PLUNKY & ONENESS: News & Travel Blogs

Scroll down this page to see past news and travel journals from past touring, including trips to France to perform and Cuba to produce my documentary film, "Under The Radar - A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music."

PLUNKY’S “DROP” REACHES MILLIONS VIA MICHAEL BAISDEN’S

SYNDICATED URBAN TALK AND MUSIC RADIO SHOW



Veteran saxophonist, J. Plunky Branch, known to thousands of progressive jazz fans simply as “Plunky” is a prolific, versatile, and eternally youthful composer and performer who has been making audiences groove since the early 1970’s from his hometown of Richmond, VA to London and Paris. Plunky is making millions of new fans everyday via the airplay his song “Drop” is receiving on Michael Baisden’s nationally syndicated urban talk and music radio show.



“Drop,” the ultra-funky instrumental opening track on Plunky’s Cold Heat CD, is turning up the heat across the country. The song was produced by Danja Mowf, whose credits include Aaliyah and Missy Elliot. Incredibly, “Drop” is based on a sample taken from Plunky’s own “African Rhythms,” a tune that shot him to soul-jazz stardom in Europe over 30 years ago, in 1975. With “Drop’s” daily airplay on The Michael Baisden Show, Plunky is reaching 55 small and mass-market urban stations throughout the U.S. Baisden’s staff acknowledges that “Drop” is show’s most requested song. The track’s growing popularity is generating sales and critical acclaim, and it earned Plunky and his group a coveted engagement on the 2007 Capital Jazz Super Cruise along with Boney James, Pieces of a Dream, Lalah Hathaway, Ledisi, Sinbad and over 2,000 partying jazz fans.



Plunky is a charismatic bandleader who commands the stage with the same intensity whether he and his group, Plunky & Oneness, are performing for ten people or 10,000. The group has opened for legends like Ray Charles, Patti Labelle, Earth, Wind & Fire, LL Cool J, the Yellowjackets and B.B. King. Back home in Richmond, VA Plunky is an institution. When he’s not touring, the saxman jams on weekends to SRO crowds at the city’s swanky Martini Kitchen and Bubble Bar. He keeps the energy high, the beats funky and the melodies cool and jazzy.



Plunky’s catalog of 24 previous releases includes ventures into jazz, funk, world beat, gospel and “Nubian age music,” his term for some of his bluesier sax meditation projects. On Cold Heat, his 25th album released on his N.A.M.E. Brand Records, Plunky blows hard and sings about life, love and the pursuit of the groove with lyrics that teach, soar and inspire. The album’s slamming hip-hop tracks are a fresh new twist to Plunky’s repertoire, largely because they were produced by Setworkrz, the Virginia-based production duo with the Dirty South address and the international flavor. Setworkrz is composed of Plunky’s son, Jamiah “Fire” Branch, and partner, Al Dokes. The two young producers are generating hip-hop beats so hot that rappers, singers, moviemakers and television producers clamor for Setworkrz tracks and krunk grooves.



Cold Heat is a long awaited family affair for Plunky and Jamiah, who has added unique hip-hop magic to Plunky’s live performances for the past three years. This collaboration represents a milestone in Plunky’s colorful career, from being a studio musician for TV’s top-rated “The Cosby Show” to scoring a Top Ten Soul chart hit in London with “Every Way But Loose.”

Recently there have been more and more high profile Plunky concert dates including performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC with Wyclef Jean, Shaggy and Jimmy Cliff, and a show in Richmond with Go-go master Chuck Brown that drew 15,000.



Plunky’s extensive European touring has taken him to England, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Recent performances in France led to the release of Plunky’s highly praised DVD project titled Plunky & Oneness of Juju Live In Paris. Plunky has also traveled to Brazil and to Cuba twice to research and produce music recordings and a documentary film, Under the Radar: A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music.

Plunky Newsletter

“Drop” to Receive National Distribution

Liaison Distribution, home of R&B, jazz, gospel, and Washington, DC Go-Go groups, including Chuck Brown, recently reached out to us in response to strong demand and continuing airplay of “Drop” in the Washington/Baltimore, Virginia and Atlanta markets. Our discussions have led to a national distribution agreement with Liaison assuring that the growing demand for our Cold Heat CD can be met through all types of retail outlets. Our agreement with Liaison Distribution will also make available our N.A.M.E. Brand Records back catalogue of 20 albums by Plunky & Oneness including early classics by Oneness of Juju. We are pleased to be associated with this renowned music distributor. Liaison Distribution can be contacted at 9435 Washington Blvd., Suite M, Laurel, MD 20723, 1-800-841-6201.
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Plunky & Oneness will be appearing at the Capital Jazz Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD on Sunday, June 3. The Capital city Jazz festival is one of the biggest smooth jazz festivals in the world and the group is excited to be a part of this major music event.

Plunky & Oneness will extend our long-term performance run at the Martini Kitchen & Bubble Bar, 1911 W. Main Street in Richmond, VA through the end of 2007. Unless we are touring or appearing in concert elsewhere, the group appears at the club every other Friday and Saturday nights beginning at 9:30 PM, rocking the beautiful people with progressive funk, jazz and hipness.

On March 31, 2007 Plunky & Oneness performed at the African-American Trailblazers Awards at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Honorees included Maya Angelou, Jessie Jackson, Mayor Douglas Wilder, Tim and Daphne Reid, Willie Lanier and Dr. Johnnetta Cole, among others. In addition to performing during dinner Plunky & Oneness performed a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald as she was honored posthumously. Two days later the group performed for the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus annual reception hosted by Chairman Delegate Dwight C. Jones. The event was attended by members of the legislature, Governor Tim Kaine and over 150 business and community leaders.

Plunky’s Documentary “Under The Radar - A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music” was screened and discussed at the 2007 Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations, April 4 – 7 in Boston. The film then moves on for screenings in Vancouver, Canada April 12 – 14.

Setworkrz, the prolific production duo of Plunky’s son Jamiah "Fire" Branch and Al Dokes, continue to produce slamming hip-hop and R& B tracks. They have a library of 12 CD’s including over 200 beats and instrumentals. So if you are in need of backing tracks for raps, or songs for your next album, or if you are in need of music for your film or television show, contact Setworkrz by email to plunkyb@aol.com and we’ll hook you up with the most up-to-date, melodious, magical beat-songs.
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Plunky and Oneness continues to garner attention and activity through its online presence at the following web sites:

www.plunkyone.com
www.cdbaby.com/cd/plunky10
www.myspace.com/plunkyandoneness

Here are comments from buyers of Cold Heat through our CDBaby page:

Awesome!!!!
Reviewer: P. H.
I had to have the CD for DROP!!! It turns out the entire CD is HOT!!

Who is Plunky?
Reviewer: BigSniz
Had never heard of Plunky until I heard the cut "Drop". Man I went on an immediate search. This CD is straight up TIGHT! Get it while it's hot, but I think it will be hot for a long time.

I knew I had to have this CD the very first time I heard "Drop"!.
Reviewer: C. P.
What a groove!!!! You will never forgive yourself if you miss out on buying this CD.

Well Alrighty NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reviewer: M. M. C.
Hey Plunky, You did it AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! This CD is righteous. I love it. Please keep up the good work. Keep Richmond on the musical map.

Wonderful
Reviewer: L. W.
This is a wonderful CD, varied and played with real talent. Thank you!

Buy This Album!!! It's Outrageously Good!!!
Reviewer: Mo
Cold Heat gets constant play on my stereo because the songs are absolutely moving. I LOVE dancing to the entire album. Songs like Drop, Does Everybody Do It, and Hop, Skip & a Jump have an extra sexy vibe that gets the party goin'. Hollar Back and Why Don't You Love Me are deeply touching and the latter has moved me to tears more than once. That's some raw pain y'all! But it hurts so good 8-) I just love it! Do your self a favor and pick this one up. It's the complete package with strong sexy vocals, soulful deep lyrics, bold and vicious beats...all blended into a rich, funky, stunning work of art. 8-)

Drop is hot!!
Reviewer: Ange
Song #1 Drop is hotter than my morning cup of coffee. Love the new CD.

Email from L. N. J.
Plunky, your music is phenomenal! I absolutely love it! The Cold Heat CD has a little bit of everything for all types of dance! I have given that particular CD out as gifts to at least 4 people!
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Well, that’s it for this time. Have a great spring…

Hello Friends and Associates:

In this issue:
· Plunky & Oneness On the Airwaves
· Oneness Gigs and Appearances
· Plunky Lectures and Screenings
· Sales and Projects
· My View from the Stage

Plunky & Oneness On the Airwaves
A video clip from our Plunky & Oneness of Juju – Live In Paris DVD is being featured on “Straight Ahead,” the jazz show on US cable television station BET J, based in Washington, DC. At the same time, WHUR-FM and other DC area radio stations have been airing our ultra-funky song “Drop” from our recently released Cold Heat CD. It is always gratifying when our jazz and funk is broadcast to the masses, but it is even more rewarding when our fans and friends call and email, sharing their excitement about hearing and seeing us on radio and TV. Funk you very much!

Oneness Gigs and Appearances
After many requests from loyal locals (and following in the steps of Prince, Celine Dion and Gladys Knight who all have regular shows in Las Vegas) Plunky & Oneness have booked an ongoing club gig in our hometown, Richmond, VA. For the 2007 winter-spring season we will be appearing two weekends a month at the Martini Kitchen and Bubble Bar, where on Fridays and Saturdays the beautiful, hip music lovers and people-watchers “Drop” by and party with us. (Next dates: March 9, 10, 23, April 6, 7, 20, 21)

Juggling our schedule to make a regular gig happen is challenging because of our Mid-Atlantic touring and the increasing demand for lectures, speaking engagements and film screenings. Recently Plunky & Oneness performed for a youth leadership conference in Pittsburgh, PA and for Black History Month programs at Virginia Union University and several Virginia public schools.
Plunky Lectures and Screenings
Plunky’s Black History Month lectures included a presentation at First Baptist Church in Richmond and culminates with engagements at the NASA Goddard Space Center in Maryland (February 26), and a lecture on the topic “Jazz and the Black Arts Movement – An Inside View” at the University of Louisville (Kentucky) on March 5.

Screenings and lecture-discussions of my documentary film, Under The Radar - A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music will be presented at Virginia State University on February 21 and at the national conference of the American Culture Association in Boston, Massachusetts on April 5.

I attended and spoke at the Urban Film Series - Night of Film, Poetry, Jazz, and Awards
Honoring Jazz Legend Roy Ayers at the Bohemian Caverns club in DC on February 8.

I was recently the featured artist in the Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital System “Musicians On Call” series, performing soprano sax solos in patient treatment and family waiting areas of the hospital complex. The overwhelmingly positive response to this program has led to a commission to work with the hospital’s music therapist to produce a CD of healing music. I have also been contracted to produce video and multimedia displays for the hospital’s plasma message screens. These projects expand the possibilities and visions for our music and video productions.

Speaking of video: The two music videos for the song “Drop” produced in Richmond and directed by Patrick Mamou of the The Management Group are posted online at AOL Uncut Videos, at YouTube.com and at MySpace.com. The music videos have been viewed over 20,000 times, giving exposure to the song and to some of our local beautiful and fly young models, actors and performers.

Sales & Projects
Retail and online sales remain strong for the Cold Heat CD and the Under The Radar - A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music DVD and the internationally distributed Live in Paris DVD, which includes a bonus interview documentary with footage of Dr. Martin Luther King, James Brown, Pharaoh Sanders, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Fela Kuti and scenes of West Africa. Also available from our private stock of DVD’s is a new, unreleased compilation of 16 Plunky & Oneness music videos and travelogues, perfect for archivists and collectors.

