Monday, December 16, 2024

Red Sneakers

Often in workshops after an activity that evokes improvisation (like “The Secret Song”), I make the comment that you could have people of different ages, musical backgrounds, cultural backgrounds and they could all be successful, putting everything they know into the improvisation. And it all could sound good. The fresh ideas of a 5-year-old romping around five notes on a xylophone might be as musically interesting as the piano major in the University's solo. To really drive the point home, I mention a group of musicians who I consider at the peak of musical technique, sophistication and understanding as folks who would get something out of the workshop. Though the list is long, I tend to mention people like Bobby McFerrin, Yo Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Yuja Wang and Zakir Hussein. 

 

And now Zakir Hussein has left us, at the too-young age (my age!) of 73 years old. He passed away yesterday from a heart attack and the tributes are pouring in from all corners of Facebook, the modern age’s Obituary Column. Out come the photos and the stories and the icons of sadness and rightfully so. Here’s my own two cents (again, paraphrasing JD Salinger’s image):

 

Raise high the roof beam, carpenters. A great man has passed out of this world, leaving a legacy of extraordinary musicianship coupled with deep humanity and we are all the poorer for his absence. 

 

Born in Mumbai, India, he was the eldest son of Alla Rakha, a highly accomplished and esteemed tabla player of Indian classical music. Sometime in the 1970’s, I had the good fortune to hear father and son in a concert and their virtuosity in a highly complex musical genre was breathtaking, to say the least. Zakir could have easily established himself following his father’s footsteps as one of India’s greatest tabla players. 

 

But early on, he was curious about other musical genres and cultures and ready and willing to experiment with the tabla and other percussion instruments in a wide variety of musical styles. In 1973, he played on albums by rock musician George Harrison and jazz musician John Handy. In 1975, he was part of John McLaughlin’s jazz/ Indian fusion group Shakti and in the next 5-10 years, recorded with Van Morrison and Earth, Wind & Fire. He joined Mickey Hart (drummer for The Grateful Dead ) in the Planet Drum project and continued to collaborate with jazz musicians like Pharoah Sanders, Chris Potter, Josh Redman and more. I attended his concert with Josh Redman at SF Jazz Center and it was one of the highlights of my concert-going life. 

 

Imagine my delight when I went to the wedding of a good friend and tabla player Jim Santi Owen and Zakir was there! He wore some bright red sneakers and the first thing I said to him in my starstruck ineloquence was “Nice sneakers!” At the end, he was standing alone in the hall as I was leaving and I said, “Thank you for making this broken world more beautiful with your music.” He nodded his head in acknowledgment and I added, “And I still like your sneakers!”

 

So that was my personal connection with this extraordinary musician and stellar human being, whose presence amongst us and still in his absence is a reminder to us all to work harder, express ourselves more fully, bring beauty into everything we do and still be kind enough to talk to strangers at weddings and cool enough to wear bright red sneakers. 

 

R.I.P., Zakir Hussein. 

 

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