John Stubblefield was of a jazz generation that was thoroughly grounded in the music’s values yet open to new developments, in his case with particular reference to what was once known as the avant-garde.
This book has been written and compiled by his sister and is in every sense a labour of love, though not to the point where the reader might feel that they’re intruding on personal grief. Instead a celebratory attitude towards his life and work, along with an acknowledgment of those human frailties that are common to all of us is a lasting impression. He died in 2005, but somehow it feels as though the 19 years between then and now have wrought changes far in excess of the timespan, by no means all of them conducive to a healthy future for the music.
Critic Robert Palmer is quoted on page 64 thus: “In the era of college-produced clones and jazz covers, Stubblefield is the ‘genuine article’ -combining both ‘his intellect and soul’.” Trends, those perpetual enemies of timelessness, and passing time seem to have had the far from inevitable effect of rendering that combination – intellect and soul – rather invalid, with the notion of a “career in jazz” implying something radically different to what it amounted to for musicians of Stubblefield’s generation. This lends the book a poignant air which is hard to ignore, but the volume of interviews and testimonies from names such as pianist Kenny Barron and woodwind man and composer Henry Threadgill balances things nicely, while encapsulating that celebratory aspect mentioned above.
Stubblefield’s work – as emphasised by the range and variety of his discography, spanning 1963 – 1995 – also serves notice of opportunities that are now things of the past and of how music as such no longer has the hold it did on “the young” in particular. This book, however, has made this reviewer want to explore that discography, and as such serves the critical purpose of keeping both Stubblefield’s legacy and the music alive.
Yours Truly, John by Joyce Stubblefield Pattillo. Nandina Books, 259pp, pb. ISBN 979-8-9879632-6-5