I recently produced and performed on a recording with Ghanaian master percussionist Asante, playing religious hymns over traditional African talking drums to be used at funeral services in Ghana. I am often called on to perform solos at home-going services at churches and funeral homes here in the US, and I am honored that people request my renditions at those times which are so emotional, spiritual, intimate and meaningful to their families.

My Personal View from the Stage

As I approach my 60th birthday, and perhaps because in recent weeks we have seen the passing of so many musicians and performers, (James Brown, Billy Preston, Barry White, Levert, Ruth Brown, Alice Coltrane, among others) I have more of a sense of urgency to do more, increase my output, produce, perform, write, dream. Even though I have been doing this music thing for over 35 years, “Lord, I ain’t no ways tired!” Being busy is a good thing. And these days if you are not too busy, then maybe you are not doing enough or, at least, you could be doing more.

In closing, I want to remind you of the important role that you play as patron, audience member and supporter of the arts. Your impact is felt, not only when you spend your dollars, but also when you participate and engage. So next time you have the opportunity don’t hesitate to clap, say amen or cheer.

We invite your ideas your feedback, suggestions and referrals.

In these times when there is a more urgent need than ever for positive images and positive music, I am inspired by your support and your insights. Thanks for sharing.

Wisdom, Peace and Love Through Music,
Plunky

Cold Heat, the new CD album by J. Plunky Branch, is a 14-song collection of soul, R&B and jazz percolating over hip-hop beats. On Cold Heat Plunky plays with fire and keeps it cool making it icy hot and phunky.
J. Plunky Branch is a world-class saxophonist, songwriter, and producer who for over 35 years has been making some of the most avant-garde Afro-jazz funk on the planet. His recordings are collections of the widest range of progressive Black music, like John Coltrane jamming with George Clinton and P-Funk.
On Cold Heat, his 21st album, Plunky is still blowing his horn and he is now also singing his songs about life, love and the pursuit of the groove. With lyrics that teach, soar and inspire, Plunky’s songs on Cold Heat elevate, caress, and inform slamming hip-hop rhythm tracks produced by Setworkrz, the Virginia-based production duo with the Dirty South address and the international flavor.
Setworkrz is composed of Plunky’s son, Jamiah “Fire” Branch, and his partner, Al Dokes. These two young producers prolifically generate hip-hop beats so hot that rappers, singers, writers, moviemakers, and television producers all clamor for Setworkrz tracks and the krunk grooves they embody.
It was Fire who suggested that he and Plunky should do a father and son project and essentially Cold Heat is the result of that idea and lots of collaborative production work. Plunky wrote or co-wrote the songs and all the lyrics, then produced the recordings, soliciting the assistance of his longtime band mates: vocalists Tonya Lazenby-Jackson, Charlayne "Chyp" Page, Monica Jackson; bassists P. Muzi Branch and Ken Friend; keyboardists Howard Boisseau and Devon Jefferson; guitarists John Jackson, Ras Mel Glover and Carl Lester El; and drummer of Corey Burch; in addition to hip-hop producer A. Danja Mowf Maples
Like those who’ve inspired him, including Carlos Santana, Maceo Parker, George Duke, George Clinton, Herbie Hancock, and so many others, Plunky is a veteran in the mold of the ageless bluesmen who continue to play as long as they have something to say. Plunky is a jazzman who is known for his multi-faceted musical interests and who has often ventured into the realm of funk to express what is the life of the party or to explore the politics of the times.
Versatility and boundless energy is reflected in his output. Plunky continues to tour, performing in festivals, clubs, concerts, studios, schools, on television, and church. Earlier this year Ways2Move of France released the Plunky & Oneness of Juju Live in Paris concert and documentary DVD. Plunky regularly lecturers on the history of Black music, runs his own record label, oversees his son’s hip-hop productions, travels internationally and he produces music videos and film, including the award-winning documentary, Under The Radar - A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music.
Like much of Plunky’s ongoing work, Cold Heat rolls right along the cutting edge. It is a compilation of songs about love, aspirations and time shifts between yesterdays, tomorrows, and enjoying the moment.

PLUNKY & ONENESS OF JUJU – LIVE IN PARIS DVD

Saxophonist J. Plunky Branch his legendary group Oneness of Juju perform their innovative blend of jazz, R&B, hip-hop, funk and traditional African music in this concert recorded live at Paris’s New Morning jazz club. A bonus documentary reveals Plunky’s lifelong commitment to social justice by chronicling his involvement with the 1960’s civil rights and anti-war movements.

Reviews:
- Plunky and Oneness of Juju offer an extra funky live set in this release of a concert originally captured live in November of 2004. A twenty-two song set list including "Space Jungle Luv", "Be About the Future", "Got to Move Something", "World Wide Party", and "Every Way but Loose", ensures that the funk keeps coming as the party gets started, and an additional interview with Plunky himself, as well as a documentary on the man, offers a little something extra for the die-hard fan. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

- One of the best recordings we've heard in years from saxophonist Plunky Branch -- and one of the few to really capture the glory of his 70s classics with Oneness Of Juju! Given the billing of this set, it's clear that the older soul jazz spirit of Oneness is very strong in the conception of the set -- and the live performance features many classics from the group's 70s albums on Black Fire, played here with a good live energy and a strong sense of soul…

- I wasn't familiar with this artist before the purchase. Just saw the name around and heard one song. Heard this was a good package. It's great! The concert part is 1 hour and 40 minutes. Plunky and the Oneness take you on a great musical journey. The band is tight: these are pros! The filming was on point. There is also a bonus documentary, which runs about 30 minutes. Very informative and keeps your attention. If you like Doug Carn, Fertile Ground, Fela Kuti or any uplifting music, then this must be in your collection! – Reviewer Elphonics, USA

For further information: N.A.M.E. Brand Records, 2218 Rosewood Avenue, Richmond, VA 23220, 804-355-3586, www.plunkyone.com, Email: plunkyb@aol.com

Plunky & Oneness of Juju Tour de France March 2006

In November2004 our group, Plunky & Oneness of Juju, played in Paris for the first time. Now, 18 months later a DVD called “Live In Pairs” is being released and we are going on a mini- tour of France to promote it and to push for more touring in the coming months.

Sunday, March 19, 2006; on the plane at the Richmond Airport.
We are finally on the plane, finally ready for take off, finally on our way to Paris! If we can judge by the dues paying, the number of delays and planning re-adjustments that we have had to endure to get to this point, and if you truly get what you pay for, then this tour should be nothing short of “da bomb!”

Just today for example, my luggage was overweight and even after trying to re-pack and redistribute the tonnage I still had to pay $25 extra. Then our flight from Richmond to Newark was delayed, jeopardizing our making the connecting flight to Paris. But I am confident we will make it.

I have been anticipating this trip, this return engagement in Paris for the past 18 months. In November 2004 we had a triumphant premier at the New Morning, a jazz and progressive music venue in Paris. In had been a sellout, earth-shaking gig which was filmed for television and a DVD release and could launch a new phase of my career in France. We were supposed to go back a few months later in March of 2005. Then it was postponed until May. Then we were supposed to play at some festivals in July, but those dates were cancelled when the promoters balked at paying the plane fares during the high price season. In November of 2005, my French connections opted to invest in a large concert by the funk group, Brass Construction.

Each of these delays was disappointing. Over time they had a cumulative effect, eroding my confidence and my energy. I had for many years thought that if I and the group could perform the way we do at my gigs in the states, we could be a smash hit in Europe. And because my past European club dates have, in fact, gone so very well, they have in some ways spoiled me, making me want to devote all my efforts to touring abroad. It is a case of like the old song says, “How you gonna keep’em down on the farm, after they’ve seen Paree?” Touring in France and the major music cities on the continent has become my focus and my goal.

So in December 2005 we confirmed the booking of this date, March 21, 2006, at the New Morning and added weekend dates in Marseilles and Montpellier in the South of France.

The plane takes off.
Then two and a half weeks ago my French connections, Reynald, Samy & Daniel, called me to say they wanted to postponed this three date mini-tour until May or June because of poor advance ticket sales, poor winter weather and several unfavorable business conditions. One of the main reasons for doing this tour was to support and promote the release of a “Live In Paris” DVD of our last concert at the New Morning; and now the manufacturing of the DVD’s may not be completed on time.

Upon hearing about yet another postponement, I was livid, disturbed and disappointed again. The band members were knocked for a loop. And the Frenchmen couldn’t understand why I was so upset. They said, “The tour is not cancelled, it is only postponed!”

I had to explain to them that each person in the group has other jobs, gigs, families and other things to do besides being on call for me. Changing plans repeatedly or at the last minute undermines their confidence in the business. I was offended and the band was hurt that their personal plans would be adversely affected.

After a couple of days of wrangling with management and the promoters in France and struggling with budgetary and personnel adjustments, we decided to do the tour anyway; but with a 50% reduction in the budget and cutting musicians from the touring group. It was tough.

But all that is behind us now as we land at Newark Airport to transfer to our flight to Paris. Flying into a major city at night, you get the picture of an amazing light show on the ground: arteries of lights, sparkling jewels decorating the darkness on earth; awesome arrays of light decorating the night; sparkling colors like pre-arranged patterns of manmade stars. Car lights snaking in slow motion, like glowing blood cells moving through arteries. I enjoyed a futuristic wow moment seeing the light show as we approach our landing sight. This is like Sun Ra’s Outer Spaceways, Incorporated!

I wonder if I will really do want to do this live performing/ touring group thing forever? This trip should help me know… More will be revealed. Touchdown!

Then on the plane flying to Paris.
Interesting synchronicities: In the Richmond airport we met Lonnie Liston Smith who was just arriving from Paris, having performed the night before on a show with the Temptations. Also, I spoke of the phone with Drummie Zeb, an ex-student of mine who performs with The Wailers. He tells me they are performing in Paris on Thursday night and wishes me a successful tour. I tell him I will try to go see them in Paris. It seems that Richmond, VA is “representing” in Paris this week.

Flight landing notes: From above, the patterns of our real estate development and lifestyles become apparent. Schools, recreation, neighborhoods, transportation centers are sited and arrayed and create interesting and discernable patterns. Early civilizations that created giant land drawings like in those in South America may have indeed used woven fabric and heated air to fly high above the earth to see those paintings. So man may have been flying for centuries. We’re going from Richmond to Paris to perform; flying across the ocean to do a gig in the time it takes to drive from Richmond to Atlanta. Airplanes may be becoming the new transit for the masses, like buses. Flying and travel in general bring people closer together, makes us more familiar, more like family. Pretty soon all gigs may be local gigs!

Tuesday March 21, 9:00 AM In my hotel bed.
We got through French immigration and customs with no hassles. Unfortunately, one of Asante’s suitcases did not arrive. We got to the hotel, checked in and rested a bit before going to Radio Nova to do an interview. After that I ate and crashed. The next day, Tuesday, was cold and rainy so I spent the day resting, and Asante made himself a costume out of a towel and hotel bed linen, like he was a member of P-funk. We went to sound check at 4:30 PM and worked with the sound and tech crew until 8:00 PM. We ate in the dressing room. Then we painted up our faces, dressed, and did the gig.

The audience at the New Morning was very enthusiastic and intensely into the music and the show. I can definitely see possibilities for success here and in other progressive markets in Europe. Before the show I finally got a copy of the new DVD. I ripped it open, watched the documentary portion and I was completely blown away! That’s all I can say. The documentary opens with footage of the Martin Luther King March on Washington and the “I Have a Dream” speech. Then it continues with an extended interview of me. During the course of the 26 minute documentary there is rare archival footage of James Brown and his group with Bobby Byrd singing and Bootsy on bass; footage of Maceo Parker, Pharaoh Sanders, Fela Kuti all interspersed between shots of me walking around Paris and Plunky & Oneness of Juju playing live. The documentary is serious and of such a high quality technically that it is quite impressive!

