by on

Summary

The journey of the research on the softening of borders between comics and jazz is explored, starting with considerations and anecdotes from the past. Billie Holiday’s connection to comic books, the transformation of jazz and comics into accredited forms of art, and the evolving relationship between jazz and comics are key points of exploration in the research. The impact of recognition on these art forms and the representations of jazz in comics are also critical topics for discussion.

In 2017, I presented a paper at a communication conference in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, entitled On Comics and Jazz and, since then, I have been dedicating myself to the subject from both an academic and artistic point of view. In fact, one of the issues raised concerns precisely the softening of borders.

I would like to share with you the journey of this research, starting with some considerations that served as starting points. Enjoy!

In the Spring of 1948, the promoter Ernie Anderson met legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday in midtown Manhattan. They discussed details of her much waited come-back to show-business in the Carnegie Hall stage the following night. After leaving the Federal Reformatory for Women at Alderston, Virginia, where she served 10 months for ‘receiving and concealing a narcotic drug’, Billie depended on that act to re-establish her career.

As Anderson prepared to leave, ‘Lady Day’ asked him for some comic books. In that crucial evening, comic books made company to the great artist.

Forty-five years later Billie herself would become a much praised graphic novel by the hands of Argentinean authors José Muñoz and Carlos Sampayo (1993) and much before, in 1927, the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian had published “Jazz and the Neo-Plasticism”, claiming that jazz and the new movement he helped to put up were nothing less than expressions of a new life and considered them revolutionary movements capable of dealing with the new time and space impositions of the metropolis.

In 2015 jazz performer Kamasi Washington released his debut album called The Epic, a three hour piece, comparable to an opera and deliberately inspired in comic art both musically and also in the art of the album. Washington revealed he was actually working on a graphic novel and album final structure was directly influenced by it.

Both considered during long time marginal forms of expression, comics and jazz proudly arrived in the twenty first century as accredited forms of art and a regular subject for thesis and dissertations. But does this recognition also have a price? Did it implicate in some sort of compromising?

How (far) did it change jazz and comics features? Since the links between both jazz and comics continue to develop, how are these two languages interacting, that is, what are the representations in comics about jazz?

These are some of the questions we will develop throughout this topic.

Be seeing you!

G. F.  

by on

Three years ago I started the Red Flower Press. Back then, I did not really know what I wanted to do with this space and, to be, as usual, very honest with you, this is always an issue for me, when I start writing.

“What do you want?”, I keep asking myself. Blogs are so ove! Noboby read them anymore, says the voice in my head. And yet., I keep writing my weekly music-related experiences. Why? Basically, because I want to tell you something, but have I really? Ever?

“Sure”, you will say, but I cannot trust you. Why? Because you are too kind, that is why! I need some unbiased evaluation made by the most unparcial judge: time. So, let us celebrate the third anniversary of The Red Flower Press by taking a look to what we have done so far.

Since Januay 15th, 2021 I have delivered over one hundred and forty chronicles. From the name of the page (reference to an episode of The Simpsons) to the farewell catchphrase (borrowed from the series The Prisoner), this space has always been my playground, the place where I spread my toys, so to speak.

Once a week I visit my playground. It is my place, my little house in the immense forest of the world wide web, my backyard. Here I talk freely about all the areas to which I can add something, such as literature, visual arts and, of course, music, which acts as a glue that holds these universes together.

Glue? Um… no, glue might not be the right term. Allow me to rephrase it: music is the thread that unites the different patterns. The final result? A patchwork quilt called Red Flower Press. Make yourself cozy and enjoy the reading!

I have carefully selected a very personal top-ten list. It includes some of the most interesting patterns created over these three years:

  1. The normal, the weird and the grand: Embracing uniqueness can be rewarding. Who needs normal when you can have grand? Expression is key.
  2. Perseverance will take you everywhere: The landing of the Perseverance on Mars landing evokes pride in human achievements, yet prompts questioning of human behavior during the pandemic.
  3. Made of gold: Do you have in your life someone, who is so important that is worth her/his weight in gold? Time for a family story.
  4. More intelligence? Ask me how: When was the last time you learned something new?
  5. Big mouth and the time machine: Hop on the time machine! (A reminder of authenticity and self-recognition.)
  6. Ugly Duckling and Superman: Family matters and other complex stuff
  7. Resumes, popcorn and champagne: What does your resume tell about you?
  8. Changing of the guard?: Pressure to work, scarce leisure, and the illusion of democratized fame challenge our digital reality.
  9. Not impressed: Reflections on the modern obsession with dazzling concert presentations. Has music been degraded to mere entertainment and overshadowed by visual spectacles in the age of social media?
  10. A Christmas present from the past: My dad, the unlikely hero

Last but not least, I would like to thank you immensily for your company. It is the nurture that keeps our beloved Red Flower always thriving. Long live you! Long live the Red Flower Press!

