G
by
,
Henry Dumas, a 33-year-old '
Blac man gunned down in a
Harlem subway by a e York
Transit policeman in 1968. At
the time of his death, Dumas was
teacher-counselor at Southern
Illinois University's Experiment
in Higher Education in East St.
Louis, m.
With the spring release of
Thunders Mouth Press' Good­
bye, Sweetwater, a pa ionate
and moving collection o� new
-and selected stories from
Dumas' masterful pen, the
Review/Feature By Owlcs
artts Jr.
I For the past twenty yean aD
irresistable whirlwind been
haunting the American literary
horizon.
Compri ed of a small but
t ciou "b od of devotees -
novelist , poet , critics, eth­
nomusico ogists, folklorists, lin­
gui ts nd students of the occult
among other - the move ent
ha in pired a litany of
praisesongs from such Blac
literary heavyweights James
nee
Baldwin, Tom Morrison, Maya
Angelou, Amiri Baraka (Leroi
Jones), Marg ret Walker­
Alexander, Gwendolyn BrOOD
and John A. Wimams,
At the center of thi
auspicous gathering' a brilliant
body of writings left behind by
I I
whirlwind's ever-widening
swoop seems on its way to be­
coming a full blown literary
storm.
Born in Sweet Home, Arkan­
sas and raised in Harlem from
the age of 10, Henry Dumas is
being hailed as a major force in
contemporary Black writing.
_ By combining unique and
po erful voice with unc_om­
promising faithfulness to the
Black folk, spirit, he has WOD
high critical praise for "recasting
the ro of the Bla writer."
"He is a genius, an bsolute
genius!" exclaims Pulitzer Prize
winning author Toni Morrison.
In the words of poet­
playwright Amiri Baraka, often
labeled, "Father �f Blac Arts,"
Dumas' work "sbo a feeling
(again!) for all of our selves or
all of our self - the large Black
majestic one."
Adding her voice to the
growing cacophony, poet­
novelist Margaret Walker­
Alexander speaks of Duma '
"bone-bare Blackness."
Indeed Goodbye, SweetwGter
.. trumpets the melody and magic
of Black life with a freshness and
vigor that is rare on the modem
literary scene. It has a rhythm
d pulse th t Black readers will
surely recognize as their own.
Here' high literature cast
with tender loving care in th
image of the lowly; a collection
that will be lcome amo
Black readers as a dipperof cold
ice water in Mississippi Delt
cottonpatcb.
Here is a bold, often surreal
portrait sculpted out of the
flesh, bone and breath of Black­
folk from the canefields and cot­
tonfields of the American
Southland to the seething ghet­
to of New York's Harlem.
A wonder of rejuvenation
and celebration, Goodbye,
Sweetwater is raw, unvarnished
life served up "Straight, no
Chaser:" Loving and laughing.
jukkingjiving, toiling and testify­
ing. signifying and songifying.
This latest collection, the
Orange Lake
nd Dorothy
teven on
-On aturda)',April16, Kenny
Burch, Larry Fratangelo, David
Ma on, Darryl Wakefield,
teven chuetz, and Tom Jurek
conglomerated at Baker's
.K yboard Lounge to form the
ntcmporary Jazz fusion
group better known as Orange
L lee Drive.
Although the group hesitates
to label their stylized music,
keyboardist Steven Schuetz gave
it thetongue-in-cheek descrip­
tion of "T errace Jazz."
Orange Lake ha made
cveral change in its musicians,
with b player Kenny Burch
being the only original member,
but perc . onist Larry Fratan­
gelo had faith in current aft.
fifth boo by Dumas to make i
appearance, is edited by East St.
Louis poet and literary scholar
Eugene B. Redmond, who also
penned the introductory notes.
Margaret Walker-Alexander
has called Redmond's introduc­
tion "as stuaningly brilliant and
as startlingly fresh as Dumas
himself."
Typical of Dum 5' terrain
and tyle is a quote from th title
story "Goodbye, Sweetwater." In
words that reverberate like an
oracle aimed t the larger com­
munity of African-Americans, a
grandmother cha rises her
grandson, who in blind anger,
offers a white insurance collec-
tor dipper oftainted er.
The grandmother warns,
"Don't 1 spite � man cause he
thir ty and white. That's wrong.
Give'em your best at all tim .
hen ou give 'em your best
when you don't even like him, he
be the rust to kno . God on your
side then." .
Likewise, this oracle of an­
cestral wisdom eems a fitting .
testimony to Dumas' own faith
and fate. -
Writing during an era when a
death-dealing racism w at its
eight, Dumas h nonetheless
endered a healing vision of
frican-Americans laced with
heartfelt love and stunning elo­
quence.
Goodbye, Swee teris col-
[lection of stories ev ryone will
cherish.
The group's music spans a
wide range of influences.
Guitari t David Ma n injeet
the heavy rock riffs axaphoni t
Darryl Wakefield ease in the
jazz t ne I Kenny Burch kicks in
with th tr ng Rhythm and
Blues tnt. whil tev n chuetz
mel! w. ·ut th und on the
keyboard . Larry Fratangelo
ynchopates th en embl with
his driving, almo t latin rhythm ,
and T m Jurek, the sound en­
gineer, expertly blends it all
to ether. . I
Thi i a hand th t ivc llOv/,
t their mu ic and to their
udiences, from th up-beat
tempo of 'Fast Eddie to tbe
ha nting ounds of 'Veronica's
Theme', the contemporary
sound of Orange Lake Drive i a
. ce 0 the future.