The Scene Changes, But The Songs Remain The Same

It did rain quite a bit when we were at Country, Country in Negril. But I do love the rain, and it gave the girls time for an afternoon nap and myself time to read and work. I devoured Brief Encounters With Che Guevara, Ben Fountain's excellent collection of short stories and a gift from Jill. I also enjoyed reading the quaint Jamaica Observer. Sunday's Edition featured the Herman Leonard artwork of The Amazing Bud Powell's 1958 manic masterpiece The Scene Changes, which hangs above our piano here at the Sherman-Fairmont. The photo accompanied a larger one of the late great Jamaican trombonist Don Drummond along with a nice piece on the musicians whose idiosyncratic bahavior led to talk of each's supposed psychopathy. Drummond refused to play if white women were dancing. it was his way of protesting the colonialization of Jamaicans at the time. Powell recieved electroshock therapy after being institusionalised following a brutal beating at the hands of police. The Observer asks whether their mania was real or imagined.

There are some nice little mp3 samples spanning Bud's carreer at BudPowellJazz.com.
Stay tuned for more about/from Don Drummond.