Southern Spaces: Snarky Puppy Side Projects-Jackson and Hattiesburg, MS

The first time I heard about Snarky Puppy was when Lalah Hathaway changed the scope of Western vocal production by singing a perfect fourth with herself.  Not only did I listen to 'Something' by Snarky Puppy featuring Lalah Hathaway for at least two days straight, but I became obsessed with Snarky's fushion of "jazz, funk, and world music." (Snarky's website) Naturally, when a tour name Snarky Puppy announced a stop in Jackson, I knew I had to go.  I explored and researched the idea of 'side projects' because I didn't know what that meant. It turns out that the concerts would feature three bands  led by members of Snarky Puppy. Pretty cool, right? So we got three interpretations of a jazz, funk, blues, early R&B, rock mix, which turned into one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.  From beginning to end, I enjoyed artists presenting themselves to the world through their music.  They were open with us trying out new songs, new arrangements, and new interpretations.  These artists worked to produce a fresh take on jazz/funk/world music to really begin this new genre of music. This creolization of sound escapes our traditional guidelines for music and uniquely places us in the beginnings of musical creation. It was just fantastic!! No other words could describe the experience, and I went to both Mississippi shows. (Broke my pocket but I'd do it again).

The first band The Mark Lettieri Trio I would describe as an 80s funk/rock baby with jazz tendencies. I do not think he'd describe himself like this but listening to his sound I feel he's an intellectual teenage in his bedroom trying out new sounds and new ideas. And when he played "Rain" by SWV.....that stopped the crowded at both concerts.  His improvisation and timing keeps you on edge while causing you to lean back for relief (when you can). I really loved his song about the Beetle cars.  He fluidly moves through meters to capture the essence of family vacation, turmoil, and love.

The second band Ghost-Note is a percussion band with undeniable chemistry.  It's hard to play together regardless of instrument, but a percussion ensemble seems to have a special task to synch especially with varying styles and techniques. However, the members of Ghost-Note work rhythmically to create wonderful tone quality and stability of pulse.  To watch them work amazes you. You're trapped in limbo of where should your ears go and what should your eyes see. Ghost-Note used dynamic expression to convey the message of communication and relationship. Of course I loved "Conversation(s)," which luckily was different at each event. I got to seat next to two percussionists and of course, I asked questions about how they experience percussion music. One of my friends told me about playing 'fifths' (shrugs) and how much he's working with a partner to prepare for his recital this semester. He was speechless, and I couldn't contain my joy.

Then there's Cory Henry who is EVERYTHING! Listening to his album Gotcha You Now Doc did not prepare me for the heaven I would receive. I simply stood up in my five inch heels for an hour listening to him and The Funk Apostles play. The best way to describe his music is clarity.  Everything is clear. As he eludes through genres, picks up rhythm changes, makes room for improvisations, there is nothing really that did not make sense to the listener. Some things we caught later on, but our amazement brought us back to a place of enlightenment.   In Jackson, he did this musical genres through history solo, which included classical technique, early R&B, jazz, funk, blues, gospel, a very contemporary sound, all the in-between. My heart left my body that night, and I think it's still locked up in that keyboard. It was music the way you're supposed to listen to music. You can feel the changes, hear the harmonic progressions, notice the rhythmic patterns. None of what I'm saying is complete sentences because I cannot express a complete thought that would describe my experience.

This is not meant to be a review of The Detour as I don't have the credentials to review any musical event (except for the fact I've been doing it since I was nine and have a degree in music). But anyway, this is meant to be a piece about southern space.

Southern space is a continuation of work from graduate school. The idea of my Southern Space pieces is to show the fluidity between racial lines and southern culture.  In our re-segregated South, we have reconstructed the racial divided based on false beliefs and racial socialization. This work does not serve to deconstruct the post-modern racial tensions or offer any solutions to our changing society (back to its past).  These pieces work to show the fault in social segregation by exploring spaces where a multiracial people meet (primarily black and white southerners).  These works are written to find how people in power draw unrealistic lines of segregation to avoid discomfort and truth. Southern Spaces are the places where we see pieces of the South that point to a larger picture of multiracial meetings.

In Jackson, there aren't many spaces where black and white people meet.  We don't go to grade school together. Although we MAY meet in college, our spaces are different. We do not go to church together, shop together, go to the same grocery stores, or even create the same social spaces.  OF course these events are with some exception, yet we have recreated a segregation, and we don't know how to fix it. (I'm not sure if we want to fix it.) We listen to music differently...or so we are taught.

Music is one of those ambitious spaces now. Music is held in the secret places of computer screens, small tablets, and headphones.  We have so much access to music that we don't need to come from our social circles to experience music.  Therefore, we create myths about how we understand differently through race when, in reality, the experience of music (despite its separate creations) has been fluid throughout our southern history.  From the exchange of musical idioms in the post-war South between blacks and whites to Elvis and other young rock  n roll stars visiting black churches for a fresh sound, music crosses through racial lines regardless of extreme efforts to box music through genres.

At both concerts, the audiences were mixed. Especially in Jackson, I noticed how the crowded seemed evenly divided between black and white listeners in an area known for its racial charged history.  For those few hours, audiences escaped (more or less) the fear of black community and threat of white violence (macro or micro-aggressions alike). Music- especially that of the Snarky Puppy Side Projects-proves the fault of creating racial divides that promote fear.  We have to dispel this myth of a need for segregation while valuing and uplifting black cultures and community.