Our show was tight and we rocked the house! The audience demanded two encores and we ended with Asante and Corey, and finally Asante soloing them into a frenzy. They wanted yet another encore but I said that was enough. After the show we had a stream of visitors to the dressing room, including Patrick, the director of Nocturne Distribution, who is distributing the DVD and CD release in Europe. He seemed pleased with the performance and he said he was going to have some of his people come to the show in Marseilles on Friday and he himself would come down to Montpellier for the show on Saturday. After the show we came back to the hotel in the middle of the night and went to bed.

3:30 AM Thursday Morning in my hotel room.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel and met a group called the Crawford Brothers, a gospel group from Upstate New York also staying in the hotel. They performed last night at another venue in Paris and are doing gigs in France and Holland over the next few days. We exchange contact information. They say they come to Europe several times a year, most times for a week or a weekend and for some one-nighters.

We spent the day in and around the hotel because it was again cold and rainy and we could all use the rest. I did an interview for a publication and another for an Internet TV site. I met with Daniel, the manager, Patrick, the DVD producer and we talked a little business. Tonya, Muzi and I ate dinner at a restaurant next door to the hotel. Muzi and I shot pool. Then I crashed until 3:00 AM. Now I am up and not sleepy…

Thursday 5:00 PM in my hotel room.
I finally fell asleep around 4:00 AM. I got up at 8:30 and did my yoga, even though at the start my body was so sore I wondered if age or arthritis is catching up with me and beating me down. After breakfast and Internet work and some more rest; I took a bus and a metro to go sightseeing. I walked the hell out of myself.

I walk around Paris (the city of light and love)
And I think of you
I see posters and ads for haut-couture
I see you in those fashions looking so alluring
I wish you were here

Friday morning in the room before leaving for Marseilles.
We are a modern day menagerie, a troupe of troubadours, traveling from place to place to entertain, share ideas and amaze people. I wonder if it is worth the energy, the hassle and the concerns, boarding planes and trains, with bundles of instruments and costumes and artifacts from abroad. The circus is coming! Wow! What logistical complexities – just to entertain a few folks. But in this modern world what happens in the media is important, often more impactful than what happens on the stage. We’re here getting media coverage and we’re releasing new media product.

On the high-speed train to Marseilles.
We got out of Paris without too much hassle. We checked out of the hotel. Both Tonya and Asante had phone bills that they contested because they were using phone cards that they thought were toll free, but they were running up charges on the hotel phone. The hotel just waived the charges, which totaled about $100.

We took two minivan taxis to the Lyons Station in central Paris. In the confusion of loading up, Muzi left his suitcase in the hotel lobby and had to go back to retrieve it. It was a good thing we left with an hour to spare, so he had enough time to get back before the train left.

We have way too much luggage! We all agree that we could have brought much less stuff with us: fewer items of clothing, fewer artifacts, just less stuff. I am the main culprit though. I have one large suitcase of clothes, an even larger one with my sound effects processors and stands for my horns; plus my three saxophones, my briefcase, and my video camera. I have to have helping hands every time we move. I left one suitcase at the hotel in Paris until we return on Sunday, but I still have five things to carry and keep track of as we go for these two weekend dates down on the Riviera.

The high-speed train is a double-decker and it whisks us across the French countryside at 160 miles per hour. Still, even at that speed, the ride is relaxing. The Central France landscape is beautiful. Muzi says parts of it remind him of the mountains near Roanoke, VA. But the villages here are quaint and European, like the pictures in French grammar textbooks. The farmhouses and barns are all tan with clay tile roofs and they are aging gracefully. Trees and shrubs fence the parcels of land into neat rectangles. An ocean of flatlands, hills and valleys is punctuated by an occasional river, lake or train whizzing by in the opposite direction. A pensive and restful mood settles over the group and the whole train car…

Could we live in a cozy farmhouse out here in the middle of France? Or in Italy or Ghana or Venezuela? Probably friends, family and familiar things are too important to us. Maybe the two of us would be enough for us, at least a short time. This is too far away from it all. But, boy, it is beautiful to pass through! It would be great for a change, for a week, but maybe no more than two. It could be a vacation spot. A rustic, isolated spa-like visit for relaxation, sex, meditation and longing to get back to our normal. I think I want to spend my old age doing what I know and on the go as much as I am able. But then I’d like to think I could be content wherever there is beauty, comfort, access and you.

Saturday afternoon on the train to Montpellier. (The gig last night was da bomb!)
We got to Marseilles at 2:00 PM and the weather was sunny and warm. Finally a spring-like day to contrast to the wintry, dreary mix in Paris. Marseilles is too cute! Much more working class than the vibe of Paris. But Marseilles is right on the coast, the Riviera, and its port area and beach are breathtakingly beautiful. Tonya, Corey and I took a drive through the city with the wife of the promoter of the show here. We also drove over to and along the coast and we stopped to take some pictures and to ooh and aah at the views of the Mediterranean Sea, boats, cliffs, and the old buildings that border the beach. On a little cliff above the shoreline there is a large, impressive statue and monument to the Africans who came across the sea to Marseilles. The city is 2600 years old. And the Riviera is all it is cracked up to be!

We got back to the venue in time for the 4:00 PM sound check. The Cabaret Aleatore is a standup, black box space in a converted tobacco warehouse. The facility is part of a growing arts center, which has artists’ studios, a theater space and indoor and outdoor exhibit spaces. The venue is super funky with lots of high-tech gear, lights, sound and decorations. Sound check lasted until 7:30 PM. It was thorough and effective. We walked to the band house, ate dinner, changed clothes and went back to the venue for the gig.

My French management and promotion team had been concerned about getting an audience for this gig. Advance ticket sales had been paltry. But we ended up getting a really good audience, 573 paid plus 75 comps in a venue that holds 700. With guests, press and crews we were near capacity. From the stage it definitely looked like a packed house, with at sea of smiling, grooving, mostly white faces from the edge of the stage all the way to the back of the room.

The audience got into the music almost from the start; but they got more and more exuberant as we got funkier and funkier. By the end of the show and two encores, it was clear that we had triumphed and earned many new fans!

The night was revelatory. I had an epiphany or at least a series of revelations while lying in bed after the show: I could parlay my music, my experience, my history, my catalogue of recorded works and my current French connections into a successful, touring, music-selling career over the next few years. With my political/ spiritual bent, I could be marketed as a new Last Poets, Gil Scot-Heron, Pharaoh Sanders, Michael Moore, progressive act and media personality.

Young people could be drawn into our fold through hip-hop beats and my words. My show can be educational and engaging and enlightening and entertaining. I can use high-tech innovations for my stage shows and recordings. I have three DVD’s that can be used for promotion. With all these things going for me, I could aspire to become an elder, cultural icon a la Fela, Bob Marley, or Manu Dibango or George Clinton.

After the Saturday night gig in Montpellier.
Tonight’s gig and this mini-tour have demonstrated to me that this thing could happen! The performance tonight was quite good; we were a hit again. The venue, Le Jam, was small but well designed with great sound and tech. Roy Ayers played here the night before. The likes of Archie Shepp, Dave Holland and Lonnie Liston Smith all play this venue, which is connected to a music school.

We had no stands for Asante's conga drums but we improvised by using a platform for them. He was in fine form and he enjoyed moving the audience with his polyrhythms. Tonya had three keyboards and she had fun using all of them to work her show, manipulating the middle of the music, keeping it mellow, jazzy or funky as the songs required. She was super! Corey and Muzi were locked and grooving hard like Prince. The mostly college-aged, young people in the audience were genuinely into it. We were teaching them the songs as we went along. The longer the night went on, the more they got into it and the more they wanted. It was really cool to watch and make it happen!

After the show, I met with Patrick, the distributor who had come down from Paris and I think he was impressed and is being won over. He seems committed to committing resources to the promotion of the DVD project and by inference I think he will help with our touring and other future projects. I inadvertently left his business card on the table in the dressing room and I forgot to give him a copy of the new album, but both those things can be corrected.

We have the pieces in place and our foot in the door over here. We have a distributor, product, management, a good act, good songs, good press and an Internet buzz. Now we need a strong booking agent to complete our team.

Ideas and things to do:
§ "Sax Machine" proclaims the headline of the review of our show in the Marseilles newspaper. A great concept, ad slogan or song title.
§ How about props for one or two of the songs in the show; i.e. Plastic for "Plastic" a see-through flat sheet of Plexiglas, maybe with transparent people silhouettes?
§ Thank you notes to the venues.
§ Get press, videos, pictures and recordings from all the gigs.
§ Pick one song from the live DVD as a video.
§ Try to get television airtime for the DVD and documentary: BET, TV One, African Television Network, etc.
§ A new beginning or ending for the documentary segment to make it a doc film?
§ Use the DVD's for multimedia displays and projections at all gigs where possible.

Vibe to use as the intro to the documentary: Art meets science near the same place where music is magic. The musician can be a minor character who plays a major role as change agent in the development of culture. The journey to become an impactful musician is similar to that of becoming a doctor, a teacher, a griot, a statesman, an ambassador, a wizard or a mystic. A musician can be part all these things. The way begins with study of the craft, history and culture. It continues with the development of greater self-awareness through introspection and meditation and the journeyman can be aided by guidance from a teacher or mentor. The candidate is steeled and completed through experience, work, travel, observation, experimentation and repeatedly renewing the entire process. A musician must travel, reach out, accumulate unique experiences and information and re-synthesize it all into a whole; then a share it all with others to educate, effect change and positively influence the culture and the people - using music as and to convey the message.

Plunky video shots to use: In Cuban receiving a Santeria blessing; in Cuba playing with Folkloyuma; in Brazil visiting the Christo Redentor statue, then soaring in a helicopter; performing with the choir at First Baptist Church; teaching children; on stage; at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris; playing NY Times Square; walking along the beach…

On the plane back to the USA.
On Sunday we took the high-speed train from Montpellier back to Paris. We checked back into the Mecure Hotel again for our last night in the City of Light. From the bathroom window, Muzi's and my room had a great view of the Eiffel Tower with Parisian rooftops and buildings in the foreground. Muzi wants to come back in the future and reserve that room, #722.

Later we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Thanks Charlie and had a great meal - my best ever in Paris. After that I went to Samy’s office/studio to try and change our plane seats online; but to no avail. I went back to the hotel to pack around 1:00 AM. Samy gave me a big suitcase with wheels to replace the big one of mine that has been the bane of the equipment moving all week because it was super heavy with no wheels. I made arrangements for two vans to pick us up at 6:45 AM to take us to the airport. I took some more shots of the Eiffel Tower from the bathroom window and finally got to bed around 2:00 AM.

The wake up call came at 5:30 AM. I woke the others and we got downstairs just in time to meet the vans. We loaded up all our stuff for one last time in Paris and headed out into the dark, wet streets of Paris to the airport. We arrived early, 7:30 AM and our flight was not until 10:50 AM. Continental Airlines ticket windows didn’t open until 8:00 AM. We were fourth in line. I was able to change Muzi’s and my seats to a window and an aisle. We went through the security checkpoints without incident, except for the fact that Asante had a ball peen hammer in his carry-on bag. They searched him thoroughly both coming and now leaving. He went back to baggage check-in and put the hammer in his drum case.

We ate a light breakfast and then had to wait an extra hour before boarding at 11:00 AM and taking off at around noon. The flight was smooth and not at all uncomfortable.

