could set up. The best perk was staying around to listen to some of the best jazz artists for free. Wynton Marsalis played for 3 nights that summer and that first night, I let them in around 5pm. As they rehearsed and warmed up in the intimate space, I watched from the bar. At one point while playing, Wynton walked toward me and about 6 feet away blew his trumpet at me, which still runs in my mind as one my life's greatest hits. 🎺

Only later did I realize that Wynton was Branford's brother, and they came from a family of musicians including their father, Ellis Marsalis Jr. The family is from New Orleans, and the two brothers chose different musical routes (and instruments). Wynton became a world renowned master composer and trumpet player and Branford, a saxophonist, became an award-winning musician with a wide repertoire. At one point in his career in the 1990s, he started the Buckshot LeFonque project which incorporated rap, jazz and R&B, as one of his many accomplishments. The two brothers differed on their musical journeys.

My favorite song on the album was the title track, "Music Evolution." Sometimes you listen to a song and you instantly love it, while not understanding why. Only later did I realize the deeper meaning of the song, and how the meaning is inextricably tied to the music, the sound, the energetic frequency—music instantly resonates.

What I was responding to wasn’t just the vibe, it was the meaning, which is evolution, experimentation, rebellion, trailblazing one's own path. Sometimes these seeds of change take a long time to germinate, to fully become known to the listener.

You can find the full lyrics on Genius. The piece itself is about the fusion of jazz and hip hop. It opens:

Music evolution, change

Sometimes the common make it sound strange

Add a little this, take out a little that

Then you'll come up with jazz called rap

Where it's at, bring it back, because it is an ill format.

One line in the song is "these grooves is better than your blue suede shoes."

The song “Blue Suede Shoes” refers to the prevailing "white" culture in America, where racial discrimination was the dominant norm in society in the 1950s. Jazz, by contrast, was improvisational, richly complex and an extraordinary expression of talent. Elvis was commercially packaged music, but both styles were products of their time and both evolving out of different cultural norms. In fact, Elvis, at the time was considered counterculture, bringing more sexuality onto the stage than was the norm.

So many norms of the time have evolved so dramatically to break through and create new norms. Without our trailblazers, or experimenters, where would we be?

When we break away from the norm and do our own thing (from our society, our families, our cultural norms), "the common" may find it strange. They may view our choices or creative expression as odd, bad or conversely they may celebrate it. Whatever our natural expression, whatever we are most interested in, passionate about, or gravitate towards is already embedded into our soul’s frequency. Can we dare to follow that instinct and be who we truly are, who we want to be? Can we dare create what we want to and allow ourselves to evolve?

Of course, there may be struggle. Internal and external. And that's where the force comes in, the drive to stand out, to be oneself, to break free- the seed that finally grows and breaks through the soil.

Often when we are faced with breaking norms, we can falter. We may need to take baby steps vs a giant leap. That's okay. Some of us break norms with no problem and others may need to do it gradually in whatever way that shows up for us (our creative nature, our sexuality, our profession, our lifestyle choices).

Can we break free from societal norms that we may not resonate with, but that is common in our culture? May we trust ourselves enough to make the leap and follow our fullest expression of whatever it is that we want to do or be in our hearts?

Soul-Prompt: Where do I want to break free from some norm in society? Where do I want to experiment with what feels good to me—in any aspect in life? What holds me back from doing this? What if I take one step toward this and see how it feels, what would I do?

I highly recommend watching Wynton Marsalis's interview with ABC if you have time.