Treponem Pal Escape The Pusherman

How does music reflect the times we live in directly or indirectly? They say “Music is a healing force”. Well, the music of my first professional band, The Collective, had a lot to heal for the world of 1971. The times were a’changing! The Vietnam War was raging and on May 4, 1970, four Kent State University students (down the road from Antioch College and the home base of The Collective) were killed and nine injured when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire during a demonstration protesting the Vietnam War. It was barely 3 years since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. Black Panthers Mark Clark and Fred Hampton were gunned down in Chicago on December 4, 1969. All this was happening when I thought to form The Collective in collaboration with Antioch music professor Lester Knibbs and my future wife Margaux Simmons.

Shamus O’Brien is set against the Irish rebellion of 1798, and tells the story of the charismatic Shamus O’Brien, hunted by the English so he can be brought to justice – but will he manage to escape? The opera was so successful that Stanford feared it would incite anti-English sentiment and he withdrew it, but, revived after his death, its mix of pathos, drama, and melodies proved irresistible. Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was a prolific composer, and his church music, in particular, is regularly played and sung.

This retrospective of Abdullah Ibrahim's life in music is not only a great introdcution to the music of a giant of jazz but a fantastic album in itself. Drawing on recordings from 1979 to 1997, it covers a period of exile in Ibrahim's life - residing in America to escape the apartheid regime in his native South Africa - and his eventual return home.