After this tour I have become a doctor of musical divinity, a Ph.D., Dr. Plunkenstein. I have earned my degrees through the school of living, performing and dreaming music and dues paying. The school of mystic musings. The school of sacrifice and meditation and Hatha yoga and positive partying. I have bestowed the degree upon myself. Though I am “just a f*#king musician” as I was once told by an angry club owner, I am also a producer, a critic, and empathizer and a counselor; and, I can justify my existence and my luxurious life by giving and sharing my energy and my spirit to audiences who will listen and to all those who seek me out or cross my path.

This tour has “bought” me another six months or so… Before it, I wondered if each gig might be my last and if it were pure folly to continue to pursue this career in music. I am a lot like George W. Bush in being tenacious to a fault, committed to staying the course at all costs, believing in the rightness of the calling and the cause. Those of our ilk take pride in our steadfastness and the fact that we could be martyrs. I hope and pray that I can attain and maintain balance and openness. That I can be a satellite dish receiving information and inspiration from the universe and then re-broadcasting it to my neighborhood and other parts of the known world…

I am amazed at how events can so dramatically influence attitude; even with so much study and training for self-control and actualization. I am amazed that small things and trends can get me down or make me pessimistic about the future, especially when I have so many years’ experience with receiving so many miracles! When will I get to the point that I have enough faith not to worry? Maybe I enjoy creatively working out worst-case scenarios that never come to pass?

This tour was a miracle! Another in a long, awe-inspiring line of just in the nick of time, life-saving miracles. It almost didn’t happen at all. Then it was going to be postponed, again! But against all odds, it did come to pass, right on time to inspire me to keep on keeping on. As if God nodded his head to say, “Yes you can and you should stay on the path!”

I hope the others in the group, my fellow musician travelers, have also benefited. I know we all have bills waiting to be paid; and families that have allowed us to take the time away from the day to day to go for the gold and the goal. Beyond the money made, and the in spite of having to physically lug things around, I know my band mates enjoyed themselves, enjoyed making new audiences happy, and enjoyed expanding horizons.

I have had a group now for over 35 years. I have gotten to the point that I am kind of an institution through which a number of younger musicians get training and experience and then move on ever upward. I am like Roy Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith, Pharaoh Sanders, Art Blakey, Gill Scott-Heron or at least I am trying to follow in their footsteps. I want to do some major touring, play bigger venues and have my show grow in size to be like George Clinton & P-Funk, James Brown, Sunny Ade, Fela Kuti, the Wailers, Maze, Earth Wind & Fire, Prince and Kool & the Gang. Is there enough talent and time? Time will tell.

Back at home. The plane trip back was long and tiring but not really that bad at all for me. Tonya had cramps; Corey was wedged in a middle seat on the long trans-Atlantic flight; Muzi had to prepare himself mentally to go to work the next day and Asante still had an over an hour’s drive after we finally got to Richmond. But even with long waits and delays and an 8-hour flight plus a connecting flight, the trip back was cool. Corey said, “Let’s go again next week!”

We’ll see…

Journey to Produce Music in Cuba
By J. Plunky Branch



I decided to take the opportunity to travel to Cuba to conduct research in my professional field, Africa and African-American Music History. I spent several weeks making contacts, gathering information and developing plans to go the island and document the music there as it exists today and as it relates to the history of Black music in the Americas. I would take my digital recording studio equipment, video camera, other gadgets and my son, Jamiah along with me for an 11-day excursion, research, production and performing junket that would be both memorable and rewarding. Here is my journal kept on my laptop during the trip. I share the information and observations with you in the hopes that you will benefit from my experiences, be piqued by my insights and enjoy the adventure…





Tuesday, 4/10/01- 3:10am: On the train to New York.
Unbelievable beginning to a remarkable experience. We left Richmond yesterday morning at the end of a two-week whirlwind of activity consisting of preparations for this trip to Cuba while continuing my ongoing activities of recording in my studio, doing gigs in schools and keeping up my personal relationships. Going to Cuba was not something that has always been on my life’s itinerary. Friends of mine had been suggesting and inviting me to accompany them or to go and perform in an annual jazz festival or to be supportive of various organized activities aimed at loosening the 40-year-old U.S. embargo. I had considered going to Cuba, but my schedule, my finances and the political pressures always combined to make the trip impractical.

Now, here I am on a train going to New York, where I’m planning to change to a train to Montreal, Canada, where I will spend most of one night and then take a plane to Havana tomorrow morning. I am traveling with my 19-year-old son, Jamiah, who has never been out of the country and never been on a plane. I suspect that this trip will change his life’s view and be indelibly etched into his memory bank.

In fact, we had to leave Richmond at 11:00 AM yesterday in order to come to DC to pick up his passport which we had to expedite by coming up to DC on last Friday. So, we spent an active and leisurely afternoon in DC after going to the passport office, then driving out into Rockville, MD to pick up some Sony Beta Cam video tapes and then killing time in Georgetown. While waiting for Jamiah to do some shopping I bought a little book on traveling to Cuba and it looks like a wonderful, maybe magical, place to go and do research into the music of Africa in the Americas. It also looks like a great place to vacation.


Tuesday, 4/10, 11:20 AM: On the train out of Albany New York
Though I thought that once we were on the train out of New York, we would just have a straight shot to Montreal, we, in fact, had to change trains. Moving our considerable load of baggage is proving to be a demanding production unto itself. We have six parcels to transport: one fat brief case which includes the laptop; one shoulder-strapped saxophone case holding both the alto and the soprano saxes; one flight case for the Roland VS 1680 digital portable recording studio; a box of Sony Beta Cam video tapes; one over-stuffed, over-weight clothes bag; and one oversized flight case containing microphones, wires, video camera, hard drives, batteries, tapes and all things technical. We have so much stuff that at every juncture I have to wonder if A.) Jamiah and I will be able to handle it all; and, B.) The authorities will let us board with it all. But so far so good.

In my mind, the preparations and initiation of this excursion has been viewed as an endless series of minor hurdles that have to be leapt and minor challenges that have to be met head-on or gotten around in some way or another. Early on in the process it was just the hurdle of getting to the point that I wanted to go. A very important challenge had to do with reconciling the political situation revolving around Cuba and the implications of working within the U.S. government restrictions on travel to the island. While I am a child of the sixties and a rebel at heart, it is another matter to take risk with resources and your time when you are 53 years old and have a family and business associates and music mates who all depend on your expertise and your being on hand to hold it all together.

Then there was the myriad of things that had to be done to allow Jamiah to go with me. Jamiah is on probation for a misdemeanor offense, so we had to get his probation officer to agree to allow Jamiah to leave the country. By the time we got over that hurdle, there was just enough time to expedite his passport application, but only by going to the passport office in Washington, DC. Yes, Jamiah would be going with me. His going will be a giant step forward in his training in business, in his development as a man and in his knowing the world as it exists. Jamiah’s going with me to Cuba would also be important to me as a father trying to pass something on to his son. In addition to him being a videographer, a budding hip-hop beat-master and percussionist, Jamiah is important on this trip because I certainly could not be carrying all this stuff to Cuba without his being my chief baggage handler and roadie.

It is just past noon and we are barreling northward; through Saratoga Springs, NY, across fields and forests of melting snow; north toward the border with Canada. I don’t know what to expect regarding customs and immigration into Canada but I have considered getting into Canada with all that we are transporting to be one the few remaining hurdles to jump. When we do get into Canada with all this stuff, then we’ll have to get a hotel; get from the hotel to the airport at 4:45 AM tomorrow morning,, and then the last hurdle: getting on the plane to Havana.

Last night before leaving Washington, DC I took Jamiah to the train station at 1:10 AM. The plan was for me to leave him and all the baggage at the train station while I drove out to the edge of town to leave the car at an old friend’s house, then take a cab or Metro back to the train station to make the 3:00AM train. Before leaving Jamiah at the station I thought about asking one of the taxi drivers there to follow me out to my friend’s and bring me back to the station, but then I thought that that might be expensive, paying two fares. So I noted the phone numbers on a couple of the cabs there and figured that I’d call for a cab to meet me out there on the edge of town.

Well, out on the edge of town, I called the numbers and the best I could do was to be on hold for 15 minutes before being told that it would be a 30-40 minute wait for them to get me a cab. After parking the car and waiting 30 minutes, I called back to the cab dispatcher and after waiting on hold for 12 minutes I was told that they still hadn’t located any of their drivers who were out in my region.

So I decided that I would do better driving around to find a cab myself, or in the worst case scenario, driving back downtown to the train station and paying whatever the cost to park for two weeks near the station. I started driving back downtown and spent a frustrating 15 minutes looking for a cab that wasn’t off duty. Beginning to get a little worried, I decided to head back out toward my friend’s house. As I’m speeding up I-295, I spot a taxi about to come on the highway. I speed up even more and flag him down. (It was more like I blocked his entry onto the highway.)
The cabby agreed to follow me to my friend’s and take me to the train station.

On the way back downtown to the train station, I learn that the cab driver has invested $60,000 in studio equipment for his son. And his son is looking for a saxophonist to do some recording on several projects that he is working on. I gave the driver one of my CD’s and my card to have his son contact me when I return, but I was more grateful for the lift to the station than the synchronicity of the music production hook-up.

I made the train and now I’m on my third train, passing through snowy mountains and lakes in upstate New York or Vermont. I have enjoyed a lunch of pizza, turkey Caesar salad, white wine spritzer and a large chocolate chip cookie, and all is right with the world. Jamiah has no trouble sleeping and sometimes I wish I had that knack.

Thursday, 4/12- 8:AM in my apartment room in Havana:
It has been an eventful 36 hours since I sat at this laptop to notate what’s going on. We did get into Canada without a hitch. The Canadian customs agents boarded the train, checked documents, asked questions, but checked no baggage that I saw, and after an hour, the train moved on. When we got to Montreal, we took a cab out to a Best Western Motel right across from the airport. And though Jamiah wanted to go out and do something in Montreal, because it was Tuesday night and not much was happening in the city and because I was just a little tired from all the travel and preparations, we stayed in the room and ordered Chinese food.

I went to bed around 10:30 PM but awoke hourly, being concerned about over-sleeping, even though I had asked for a wake-up call at 3:40AM. I got up at 3:30, showered and we took the shuttle bus to the airport, arriving there at 4:20 to pick up our tickets. The travel agent didn’t show up until 5:30, but we got the tickets and boarded the plane without hassle.

It was a beautiful day for Jamiah’s first plane ride: sunny and bright with just a few clouds to offer perspective and depth of field. After takeoff, he slept most of the way there. Our first glimpses of Havana from the air revealed that the city sprawls, empties into the sea and has the flatland topography of the typical coastal urban area.

We landed, went through customs and immigration with only a slight delay with a question raised about the box of Sony Beta Cam tapes. But when I said that I was a musician here to record, they immediately apologized and let us go into the main terminal and into Cuba.

Skipper was not there to meet us! Well, we were early. We had to wait about on hour for him to show up, but in his defense, he had been told that the plane would arrive at 11:45. We took a car and a cab into and across Havana to our apartment. The city had the look and feel of the tropical third world but with a cleanliness and bustle and energy that is refreshing. The people are a good-looking rainbow of shades.

Our apartment is at the edge of a part of town and is across the street from the water and a monument. It is clean, nicely appointed, with two bedrooms and a maid. It will also cost twice as much as I had budgeted. We also hire a car and driver for the duration of the stay and I shell out half the money I have with me and I will wait to speak with Skipper about what I have and how it will be apportioned until am to be reimbursed.

