Ode To BC/LY... And Eye Know BO.... da Prez

It was the late ‘90’s, probably 1999. The place was 125th and Lenox Ave in Harlem, NYC. Roy Campbell had a weekly jam session on Monday nights where I was the pianist played for over a year. One night, a tenor player came in and began to put his horn together. There was a buzz among the musicians. My friend Henry Warner asked me, “Do you know who that is? That’s Booker T. We’re getting ready to play for real!!” Man, was he telling the truth. Fast forward to 2011…..I was practicing with a tenor player in Little Rock, where I now live. He is close friends with another tenor man from Seattle, Gary Hammon. They talk almost daily, and Gary would always call while we practiced. Gary and I also became friends, talking about mutual friends we had in NYC, especially JR Mitchell, a drummer we both knew and loved. Gary grew up with Booker T, in Seattle, and they are close friends to this day. I knew Booker didn’t record much under his own name, or as a sideman. There are 2 albums on Silkheart, one is a Dennis Charles album, Denis Charles Triangle “Queen Mary” on Silkheart and the other is “Go Tell It on the Mountain “ under Booker’s name, with Andrew Cyrille and Saheb Sarbib, but that’s was all I knew about him. He was an underground legend among the true avant garde artists and the uptown and street music scenes. A hero to us, actually. When Gary told me they had been practicing, playing, and even recording, in Seattle, I was delighted. Eventually, the spirit moved me to ask Booker if he would record for Mahakala and he agreed, entirely trusting me to assemble musicians, most of whom he was unfamiliar with, and to organize the session. We congregated in Little Rock, AR in a cold December, and spent a day playing music. Gary Hammon and Booker swept in with their tunes and spirits, and this recording is the result.

Booker reworked some of his tunes, when Mama's Cry and Simontov, stretching from reggae, to post-Coltrane to a beautiful ballad. Gary brought his tune Last of the Tribesmen, of which he and Booker certainly are the last of a breed, and another gorgeous ballad “Are You For Me? “

Booker also pays tribute to presidents Clinton and Obama, with Ode to BC/LY, which he plays in 3 different settings. Stay Alert, is Booker’s call to awareness.

This album is a true adventure which we hope will inspire and excite the listener. It is also a chapter in our continuing adventures in music…..

Christopher Parker, Little Rock