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Everyone has the blues, a singer-actress told a TCC SE audience |
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The blues cry out to be released-- --released from pain, released from suffering, released from that D you received on your test. Everybody gets the blues whether it is I-just-lost-my-job blues, my-baby-done-left-me blues or that-D-on-my-test blues, Whiteman said. Whiteman began her show with Maya Angelou's poem Skylark from her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The poem was set to music, as were all of Whitemans songs, with piano played by Manny Rodriguez. Probably the person I have found that describes the blues the best is the poet Maya Angelou, she said. Stony Monday by Ethel Waters, known to some as Sweet Mama String Bean, was her first song. Other songs performed included works by jazz, ragtime and blues legends Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Ma Rainy, Bessie Smith, George Gershwin and Billie Holiday. (Whiteman described an incident that occured) While Holiday was touring the South with Artie Shaw's band, she needed to use the restroom. No matter where she went in the hotel where they were performing, no one would allow her to use the facilities. Impatient and temperamental, Whiteman said, Holiday had heard enough snide racism from the hostess and relieved herself on the hostesses shoes. That hostess was jumpin around like she was being scalded with hot lead,Whiteman said. Following her presentation, Whiteman spoke about the need for youth today to be exposed to the jazz legends. I think its absolutely vital everyone hears them because the only way music can die is if it dies in peoples memories and their hearts. The only way to keep it alive is for them to hear it,she said. Whiteman would like for young people to expand their musical interests. Today many young people are really interested in hip-hop, which is a fabulous type of music, but there are other things out there. I think hip-hop musicians could stand to listen to some jazz too so they can stop sampling each other, she said. Jazz music broke down many color barriers and substantially affected race relations during the 20th century, Whiteman said. Hip-hop has the chance to do the same. At one time, hip-hop was the province of black musicians. Now everybody is involved, she said. Hip-hop is now a shared form between black and white musicians. It bridges a gap, she said. Singer-actress performs for Black History Month, by Brian Shults, SE News Editor for the Collegian Copyright "©" 2002 The Collegian, February 20, 2002 |
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