THEY DIDN'T TELL US THIS STORY IN SCHOOL

Meticulously researched historical account while also a moving and heartbreaking narrative. Unsentimental, unbiased, and as even handed as one could imagine possible —leaving it to the reader to draw conclusions based on substantiated fact, documented records and first person accounts. An impressive scholarly achievement that occasionally reads like dramatic fiction simply by virtue of the intensity of the actual human drama it depicts.


Quanah Parker was the son of Cynthia Ann Parker who was captured by Comanches in a raid when she was 9 yrs. old. She spent next 25 years living as a Comanche, marrying the tribal chief and raising three children. She was then recaptured and returned to her family where she resisted reintegration with anglo life and died after starving herself. Her story was the basis of John Ford's classic western The Searchers.




Quanah was about 12 when his mother was recaptured and taken away from the tribe, and he grew up to be one of the last of the great Comanche warrior chiefs to escape capture while leading an ever dwindling population of resisters into ever more ill-fated battles until U.S. military might ultimately prevailed. And then, (most amazingly) he shrewdly adapted by becoming a respected (by white establishment including Teddy Roosevelt) leader and champion of indian rights within the new world of the reservation. But the book is primarily the story of the expansion of anglo settlements and the hundreds of battles, raids, counter-raids and outright slaughters that led to the total demise of free native american tribes throughout the entire region.


About halfway through reading, it started to dawn on me that this was the same story that has played out over and over again throughout history. A clash of civilizations with no chance or possibility of resolution other than complete and total dominance by one over the other. Treaties made, treaties broken. Peace policies introduced, policies abandoned. And the critical role that technology often plays in such sagas. In this case that initially included the Horse ( The introduction of which by the Spaniards made the Comanche (and dozens of other tribes) way of life possible. The Comanches were Buffalo Hunters and warriors--and the greatest horsemen. On the anglo side, it was the gun. The Colt repeating pistol and the long range rifle. And in the end the Railroad was the ultimate game changer. The writing was on the wall from the outset--and only the date of the endgame was ever in doubt.

“Manifest Destiny” (a term coined in the 1840s by John O'Sullivan) repelled me the moment I first understood it’s meaning. Most of us learned it in school and as I recall, no one ever pointed out or made mention of the fact that in essence it was simply a self-righteous rationale for slavery, conquest and genocide. 'This is our destiny (because it is God’s will) and we will make it manifest by whatever means necessary.' And reading David Remnick’s piece on Israel in this week’s New Yorker--

(http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/03/12/120312taco_talk_remnick)-

- it resonated again. Remnick talks about the rising tide of extreme fundamentalism taking hold as a similar dynamic plays out in the middle east –and it gave me chills. Two sides. Both convinced of their religious, spiritual, geographic, historical and immutable right to a particular piece of the planet. Neither genuinely interested in co-existence anymore--only retribution and conquest. Like any Hatfield and McCoy scenario, the initial causes and events fade into distant memory and all that remains is the fear and anger rising from each new confrontation. Emotional fervor rises as tragic and senseless death tolls mount and one begets the other in an endless cycle. I thought I generally understood the hard core hawks over there, but the article cites things that sound like the zealous Zionists are turning into fanatical fascists. Maybe Space exploration is a good thing…never thought so before.


I’ve been foolin around with “Over the Rainbow” for months now and havin fun playing with voicings and chord substitutions.

(Interesting document here: Piano/Accordian solo from British Edition of original film score)

The song is so pretty and the changes allow for enough variation for me to find the tune a challenging little puzzle.




And everything Harold Arlen wrote was great (my son's guitar teacher turned me on to Arlen when he led the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in a concert of his work. Arlen was one of the few "Broadway" composers whose style was steeped in jazz and blues influences--Stormy Weather, Come Rain or Come Shine, Blues in the Night) and E.Y. (Yip) Harburg is one of my favorite lyricists--(Brother Can You Spare a Dime?, It's Only a Paper Moon, Lydia the Tattooed Lady) I think what keeps me going with it is that the melody comes through so strongly even when you just concentrate on the changes—but I suspect that has something to do with how familiar it is and how locked into our psyche it’s been all our lives.

Anyhow…I’m slowly making progress trying to find new ways to treat it...and it’s given me a new appreciation for how great the tune is. And how it lends itself to so many interpretations.

I've posted Per-Olav Kindgren before. His old homemade website was full of great (and free!) stuff--but he's wised up and now it's all high-tech and slick (http://www.per-olovkindgren.com/ipnmonitor/index.php) and not free. But good for him...and I hope he's making a go of it. I found him while looking for easy Bach transcriptions and he had a few I could tackle. I like what he's done with this tune here too.



And maybe because I'm so handicapped by my limited knowledge and technique, I'm that much more amazed when a wizard like Art Tatum takes a crack at it.
Tatum isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (though his “Tea for Two” rarely fails to blow minds) cause he’s almost too good. Listening to him is almost like watching the workings of some kind of complex high speed machinery with so many moving parts you can't ever quite see how they all fit together. There’s almost too much going on to take it all in and after a while it doesn’t even sound like music anymore. But here he sticks to the tune most of the time…and displays the technique (those arpeggios!) and the imagination that even made Oscar Peterson want to throw in the towel.


OVER THE RAINBOW




Great music scenes in the movies continues

...with Tatum taking a back seat to an all star front line.

This is a Jam Session From The 1947 Film "Fabulous Dorseys"

 with:

Art Tatum : Piano

Tommy Dorsey : Trombone

Jimmie Dorsey : Clarinet

Charlie Barnet : Sax

George Van Eps : Guitar

Ray Bauduc : Drums

Ziggy Elman : Trumpet

Stuart Foster : Bass




I’m in the restaurant at SeaWorld and halfway through my fishburger I realize, I could be eating a slow learner.

Lynda Montgomery