Do you believe in coincidence? Or is it that our minds are tuned into a topic so we notice overlaps? As a more rationalist-oriented thinker, I tend to the latter. But last week something odd happened. No sooner had I finished my column on incarcerated drummer Jim Gordon than I came across another criminal story involving a different drummer I’d never heard of.
On an acquaintance’s recommendation, who knows I’m a bit of a WW I buff, I recently started reading March 1917 by Will Englund. The book is ostensibly about a month in time when history teetered on the brink — the month of the February Revolution in Russia (March in the Gregorian calendar), just before the US entered WW I on April 2.
The first part of the book is less about March, 1917 itself and more about contextualizing the time. It’s a snapshot of the social, political and cultural developments that led to this turning point.
One of those is African American music and a brief portrait of an extremely important bandleader who sadly is virtually unknown today.
James Rees Europe was an early ragtime and jazz bandleader and arranger who was strongly focused on promoting the music of black people and making the public aware of black music as black music. So influential was he that he was asked to form a regimental band for the 369th, who were known as the Harlem Hellfighters. Europe himself was a lieutenant in the regiment, which performed all over France.
I’d never heard of this guy — and of course I asked myself what had become of him. It turns out he died shortly after returning from war. But he didn’t die of injury or disease. In an utterly bizarre sequence of events, Europe was stabbed to death by his — you guessed it — drummer. Talk about someone who couldn’t take constructive criticism!
My rationalist brain was flummoxed. It couldn’t be that drummers were on my mind, so therefore I ‘noticed’ this story. This must have been coincidence. Or was it a warning bell? That’s right, I may have forgotten to mention that my husband is a drummer. A more mysticaly-inclined person might consider taking cover right about now.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at [email protected].
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