By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter REDBONES THE Blues Café grooved to smooth jazz poetry on Wednesday night. Connie Bell treated the audience to her poetry, some of which she revealed she had never read publicly before. She was accompanied by Seretse Small, on guitar, and Alex Martin-Blanken on keyboards. The evening was a part of the week of 'Bohemia', which began Tuesday night at the Bob Marley Museum.
One thing came across clearly, to truly experience Connie Bell's poetry, one must hear it, not simply read it. The words seem strong enough to stand on their own if left on the page, but due to her use of music in several of her poems, her delivery is everything. This is despite the fact that she more read than performed the poetry, depending on the power of her words rather than trying to twist them for effect. Even so, they worked very well, attesting to the power of the work.
One such piece was Melodic Lips. The words of this piece plays with a jazz rhythm of its own, which allowed it to sit nicely atop Small's strumming. The rhythm romps between a traditional poetic meter and jazz beats.
Cane Juice also used singing, as a kind of poetic chorus between the stanzas. At first, the music seemed to be a disjointed appendage to the poetry. However, as her use of imagery grew and the words continued to flow, the poetry and music blended together well, creating another aural treat.
Quieted by the Moon was the most effective of this kind of poetry. The poem is a beautiful blend of poetry and jazz, and the fact that Bell has a great singing voice only enhanced this.
The importance of music to her work most clearly came out in her performance of Selfish. This poem rested on several puns about fish, to create a lyrical dalliance between a tongue lashing and sexual innuendo, as it dealt with a selfish lover who was now being discarded. Bell performed this poem twice. First, she read it, then quickly proceeded to sing it, accompanined by Small.
Interestingly, when the poem was read, with the exception of the final line which states,
Maybe he's just another disappointing Hamlet
Too caught up in his thoughts to get anything done, the poem was largely ineffective. However, the second time around, when it was sung, the reaction was much different.
Although many of her poems dealt with love and relationships, Bell's work was not limited to this issue. Jamaica Land I Love, There Is Always a Way Out and Tonight I Cry all veered from these issues. These songs were of a more patriotic, though not clichéd, fervour. Tonight I Cry was particularly poignant and made reference to the wanton killing of all and sundry, and even cattle.
The piece I'm Having a Party also fell outside of the dominant love theme. This poem created an interesting metaphor between life and a party where reality is an uninvited guest, who crashes the party regardless of how much liquour one drinks or how loud the music. Bell also performed Intriguing, Bliss, Saturn and God You're Beautiful.
The evening had started on time, to a rather small audience, which grew as it progressed. Seretse Small and Alex Martin-Blanken began with a jazzy instrumental rendition of Bob Marley's Turn Your Lights Down Low. The tune was transformed into a beautiful conversation between the guitar and the keyboards as the two artistes responded to the music each produced.
With a pause, they then began playing Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Once again, the guitar took the initial lead, with every note singing of hopeful sadness, rendering words unnecessary. This relaxed attitude was soon changed and the beats taken further into jazz, especially as Small added some scatting. The scatting, and the accompanying faster beats, changed the flavour of the music from a quietly rolling tune to a far more bouncy rhythm.
Finally, the notes quieted to their familiar slowness but were soon taken back towards a crescendo, this time with the piano in the lead. At this point, both instruments engaged in a merry chase, with the guitar happily skipping along and occasionally running ahead, only to slow down and follow the keyboard once more.
