Comments on: JUNIOR WALKER / “Shotgun” http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2007/04/22/junior-walker-%e2%80%9cshotgun%e2%80%9d/ a conversation about black music Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:14:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5 by: sue ross http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2007/04/22/junior-walker-%e2%80%9cshotgun%e2%80%9d/#comment-15309 Sun, 22 Apr 2007 09:15:29 -0500 http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2007/04/22/junior-walker-%e2%80%9cshotgun%e2%80%9d/#comment-15309 <p>Almost 30 years ago, when I was back in college, I took a class from the then poet, playwright and free-jazz drummer Stanley Crouch called Contemporary Black Arts. The Crouch of the late sixties was a fellow traveler in the West Coast Black Arts Movement along with Jayne Cortez, Quincy Troupe, Black Arthur Blythe &amp; the Watts Poets. I have to credit Stanley for introducing impressionable young 16-20 year olds to listening to our fathers' music - jazz - in a whole new way. Through the lenses of Baraka &amp; Cortez, we listened to the full spectrum of black music and especially America's only original classical music - jazz from King Oliver &amp; Pops to Coltrane, Coleman and beyond. When we talked about the historical great saxophonists, Crouch maintained that the greatest contemporary sax men were Pharoah Sanders and Junior Walker! And we listened to the cross-genre similarities in their approach to the instrument. junior Walker remains one of my favorites - one who reached back through funk to field hollas to Africa and back again, all within the context of Motown's 3-4 minute records! The ultimate party jam. We often wondered what would have happened if Pharoah and Junior ever got together for a late night jam session!</p><p><font color="#ffffff"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the arkansas connection&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></b></font><br /> </p><p>could it be? both walker and sanders are from arkansas!</p><p>on a more serious note: i have heard what pharoad sounds like playing pop but i have not heard&nbsp; walker playing jazz, particularly coltrane-influenced jazz. sanders even recorded a marvin gaye tune (it's much more of a curiosity than a revelation).</p><p>my deeper point is don't skip the saxophonist who preceded both sanders and walker. those bar walkers. honkers &amp; hollerers. and please don't sleep on illinois jacquet, he of the high note wail.</p><p>on a more divine note: you ever hear willis gator tail jackson?</p><p>and now to the meta-connections: at some point, people are going to realize and publicly recognize the immense influence that black music has had worldwide, not just in terms of musical culture but also in terms of artistic expression and in terms of providing insight into the perrenial questions confronting all of us: who am i? what is the world? is there a god (and if there is, who or what is god)?</p><p>for the answers&mdash;listen!</p><p><b>&mdash;kalamu</b>&nbsp;</p> Almost 30 years ago, when I was back in college, I took a class from the then poet, playwright and free-jazz drummer Stanley Crouch called Contemporary Black Arts. The Crouch of the late sixties was a fellow traveler in the West Coast Black Arts Movement along with Jayne Cortez, Quincy Troupe, Black Arthur Blythe & the Watts Poets. I have to credit Stanley for introducing impressionable young 16-20 year olds to listening to our fathers’ music - jazz - in a whole new way. Through the lenses of Baraka & Cortez, we listened to the full spectrum of black music and especially America’s only original classical music - jazz from King Oliver & Pops to Coltrane, Coleman and beyond. When we talked about the historical great saxophonists, Crouch maintained that the greatest contemporary sax men were Pharoah Sanders and Junior Walker! And we listened to the cross-genre similarities in their approach to the instrument. junior Walker remains one of my favorites - one who reached back through funk to field hollas to Africa and back again, all within the context of Motown’s 3-4 minute records! The ultimate party jam. We often wondered what would have happened if Pharoah and Junior ever got together for a late night jam session!

          the arkansas connection         

could it be? both walker and sanders are from arkansas!

on a more serious note: i have heard what pharoad sounds like playing pop but i have not heard  walker playing jazz, particularly coltrane-influenced jazz. sanders even recorded a marvin gaye tune (it’s much more of a curiosity than a revelation).

my deeper point is don’t skip the saxophonist who preceded both sanders and walker. those bar walkers. honkers & hollerers. and please don’t sleep on illinois jacquet, he of the high note wail.

on a more divine note: you ever hear willis gator tail jackson?

and now to the meta-connections: at some point, people are going to realize and publicly recognize the immense influence that black music has had worldwide, not just in terms of musical culture but also in terms of artistic expression and in terms of providing insight into the perrenial questions confronting all of us: who am i? what is the world? is there a god (and if there is, who or what is god)?

for the answers—listen!

—kalamu 

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