So Long Joe
Joe Strummer (1952-2002)
by Sunil K. Sharma
Dissident Voice
January 7, 2003
The recent death of Joe Strummer,
lead singer of The Clash and most recently The Mescaleros, of an apparent
cardiac arrest feels like a personal loss. The Clash was one of my biggest
influences musically and politically during my high school years (mid-‘80s).
Regardless of whether or not Strummer and Co. could rightly be accused of
selling out after the band’s demise, The Clash left an indelible legacy in the
annals of youth rebellion, profoundly influencing a subsequent generation of
rock musicians and bands.
I
regrettably lost touch with my punk influences when I went off to music school
and became a jazz snob. Only recently did I realize that not only did the
political influence of punk bands like the Clash and Crass still resonate with
me (that never went away), but the musical influence kept creeping into my jazz
performances. It was dishonest of me to diss music that was an integral part of
my youth; which spoke to my own isolation and alienation from the suffocating
life of conservative Orange County, California. If it hadn't been for Punk I
probably would've killed myself during my teen years.
I
suddenly got an itching to hear the tunes off “London Calling” and “Sandinista”
albums, which eventually led me with fresh ears on a journey back to the
forgotten music of my childhood.
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Straight ahead jazz has been done to death. While there is
certainly much to gain from shedding down a Charlie Parker or Coltrane solo,
I don't simply want to rehash what the earlier jazz masters did right the
first time. The music they created was a reflection of their (often
difficult) lives and experiences. But their experiences weren't necessarily
MY own, and simply laying down the stuff old-school style comes off empty and
boring for exactly that reason. When I play a standard like "Stella by Starlight" or
my own compositions, I'm not hearing those old bop melodies in my head, so
why go through the motions and play them? Instead I hear an aural collage of
elements from the music I grew up with, music that made me look forward to
waking up the next day. Many of those elements came from Punk, particularly
Joe Strummer and The Clash. That’s what feels right to play, and if the
ubiquitous voice of self-anointed keepers of the “tradition” like that
revivalist bore Wynton Marsalis says what I play ain’t “jazz” . . . well,
FUCK YOU Wynton . . . try playing something original for a change! Rediscovering groups like the Clash and infusing the punk influence into my jazz work makes me feel like I’m finally beginning to discover my own musical voice, while connecting that world with my political activist world. |
So long Joe. Thanks
for helping me stay sane as a kid, when the sick unreality of daily life felt
like a lynch party banging at my door, and for showing there are productive
ways in which to channel all the anger and pain into something life affirming
and hopeful.
Sunil
Sharma is a musician, writer, and activist living in
Santa Rosa, CA. He is the editor of Dissident Voice newsletter.
Email: editor@dissidentvoice.org