At Texas Southern

Jazz keeps history alive: Tuskegee Airman who survived a German prison camphonored with music

Jazz can make a difference too.
Claudio Jordan will be at both events.
Courtesy Photo
BetterWorldBooks.com

Update: Organizers have canceled both events at the last minute. They will be rescheduled at a later time. For refunds, email POW 44 Legacy at gdgsports@yahoo.com.

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Jazz for a cause? Now, that's a cool groove.

Saturday at Texas Southern University (TSU) Sawyer Auditorium, The Jazz In Multifaceted Exquisite Events (M.E.E.) group in collaboration with POW 44 Legacy will pay tribute to Tuskegee Airman Lt. Colonel Alexander Jefferson with a night of contemporary jazz and R&B music, featuring award-winning vocalist Phil Perry, chart-topping saxophonist Kim Waters, Jordan Donald and the Leather Pockyt Band, and R&B King Marty. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Ismail B. Robinson Scholarship Fund.

Throughout the 1940s, as America battled a fascist regime determined to exterminate a race of people based on their ethnicity and religious beliefs, our military was racially segregated.

The event is in line with The Jazz In M.E.E.'s mission to keep the genre of jazz and its artists in the present, where entertainment serves history. Jefferson will be at Saturday's concert. He'll also be available to meet and converse with in person the night before at a Black and White Sip and Social, 7 p.m. Friday at TSU Alumni Center.

Model, radio and television personality Claudia Jordan will emcee both Friday's social and Saturday's concert.

The Tuskegee Airmen was the popular name for the African-American pilots who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. Jefferson is the author of Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free, a memoir of his wartime experiences as an airman, which included being shot down while on a mission over southern France, getting captured by German ground troops after parachuting out of his plane and being sent to a prisoner of war camp.

It's ironic that throughout the 1940s, as America battled a fascist regime determined to exterminate a race of people based on their ethnicity and religious beliefs, that our military was racially segregated, and African-American soldiers experienced discrimination both within and outside of the U.S. Army.

That irony is not lost on Phil Perry, whose wife's uncle's brother was a Tuskegee Airmen, and who makes it a point to perform at events that combine music with education and historical awareness.

Perry's extensive repertoire includes originals, collaborations with some of the greatest instrumentalists in contemporary jazz, and classic songs from what he calls "the most romantic era of rhythm and blues (R&B) music." While Perry's roots are in R&B, his musical training occurred in Catholic school, singing the mass, Gregorian chants and Western European music. The fusion of the two was, says Perry, "an education."

But be it old school or new, Perry is first and foremost a musician and an entertainer. Given all the great music on the program, celebrating a crucial and fascinating chapter of American history, he is certain that Saturday's audience at Sawyer Auditorium will "leave feeling much differently" than when they first came in.

(A short documentary featuring Lt. Colonel Alexander Jefferson:

A Jazzy Tribute For Lt. Colonel Alexander Jefferson featuring Phil Perry, Kim Waters, Jordan Donald and the Leather Pockyt Band, and R&B King Marty takes place 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Texas Southern University, Sawyer Auditorium. $45 general admission, $50 at the door, $60 VIP. TSU employees $35, TSU alumni $40.

VIP tickets include admission to the Black and White Sip and Social, which is 7 p.m. Friday at Texas Southern University's Alumni Center. Black and White Social tickets are $25 (If you purchase a VIP ticket to the concert, admission is free to this event. Just bring your concert ticket.)

Tickets to both events can be purchased here.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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At Texas Southern

Jazz keeps history alive: Tuskegee Airman who survived a German prison camphonored with music

Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

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