Faruq Z. Bey
Faruq Z. Bey was a founder of the great Detroit quartet/quintet, Griot Galaxy. More recently he's been in a band called Northwoods Improvisers.
Lower photo: Faruq reading his poetry at Sam's Jams, Ferndale, Michigan, 1989.
"In jazz," Faruq once said, "the model is text—which is the melody or the construct, you dig, the tune, if you will – and commentary – which is the improvisatory thing ... You've got people who are really concerned with text ... they follow or allow rules that are more and more locked down and concrete ... On the other hand, you've got people who do away with text entirely. How are you gonna talk about something when there's nothing to talk about?"
Photos Copyright © John Kelin