After dropping off our luggage, we head to the film institute to meet the director and film crew for Skipper’s film, “Why.” The film Institute training school is a government agency, which teaches students the art of filmmaking. The students will make propaganda and regular programs for Cuban television and films for distribution to other Latin American countries. (When we arrived I had a scare when my Canon GL-1 camera “ate” the first tape we put in it and then would not load subsequent tapes that we tried. But it turned out that the camera had accumulated some condensation from the flight and the humidity here in Havana.) We had lunch across the street from the film institute and discussed the film project with the director and assistant director.

After lunch we were joined by trombonist Craig Harris, one of the musicians in Cuba to do a recording with David Murray for a French Canadian record label. We all went with Craig to have his lunch at the Casa de la Musica, which was directly across the park from the film institute. Craig had arrived in Havana three days earlier and had already gotten a feel for the place and he had already been meeting some of the Cuban musicians who were going to participate in David Murray’s session. And Craig had already been out to hear some of the tremendous music that goes on in this city.

We went back to the film institute where we watched some video about Bata drumming and the Santiera religion and we talked about the amazing quality and quantity of Cuban music and musicians. Craig is an engaging and smile-inducing conversationalist and we had an enjoyable afternoon hanging out.

At 5:00 PM we went back across the park to the Casa de la Musica for a club/concert by one of the most popular local bands playing salsa at it’s hottest. People started buying tickets at 4:00PM for the 5 o’clock show. When arrived at 5:15 the place was already crowded. The show opened with a Shango dancer who did fire eating, sword dancing and lifting a table with a girl seated on it with his teeth. Then the band ripped it up for two hours non-stop. Hot salsa, hot young bodies gyrating, in a hot, hot hot happening! And Skipper says this kind of thing goes on everyday around that time at places all over the country. Hot music in the afternoon. Then later, hot music in the night at these same clubs. Hot music and hot hips gyrating in African circles, fast, slow, up and down, round and round; mesmerizing…


Thursday, 4/12 - 9:00PM - Back at our Apartment
It was a full day but an up and down day. An interesting day in that we got some interesting things done but at the same time a day of some frustration for Skipper because he wanted things to move along more directly and expeditiously. We got up and showered and got out of our place by 9:30AM. We rode around with Skipper and Carlos, our driver, to a couple of places trying to get things moving by prodding government officials along so that they would see our commitment to getting the music and ultimately the film produced. Skipper was also trying to impress upon everyone that the American Musicians are here and here only for a limited period of time, so that now was the time when the recordings have to be made.

According to Skipper there is a Cuban mentality that holds the belief that all meaningful things have to proceed in an orderly and prescribed way and that way must pass through and be administered by the party bureaucrats. Bureaucrats by nature are not innovators or boat rockers and they guard their own turf and sense of importance. They tend to defer to other bureaucrats, particularly those of higher stature.

We were supposed to meet with a music producer who would be assigned to work with me and get me anything and anyone we would need in order to get my recordings done. We never did see that person today.

We did go see Salome, a Santiera priestess and local block representative in her neighborhood, which is deep in one of the deep barrios in Havana. We had to look for her place but we did find it, a small, one bedroom second story walk up into folklorica. Her living room was a non-descript, dingy ghetto place that could be anywhere in the Third World. Very sparsely furnished with a sofa, wooden chair and table and not much else. The whole apartment and terrace were as poor as any I have ever been in, but there was no revulsion and even a certain invitingness about the place.

Salome is a very large woman; the type you describe by spreading your arms wide apart. She spoke very little English and Skipper, who knew her, communicated as best he could, that we wanted to see her shrine to the Santiera spirits; that I wanted some information about her religion; and that we wanted a blessing concerning the project. She ushered us into her bedroom and showed us her shrine which was like a closet filled with a cornucopia of artifacts, whatnots, knickknacks, beads, necklaces, figurines, feathers, hairs and whatevers… She spoke to us in Spanish about Yemaya, Shango, Obatala & Ogun. She said a prayer over Skipper and then one blessing Jamiah and me. Jamiah videotaped the proceedings.

We then moved out on the terrace where she showed us an animal skin nailed to a board, an egg cracked on a hand written note, and other items which had once been living but now were sacrifices to the Saints. Skipper spoke with her about arranging for us to come and record some musicians and part of a religious ceremony. A neighbor who spoke English was summoned so the negotiations and arrangements could be understood. She said that she would try to arrange a party or event where three Bata drummers and a singer would come and play and we would record them. This will happen on Monday if the musicians are available. Then on next Wednesday we can come to a religious ceremony and record all the things that go on outside the ceremony, but not the most sacred, secret portions that go on inside.

It should be very interesting when we do these things. Setting up digital recording equipment at a party within the confines of Salom’s tiny el barrios apartment will be technically challenging and it will represent an incongruence of modern technology meeting ancient folklore. And it could be artistically and musically unbelievably rewarding.

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to make connections with people and discussing the theoretics of what we are trying to do. We took our meals at Skipper’s apartment. He has a small place in the hood and he has a woman who takes care of his place and cooks for him. She fixed black beans and salads for lunch and later she fixed chicken for Jamiah.

At 5:00 PM we went back to the Casa de la Musica to hear another hot salsa band and to witness more of the hot dancing. The crowd today was different from yesterday, a little older and slightly more traditional somehow in their taste, but no less exuberant in their response to the music and the setting. The Casa de la Musica is a night club space by any other name. It has a great sound system, a large stage with a raised platform at the rear for the horn section, and the club boasts adequate professional stage lights and mirror balls for atmosphere throughout. It is a really nice place and would function anywhere in the world. Here in Cuba it is one of the places that makes the national phenomenon of music as an exhilarating release, music as recreational highlight of the day, music as emotional high, a reality here. It’s like the whole city has a thank-God-it’s-Friday party every day.

And oh the women! Oh the bodies! And oh the shaking that goes on! Salsa Africanized at the hip! Rhythmic and counter-rhythmic sensuality in motion. The music, the dance, the energy - it’s what changes day into evening in Havana.

Saturday morning, 4/14 - 9:30 AM - In bed at the Apartment
Yesterday was another experience in Havana. In the end it was an eye opening, almost mind blowing set of realizations that may have drastically changed my perspective of music in Cuba and what it can mean for the people here but also the potential power of this music to be a force in dynamic changes that may be underway in the world of music. Certainly as of this morning I am changed. My notions of what I do and will do with music and in music have been altered. Plunky’s music, band, productions, careers and record company possibilities and goals may never be the same. And maybe this is why I have been led to come here.

I almost can’t remember how yesterday started… Oh yes, we got an 8:00 AM wake-up call from Skipper. Jamiah and I did a little bit of exercising and had juice, fruit and coffee prepared by our maid. Then we got Carlos, the driver that Skipper hired for the week and whose apartment we have rented, drove us over the Skipper’s place where we had a long meeting with Dennis, a local musician whose band we had seen at the Casa de la Musica the evening before. Dennis has agreed to work on the music for Skipper’s film and we were meeting with Dennis to discuss the specific arrangements for us to do some recording with him this week. Also at Skipper’s was Marika, a young European music student from Holland who is a fan of Dennis who we met the evening before after Dennis’ gig. Marika, who will serve as a translator for us, is blond, not hard to look at, adventuresome and is well traveled for her 26 years.

The meeting with Dennis is very productive. He has already written and arranged some music for the film and he is eager to work with us. We decide that we will record his band at a gig next Tuesday and, possibly again at another gig at the Casa de la Musica next Thursday. I suggest that we will record him doing some solo guitar and singing of the songs that he has composed for the film so that we will have some of the songs in more than one setting and mood for the film score and for the CD.

Over lunch we discuss many things, including finding other hip-hop, folkloric, salsa and rumba musicians to work with. Dennis and Marika will be very helpful with this because they really know the music scene in Havana. We also discuss some of the details of setting up to record in the clubs and other places. And we discussed the business and politics of we are doing. Craig Harris came over with a couple of young guys and a good lunch was enjoyed by all. Food is expensive and a real concern for the working class people in Cuba and sharing food is a real friendship builder here.

We decide that we should all go over to my place so that Dennis can see my recording equipment. On the way to my place I decide to have Denis go get his guitar so that I could do some recording right then. We do just that, setting up the Roland VS1680 and we ended up recording three beautiful songs with Dennis singing and accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. I played some soprano sax on a couple of tracks and I think that Dennis was impressed with the music and the quality of the recording we made. The apartment is all marble, stone and plaster, so the acoustics have a nice, natural reverb; and although we had to contend with traffic passing by outside, we were able to record some beautiful and poignant music.

After the recording session we piled six of us (minus Jamiah) into Carlos’ small car to take Dennis home for his band’s rehearsal. We went to el barrios and found the band all set up in a yard surrounded on three sides by the walls of two-story tenements. The whole group was in place: five horns, two keyboards, drummer, three percussionists, bass and soundman plus assorted roadies, friends and observers. The band consists of young players with good chops and obviously schooled in music. I listen to three songs and I am impressed with the intricacies of the horn arrangements, the attention to detail, the tightness of the rhythms and the professionalism found in this ghetto setting. I am amazed at the musicianship, the seriousness of the pursuit of the groove and the importance of music in Cuba.

Just as Skipper and I are about to leave the rehearsal, Dennis indicates that he wants me to sit in with the band on tenor sax. So I am given the sax player’s horn and we jam hard on the changes for “Autumn Leaves” in salsa and swing. We had a ball and everyone was all smiles as we left.

We were in the same neighborhood as the Salome the Santeria priestess and Skipper had to stop by there to discuss the arrangements for the “party” on Monday when we will record the Santiera musicians. Going up the pitch-black stairway up to her apartment is like ascending up into another world. But it is in no way foreboding. She is so very friendly and inviting. The arrangements are confirmed for 6:00 PM Monday, three drummers and a singer, an hour and half, food rum, people and we get to record it.

Later that night I went to hear Jose Luiz Cortez and his band at the Casa de la Musica. Fantastic! Stupendous! Marvelous! One of the best bands I have ever seen! Hot, spicy, energetic, super musicianship, super chops, super tight! I am just knocked out by the combination of musicianship and energy! Tightness and grooviness. These guys were terrible!

The cover charge was $15 as compared to $5, or even $2 that is sometimes the case. This band was worth the difference. Every musician was world class. Each one was a virtuoso of classical or jazz proportions, yet they played together in the context of this partying, grooving atmosphere. I am blown away.

I could live here! Between the music, the bodies, the energy, the climate. In a world where governments would exist only to provide for the distribution of goods and services equitably, for the general welfare of it’s own people and not have to be concerned with defense, I think Havana would be paradise for me. African and American. Music with rhythms and energy - moving the people. Tropical weather with perpetual breezes. People dancing at the close of the day and again at the close of the night. Who needs cable TV!

I woke up this morning thinking of not trying to compete as a performing musician, but if I were to continue performing, then I should have a bigger band, with more musicians; and more rhythms and more energy. I have always loved expending maximum energy on stage, giving and receiving high energy to the crowd, the audience, and the people. I see that this energy is what some people are asking for in my music: the high energy that has been there since my beginnings and that has recently been a little sublimated by the smoothness of corporate US radio and the influence of musicians in my band who have day jobs and complain about how long my sets are.

I woke up thinking about recording and producing the music here in Cuba. It is a hot commodity on the world music scene, and rightfully so. There are many issues to be dealt with, politically, socially and musically, but there is great potential in the timing and Skipper’s solid Cuban contacts.

I woke up thinking about music here being a tremendous force for social change. Cuba may be the most musical place on the planet! It is certainly among the best places for hot music anywhere. It has an abundance of talent and its society has continued an African tradition of music being accorded a significant place in the culture. And Cuba’s modern history has conspired to allow music to be a stress reliever, a source of national pride, an ingrained part of the social dynamic and social life, and an economic generator. Cuban music may be one of its chief exports and one of its great ambassadorial resources. Cuban music may be one of my great life changers.

