June 12, 2020

Justice and Jazz, Livestreamed Tonight at 8 p.m. ET

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The weekend, almost, but not quite. To carry us over the Friday line, a triple boost of the music that made this country and can make it again: At 8 p.m. ET, a must-catch livestream of the energizing Detroit-born drummer Gerald Cleaver, joined by the hard-swinging saxophonist Matt Nelson, bassist Brandon Lopez, and guitarist Brandon Seabrook, in performance and conversation from Brooklyn’s Park West Studios. Get the Zoom here.

Second boost: Ornette Coleman. He died five years ago yesterday after a life in which he rewrote the fundamental language of music by revolutionizing harmony, single-handedly inventing “harmolodics.” It’s the musical philosophy and improvisational and compositional method for which he won a 2007 Pulitzer. (Took the Pulitzer committee long enough; justice delayed is justice denied.) The cultural and cosmic freedom of Ornette’s music is indelible. He won the prize for his album Sound Grammar. Brace yourself and spin it.

Third boost: Happy birthday to the timelessly great (and late) Geri Allen, born 63 years ago today. She was a pianist admired and embraced by all corners of her many communities, which can’t be said of all legendary artists. Here she gives us “Lush Life.”

See you, if you can, at 8 p.m. ET in Gerald Cleaver’s galaxy. Drop me a line with Recharge boosts of your own at recharge@motherjones.com.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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