Writings about Music

Glad To Learn

Spirituality includes being protective and nurturing of other forms of life and music including the earth itself.

 

Glad to learn of this musical activity. Reflecting upon swing and modern jazz, there is a deep spirituality expressed chiefly through the imposition of an overall syncopated triplet feel of transcendence over the duple feel of oppression and mundanity. One wonders about the role of Native Americans in the bloodline of jazz given the historical interweaving of cultures. Too often its overlooked how John Coltrane’s immersion into Indian classical music and its spiritual basis, synergizing those experiences with his pure jazz identity, created a potent synthesis that transformed Western classical, rock, and jazz at once.

One unforgettable moment in my own musical life occurred when an African American gentleman from the audience approached me after a program I gave at California State University Dominguez Hills, relating with a soft, powerful voice how deeply spiritual he found my music for meruvina.

- Michael Robinson, August 2019, Los Angeles

 

© 2019 Michael Robinson All rights reserved

 

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer (musicologist).