last night i received a dispatch from my man in tuscany morgan craft. if you’re unaware of his work he’s a improvisational guitarist, or a practitioner of what he likes to call “stunt guitar.” anyhow when morgan was still in new york he and i would inevitably get caught up in heated weekly discussions on all things creative, especially the mechanics of motivation in a vacuum. one running theme was always the apparent lack of innovation, the seemingly insatiable hunger for mediocrity in the arts. another theme was the creative isolation of new york, which would seem counterintuitive, but can actually be painfully acute. it’s one of the reasons he moved to some mountain town in tuscany with his wife (dj.mutamassik) and son (dj.mouse, pictured). if he’s gonna feel isolated he may as well reap the possible benefits of the genuine article. in any case, i’m reproducing the missive here for your inclusion. (all links added after the fact by me)

The Black Equation, Form 2.

I want to write not out of bitterness but rather out of hope and love. The beginnings are always so great, immense and immaculate, that I hesitate to start with anything negative. And as always i’m writing from the hip. I didn’t study journalism, i’m a guitar player, so bear with me. I think i’m at least somewhat coherent. 

So here we are in the year 2005 and i actually agree to sit down and write about being black and experimental. What a fool, what a fool. The genesis comes from conversations with my wife about the hip shit, the out shit, the beat shit, the pop shit. Basically any form of art is open for our withering debates. It also springs from looking at a magazine devoted to challenging, progressive musics from around the world, and seeing their top 50 list for last year. the only black americans were rappers (3) and old jazz era men (1 living, 1 dead). So i bring up this observation about the lack of a black american presence on the avant garde scene under the age of fifty just to see if maybe i’m not paying attention.

I’m constantly fed this steady stream of future thinking folks from Germany, Japan, New Zealand, U.K., Australia, Norway, etc. but when it comes to America all i hear about is the genius that is “free folk” or if it’s black it must be hip hop, or jazz (over the age of sixty / long dead). How many more articles on albert ayler do we really need? as far as hip hop being the future of black American music… well, let’s just say that the things ornette talks about, or the things butch morris talks about, or the things cecil taylor, anthony braxton, henry threadgill, etc talk about, are not the same things that any rapper or producer is talking about (with the exception of RZA, five years ago, perhaps). And believe me, i’m looking, i’m listening. I really want to eat these words.

Am i missing something or is there really no young black Avantists? My question is simply that, a question. Is there a black American avant garde under the age of fifty? I speak of the black American because that is what i am and that is what i will be no matter where i go. What does the black American musician / artist do now with the space s/he has been given? hip hop existed, jazz existed, blues existed, the rhythms of improvisation and resourcefulness are present. Also the awareness of European traditions, Asian traditions, and nature inform our approaches. Technology is within reach, the hype of the interconnectedness of individuals is here. What does the black American do with all of this?

What do we do now that sample culture is so prominent? What do we do when success comes before an actual gestation period with our materials? Will we still want to create? How many have written about the absolute need of the American artist or thinker or doer to render completely what this space and time has to offer? Emerson and Whitman laid a certain groundwork for being what and where you are and in that comes an expression which is unique. Never mind aping foreign traditions, America is still impressive in scope, scale, confidence and arrogance, and our task as artists is to report on what we see.

Another question: where is the next generation of black artists willing to go into this unknown, fertile wood to come back with the new blueprints we so desperately need? Oh, everyone is an artist and everyone wants to be famous and get in the festivals, but i wonder how much homework these people do? I don’t want to be a crab, but i thought the “giants” who came before all taught that you must find and develop your own voice. It cannot be a copy of a great that has come before, it must be yours. That is how you must contribute to the world. Over and over i seem to meet new folks and i can’t understand why they haven’t internalized this lesson? How can you love a Coltrane or Miles or Lee Perry or Sun Ra or James Baldwin or Grandmaster Flash and not see that they changed the world with their singular outlook and expression. They didn’t copy anyone. They invented new traditions on the structures and flesh and bone of old ones. New times demand new tactics. We all are influenced, yes, but to copy is the “first sin” once past a certain age. 

Now, my generation is sitting on all these jewels but it seems like so much time is wasted on how it’s gonna look, or what the people are gonna say, or with excuses: “oh i’m shopping it to the labels.” I want to see what the black American under the age of fifty is working on in terms of taking this music, this sound, forward. Beyond rock, beyond jazz, beyond electronic, beyond hip hop. I want to hear the effort that is there when looking at the future straight up. My generation is still dependent on old guard record labels and the old guard press for affirmation and that pat on the back. I think it’s time to start planting our own seeds now.

Where is the black American with a magazine dedicated to the new arts and music? Where is the black American writing the book on the art ensemble of chicago or the black artists group or don cherry? Seems we have to wait for a European to do it for us. (Although george lewis is done with his aacm history and it’s greatly anticipated.) Where is the label run by a black American dedicated to more experimental forms of music? There doesn’t seem to be any network set up to share ideas and information or just plain spiritual support. 

Ah, the spirit? Where has it gone? I might hear animated discussions about Supercollider or LISA or beats or gushings about how it is to be just off the plane from some festival in Mexico City or Helsinki or Tokyo, but never about that old dusty spirit. Spirit is what you will need during those dark years of study and practice. Spirit is what you will need when compiling your work in the solitude of a room somewhere with the knowledge that nobody knows you exist. Spirit is what you will need when you’re bringing those boxes of your CD’s up the stairs. Spirit is what you will need when time finally does catch up to you and you finally make your statement. Spirit is what you will need to keep working.

-morgan craft