Excerpts from “Blue Like Jazz”

Thelonious Monk w/ John Coltrane
Dizzy Gillespie & Charlie Parker
Modern Jazz Quartet: 1957
Blakey's Jazz Messengers

“My father left my home when I was young, so when I was introduced to the concept of God as Father I imagined Him as a stiff, oily man who wanted to move into our house and share a bed with my mother. I can only remember this as a frightful and threatening idea. We were a poor family who attended a wealthy church, so I imagined God as a man who had a lot of money and drove a big car. At church they told us we were children of God, but I knew God’s family was better than mine, that He had a daughter who was a cheerleader and a son who played football. I was born with a small bladder so I wet the bed till I was ten and later developed a crush on the homecoming queen who was kind to me in a political sort of way, which is something she probably learned from her father, who was the president of a bank. And so from the beginning, the chasm that separated me from God was as deep as wealth and as wide as fashion.”

“I was watching BET one night, and they were interviewing a man about jazz music. He said jazz music was invented by the first generation out of slavery. I thought that was beautiful because, while it is music, it is very hard to put on paper; it is so much more a language of the soul …

The first generation out of slavery invented jazz music. It is a music birthed out of freedom. And that is the closest thing I know to Christian spirituality. A music birthed out of freedom. Everybody sings their song the way they feel it, everybody closes their eyes and lifts up their hands.”

Brandi Carter’s favorite excerpt:

“I would even say that when I started in faith I didn’t want to believe; my intellect wanted to disbelieve, but my soul, that deeper instinct, could no more stop believing in God than (my friend) Tony could, on a dime, stop being in love with his wife.”

Why it’s meaningful to her:

“This quote stood out to me more than the others because it is how I really feel. I often question my faith and at times feel far removed from what I believe in, but I still believe. God has drawn me in and captured me, saving me from the deeds of the devil. Although at times it is difficult to keep believing and have faith, God is always faithful to me. It is as much a part of me as talking or breathing or seeing. God grounds me in His grace and mercy no matter how much my intellect may question the soul because ultimately, the soul belongs to God.”

Jon Ruch’s most memorable except:

“Thank you for reading this book. It means a great deal to me that you would take the time. I hope we get to meet some day soon.”

Why it’s meaningful to Ruch:

“In the end of his book he puts an offer out that if you’re ever in Portland, it’d be great to get together and talk. I’d drive all the way down to Portland just to meet up and share a cup of coffee with the guy.”

Posted: 3/27/06

Source: Tacoma News

Return to: Black Music Archives

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