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Artist Profiles
There Are No Coincidences: A Tale of Synchronicity
Bill Siegel
Bill Siegel, of New Hampshire, maintains the Web site, www.jimpepperlives.wordpress.com, and can be reached at bmsiegel@comcast.net. His work also appears on www.inmotionmagazine.com, in Planet Jazz, and elsewhere.I believe that there have been times in my life that, through the music of Jim Pepper, the flight of geese and herons, the incantation of Solomon Ilori, and the drumming of Art Blakey, Chief Bey and Milford Graves, I have been allowed to get a glimpse of that "pure lyric moment."
So you see, there is some "meaningful coincidence going on here, bringing together Jim Pepper, a Milford Graves performance, a poet's attempt at capturing the feeling of that performance and Art Blakey's The African Beat, all in a little black-and-white, one-inch square in PlanetJazz magazine's interview with Chief Bey.
FOOTNOTE: Chief Bey was right when he told Solomon Ilori that his recitation of the opening prayer on The African Beat would "make him" and that people would always remember him for it. Because here it is, some 42 years after the fact, and Ilori's prayer (and his "Ife L'ayo") is still working its magic. Thank you, Solomon Ilori. Thank you, Chief Bey. Thank you, Art Blakey, Milford Graves and Jim Pepper.
