Though bastardization is traditionally associated with someone or something negative, I’m using it in the
traditional Black way, like when we say, “you bad,” it means, “You are really good.” That’s kinda the
beauty of Black culture and Black language, and the power of corrupting traditional understandings and
meanings of words.
I didn’t know if Blackenization was a word, but it fit. There’s a definition in Wiktionary: “The process of
making or becoming more black (i.e., of African descent)or more characteristic of black culture.”
I’ve spent the last several weeks listening to and really falling in love with the brilliance of Jon Batiste
as a musician. I had heard little peeps about him, but not until I actually took time to listen to the entire
Beethoven Blues album did I realize how his musical genius impacted me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8IhitKR7AA
It impacted me in an unexpected way. I was trained as a classical pianist and violinist. I have tried to
keep up my piano, buying my very own baby grand piano a few years ago. I named her Simone in honor
of Nina Simone. Nina was a classically trained pianist, who was also a singer, composer, and civil rights activist. Her music, like Jon Baptiste’s, blended classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. She studied at
Julliard for two years, and was denied admission to Curtis Institute because of her race. Two days
before she died in 2003, she learned that Curtis was going to award her an honorary degree. I really hate
when we don’t give folks their flowers while they are alive.
I have been listening to Nina on YouTube for several years and love the way she Blackinizes so many
songs — intermixing jazz, classical, gospel, and blues. She called her style “black classical music.” In many
of her songs, she would often intersperse classical music, particular Bach. In Feelings, she added an
improvisation of a Bach excerpt.
https://youtu.be/WyB5tt8Wql4
Love Me or Leave Me on the Ed Sullivan included a beautiful improvisation of Bach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cnZjClf6zM
Nina was friends with Lorraine Hansberry. Lorraine was an inspiration for me in writing my new memoir and companion journal, Blackwildgirl: A Writer’s Journey to Take Back Her Superpower, based on 45 years of journals of my journey from Black girlhood to Black womanhood.
I begin the book by symbolically pouring libation to her and her commitment to being revolutionary. Nina sings an amazing song in tribute to Lorraine called“To Be Young, Gifted, and Black,” after Lorraine’s
book about her life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzocZpZruuQ
My favorite song of Nina’s is “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sEP0-8VAow
Nina was definitely revolutionary, in her music, in her words, in her speeches, in her activism.
Jon Batiste reminds me of Nina. I think he knows how it feels to be free.
What I loved about listening to Jon and Nina this weekend was that they stepped outside of the line.
Outside of the mold, outside of the expectations. Nina had her own way of speaking truth, speaking
truth literally to power, like a song, Mississippi Goddam. She was unique; her style bold. She yelled at
audiences if they weren’t participating in the way she wanted. She challenged and pushed boundaries.
European classical music has this “prim and proper” image. And was often presented as the domain of
White men. Yet she was classical and more.
I think one of the challenges of developing an independent spirit and identity is that we are so
conditioned to sit in rows, to follow the norm, to be obedient, and particularly for African Americans in
this country. Jim Crow was in fact a set of rules that sought to maintain control and subservience.
What Jon Batiste reminded me of is the absolute necessity of being courageous, of challenging
boundaries, of challenging the status quo, and being fearless. His ability to play saxophone, piano, and guitar, and sing is just an amazing developed talent. And his commitment to the melodica – the harmonica/flute-accordion-like instrument, after so many discouraged him, especially at Julliard, is powerful. What I also love about Jon Batiste is his ability to radiate joy. During many of his performances, he seems so genuinely joyful, full of joy. He and his wife, who was fighting cancer, Suleika, talk about the challenge of manifesting a dream.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcXp0SqWNyM
My brother, Awadagin and I, were raised by non-traditional parents—a father from Sierra Leone, West
Africa, who had a PhD in nuclear physics, (a blog post coming on physics soon), and a mother, who was
the granddaughter of an enslaved woman, who had a PhD in social work. We were raised on the cusp of
the Civil Rights Movement, born 2 and 3 years after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1964.
We were raised outside of the norms, outside of traditional American culture, yet part of American
culture. Trained in piano and violin, and tennis lessons, it was a rigid life of discipline and excellence. It
was a life where we as a family were different, very different, from the African American community,
largely in Bloomington, Illinois, and also from the White community in Normal. We were very “not
normal.”
In fact, Awadagin was very non-traditional as a classical musician, becoming the first African
American pianist to win the Naumburg International Piano Competition. He also had dreadlocks, and at
the time, used a small stool, rather than the traditional bench. More significantly, he played the piano
very differently, and it was that “difference,” that was recognized and celebrated. His first CD album
was called, “A Long Way from Normal.”
https://www.classical-scene.com/2021/08/16/still-a-long-way-from-normal
https://awadagin.com/project/a-long-way-from-normal
Learn more about Awadagin’s take on improvisation and Bach, and of course his non-traditional bench at the time:
It is challenging, however, to “not be normal.” Of course, in many ways, none of us are “normal.” We
are all different. But some of our “differences” stand out more – like being a woman of color in
predominantly White environments.
This reality is why I founded the Future World Changers in the Academy National Conference, for the past 13 years, to create a sacred space for communities who have been most marginalized in higher education because of their identities. We encourage faculty members, graduate students, and administrators to ask their institutions to sponsor them to attend the conference as a commitment to their professional development and retention. Consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development goals, we need to ensure that women, in particular, are affirmed, celebrated, and valued. Register and learn more at:
Register at: https://www.inclusive.vt.edu/Programs/FWCA.html
I continue draw inspiration by artists and musicians who are literally coloring on their own mural, not
just outside the lines of traditional pages. They are on another level of vision and thus, the impact is
multiplied.
Jon affirmed what my spirit knows, that we all color differently, and should be allowed to do so. It makes the world much more magnificent and powerful. It is almost as if I have felt that I needed permission from someone or something on high, i.e., the “God,” to say it is ok to play Beethoven differently; it is ok to “bastardize” it; to “Blackenize” it; to Batiste it; to Blackwildgirl it! But not to just to play Beethoven differently, but to be and live differently. But, Jon made me realize that I don’t need permission. None of us needs permission to be ourselves.
So, Nina and Jon, and others who are coloring murals – Thank you.