Chords of Revolution Growing up Near the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Where His Fa- a Jazz Musician Thrives in Brooklyn

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ALUMNI he explains, “whether the artist is con- scious of it or not. I subscribe to the inter- penetration of ideas and material life. I talk the walk.” Chords of Revolution Growing up near the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where his fa- A jazz musician thrives in Brooklyn. ther was a Chinese political-science professor, Ho immersed himself in the politi- Fred ho ’79 has never owned a car, nor is heard him play at Sanders Theatre. “It was cal unrest of the 1960s and 1970s. “As a he “married with children.” No boss dic- among the most aggressive, awakening teenager I was trying to find an example tates his workday, and he buys very little. music I’ve ever heard in a concert hall, and of something that was not part of the He has not even stepped into a clothing it grabbed you by the back of the neck. He white world. The catalytic impact of the store in more than 12 years because he de- was trying to explode things, to tear the Black Power movement, and Malcolm X, signs his own apparel, though he generally tops o≠ of ordinary experience. It was and the Black Arts movement sought to prefers to be naked. “What I create is bet- very di≠erent. Sounds of protest? Anger? challenge white supremacy in America,” ter than Armani, better than Ralph Lau- Aggression? Or all of that. He didn’t want he told the Village Voice in 1997. “I came of ren, better than these boring mass mar- to be doing what everyone else was doing. age during the Asian-American movement keters,” says Ho, whose signature piece is That was quite clear.” of the early ’70s, and am trying to forge a a fire-engine-red silk duster patterned with white cranes, made from a recycled Japanese wedding kimono. “I am not a Luddite and I don’t subscribe to purist positions regarding consumer capitalism. I just choose to consume something better.” Who is Fred Ho? A Chinese-American jazz saxophonist, composer, and writer— and self-described “radical, revolutionary artist.” His genre-busting music is an art- ful, arresting mix of African and Asian tra- ditions peppered with iconic American notes. He creates jazz suites that incorpo- rate Chinese folk songs and Duke Elling- ton-style swing, and epic musicals with martial arts, vampires, and mythological monkeys. He also writes articles, essays, and speeches, and has edited books, such as Sounding O≠! Music as Subversion/Resis- tance/Revolution. Based in Brooklyn, Ho has a full performance schedule. He tours reg- ularly (most recently out West with one of his bands, the Brooklyn Sax Quartet) and has been reviewed by the New York Times and Jazz Times, among others. Com- menting on a production of Ho’s operatic homage to female rebels, Warrior Sisters, the New Yorker called him “a musician who Fred Ho ’79, dressed in a Chinese silk jacket of his own design, holds his instrument: “It’s the joins a protean range of talents.” only thing I’m monogamous with.” One fan is Myra Mayman, former di- Ho is an uncompromising Marxist. He unity between the two great social move- rector of Harvard’s O∞ce for the Arts, currently believes that the capitalist patri- ments that had an impact on my life. who oversaw Ho’s week-long campus stay archy should be replaced with its oppo- Music that has been called ‘jazz’ said a lot as the Peter Ivers Visiting Artist in 1987. site—a matriarchy—as a necessary transi- to me because it came out of the experi- “Fred came on with this enormous saxo- tion stage toward true communism. His ence of an oppressed people. At the same phone and made the most amazing music and radical politics, both discov- time, it spoke to the beauty and passion of sounds—sort of exploding burping ered by the age of 14, are inseparable and people who in spite of their oppression sounds,” she says of the first time she dominate his life. “All music is political,” a∞rmed their humanity.”

