Black Horizons; 2231; Beebops

Hello, I'm Chris Moore and this is Black Arises. The music that you hear is from the group The Bee Bops, as led by Mr. Nelson Harrison. Or should I say Dr. Nelson Harrison on piano? We'll talk to Dr. Harrison and The Bee Bops in just a second right now, sit back and relax and enjoy the music of The Bee Bops. The

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Bee Bops and The Bee Bops The Bee Bops and The Bee Bops The Bee Bops and The Bee Bops Well, all right.

I'd like to welcome each and every one of you in our audience to Black Arises and I want to introduce to you Dr. Nelson Harrison and Janine Thomas, the left -brain, right -brain connection that makes The Bee Bops work in addition to the musicianship of the personnel of the group. Now, I understand that you are the ram ride. You sort of make sure everybody gets together and makes the gig on time and have become their agent. Is that correct? Yeah, that's the correct title for that. I guess you'd call me the coordinator. The coordinator. Did you inherit this title or volunteer or what? Yeah, I did it on a volunteer basis. You love it? Oh, absolutely. I had a good time. Really good time. Okey -dokey. Now, Dr. Harrison, what I'd like you to do first is introduce the members of the group. Why don't we do that and then we'll talk about this. Okay. We've got a new pianist. You used to play piano on the first number. But we've got a new pianist. Yes, I was the old pianist. Now we have a new pianist. A new pianist. Actually, he is our pianist and he is a very fine young musician named Howie Alexander. And later we'll be playing

one of his original compositions entitled Sea Brain. Okay. And Nick. And next we have our floutist, Germaine Watkins, who's from Perry Traditional Academy. He's got a wonderful sound. I think he admires Hubert Laws. And I think we'll be hearing a lot from him in the future. Our next floutist is Tanya Ridgley. And Tanya is following in the tradition of Bobby Humphries. We had him all pick heroes. So you'll notice in her playing that she's quite spirited. And our saxophonist is Monica Ellis Oden. saxophonist? Yes, that's the way we say it sometimes. And when we're trying to be dignified, that is. And she's also a very fine classical pianist. And she's one of the fine musicians that we've had the pleasure of working with. You have Dromologist? Our Dromologist. Our percussionist, if you will. Our percussionist is Glenn Yett. And Glenn is quite a, again, a very rhythmic and spirited guy. And he drives the group quite well. And our bassist is Justin Brown. And he also has written an original composition, which will be playing shortly entitled The Doc and Jet. Why did you

have them all pick heroes in a particular purpose? Yes, because the method of learning this craft, well, well, well, American classical music, is the master apprentice method. That's the way it was created. And that's the way it is necessarily passed on in its proper form. So I had them each pick a hero because if you learn a language, we all learn our language by imitating our parents. And we speak the way our parents speak. Well, if you want to learn jazz, the parents that we imitate are the jazz masters that went before us. Are you suggesting that institutions of high learning don't really teach jazz as well as they could because of the method you just described? Well, most of it is what I call left -brain jazz. But the right -brain jazz is only transmitted through the master apprentice method. That's the ancient way, and that's the way they're all the great crafts in the world are taught. And that's the real way to transmit this music. Okay. Do you need how hard has it been to keep the group together? Is it just as hard as any musical group and make sure that the gigs are made on stage? Is there a whole learning experience for young people because we're talking high school age people?

Yeah, there's definitely a learning experience, especially for them to realize the team effort. And I think they really did, you know, at the end of the year, they learned a lot in terms of working together as a team and being on time and dressing properly. And those are some of the things that they need to learn also in the world. Okay, so many people say that our young people in particularly African American youngsters are not about the business of doing anything, but I'm really proud to show young folks both all American youngsters that are doing some good things around here and playing this music is one of them. I encourage them all because we'll find it. It's a wonderful alternative to drugs. Okay, next number you're going to do. Who's that laughing bag here? Nobody. Try it, you'll like it. Our next number was also written by one of the former members of the group who's now going to pit Mr. Germain Carter, who played trumpet with the group. And he calls it little funky rhythm. Okay, bebop. Is there a reason for the name bebop? Yes, as a matter of fact, I think Dr. Harrison could give you a better explanation of that. I had a seven step career ladder that I wrote for them as a curriculum.

And the B stood for believers. That's all you needed to start because they have the motivation. The first E stood for explorers, where I wanted them to explore all the notes on their instrument. The second E was experimenters, where they would experiment with patterns of sound. The B stood for bankers, where I wanted them to begin to learn repertoire. And then of course, as a language, you have to be able to speak it. So the O is orators. And the second P is when you speak real well, you can even be poetic. So that was what that was for. And then the seventh level, which few people on the planet earth have reached, scientists level, where you are deriving your own original music and changing the world of music. Any scientists back here yet? I think I'm not even a scientist. But the other reason, of course, was the band that I started out with

in 1953, when I was there, age, was called the Beethoven bebop. We want to hear the next number that you're about to do. And you did say what that was? Little funky rhythm by Germain Carter. Okay, go to it, bebops. Music

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