Easter Sunday morning, 10:AM - Mi Casa
Skipper called to see if we’re awake and to see if I went out last night. I did go back to the Casa de la Musica to hear Manolito’s band, another one of the best salsa bands in Cuba. They were as good as advertised, with strong rhythms, really interesting orchestral arrangements and a unique instrumentation, with a string section consisting of a cello and two violins added to the usual compliment of horn section, two keyboards, four percussionists and four lead singers.

I went to the club alone and ran into Marika, who was there dancing and hanging out with the musicians. She said that she had collected the names of several rappers and musicians who were interested in our project. I also met Ronald, who had picked up Michael Kenny, another one of Skipper’s friends, from the airport. We talked about Cuba, the music, the project, and at the end of the evening Ronald gave me a lift home.

Earlier in the day yesterday we learned that we would not be able to do the party and record the Santiera musicians at Salome’s place, after all, because the drummers were going to do a gig in Martinique. I was disappointed because I was really looking forward to recording and being part of that happening. But Skipper said he had another possibility, so we had Carlos drive us to Guanabacoa, a deep Afro-Cuban ghetto, where he had a friend. Jamiah and Siul, our new, very fluent translator was with us and we all enjoyed our drive across Havana to the other side of the docks, to a section of the city that had rough, barely paved roads, horses, pigs, and the appearance of a shanty town.

When we got to the compound of his friend, Skipper was greeted warmly by all, from the elders to the smallest children. We arranged to have a small party in order to record some music there that very evening. We left there to go looking for an extension cord and three-pronged adapter plug and to go past David Murray’s place to see if he and Craig would want to come hang out in the ghetto and see the happenings. Then we went back to my place to gather up the recording and video equipment and headed back out to the little recording session, a 30-minute drive away.

When we got there, we set up the recording studio in the yard, which was enclosed by the walls of the small apartments in the compound. It was almost a miniature rural setting that included a pig oinking, a pigeon coop, two small dogs, one daschun and one mongrel with it’s left eye hanging out, assorted family members and children in a small yard that had a small creek running through the back. Jamiah and I placed five microphones in strategic places, got the video camera loaded and we were ready to roll. Skipper broke out the rum and soon our little recording session party was underway. We had two old conga drums, claves, a cowbell and five or six men doing unpolished chanting. Later a young boy brought his trumpet and another came in with a snare drum and a rusty cymbal, which he set up on an overturned bicycle frame.

The music was basic rumba. The rhythms had their moments of magic, but the singing was very unpolished and loose. I think that there was a lot of hesitation and uneasiness caused by the presence of all the equipment, which is more than understandable. There is what my friend, Kevin Teasley, calls “red light syndrome,” where musicians of all levels of expertise go through some amounts of stress and tightening of the nerves when the recording light goes on and the engineer says, “tapes rolling!”

Carlos made another trip across town and brought back David and five other people in his entourage including two European women, one of whom is a photographer from Geneva traveling with him. They all came in and added an incongruent international and high tech flavor to the tiny informal yard party in the ghetto. A couple of times I joined in the music on my soprano sax and a good time was had by all. After the recording session ended, we disassembled the equipment. Tables and chairs were set up and we all ate dinner and drank some homemade rum. Music on the little stereo included Kool & the Gang, Mariah Carey and Earth Wind & Fire; and after the meal when the salsa played, there was even some dancing and beginning lessons in doing the salsa.

David Murray even asked me to do a cameo appearance on his recording session coming up next week. I am honored. He says that he would be a fool not to take advantage of my services since I’m here. I am a bit concerned because there would then be two parallel heavy schedules to fulfill and my priority has to be doing the recordings for Skipper’s project. I am not sure that I need any more pressures at this point, but still working with David and the super musicians that he is assembling for his sessions would be really something! Skipper talked about it in his morning phone call and he thinks that if my energy can handle it, then I should go for it. He thinks it’s a tremendous opportunity and that I’ll just have to rest when I get back home.



Sunday night, 10:00 PM in my room.
This morning I stayed in until 12 noon when we dashed over the Skipper’s place to pick him up to go to a cultural festivity on a special street in a downtown neighborhood. When we got there we found a block turned into a work of art by a renowned artist, Salvadore. His paintings covered every wall like graffiti and his sculptures were everywhere along the tiny street. He had a shrine to the saint Ogun and an indoor gallery of his works as well. He has donated his public works on this block to the people and on different days there are programs for children or art classes and various cultural activities. On Sundays there is a rumba festival and percussion and dancing groups come there to perform free for the people.

When we arrived, there were throngs of people jammed into the center of the street, which was really about the width of a wide alley. There was a covered shed under which the drummers and singers and dancers performed. The event was a neighborhood and an international affair with people from Havana intermingled with people who were obviously tourist from anywhere. People were watching and listening to a rumba group drumming and chanting and the crowd was closer than shoulder to shoulder. What should have been aisles were jammed with bodies trying to closer or to move through. Cameras, tape and video recorders were capturing much of the goings-on, but I am not sure there was anyway to capture even a majority of what was there in that alleyway: polyrhythmic conga drums and shekeres with heavy chanting, people dancing or swaying or listening or looking at art and each other, a kaleidescope of colors painted on everything, more people standing on the sculptures, on benches, on balconies of rainbowed tenement buildings, all mixed together in the heat of the hottest day yet here in Havana. We videoed, took digital pictures and recorded audio on minidisk and still most of the stuff passed on out into the universe uncaptured and free to all eternity.

We sent Carlos, the driver back to the apartment to pick up my horns so that I could play with the next group scheduled to perform. It was Rumba Morenga, an all women’s rumba group. They sang and played the drums, shakers, claves and bells and they excited the crowd with their energy. I did play my soprano with them, but I have to agree with Jamiah who thought it was not one of my better performances. The women sang with the micro-tones of African chants and I could not get in tune with them. But once again the crowd seemed to enjoy my playing and we grooved together in the moments that were ours. Sometimes the event and the facts and effects of the moment are more important than the resulting particulars and artifacts.

After we left, we saw Hamiet Bluiett sitting on a porch. Amazing! He was in from New York to do the David Murray session and he was waiting for his ride to the rehearsal. We stopped the car and talked to him and his wife and said we would see him later. When Skipper wanted to rest I made the tactical error of going back to my place and then to his place to eat rather than going to Dennis’ group rehearsal and/or to David Murray’s big band rehearsal. I was disappointed and a little depressed after missing those. I really should have gone to the big band session with all the big name musicians. It was my opportunity to scope out what was going to be deal with that and my week coming up is looking more like I won’t have a lot of time to be with that crew as much as I might like, so today’s time should not have been missed. I should have gone on to the rehearsals myself with or without Skipper or anyone else. I blew it and I hope that I can make that up to myself.

I went to shoot some video scenes of me playing at a couple of monuments and by the sea in our neighborhood; then to shoot some pool with Jamiah and Carlos; and then I came here to write this. Jamiah went back over to Skipper’s to check out more food and some young chicks. I’m staying in tonight.

I hope that this trip is like freshman college courses for Jamiah. This “semester” with me in Cuba he is taking: political science, video journalism, world economics and musical anthropology. I think that he sees it as just an interesting vacation, sometimes resenting that he has to video tape the proceedings rather than just checking out the sights and trying to get into something. Jamiah is so interested in being cool that he doesn’t want to have to be burdened with the camera bag or my horn case. He’d rather hang out with Carlos than attend cultural events and he’d rather play with the little kids than to sit in on business meetings. But I am sure that he is learning a lot and that he’ll remember and benefit from this trip for years to come.

Monday, evening - 8:15 PM Back at my place.
Today I got up early (because I went to bed early last night) and did my yoga on the cold marble floor. We had an early meeting with the Vice-president of the Music Association and though we got there early, we had to wait an hour or so before we actually got in to meet with him. Skipper, David Murray, Craig Harris, Siul, the translator and I met with the Vice-President and his assistant and discussed Skipper’s project and how the film, the music and the musicians might be used as a weapon against the U.S. blockage and for better cultural relations between the two countries. We talked about what the institution could do for us this week, i.e. securing a studio or room to be used as a studio for recording and helping us contact musicians to be recorded this week. But we also talked about the prospects for long term relationships and projects that would create ongoing work.

David Murray suggested that one thing that would have great impact would be working with instrument manufacturers to provide instruments and repair services; and the Vice-President was excited by that prospect. He said that there are 44 groups (marching bands, orchestras, concert groups, etc) in the Havana area and instruments are scarce and those that are available have “been here since Columbus.” He talked about other projects that have been initiated in the past. One was called Music Bridges, in which composers from the two countries were paired together to create joint collaborative works. The project was successful and some of the compositions were innovative and interesting, but when the project was finished there was no mechanism in place for any continuation of interaction.

We concluded by agreeing that this proposed long-term, relationship-building program was worthwhile and should be pursued. We said that the next step was to put a proposal together so that the Vice-President could carry it forward for approval by the appropriate ministry.

After that meeting I went back to pick up my horns and Jamiah to go to David Murray’s big band rehearsal for his recording sessions to start on tomorrow. Jamiah and I were among the first to arrive. The studio was old but well equipped. The sessions would be recorded on two-inch analogue tape. The recording room is a large enough space to record the 18-piece big band and it is acoustically deadened so that it should be a really good recording. The musicians are some of the best in Havana. All of them have great chops and are great sight-readers.

David has been working on the compositions and the arrangements for quite a while and he has worked with two well-known Cuba composers for a week to incorporate the rhythms and feelings of Cuban music into his works. This big band sounds really good playing the charts. I did get to play soprano on one piece and my lack of recent experience reading music charts was really apparent to me. I got through the chart but not like the other cats. They sight read it better than I would have played it after a week’s practice. I enjoyed being at the rehearsal and was impressed with the whole production, from top to bottom. I think the recording should be very successful.

Skipper and I spent some of the evening taking about things. The project, the budget, family and friendship histories were all topics on the agenda. We talked about my relationship with Jamiah and about our own relationships with our fathers and male friends. We reminisced about the past and projected some future possibilities. And I realize that we are still learning life’s lessons, from our successes and our mistakes.

It also dawned on me that releasing Cuban music recordings might fit quite nicely on my own record label, especially since I recently acquired Black Fire Records and now have a catalogue of 25 albums. Some new Cuban artists and releases might be right on time!

Tuesday Morning - 7:30 AM in bed at mi casa.
Yesterday Jamiah said he was homesick. And I can dig it. Like Dorothy said, “There’s no place like home!” As long as you are busy going from one thing to the next and you don’t have time to think about it, wanting to be home is less an issue. Oh yeah, you think about the people you love and those you work with. You mentally visit projects and habits you’d be doing if you were back in Kansas or Virginia or New York, but it doesn’t turn into the pangs of pain until you have too many quiet moments strung together and your thoughts drift into the twilight zone of visualizing what you’d rather be doing; and you remember where you’d rather be doing it. Home is wherever you’d really rather be right now and where you’d rather be for the long term and, as George Carlin would say, home is where you leave your stuff.

I don’t know if Cuba would ever be my home. Though one night here, at the Casa de la Musica when I was in the heat of the Cortez band’s set, and the music and the hips were pumping, I had the thought, “This is where I want to be, maybe forever!” But it’s easy to want to be in the heat of a good, hot moment. Easy to forget about politics and loved ones who are somewhere else, until the quiet moments of reflection turn into prayers and the prayers turn into visions of heaven and peace. And those things all ways are centered where you have your love - home.