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Ho took up the baritone saxophone— had no social response to that oppres- to his e≠orts to stabilize his country and its booming, guttural sound, when played sion,” is how Ho explains it. “He was ex- halt U.S. incursions. “He liked me a lot,” at the lower register, can fit into both the tremely feudal, Confucian, in his thinking, Ho notes. “I agreed to help train his secu- wind and horn sections—because it was so he internalized it all and took it out on rity forces then, and returned when he free and available: nobody else in the high those at home, rather than on his white transferred power to his son.” school band liked it. His friends included colleagues. One of my first insurrections Ho says he has now retired from that the sons of experimental musicians Archie was to defend my mother against his kind of work. He also no longer carries a Shepp and Max Roach (both on the uni- physical beatings and give him two black gun; licensing is too expensive, and gun versity’s faculty at the time), and he never eyes.” The experience “made me a militant users are “cowards.” “I understand their in the sense that I’ve right to bear arms for self-defense, but the never subscribed to use of a gun requires no wisdom,” he ex- turning the other plains. “But I do believe in knives.” A Fil- cheek, or to pacifism.” ipino machete and a bowie knife hang on After high school, the back of his front door—his “home-se- Ho and a friend, con- curity system.” fused over their paths By the time he entered Harvard, at 20, in life, joined the U.S. Ho had already joined, and left, the Nation Marines in 1973. It of Islam (he considered it too insular, and was the Vietnam era, never got an answer about why his name and Ho says he was had to be changed to Fred 3X when his an- continually targeted cestors were not slaves). Ideologically, he during training exer- was a “yellow nationalist” until the sum- cises—“This is what mer after his freshman year, when he the gook looks like.” joined the I Wor Kuen, an Asian-American That was a “very radical group, initially modeled after the tough, alienating ex- Black Panthers, that morphed into the perience,” he says, “an League of Revolutionary Struggle. Ho experience of turning painstakingly converted to Marxism and pain into power [a quickly came to regard the IWK as his phrase he used as the family. (More than a decade later, he was title of his 1997 jazz thrown out because of ideological di≠er- suite]. I became very ences; he says the group, which disbanded good in hand-to-hand in 1989, was jettisoning Marxism.) combat, trained to Meanwhile, he concentrated in sociol- fight and sanction my ogy. He organized the Harvard-Radcli≠e enemy in close quar- Asian-American Association and the Har- ters without the use vard-Radcli≠e Task Force on A∞rmative of firearms so there Action; and worked to end the Univer- would be no forensic sity’s ties to apartheid. He played with the evidence.” In 1975, he Harvard Jazz Band, but avoided the music was dishonorably dis- department and its “cultural indoctrina- charged after clock- tion of Eurocentric conservatory training his commanding ing.” If anything, he says, “Harvard taught o∞cer over a racist me by negative example and changed me slur. He successfully by convincing me of what I didn’t want to “My philosophy is ‘Either my clothing designs or no clothes,’” contested the dis- become: a functionary or manager in the says Ho. “I prefer to live my life as if I lived in a rainforest. charge and his record system...part of the elite. And I developed [Generic] clothes are unnecessary and burdensome.” was expunged. a disdain for the mainstream culture I wasted an opportunity to watch the men Since then, Ho has returned to a mili- considered to be a polluted pond, a pond perform, or to audit Shepp’s classes. tary milieu on several occasions, most re- of racism, sexism, homophobia, and capi- Within several years, Ho was performing cently last fall, in Cambodia, where he talist commodified culture—so I can semi-professionally. trained security forces for the newly in- imagine an ocean of possibilities and not At home, he and his sisters (Florence stalled king, Norodom Sihamoni, the son have to settle for any stream.” ’80, a doctor, and Flora ’87, a lawyer) coped of the country’s former leader, Norodom with domestic violence. “Though success- Sihanouk. Ho had met Sihanouk as part of “There are many musicians throughout ful, my father faced discrimination and a small group of Americans sympathetic jazz history who have been labeled revolu-