Be seeing you!

G.F.

by on

I just had the experience of spending almost two days completely without electricity and internet access, plus three hours under a very unstable power supply, the kind that its great for your household appliances, if your intention is to burn them.

As you can imagine, this is an unpleasant situation. At any temperature. Now, let your imagination soar and dream yourself experiencing it in the middle of a heat wave. How hot? We are talking about temperatures around thirty-five degrees Celsius, twenty-four hours a day. Yes, even in the early hours of the morning.

And if you sweat just thinking about this degree of heat, know that you are on the right path to have a vague idea of what I went through. No fan, no air conditioning, no garden. However, just like any extreme situation, trying not to lose your head (and, if possible also your mind) is at the same time, the biggest challenge and your only way out.

Establishing a minimum comfort zone is essential to gather strength. And how to do this? For me, first of all, it involves determining whether the basics for immediate survival (can I breathe, despite the heat? do I have enough cold, fresh water to drink? Opening the refrigerator door and not letting the hot outside air in should always be the last option.

Once this minimum zone of confort is assured, you have to look for something positive (or the least worst), something that allows you to say “but” (everything seems to be going wrong, but…). In my case, this small comfort is the silence in which the street seems to immerse, when there is no electricity.

The soundless world that can erupt from even the noisiest neighborhoods when people are deprived of electricity is simply fascinating. One could say that it is comparable to the calm of rainy days, during which the sound of drops seems to drown out everything so that we can better appreciate the orchestra of nature, but nights without electricity in the city offer an even deeper immersion in silence.

After some time in the dark, the voices and noises become more sparse, weaker, until they stop completely. It is as if, deprived of the light, we went back in time and shared the same fears that the first of us felt. Perhaps silence reminds us that we are, each and every one of us, very weak little creatures and we feel afraid, when we do not have fire, lights and all the other shiny objects we surround ourselves with to entertain us from the anguish at the nothingness that we are. It can be pretty hard to face that you are just a human being.

As for myself, I tried to overcome the problem by reconnecting with my natural biological cycle: I slept as soon as it got dark and got up when the sun rose, in order to make the most of the daylight. And when the computer battery ran out, I cooked, organized the wardrobe, separated clothes for donation and read for hours. It was detoxifying and quite calming.

Embracing silence may be a way to cope when you yourself have to face soundless, fearful days.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

by on

Forget the stress of the end of the year, the hardest week of all is actually the first week of January. Why?, you ask yourself in surprise. Think about all the resolutions you have made in the last weeks, in the last days, until the vry last hours of the previous year. Do you realize your responsibility?

Yes, I know that many of them were linked to long-term action plans and naturally could not all be fulfilled in a single week, but the first week of the year will be decisive whether at least half of those long-term plans will ultimately be implemented or forgotten by, let us say, middle April. Do you realize the importance of the decisions you make in this decisive week? Well, now you do.

So, while writing this lines to you, I am also pretty much awaere and therefore worried about what I am saying to myself. How to convince me that all that hard work making lists, resolutions and sending wishes to the universe would not be in vain?

So sorry to alert you to another problem in your life that you were not even aware of until now. However, fear not, because I also have the solution! Actually, it came in the form of a message printed on a t-shirt and it said: Dream. Plan. Do.

The perfect protocol to make our year-end resolutions come true. Pure genious! Just three words, but look at their synthesis capacity:


1.Dream: The first step of the journey, where the magic happens. There are no limits here. What projects touch your soul? This is where they can rise and shine!

2.Plan: At this point, you might think: “Now is when the fun is gone, the hard work comes in and the resolutions fly out the window”, but I would rather say that now is the time when we take off the glitter of our dreams and put sneakers on them. The path can be long and exhausting, but it can also be a form of training, a reconnaissance of the terrain, a rite of passage, if you will. It is in the planning stage that many of our dreams come up against mundane limits, such as financing and accountability. Fragile dreams tend to succumb. Make sure your dreams are strong and mature enough to continue the journey.

3.Do: Show time! Bye-bye, sneakers and hello high heels! It is time to perform, taking the risks that any initiative implies. It is scary, it is stressful, there are butterflies in your stomach, but you know you are doing what you have to do, because you are doing your thing. Regardless of the results, you were true to the promises you made to yourself. You won, honey!

What happens next? Probably by that time you will be involved in new resolutions, and the game starts all over again. That is okay. It means you are not only living, you are also evolving.

Be seeing you!

G.F.