Wednesday morning in my bed at mi casa.
Yesterday was a day that we came here to have. After I did my yoga for the morning, I got Jamiah up and we went with Carlos to pick up Skipper to run a couple of errands and then we were ready to go to the film director’s house located in a small seaside town 20 miles outside Havana. The drive was interesting in that I was our first highway trip since we got here.

The coastal town was sparsely populated with beach goers and small shops, and houses of various descriptions. The beach was the most dominant feature, with its azure water, palm trees, blue sky and wonderful Caribbean flavored sights and sounds added to the general landscape. This beach town was the kind of place that you would describe as idyllic.

After going out to a wonderful little pizza restaurant that boasts a real Italian-style, brick pizza oven and fresh vegetables grown right there on the premises, we went to the beach for a swim. Jamiah, Skipper and I in the clear, warm waters of the Caribbean Ocean. Palm trees, bikinis, quaint shoreline houses and relaxing dreams of this being the life.

We drove back to Havana and after dropping off Skipper and Jamiah and picking up my recording equipment, I went down to the Café Cantanta where Dennis & Swing would be performing at 11:00 PM. Although I was worried that I would be late, I had a short wait outside the club before I and Dennis’ band could get in to set up for sound check. Once inside, I worked with the house sound engineer and got my recording gear set up and ready in about an hour. Then I went back home to shower, rest for half an hour, dress, pick up Jamiah and leave for the gig.

On the way back to the club I stopped by the studio where David Murray’s big band was recording to assure that David, Craig, and Hamiet were going to come to the club and jam after their recording session ended around midnight. This night was what we came to Cuba to do: capture some of the magic of the musicians from Cuba interacting with musicians from the U.S. and I have been a little apprehensive about it all day. I just hoped that all would go well technically and artistically. And it did!

In fact, the gig went exceptionally well. The club is located the basement of the national theater and it is quite nice, with an adequate stage, a dance floor, and really good sound and light systems. There was a tight first set with Dennis’ band and half way through it David, Craig and Hamiet came in from their recording session.

Then after the break Denis conducted his band and directed a jam session with all of the American horn players and Cuban musicians taking flight in an extended salsa-jazz version of “Autumn Leaves.” We played it inside and out: David’s big toned tenor sax, Bluiett’s even bigger baritone sound, Craig’s scatting trombone and my little soprano sax all soaring, dipping, swooping, screaming and singing together and then into a series of extended solos. It was quite a descargas, a mega-jam, a 30-minute free wheeling whirlwind of musical energy! And we got it all recorded in digital quality sound and video! It was a winner. It was a slam dunk night. And everybody had a great time. It was Black fire in Cuba!

Wednesday Afternoon - 2:30 PM
I’m in my room for a moment having gotten up early to speak to Skipper, who called to talk about how hot the music and the happening was last night. We did get a room in the Karl Marx Theater for the rest of the week to use as our studio space. Now we’ll have to contact musicians to come through and record. We don’t have Carlos the driver and his car this morning so I don’t know how much we’ll get done today.

I did light yoga and listened to the recordings from last night. As I suspected the Dennis’ band’s first set was tighter and more “even” and made for a better recording than did the jamming second set, but all in all it was pretty decent. I took a cab to Hotel Cohiba to use the Internet for an hour. The Internet connection is painfully slow but I am thankful to have access to my email at all.

It is cloudy, quite breezy and chilly today, in contrast to the warm sunny days we’ve been having since we got here. Suddenly, Skipper just showed up at my door and said we’re taking the equipment to the Karl Marx theater to set up to record, so off we go.

Wednesday night, 10:00 PM
Back home to rest a bit. We did go to set up in the theater. When we arrived, Rumba Morenga, the all female group who performed on Sunday at the artist’s street festival, was already there waiting for us. The Karl Marx Theater is undergoing renovation, so we entered through the first floor lobby which a construction zone. The room we will be using is a medium-sized, smooth stone hall with a wooden stage. It is dusty and in the process of being renovated too. The security man and the electrician are helpful in getting the small things that I need and after a short while I am ready to begin recording the women.

Most of theater’s audio-visual equipment is in use in a production in the main concert hall, so they only have one microphone stand and one microphone for me. I use chairs for microphone stands and large paintings as baffles to try and get some separation between the percussion and the vocals. The women are very effective in performing their songs and they are excited to listen back to the recordings after each take. We get a pretty good sound for the recording and I experiment with different techniques, effects and microphone placements. We were able to get five or six good songs recorded, including one percussion instrumental, five songs of percussion with vocals and one song with percussion and two tracks of me playing saxophones.

Marika came and said that she had contacted some of the rappers and they would be coming as well. A little while later, six rappers did show up and they listened to the last part of the women rumba group’s session. Skipper spoke with the rappers about his project and its purposes and then I spoke to them about the recording process and artistic considerations and possibilities. They decided that they wanted to record with us.

We did get to record one rap song by a two-man group. They had music tracks on CD’s that they brought with them so I was able to record the tracks directly into the VS1680 and they did their raps flawlessly, straight through, without a hitch, twice, non-stop. It went well. The other group didn’t have their tracks CD with them, so we called it a day, packed up and left.

Jamiah, Michael Kenny, Siul, the translator and Skipper went to Skipper’s for dinner. Then Jamiah and I came back here to rest a bit. I am supposed to meet Marika at Zorro y Cuevo jazz café to meet the owner and to meet some other musicians for the recording project. This is also the club at which another group invited us to jam with them on tomorrow night, so I will get to check out the place as well. Ronald called and said that he would come by and pick me up, so it looks like I’m good to go. Just time for a 20-minute meditation/rest.



Thursday morning - 8:30 AM
Skipper called to start my day. I am tired from being out late last night and tired facing another long day recording today. Ronald did take me down to the Zorro y Cuevo jazz café and we met Marika at the door. After some moments of talking to the club manager and his not understanding Marika’s information about the project, we were admitted. The club owner was thinking that we were coming to try to film in the club. He said he had not been able to understand Marika speaking on the phone in English and Spanish, so he was a little confused. But he knew Craig Harris had been to the club to jam, so once he got it straight that I was one of the musicians who had been invited to jam tomorrow night, then everything was cool.

The Zorro el Cuevo club is a small jazz place. Its size lends itself to more intimacy and closer involvement with the music. Last night the band was led by an older musician who used to be in the group, Irekere. The music was very engaging and quite varied. The instrumentation included the leader and a young cat on percussion, which included bata drums; plus three horns, drums, bass, keyboards and electric guitar. They played a number of styles and flowed from salsa to jazz to blues, to funk, to traditional folklorica, sometimes segueing between several genres in one arrangement. The young percussionist was great! After the set Marika introduced me to him (his name is Emiel Lazo) and we talked to him about coming to the theater to record on tomorrow or Friday.

Also I spoke with the keyboardist who invited me to sit in with his group tomorrow night at Zorro el Cuevo and he said that he would come by the theater to check out the recording session too. Ronald introduced me to Ellen, a friend of Skipper’s who works for Pastors for Peace. Ellen was with U. S. Congressman Wynn from Prince Georges County Maryland. I sat down with them and had a drink and a brief conversation with them. Ellen is into jazz and a long time fan of the music. The congressman is here in Cuba on a brief fact finding mission.

I am amazed at how many people are on the streets downtown late on a weeknight. So many clubs and restaurants open, so much music, so much nightlife. And Ronald confirms that it is always this way and I wonder if not having cable TV and so many other home entertainment options is one of the reasons that live music and hanging out is so popular in Havana?

One thing is for sure, the rhythms of the drum are a big factor in the music here. I have to see if I can get a thumbnail sketch of the history of the music in Cuba. I will ask the musicians.

Now to shower and head over to the Karl Marx Theater to record all day. There is a percussion festival that starts at 5:00 PM and then, David Murray’s session going on from 4:00 PM to midnight, and then the jam at Zorro el Cuevo. So much music, so little time!

Thursday Night/Friday morning, 2:23 AM, mi casa again.
“If musicians were kings, there would be no borders.” That’s my quote for today.

I did go to the Karl Marx Theater at 10:00 AM; right on schedule. When I got there the women of Rumba Morena, the group we recorded yesterday, were already there, waiting for me. I left Jamiah in bed because once again he hung out until the wee hours, so I had to set up all by myself. Well, the electrician and the security man for the theater did help some, and so did the ladies. I spent the first hour letting the women listen to what they had recorded the day before, while I made dubs onto a minidisk. Then we shot some video of the women dancing to one of the pieces we had recorded.

Marika came and so did Emiel Lazo, the young conga drummer that I saw with the band at Zorro y Cuevo last night. I immediately set up to record him because the solo I saw him do at the club was so mean, I knew that anything I could get of his playing on a recording would be a great piece of music for the film track. And indeed it was! Emiel recorded an eight-minute conga solo that was too terrible! And he is 17 years old! After that, we recorded him playing congas backing up the women doing a chant and we also recorded a piece with him and me on soprano sax.

While we were doing that some of the rappers came in. The two-man rap group I recorded yesterday came in with the mother of one of them. I finished up working on what I was doing with the conga drummer. While the rappers were waiting for me to get with them, I was thinking that the mother had come to check out what we doing with her son and maybe to make inquiries about the business we were conducting with her boy. Oh but no: it turns out that her son had told her about the project and she, the mother, had written a rap about the embargo last night and they had come hoping to record it today!

So the next thing we did was set up to record them doing that rap song. The process was that we used a track from a CD for groove and tempo and they rapped using that as their backup music. We intend to replace that with music that Jamiah and others will produce back in the states. After I recorded the rappers, I recorded two tracks of the young conga drummer onto the song and when I get back home and put some other music with it I think it will be a hot rap song about the blockade.

“What’s your name/ It’s blockade/ You kill children everyday/ That’s bullshit, Man/ Not my way!“

We recorded another rapper doing a piece about the revolution and by that time, it was approaching 6:00 PM so we packed up to leave. It was a very interesting day of recording with the Rumba Moreno women interacting with Emiel, the 17-year-old conga virtuoso and the rappers. I also video taped an interview with the women and the conga drummer about the history of the music and rhythms in Cuba. And I even got footage of Emiel Lazo demonstrating the basic rumba rhythms on congas. It was a full day of producing in our theater hall; very gratifying artistically and also because I had the sense that we are accomplishing our mission.

After going to Skipper’s to eat dinner, Jamiah and I took a cab back here to rest. Ronald called and said that he was coming over to introduce me to an older musician, Alfredo, a percussionist who has been performing professionally with his family group, Papines, for 40 years. Their group is a four-piece percussion ensemble and they travel all over the world. Tonight they performed at a festival of Cuban percussion going on in Havana this week. My conversation with Alfredo was very stimulating and refreshing. He has performed with many great musicians over the years and his brother performed with Nat King Cole when he came to record in Cuba. Talking to Alfredo was a brief history lesson that I wish I had video taped. It was Alfredo who said, “If musicians were kings, there would be no borders.”

After Alfredo left, Ronald drove me to the Zorro y Cueva jazz café where I have been invited to jam with the group Bambaleo, led by keyboardist Lazaro Valdes. We picked up Marika on the way to the club and she wanted to go by and pick up Dennis. When we got to the club it was abuzz with musicians and patrons. A group playing straight-ahead jazz performed first and later Bambaleo went on. Lazaro Valdes is an innovative keyboardist and his group plays high-energy fusion. I did get to sit in on one number and although I didn’t think my playing was so great, people including the club owner seemed quite impressed. I gave the club owner one of my CD’s and he said that he’d play it on his weekly jazz show on the radio here in Havana.

