We spent this past Saturday at Caramoor’s annual jazz festival, which featured some wonderful jazz musicians. It got us thinking about the incredible stories that are told through jazz, and since we believe that everyone has at least one great story to tell, we decided to find out what story they’d write about in a jazz song.
Here’s what they had to say.
Delano Coleman, Bronx
Connect To: If you wrote a jazz song, what story would you tell?
Delano: I would tell my dad’s story; he’s a pretty cool guy. And based on his life experiences, it would be worth listening to his story. He grew up in Trinadad and became a man at 13 years old. He had a lot of ups and downs and bumps in his life, but it’s made him the man he is today.
Connect To: Did you have a good relationship with him when you were a child?
Delano: I wasn’t raised with him, but he was always there. He came here when he was young, and he tried his best to make sure I had a better future. Our relationship was kind of hard when I was growing up, but over the years, I’ve gained a lot of wisdom and knowledge about life, and I was able to understand the world a little better based on his experiences. The relationship we have now is beautiful. It’s like a rose—a lot of water, a lot of sunshine and a lot of thorns—but it’s beautiful.
Charlie Colaco-Curry, Katonah
Connect To: If you wrote a jazz song, what story would you tell?
Charlie: It would be a song about me and my family. It would be a little bit happy and a little bit sad.
Connect To: That’s fair. We all have happy and sad moments with our family. What’s a happy thing you’d write about?
Charlie: I have a good time with my family because we go to a lot of fun places.
Kindu Green, Jr., Bronx
Connect To: If you wrote a jazz song, what story would you tell?
Kindu: It would be about a kid who moved around a lot and wanted to find something to make themselves feel at home. For me, that means being around food altogether, not necessarily cooking, just being around food.
Connect To: Why food?
Kindu: It brings families together. I was a military child, so I moved around a lot, but the one thing that was always constant was the food. I learned that it always brings people together. So, I started cooking food because I wanted to bring people together.
Connect To: Is there anything else about making food that you particularly love?
Kindu: The memories that are connected with certain dishes. For example, when you think of turkey and stuffing, you think of family time. When you think of fruits like grapes, you think of summertime and being at the beach. It’s the memories that get connected with certain dishes that make food special.
Serena Seales, Brooklyn
Connect To: If you wrote a jazz song, what story would you tell?
Serena: I would tell a story about my life because I’ve been through a lot. I’ve traveled a lot, I’ve constantly educated myself, and I’ve been through different career paths. So it would be a song that goes through the transitions of my life. In fact, I wouldn’t even write this song now; I’d write it when I’m older because I’ve been through so much stuff, and it would be beautiful to have a song about my life.
Connect To: Is there any particular period of your life you wouldn’t want to focus on?
Serena: My 20s. I’m 24 now, so I’m almost halfway through my 20s, and it’s been eventful. So I’m kind of excited to see what the other half of my 20s will be like.
Kevin Veal, Mount Vernon
Connect To: If you wrote a jazz song, what story would you tell?
Kevin: A story of redemption.
Connect To: Redemption from what?
Kevin: There’s a lot going on in my community, and I’m part of an organization that focuses on anti-gun violence. I always tell kids, “it’s not over for you. You can always redeem yourself. You might make mistakes, but you can always redeem yourself. It’s not the end of things.” That’s very important to me.
Connect To: Would it be a personal story or an inspirational story?
Kevin: Inspirational, definitely. I love motivating people and inspiring people. I think we need more of that in this world to give people that push to want to do better.
Connect To: Do you have a name for this song?
Kevin: I would name it M.C., which stands for Master of Creativity.
Desiree Rucker, Brooklyn
Connect To: If you wrote a jazz song, what story would you tell?
Desiree: Falling in love for what feels like the last time and how wonderful it felt and how I’d like to find it again.
Connect To: Well, now we have to ask: who was this person?
Desiree: My ex-husband.
Connect To: Oh! So it was good at one point?
Desiree: Yes. It was a beautiful thing. It makes me hopeful to think about that, but, unfortunately, it can be so easy to forget those feelings in the beginning.
Connect To: Are you on the market now? Should we let every eligible bachelor know?
Desiree: Yes, please! I’m looking.
Connect To: Who would be your dream guy?
Desiree: It would be a cross between an athlete with the physical look of Michael Jordan, the intelligence of Eric Michael Dyson and the humanity of Harry Belafonte.
Charles Gabriel, Manhattan
Connect To: If you wrote a jazz song, what story would you tell?
Charles: It would be about my life. I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and it was kind of tough. I have 12 brothers and eight sisters, and we all worked on a plantation. I started when I was seven years old; I was picking cotton in the field with my mom and my dad. We had to get up at 6:00 in the morning, and we didn’t come back home until 6:00 at night.
Connect To: Wow! That’s a rough childhood. In your familial order, where were you among the twelve brothers and eight sisters?
Charles: I’m right in the middle.
Connect To: What else do you remember from your childhood?
Charles: When we came home from picking cotton, I had to cook with my mom. And that’s why I love cooking so much. She put me in the kitchen, and my thing was fried chicken. But she taught me to always pan-fry my chicken. So when I came to New York, I made fried chicken. And I knew that if I ever opened up a business, I was going to make pan-fried chicken. So first, I had a little table in the corner, and I worked that up to a truck. and then I opened up a restaurant. I’ve been in business for almost 50 years. I’ve had bad days and I’ve had good days, but I never gave up.
To read other “Got A Sec?” interviews, click here.
Gia Miller is an award-winning journalist and the editor-in-chief/co-publisher of Connect to Northern Westchester. She has a magazine journalism degree (yes, that's a real thing) from the University of Georgia and has written for countless national publications, ranging from SELF to The Washington Post. Gia desperately wishes schools still taught grammar. Also, she wants everyone to know they can delete the word "that" from about 90% of their sentences, and there's no such thing as "first annual." When she's not running her media empire, Gia enjoys spending quality time with friends and family, laughing at her crazy dog and listening to a good podcast. She thanks multiple alarms, fermented grapes and her amazing husband for helping her get through each day. Her love languages are food and humor.
