JJJJJerome Ellis – “Clearing, The” – [NNA]

humana   10/14/2022   12-inch, A Library

Ellis explores his dysfluency (to others known as stutter) with an amazingly fluent and poetic two-album setting of his clear vocalizations set to music he creates and plays on instruments as a background to his story: tenor sax, flute, hammered dulcimer, piano, synths, drums, bass programming, and electronics. His voice tells us he is black, he speaks with a stutter, and is a musician who creations inspect the intersectionality of these identifiers. There is a space within his vocalizations that is like a clearing in which he escapes time and identifies with his blackness. “The Bookseller, Parts I and II” offer fascinating examples of how Ellis interacts through his speech. “Stepney” contains an interview about his other-abled speech and compares to as a slow-motion shattering of glass.” His brother Kelvin raps on “Brush Fire Smoke.” This is a stunning work of spoken word and music. Play it and open that window in time so you can really listen.