At 2:00AM when we left the club, downtown Havana was still active. Michael Kenny wanted to go to the Casa de la Musica but I had Ronald drop me off at mi casa. It is past 3:00 AM as I finish making these notes on my laptop and go to bed. I will get about five hours sleep and get up to do my last full day’s work today, Friday.

Keeping this journal is a form of discipline. I am not so sure that it is not also a form of vanity to think that everything that I do is so great it should be documented on tape and in writing. But nevertheless, other musicians and people in general might benefit from learning of these experiences. And even though this late night note taking takes time, energy and discipline, it may be easier to do it right now than to wait and try to do it when I get back home, because there, I will have so much work to do, catching up the my affairs there plus organizing and producing what I have amassed here and doing the ongoing gigging and record business that I must do to earn a living. So onward, upward, got to keep on keeping on. Unto to whom much is given, much is required; and I have been given so very much….

Friday night on my bed early - 11:30 PM
Today was the last full day of work for the week. Thank God it was Friday! And it was our last full day in Havana. I got up did a miniature yoga session and went to the Hotel Corhiba to retrieve my email. Then I came back here to the apartment and took a taxi to the Karl Marx Theater with my recording equipment and my saxophones. I was moving very lethargically this morning. My energy was low and my body just would not move out of first gear. I wondered if I might be sick, but it turned out to be nothing move than the residual effect of a couple of drinks and too much cigarette smoke and too much work and staying up late and not eating at the proper times to get the energy flowing this morning.

Skipper arrived after I set up but none of the rappers who were supposed to start at 11:00 AM got there before 12 noon, so Skipper and I had a chance to talk. We agreed that it seems like there is the potential of some really great things happening here, musically, politically, commercially and humanitarianly. But there is a tremendous amount of work to be done if that potential is to be realized. I didn’t think about that this morning, but right now, it may be too much work for me: grants to be written, business plans to develop, correspondence to write, CD’s to be mixed, trips to and from Cuba, legal wrangling, marketing to be done, etc. But it is exciting as well.

The rappers came in and we listened and made dubs of some of what was recorded yesterday. Telma, a female poet came in and Skipper said that she was a strong rapper, so I eagerly pressed her to do a rap for us. The only sound track she had to rap over was something that already had her rapping on it, so I recorded her rapping to that for tempo and then had her do it again so that I had two tracks of her doubling herself. As with most of the other raps we have been recording, the intention is to take the raps back to the States and put other beats and music to the raps. But Telma’s rap was something special. It was a poem/rap that was actually a kind of prayer to the Orisha’s about her life, her love, her struggles and pain.

Then I asked if she could do the poem again set to a rumba beat and she said that she would try it. I cued up the rumba chant that the female group Rumba Morenga had done with Emiel Lazo yesterday. When Telma heard the track she broke out into a broad smile and said she couldn’t do it. But with a little coaxing she did and it turned out to be so bad! It was mad wild! Because here was a girl doing a poem-prayer to the Orishas over a rumba beat and females chanting to the same Orishas. Too cold! Next I had Telma improvised a derivative poem over a track of Emiel on congas and my soprano sax and that came out great too!

Then we recorded another male rapper, Alexia, doing a poem about revolution. I thought his delivery was sometimes slightly off time but I also don’t speak Spanish. I thought that his tracks that he brought in was a little distorted; but we are going to put new music to most of these raps anyway, so that was not a big thing.

When we were finishing up the rap things the two young saxophone players who were at the Zorro y Cuevo Jazz Café last night came in. But by 1:30 PM they were still the only musicians who had come, though we were expecting several others. We considered taking a break for lunch and coming back in an hour to see if any other instrumentalists would show up. Then I thought that I had better record something with just us three horns and if no one else showed up then I just call it quits. So Skipper took the rappers and the ladies from Rumba Morenga, who were there again hanging out, to his house for food. Marika and the horn players stayed.

We spent about a half-hour working out some free wheeling musical ideas for saxophone trio. The two young guys were good jazz students, with commendable experience and really nice tones on their axes. They looked liked they were not sure if I wasn’t a bit off my rocker with some of the things I was having them try; but in the end they began to hear and get a feel for what we would be doing. Jamiah came in, having walked from the apartment, so he could assist by starting and stopping the recording device.

We recorded three pieces. First we did an impressionistic piece consisting of the three saxes improvising over a set of chord changes that I charged the alto sax player to come up with. Next we did a slow blues that started out over blues chord changes and slowly evolved to a free state. And last we did a “salsa” piece with the tenor, alto and soprano saxes each holding a rhythmic part. This last piece was most interesting.

As we were listening back to the tracks, the other people got back from lunch at Skipper’s. I thought about calling it a day, but I heard the tenor saxophonist humming a bass line to the salsa sax piece while it was playing back so I asked him to let me record his voice bass for the track. It was fun sounding, so I got the three ladies from Rumba Morenga to do a three-part voice percussion track. While they were doing their thing, Emiel, the terrible young conga player came in, so I asked him to do a conga part with his voice on another track. Then I added a track by the rapper who did the revolution rap to the mix. And lastly I got poetess Telma to do her thing, which was the final touch.

It was salsa made from saxes and voices. As each layer had been added, the sound track sounded more and more like a Cuban paella or a gumbo and each new performance was greeted by smiles and applause by all the young people there. It was a lot of fun and actually pretty incredible both in terms of how it all came together and how it sounded.

Skipper came in and I let him hear it and he was knocked out by what we had done. He said he thought Jimmy Gray (founder of Black fire Records who died last year) was somewhere up there smiling down on us. Black Fire!

Skipper then assembled everyone and gave a wonderful little speech about the project and what we had accomplished in the three days we worked there. He also talked about being “cultural warriors” and thanked everyone for being supportive and giving so much of themselves. I spoke to the group, thanking them for their work, their creativity and praised their youthful spirits. I told them that I hoped that they had learned from the experience and that I hoped they would be inspired by history and also by the idea that together we artists can create new things and a new world.

We then adjourned and took taxis to Skipper’s house for food and a house party. We ate, drank and made merry! Skipper’s housekeeper, Maria, managed to get everyone fed. Rum flowed. Young horn players danced with Rumba Morenga ladies. Mike looked on and admired the sensuality of the dancers. And Siul, the translator, had fallen in love with the lead singer of Rumba Morenga and the two of them cooed and hugged and danced and kissed their way into the evening. That wa

Plunky & Oneness – Impressive In Their Paris Debut

Paris – Even before the concert began there was electricity in the air. Monday, November 29, 2004 will long be remembered by members of Plunky & Oneness (of Juju) and their French fans as the date of the band’s triumphant debut in Paris. The venue for the band’s first Parisian concert was the New Morning, a place that has a history of presenting great jazz artists from Ella Fitzgerald and Dee Bridgewater to Chick Corea, Maceo Parker, Pharaoh Sanders, Archie Shepp and too many others to name them all. And according to the promoters, the Monday night concert by Plunky & Oneness (of Juju) was up to the club’s high standards.

There was a rush to get choice seats and stage-edge positions when the first 100 hundred patrons who had lined up outside were allowed inside the club 90 minutes before the opening song would be played. When the band did take the stage, a loud roar of approval was let loose as the by-then packed house got a glimpse of colorfully costumed band members with faces painted like African masks. After bandleader J. Plunky Branch joined the ensemble, intoned his opening statements and played an invocation on tenor sax, he launched the band into a 6/8 polyrhythm with his famous words, “These are African rhythms, passed down to us by the ancients spirits…” From that point on the magic of juju was in the house.

For the next two and a half hours the band and audience were joined in spirit celebrating the power of rhythm, energy and improvisation to create joy, peace and inspiration. The music was classic. The sound and lights were ideal. And the band performed wonderfully, reveling in the exhortations of the adoring crowd.

Plunky said, “I always thought it would be special to play in Paris with my band. It took me years to get to do it, but I always thought it would be great when it happened and I wasn’t disappointed.”

The band was as tight a tick. All night, fabulously funky drummer Corey Burch flailed away in perfect sync with Nigerian percussionist Chief Udoh Essyet. Original and longtime Oneness of Juju bassist Philip Muzi Branch anchored the ensemble and created the shifts from jazz to p-funk, sometimes while singing. Keyboardist Kevin Teasley added tonal colors and took several amazingly nimble solos. But it was the soulful voices that moved the listeners to higher heights. Divas Jacqueline “Lady Eka-Ete” Lewis and keyboardist Tonya Lazenby-Jackson sang alternately like jazz stylists, gospel singers and Funkateers, always invoking the blues and evoking oohs and aahs from the French music connoisseurs.

As director of the energies, bandmaster Plunky was a commanding presence and always fully in control. His saxophones soared, bringing back memories of John Coltrane. His words poked and prodded the intellect. And Plunky was a modern day funk conductor, in the mold of his idols: Fela Kuti, George Clinton and Prince.

The repertoire for the evening traced the history of Plunky & Oneness of Juju in song. Beginning with the 1974 composition “Nia” and proceeding through the 1976 “Space Jungle Funk” the stage was set for beloved vocalist Lady Eka-Ete to sing her classic, “River Luvrite,” a song that has been reissued on several compilations since its release some 28 years ago. Her rendition of “Follow Me” was followed by stirring a capella sax solo, which served as an intro to an intricate arrangement of Gershwin’s “Summertime.” Each break or transition would be punctuated by loud screams of approval and thunderous applause; and the volume of the audience’s responses would only increase as the night wore on.

From the middle of the first of two 75-minute sets on, things got funkier and funkier. The party got more exuberant. The energy reached its zenith when Plunky & Oneness (of Juju) finally played their classic song, “African Rhythms,” and Lady Eka-Ete sang the lyrics: “African rhythms make you clap your hands, African rhythms, they make you dance!”

Later Plunky would say, “One of the highlights of my performing career occurred last Monday, at the New Morning club in Paris with me and my band chanting, “Let the rhythms take you to the truth…” and the audience of 500 French people hollering back, “Mother Africa!” What a joyous musical high!”

At the end, even after two encores the audience was screaming for more. But mercifully Plunky released the crowd from the band’s spell ‘round midnight and sent them out into the Parisian air floating on memories of a fantastic evening and anticipating Plunky & Oneness of Juju’s return to the New Morning.

The whole thing was filmed for French television and a future DVD release. So hopefully the experience can be re-lived soon. In the meantime, the group’s compilation double CD, African Rhythms Oneness of Juju 1970-1982, has been reissued by Black Fire Records and distributed all over Europe by Night and Day Distributors of Paris.

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But things didn’t look so great two days before that, when at the Richmond airport we learned that our connecting flight to Philadelphia was delayed and we would not be flying to Paris on that evening. Going back home to wait until the next day to leave was a disappointment that proved to be a blessing because we were able to get more rest from performing at our Bon Voyage party on Friday night and we used Sunday afternoon to better prepare and plan for the show in Paris on Monday.

Yes, it was a bit trying to have to reschedule all my travel recovery time and Sunday promotion activities and shift into the mindset of arriving on the same day as the performance. But in the end it all worked out just fine.

The gig in Paris was a triumph! Such an energetic and appreciative packed house. So much love. I was in my world. And on top of it.

After the gig we stayed in Paris for two extra days just to do touristy things: a boatride on the Seine river, walks along the Champs Elysee, eating in a French café, riding the Metro (subway), etc. I could live in Paris. In fact, I think I will at some point in time. But for now I can hardly wait to return. We are making plans for a tour in late spring. It would be wonderful.

Security issues at the airports are a drag. On the way back home we almost missed our connecting flight out of Philly. We had to run to make it and then we sat on the plane for almost an hour waiting to take off. But by the grace of God we made it home safely, thankful for the blessings and for experiences that keep us growing and inspiring us to strive to be better.