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tionaries, but that’s usually because of years from China to India to retrieve Bud- who had come in on the martial-arts hook their musical accomplishments,” says Bill dhist scriptures. In Ho’s version, the four and they just completely dug it. Fred un- Shoemaker, a jazz critic and journalist are successful but so enrage the gods in derstands that. And with The Monkey Tril- who has followed Ho’s career. “Fred is a the process that the latter colonize Mon- ogy opera, he shows that he’s also hip to revolutionary who uses jazz as his key’s once idyllic homeland. Monkey, also that kind of comic book, imaginary, sci- medium.” Since 1981, when he moved from a creature of great integrity, decides to re- ence-fiction sphere that can be brought to Boston to New York City to pursue music turn home and fight for liberation. “Mon- bear allegorically for his agenda.” full time, Ho (who changed his name from key starts out as a soul dissident,” Ho ex- Ho has also picked up on a powerful, Houn) has produced a wide range of plains, “but finds others who are not political aspect of jazz—the empower- works, from haunting, melodious, experimental and/or fierce jazz compositions, “The best music is both soulful and raw, such as The Black Nation Suite, to works in collaboration with Latino/a poets and and sophisticated and daring.” singers, to operas like the martial-arts ex- travaganza Voice of the Dragon, which toured happy with the situation—and that be- ment of the individual. “Max Roach’s Free- the country in 2003 sponsored by Colum- gins the long road of organizing.” dom Now suite is a proclamation for indi- bia Artists Management Inc. Among his Some music reviewers have taken issue vidual rights within the U.S., but the piece wilder creations is Night Vision: A First to with his heavy-handedness, especially the also works to universalize that struggle,” Third World Vampyre Opera, which “tracks a “agitprop” in Warrior Sisters. “But Fred is correlating the experience of American 2,000-year-old female vampyre who rises not an ideologue who produces stilted blacks with those in South Africa living to pop music stardom, hyped by a diaboli- art,” Shoemaker asserts. “His music has all under apartheid, Shoemaker explains. cal technogenius, the spin doctor.” the prerequisites of swing, of heat, of ex- “Fred does the same thing. Yes Means Yes and Perhaps Ho’s most personal work, citement—especially in the improvising No Means No is about individual women’s composed in the wake of his emotional he does.” And Ho appreciates the value of rights to their bodies, but it expands that split with the IWK, is his Monkey Trilogy. popular entertainment (as in: for and of into a more universal context to support Based on the sixteenth-century Chinese the people). Shoemaker saw a Sunday an anti-patriarchal stance.” novel Journey to the West, the opera tells the matinée of Ho’s Voice of the Dragon in Fair- When asked, Ho reels o≠ a quirky mix story of a monkey (the rebellious “androg- fax, Virginia, and reports that the “long, of inspirations for his work: Hong Kong ynous trickster”), a pig, a monk, and an narrative piece with a lot of really fast- action movies, “Times Square erotica,” ogre who defy the gods and travel for 17 flying martial arts” attracted “tons of kids Iraqi Bedouin desert songs, Chinese and Korean folk music, and the TV sound- tracks from Mission Impossible and Dark Harvard@Home Shadows. He is a Star Trek aficionado who as a teenager sometimes styled himself after The University-wide on-line learning initiative, Harvard@Home, has released sev- Mr. Spock. Charles Mingus, John Col- eral new programs. trane, and Sun Ra, a jazz innovator and “Living Healthier, Living Longer: Part III” presents the final segment of a two-day cosmic philosopher, also figure heavily in Alumni College event that examined the latest research on cancer, nutrition and diet- his music—Ho paid tribute to the last in ing, exercise, and stress management. In the new segment, Daniel Federman, Walter his opera Mr. Mystery: The Return of Sun Ra to Distinguished Professor of medicine, moderates two panel discussions: one featuring Save the Planet Earth, set to premiere in May Kenan professor of psychology Daniel Schacter of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in Philadelphia. “Because I am self- (on the seven categories of memory “sins”) and associate professor of psychology trained, I am actually a product, in a Robert A. Stickgold of the medical school (on sleep, dreams, and memory); and the strange way, of popular culture,” he says. second on the risks and benefits of alternative medical care, with professor of medi- “I’ve always believed that music and the cine and of ambulatory care and prevention Julie Buring and associate professor of performing arts are connected to the very psychiatry Andrew A. Nierenberg. basic struggles, loves, hopes, and desires Are you curious about what undergraduates have to say about their experiences at of regular people. The best music is both Harvard? “Students Speak” includes 10 students who candidly cover a wide range of soulful and raw, and sophisticated and topics: from study groups, libraries, interacting with faculty members, and competition daring.” among students, to living with roommates, living in Boston, finding time for extracur- Few self-proclaimed “guerrilla entre- riculars, and political involvement on campus.The site will be updated with additional preneurs” are as accomplished. Ho earns a interviews over time. moderate living making music because he Harvard@Home offers desktop access to a wide range of intellectual happenings has only himself to support and because throughout the University. Programs, which range from 10 minutes to three hours long, he is a well-organized businessman who are free and available to the public.For more information,visit http://athome.harvard.edu. competes in the open market for arts funding, frequently winning awards, com-

