Published: May 14, 2008
The narrator of Nikki Giovanni’s poem “All I
Gotta Do” is a sleepless woman repeating to
herself in a voice of mounting frustration
that all she has to do is sit and wait until
an unnamed something (a lover? a political
movement?) comes and sweeps her away. But
when will that happen?
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OneOunceofTruth The Nikki Giovanni Songs |
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Monday’s show heralded the release of Ms. Jenkins and Mr. Rosen’s second album, “One Ounce of Truth” (PS Classics), a collection of songs based on Ms. Giovanni’s verses. The music is notable for its modesty and its care not to impede the conversational rhythms of the poetry. You might describe Mr. Rosen’s uncategorizable, continually shifting musical patchwork of blues, folk, jazz and pop as earthy, tuneful art song. He is from the South Side of Chicago, and the polyglot influences show. |
Both the poem and Louis Rosen’s sturdy musical setting of it for Capathia Jenkins, who (sings) it, seesaw between feelings of determination and impatience as this insomniac muses that the time of her deliverance is beyond her control because she is a woman.
“All I Gotta Do,” which has the drive of a secular spiritual, is one of the most striking of the 17 songs Ms. Jenkins performed with Mr. Rosen... Mr. Rosen mostly played guitar and occasionally sang. He was part of a band that included Kimberly Grigsby on piano, Dave Phillips on bass, Andrew Sterman on flute and saxophone, Rob Moose on violin and guitar, and Erik Charlston on drums and percussion.