Leaves of Jazz

by Brett Lider

photo courtesy of Jazz Poets Society

"What if ... Rosa Parks had a car?"

Pause for a moment. Fully consider the proposition before you ... That's what the Jazz Poets Society would like you to do, and they achieve it with aplomb.

Twice last month Charlottesville was blessed to hear these eight handsome young men from Richmond at Michael's Bistro, and will be again with another performace coming up this Saturday night at Runk dining hall. Self-described as poets and jazzmen, they are "here to uplift your soul with complete reality." I spoke to frontmen Mamou and Enyazeh about the band, its roots, and their take on American cultures.

Mamou says that the origins of the band were "kinda weird." Jazz Poets Society formed in 1994 when Doran Greshan and Mamou began promoting the idea of jazz and poetry through concept T-shirts. After graduating from William and Mary and U.Va. respectively, they settled in Richmond, giving poetry readings in some guy's apartment. When the readings got crowded in the summer of 1995, they switched venues to the Underground Railroad Jazz Cafe. The JPS sponsored an open mic night at the club every Wednesday, and over time, the collective appropriated the name of their sponsor. That was the spring of 1996.

The band's line-up has changed significantly since its early incarnation. Mamou and Martin Reamy, two of the three frontmen, have been with it from the get go, as well as and musicians Brent Jones (on drums) and Eddie Prendergast (upright bass). The band was originally more poetic in execution, but has heavily developed its musical aspects, evolving into its current stable line-up: three frontmen and five instrumentalists. The third frontman is Enyazeh, who has brought more singing to the lyrical mix. The rest of the group includes energetic trumpeter Scott Frock, Gordon Jones on saxophone, and guitar-lickin' Lee Graham. The livelihoods of band members range from undergraduate film studies majors to professional musicians to nine-to-fivers.

Moving from a jazz base to poetry and spoken word harmonized with lyrics and hip-hop, the JPS is hot and tight. Mamou will sometimes silence the band for an increased emphasis on the words. "If you leave without hearing the words, we have failed in some way," Enyazeh said. Purely instrumental pieces are not unkown, and neither are forays into salsa and the funk of James Brown.

In their song "What If ... Rosa Parks Had A Car?" the JPS addresses four concepts, as represented by the repetition of four phrases in the piece. The first is the title, posing: What if things had happened differently - from the history of slavery to the creation of a capitalistic world economy? Secondly, "What if ... We imitated Escobar?" approaches the hip-hop and rap artist phenomenon of identifying oneself with Italian and Colombian drug king-pins in seeking a hard-core and extremely ruthless image. It asks if you are the person you identify with and commands you to "keep it real." The third phrase asks, "What if ... Jesus Christ was a superstar?" Mamou interpreted it as, "What if we praised spirituality instead of praising wanting a Lexus." The fourth is self-explanatory, "What if ... Inside your soul, you really know who you are?"

I asked Mamou a question about the political and social agendas behind their aesthetic goals: "We're trying to make people think and have them not be afraid of their personal realities." The idea is that a lot of people have things about them that they are not happy with. Mamou hopes that listeners can bring away from a performance some tools to exercise their potential. He would also like to see people less content with the material world, to get people connected with their inner persona and to understand why they are here. He leaves the specifics vague, and intentionally so. Basically, the breakdown seems to be to bring change to oneself to ones peers. The band has a diverse range of spiritual beliefs, but they all believe in a higher or all-embracing power.

The Jazz Poets seem to have a jokingly antagonistic style, a way of interacting with the audience that engages the listener and makes them a part of what is happening on-stage. Mamou stated, "We're very aware of what we're saying to people. We're blunt, but we just don't leave them like that, [we don't] leave them hopeless." They make use of and subvert stereotypes, misogyny, and the "-isms," in the name of challenging the listener to modify their worldview.

As Enyazeh said during their last Charlottesville performance, "It's not a hate message, it's a love message." Enyazeh wants to, "Spread information to help people breakdown the barriers, and the '-isms,' classism, racism, sexism -- you could write books full of '-isms.'" He says, "The barriers that we construct to protect ourselves cause all the misunderstandings between people."

The idea is that in today's society, one has to grab someone's attention with something dramatic. Mamou says to this: "Get it with, 'Did they just say that?' You can't be passive. People see a car crash on the road and slow down to look ... We want to be a verbal car crash. People will stop and listen and find out we're more than that.

"If I am given an opportunity to get in front of people and say something, that opportunity will not last if we are not saying something that helps them. That we are talented is the god-given thing. We cannot abuse that talent. Even if we offend or rub someone the wrong way, we want them to walk out of here with something to relate to and be able to get something from the experience."

A friend of mine compared JPS to The Roots. When questioned about their musical influences and peers, Mamou said, "We played with the Roots. I like them in that it's live. Some people might see it that way, that we're a lot like that. [We're] more of a jazz connection than hip-hop... We do hip-hop, too. I think we're grouped together because there is no well-known group that does what we do. We have so many different ways to communicate. We try to use all of them. We try to turn people on to different elements."

As for the name of the original concept and now the name of the group, Mamou listed its origins in the bad reputation for violence that rap and hip-hop were getting back in 1993. "'Hey, I'm another rapper/hip-hop artist.' I didn't want to deal with that ... Jazz as an attitude. A poet is the same thing as an emcee, except that 'poet' has the connotation that the speaker has something to say."

Within a few minutes of watching the Jazz Poets Society perform, you know that they have a (enviable) problem on their hands. With mailing list sign-ups that are 75 percent female, they may not see it that way. "It's nice ... after you've been traveling and playing all day. We're sexy, we just can't help it ... We're human, too ... Hey, when you write that up, make sure they know I'm just joking."

Prospects look promising for the Jazz Poets Society. A newly released CD entitled Poets Lounge, a growing following from Charlottesville to San Francisco, the possibility of a music video or two, as well as talk of a distribution deal ­ all this spells increased success, both artistically and financially. Their message hits home hard, yet leaves the listener feeling uplifted and empowered. I cannot think of a nobler conception or a better execution of music within the last long time.

Jazz Poets Society plays between 5 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, December 6 at Runk. Their CD is available at Plan 9. They can be contacted through their website at http://JazzPoetsSociety.com