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missions, and artist-in-residence positions hood. One piece on the disk is his Fishing original, somewhat experimental music. at schools or art colonies. (He recently re- Song of the East China Sea, an elegant re- One woman at the reception slyly told Ho turned from working with musicians in working of a Chinese original which Ho that he was “wild and wolfish.” His usu- Alaska as part of the CrossSound Festival.) calls “a song about the pristine love of ally impassive face opened into a smile, He cannot apply for grants because his the sea at dawn as the fishermen are and he thanked her. “I’d like people to be company, Big Red Media Inc., is a for- about to start out for the day’s work, moved emotionally and intellectually, to profit venture. seeing the calmness of the sea, its beauty, think about life, their roles, and the world, Ho also credits visionary arts promot- its fecundity.” In another work, Black Na- di≠erently,” he says of his ideal listener. ers, such as Harvey Lichtenstein, for his tion Suite, Ho plays musically with four “And to expand their humanity—to have success. Lichtenstein, who transformed songs—the spiritual “O, Freedom,” an greater empathy for, awareness of, people the Brooklyn Academy of Music into one upbeat African-soul “boogaloo,” a free- su≠ering, struggling, and their aspirations of the country’s top forums for contempo- style jazz number, and “We Shall Over- for justice and equality.” rary performing art, founded The Next come.” That ubiquitous tune is trans- What about a less tempered, less cere- Wave Festival, in which Ho performed in fused with complex chord changes and bral response? What if someone reacted to 1997 and 2001. “Here’s the conundrum,” ac- unusual harmonization, yielding a lush- his Black Panther Suite (a DVD that uses star- cording to Ho. “If the Establishment em- ness unheard before. “So much of the tling images of slavery, the civil-rights braces you for even a second, there’s some- civil-rights movement after Martin movement, and the militant Panthers) by thing to be gotten because they are the Luther King Jr.’s birthday became an grabbing a weapon and marching into the mafia, they are the power, so the fact that I o∞cial holiday has been sanctified and street? “I am not asking for the highest got into the Next Wave put me on the oversimplified,” Ho asserts. “I wanted to level of engagement—just any sort of en- map. reinvigorate this anthem, give it more gagement they feel they are capable of con- “And how did I get there? People are muscle and depth.” tributing,” he says. “But I wouldn’t mind if cynical: ‘Did you schmooze? Did you sleep The audience at the church concert people utilized my music for a revolution, with someone?’ No, this is what really hap- comprised a diverse mix of ethnicities, jazz literally. I would actually be delighted be- pened—and why I still stay optimistic, lovers, children, elders, people who spoke cause it would underscore my belief that though with a critical edge. There are still only Polish, artists, friends, and fellow mu- music is socially e∞cacious.” people who are open-minded and who sicians. They appreciated the quartet’s �nell porter brown seek something genuine and creative and experimental, and Harvey Lichtenstein is one of them. He called me into his o∞ce and wanted to spend an hour just talking Your Vote Counts by noon on June 3. Results will be an- about ideas—not about money, not about Alumni will choose five new Harvard nounced at the HAA’s annual meeting on budget—but whether my ideas were of in- Overseers and six new elected directors June 9, Commencement Day. All Harvard terest to him.” People like that, Ho says, like for the Harvard Alumni Association degree holders, except for Corporation Alvin Ailey and Joseph Papp, “have made (HAA) in annual elections this spring. members and o∞cers of instruction and their compromises and their deals, but To be counted, votes must be received government, are entitled to vote for Over- they’ve also had to understand the pulse of what’s new and fresh to do what they did.” Today, many young impresarios and artists accept “The Apprentice mentality. They don’t want to be entrepreneurs. They want to be hired. They want a gig. They don’t want to be self-reliant, to start from scratch, and carry out a vision no matter how unpopular or uncommercial it might be, but driven by the belief that our cul- Mitchell L. Gerald R. Peter R. Anne Dhu Seth P. ture, our society, needs it,” he says. “[Art] Adams Jordan Jr. MacLeish McLucas Waxman is about risk-taking on a maximum level where everything is put on the table— your reputation, your career, your credibil- ity, and your own personal money.”

The brooklyn sax quartet’s newest CD, Far Side of Here, was released in March Overseer at a free concert at a church in Ho’s pre- dominantly Polish Greenpoint neighbor- Enrique Susan S. Lisbet 78 May - June 2005 Hernandez Wallach Rausing