Wynton Marsalis-Ghanian Drummers-Aspen-Under a Starry Night

Wynton Marsalis unveiled his newest collaboration between the Lincoln Center Jazz and Yacub Addy, a master drummer from Ghana, last night in Aspen. The music was sublime, the evening perfect since I sat behind Wole Soyinka, whose hands and feet kept time with the Ghanian drummers. This seemingly odd combination of Africa and Jazz, the one true American art form, is not so surprising, really. Marsalis is showing us, for those who don't know, the connections between this "primal" art form of African Drumming and its legacy in this country, having crossed the Middle Passage, survived slavery, and benefited from the hodge podge of American life...Blues, Jazz, R&B, and good old Rock and Roll. Sitting there last night, I could see all the threads of influence that goes to the dusty villages of Africa that are in the voices and instruments of all the music that can make the dreariest day feel less so. I love Wynton Marsalis, who was getting it on that stage. I've never seen him so loose, enjoying himself, truly playing to this mostly white crowd. I admire not only his prodigious talents as a trumpeter and music conductor, but also for his music eggheadedness. He is someone who is inside his art form, continually seeking to make connections, to draw divergent threads together, the outcome better than the original discrete pieces. I suppose all artists do that--steep themselves inside their art form, whatever that form is. Writers will talk about writing, but spend half their time drawing the threads of their work to those who have come before.

I also remembered the History of Jazz Music Class I took in undergrad. The old woman, who taught the class, played music on a turntable, desperate for us to hear these musical connections across so many continents.

I missed my husband last night since this was the kind of evening he would enjoy, one we would share. How I had the foresight or insight about my craziness to have picked the man who would allow me to "be," is still something I find remarkable. I know some women need to feel needed, to feel the protectiveness of her spouse. For me, not so much. Yes, I do want to feel secure, but what I need is freedom to think, to be alone, to go when the urge overtakes, and to not feel hampered. And he is the man that has always allowed me to be. I know this book and every other one I write will be dedicated to him since he is the quiet current that helped make my sails billow, propelling me forward to do my own thang.

Robert Bausch brought me to tears during my workshop. It is one thing to have your peers tell you how beautiful they found your book, but quite another coming from the teacher. He read one sentence from my book. At the end, he said that was stunning. Yup, I almost wept, but held it together enough to get through the rest of the discussion.

This workshop was the very elixir I needed. I also think I have the idea for my next book, which is a huge, huge, deal for me. I've been so stuck, unsure what I would write next. Nothing I'd written made me want to spend the next two years working so diligently. But last night during the concert, I had a thought. A thought that could carry me to sit down for the next two years. Amen. I am also more focused about getting my finished novel sold, so I know my parents and my husband will be thrilled by this renewed focus. Amen to that, they are all saying, I'm sure.