Avery R Young often performs with Ayana Contreras
Also at the Silver Room (Eric Williams transferred his shop from Wicker Park to Hyde Park and has transformed it into a hub of creation on 53rd)
He used to volunteer with Free Write
Which has been doing literacy work at Audy Home (the juvenile detention center in Chicago) for years
If you’re reading this and looking for an organization that does important, good work in Chicago, check them out:
http://freewriteartsliteracy.org/
Young also spent a lot of time with Young Chicago Authors
So you can tell from the resume that he’s a poet
And in fact considers himself first and foremost a writer
His craft is complementary
His second album Tubman, released last year, is a companion piece to his poetry collection “neckbone”
Pre-COVID, he performed most of the album’s tracks at a “Reclaimed Soul Live” held at the Point
Avery rocking the (field)house
The title track is stuffed full of down-home funk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax7H2SQBDPk
With harmonica that does not so much wail as insistently profess
Appropriately
Young reminds us that like civil rights icons numerous generations after her, Tubman’s legacy has been whitewashed for the Schoolhouse Rock crowd
She was a revolutionary putting her life on the line to get others free; she remained a wanted fugitive during her daring escapades
She also helped plan John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, and worked as an armed spy in enemy territory during the war
So yeah, folks were right to walk out after that yang Kanye was pitching
Today’s dose caught my ear as it pays homage to Ms Lee
Ms Lee’s Good Food was a staple on Garfield Boulevard and Indiana, across from the Green Line station
Note: Avery is from out west yet trumpets her, so you know her stuff was good
She was famous for her “herbal chicken,” buttermilk pies, and cobblers (Avery was partial to the sweet potato one)
In addition to other southern staples
Ms Lee insisted hers was southern cooking (and moreover, simply “good”), and dismissed the “soul food” label
From my talks with her while awaiting orders, she thought it was limiting and insulting for the culinary tradition to be defined separately due to her color, as in “what, it’s soul food if black folk are cooking but southern if not??” (of course, it’s also possible these conversations were different with a white man)
Ms Lee had worked for years at Gladys’ Restaurant further up Indiana, a soul food institution where politicians used to cut deals over breakfast
After it burned in a terrible fire, she opened up her own restaurant on 55th much later in life
She must have been in her 50s at least
Avery’s track features his backing band De Deacon Board
Plus contemporary AACM members Tomeka Reid on cello and Corey Wilkes on trumpet
Avery’s tribute would prove to be a send-off
Ms Lee retired and closed the restaurant last year
It’s now a Harold’s