Day 17 – Coltrane’s “Equinox”

December 26, 2014

Kevin Robinson of KERQ performed at Baltimore's Lexington Market.

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

KERQ, always a treat to hear, performed at the Lexington Market. The group’s name stands for Kevin E. Robinson Quartet or Quintet, whichever it happens to be. I first met Kevin at the Baltimore Museum of Art where I was mesmerized by an original piece he created in response to Matisse’s Blue Nude painting at the museum. Since then he and his wife, Regina, have been friends with my husband David and me.

Whether Kevin performs Santana’s Black Magic Woman, Prince’s Purple Rain or Miles Davis’s Footprints, the music is always about more than playing the notes and keeping the rhythm—it goes beyond. And it is this spirit that reaches out to the listener and tugs at the soul.

Today, one of the early pieces KERQ played at Lexington Market was Coltrane’s Equinox. Although we are not at the fall or spring equinox, the music resonated with me. Yesterday I wrote about the role of balance in the Tree of Life, about how the hidden roots are as important as what is above ground. Kevin’s music is about the roots of emotion beneath each piece he plays.

The equinox is all about balance; it occurs when day and night are equally balanced.  It represents transition, the crux of a passage. I am going through a passage this year from my 60’s to my 70’s. It is an important time that requires a mind open to evolving. To be fully alive, one cannot merely just be. We must evolve.

Today as I listened to the spirit of Equinox, I felt that all those who heard were in the process of evolving.

Today’s gift was Kevin Robinson's Equinox.

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> DAY 18 Shadow Rules

You can read my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html