Anyone who regularly uses a computer should now know that Teena Marie a.k.a Lady T passed away on Sunday, the day after Christmas and if the facts are correct, her daughter's birthday. She sent out an ominous Tweet the day before. But for her maybe it wasn't so ominous. Maybe she felt it coming considering she had had a pretty severe grand mal seizure about a month earlier. Only she, God and Rick James know now.

I don't have anything profound to state about my first memories of her music. Like MJ, her music was always there at some relative's party, along with Rick James and Millie Jackson (wasn't allowed to listen to her though). I do recall being in love with her Teena for a little while (I think it was before I set eyes on Apollonia). But I also recall NOT making it a point that she wasn't African American (other than to argue to the death with other kids that she wasn't). My single one time thought on the matter was, That white girl can sang! And that was the end of it.

As a wanna-be DJ running around behind real DJs while in high school the joint below is the one that did it for me and sealed her music in my heart forever --- more than Square Biz or Portuguese Love or that other one that EVERYONE knows and loves. When the beat drops on this song (intro not available in the version below), my heart explodes every single time as if I'm hearing it for the first time.



And then of course there is the Gold Standard for duets (and temperamental love):



And if you should happen to have no idea who I'm talking about and/or have the time to sink your teeth into some good old R&B history the following video is for you:



Another great has been removed from the equation creating a lot more space for I don't know what.

Rest In Peace Teena Marie.

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This is my 2nd R.I.P in less than 30 days...20 actually.

Lena Horne was a rebel. Like the women who preceded, birthed and raised my father and his siblings she was born during a particularly awful time (I'm sure someone could say the same about right now). She was a walking contradiction --- beautiful but black, as if the two couldn't exist together. And like the women on my father's side she had the option to pass herself off as anything but black or African American and she opted not to. In fact Lena Horne was outspoken --- to the detriment of her Hollywood career --- against the absolutely outrageous social structure in place that was fine with the majesty of her her performances existing for the entertainment of whites, but absolutely against her as a person rubbing elbows in these circles. Miles Davis' answer to this was to play with his back to his audiences --- a most indignant but hilarious response in this writer's humble opinion.

Thank God she had a singing voice and was able to break down doors in spite of those who slowed down her Hollywood career for being "uppity."

Growing up, I couldn't wrap my mind around how beautiful Lena Horne was. And the fact that she was Black made her an anomaly among anomalies...how sad...

Thank God I grew up, woke up, met family, traveled and learned to view the world with eyes wide open. By my teenage years I understood that beauty and talent is reserved for no one ethnicity, tribe, country, gang, clique, whatever. God intended it that way when He started putting people all over the planet like chess pieces.





Lena Horne --- a real life, ageless, lifetime legend in my lifetime. Wow! I most humbly bow my head in respect.

Rest In Peace.

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I first heard this song during the outtro to Mo' Better Blues...



...and I thought to myself, What the hell is this?

As a rabid fan of rap/hip hop in the nineties, I didn't get the jazz thing. Of course jazz was the undercurrent behind many of the samples of the day but this was straight jazz, not a hook, not a loop, but just rap and jazz.

Slowly but surely Gangstarr began to grow on me and the majority of hip hop. Before long nearly everyone from Black Moon to KRS One was rhyming over some arrangement of horns, bass and saxophone.

From that point forward anytime I heard the signature sound of DJ Premier followed by the unmistakable gravelly, ever-steady monotone of GURU (Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal) I went crazy, bobbing my head with my eyes closed, absorbing every word and note. He was "dropping science", talking about what it meant to be a real man, a real person and society's ills; and slamming hip hop back then for what it has become today.



And then came Jazzmatazz --- a masterstroke that set him apart from everyone --- a 4 album series of pure live jazz produced by heavyweights such as Marsalis, Byrd, Hancock and Hayes (Isaac) and hip hop. The earlier volumes were packaged to look like Blue Note recordings. It persists as some of the best music I've ever heard and when I run across it on my iPod, I'm transported back to the time when I heard it for the first time.



GURU, born Keith Elam, passed away this past Monday from what is being reported as cancer (multiple myeloma and related respiratory issues). What I didn't know while he was alive was that he was a native of Boston, grad school educated and had a father who was a judge, nor did I know his former DJ was a native of Houston. It's amazing what you learn about a person in death. But I choose to celebrate his life and the music that will live on in me and now my son who loves DWYCK, another one of his classics with Nice and Smooth.

Rest In Peace, GURU.

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