In 2012, Mayfield debuted a jazz composition dedicated to Ernest Gaines and his work. The composition, entitled Dirt, Dust, and Trees: A Jazz Tribute to Ernest J. Gaines, draws from Gaines' work and life. A couple of weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity to hear two pieces from Dirt, Dust and Trees: "Angola" and "Dianne." Earlier, in 2003, Mayfield debuted Strange Fruit at Dillard University in New Orleans. The composition tackles the history of lynching, presenting a story set in South during the 1920s. The narrative involves Mary Ann, a white woman who is engaged to a banker's son, Charles. LeRoi, an African American gardener, works for Mary Ann's father. Mary Ann and LeRoi both knew one another since childhood; however, she never talked with him until he started working at her father's house. There, she noticed him, they began to speak to another, and after a while, they consummated their relationship. When Charles finds out about this, he beats Mary Ann and then runs to the sheriff to say that LeRoi raped and beat her. The law arrests LeRoi, and a mob begins to gather at the jail, talking about the last lynching and laughing about it. Even when Charles tries to call of the mob, the lynching proceeds. The mob allows LeRoi's father, a preacher, to speak to his son while LeRoi stands awaiting the noose to fall around his neck. After LeRoi's death, we learn that Mary Ann is pregnant with LeRoi's son, and she eventually allows herself to accept this and to live.
The inspiration for Mayfield's opus came from a visit to an Atlanta museum in 2002. There, he saw an exhibit entitled Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America. From there, Mayfield undertook the task to express the horrific history of lynching in a musical manner, much the same way that Billie Holiday did with the song "Strange fruit." The point is that Mayfield's opus arose out of a reaction to an exhibit in much the same way that say Gaines' work arises partly out of his experiences and interactions with music. The symbiotic relationship between the two serves to show that art, no matter the form, can find inspiration anywhere. Gaines has said that while he writes he listens to music in the background, whether it be jazz, blues, classical, or something else because it relaxes him and gives him a sense of rhythm. Speaking about jazz, he says,
Another thing especially in jazz music is repetition--repeating and repeating to get the point over--which I try to do in dialogue. I learned from music something that Hemingway also does and this is understatement. Certain musicians, like Lester Young, one of the greatest jazz saxophonists, could play around a note. For example, he didn't have to go through the old beat after "Stardust." He could give you a feeling of "Stardust" by playing around the note. (209)Gaines does this, as he himself points out, in his work, specifically "The Sky is Gray." In that story, Octavia and James experience racism and oppression in a subtler manner than having it overtly expressed through continual contact with whites.
With all of this said, make sure you join us on Tuesday February 24, 2015 at 7:30 at Angelle Hall on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for a free performance by the Irvin Mayfield Quintet as they pay tribute to the life and work of Ernest J. Gaines. For more information, email us at gainescenter@louisiana.edu or call at (337)-482-1848.
Gaudet, Marcia and Carol Wooton. "An Interview with Ernest J. Gaines." Conversations with Ernest Gaines. Ed. John Lowe. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1995. 200-216. Print.
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