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Thursday, 09 February 2006 11:21 |
The Street Beat
for James Charles Heard
(October 8, 1917 September 27, 1988)
Street Beat. . .
The beat of the street!
Have you heard the way the beat
really came from the street
with Papa J.C. Heard?
He brought the beat to the stage
first with tap-dancing feet
then his drums were the rage
He got the beat of the street
& his drums spread the word:
Papa J.C. Heard
We heard him with Bird
before Koko , & Dizzy Gillespie
& Dexter Gordon, in 1945
out of Detroit
& the Cozy Corner Club
with Teddy Wilson's band
in 1939, before the war
& then with Benny Carter
& Cab Calloway, Coleman Hawkins,
Duke, Count Basie, Woody Herman,
Louis Armstrong, Jazz
At The Philharmonic,
J.C. Heard
helped set the pace
for the second half
of the 20th century,
he created the guideline
for drummers
who have come after him,
Dizzy said, he was a member
of the drum triumvirate
along with Kenny Clarke, who in-
vented bebop drumming,
& Max Roach. He was the most
prolific of drummers. He set
such high standards. His loss
is like losing Charlie Parker,
or Kenny [Clarke]. He made
thousands of records,
thousands. J.C. Heard
traveled the world,
lived five years in Japan,
married Hiroko & came back
to stay
in Las Vegas & L.A.,
then returned to Detroit
to play
starting in 1966 he came to play
after his contribution
had been forgotten, he came to play
& made the whole world
listen,
Papa J.C. Heard
brought us the word
& the beat of the street,
for 20 years
we got it all, especially the sound
of his Detroit bebop big band
& the way he made it
swing,
that was the thing
about J.C. Heard,
he made it swing,
he gave us everything
& now he's gone, but like they say
he went out swinging,
Papa J.C., swinging all the way
Harmonie Park, Detroit
October 18, 1988
3.1.6125 |
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